Stratton First to Double-Up - Ray Hoard and Chris Tryon See Checkers

West Lebanon, NY- The heat of summer was in full swing at the Valley of  Speed.  A huge crowd gathered at the high banks of Lebanon Valley Speedway for a full night of action.  Hector Stratton didn't disappoint, as he broke the trend and became the first repeat winner in the Modified for 2007.

The Anderson Equipment 30 lap modified feature came to the green flag with the "Kingfish" Mike King at the point.  But as soon as the green flew, the #518 of Kyle Sheldon was collected up and ended up against the outside wall.

The green flew again on the restart, and King drove out away from the field.   Starting back around the 5th row, defending champ Andy Bachetti aboard his Albreada Waste #4, along with the #115 of Kenny Tremont began to make their way through the field to get to the front of the pack.

But by lap 12, the Vermont native, Hector Stratton powered his way to the top spot past King's #55, and began to check out on the field.  On lap 16, the field was slowed by contact with between the FWC Construction #21J of Jeff Trombley and Wayne Jelley's K&F Modulars #45.  This evaporated Stratton's lead, putting the #4 of Bachetti right on his back bumper.

On the following restart, Bachetti once again hounded the #87 of Stratton, but out of nowhere came the Hough Motors #34 of Steve Hough, powering his way around the high side of the Valley of Speed to overtake Bachetti, and pressuring Stratton.  But the charge didn't last long, as the #4 came right back by on the next lap, but found the fast way around in the process.

Dave McFeeters brought out the last yellow, when his car lost power on the front stretch, setting up for a 3 lap dash for the checkers.  Sneaking up in the front fray was the #98 of Eddie Marshall, who started back from row 7.  At the drop of the green, Stratton powered out front once again, with Bachetti, Hough and now Marshall in tow.

No matter how he tried, high, low, or even the middle, the #4 just didn't have enough to get by the Big Boys Toys #87 of Hector Stratton, as he captures his 2nd win of 2007, making him the first to do the double.  Behind Stratton it was Bachetti, followed closely by the charging Eddie Marshall.  4th across the finish was Steve Hough, followed by his teammate Russ Reckner in his #34R.

The Pro Stocks took to the high banks for a special DMC Racing Products "Bubba Tanner Classic" 23 lap event.  Kyle Hosier brought the field to the green, and powered his #71 out front.  But by lap 3, everything came to a screeching halt.  Coming down the front stretch, the #77 of Paul Rogers bobbled, and contact was made sending his car across the track to the inside forcing all those behind him to scramble.

Several cars were collected in the melee, the worse being the #38M of Mike Middleton, the #322 of Jay Casey, and the #54L of Jim Langenback.  Middleton and Casey later return several laps down, but the #54L was done for the night.

When the leftovers of nearly 8 involved in the incident, the field re-fired, and got back to racing.  Hosier was still out front, but that was short lived as the #35 of Rick Dempsey took over the top spot on the following restart.  Dempsey's #35 led the way for several lap, but there was a storm brewing just behind him.  Charging through the field was the #76 of Kevin Arnold and the #24 of Robbie Speed now beginning to see the rear deck of the #35 of Dempsey.

The battle began, only to be interrupted again by a fiery motor meltdown by Rick Spencer's #32.  That gave Arnold the opportunity he was waiting for, as he took over the top spot on the next restart, and never looked back.  Kevin Arnold won the "Bubba Tanner Classic" presented by DMC Racing Products, and took home the $500.00 special payday.

Following Arnold was the Speed's Garage #24 of Robbie Speed.  Dempsey finished 3rd, followed by the #78 of Paul LaRochelle with a strong finish after being involved in the lap 3 accident.  5th over the line was the #324 of Jason Casey to round out the top 5.

The Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series was also on tap with another exciting 24 lap event.  Ted Teal and Ray Hoard brought the field to the green, but it didn't take long for the #94 of Hoard to take the top spot, and engage the cruise control.  Once again, Bachetti, along with the #97 of Jeff Trombley marched their way through the field, but time was short, and the Vermont native Ray Hoard had the #94 way out to sea.

A few cautions flew late in the race, but it didn't matter to the Ford Powered #94, as the blue oval powered away, and took his first win in 2007.  Hoard was followed by Jeff Trombley aboard the #97.  3rd was the #4 of Andy Bachetti, followed by Keith Flach, and Tommy Faxon's #171.

The Sportsman had their 20 lap feature had a few of the favorites out early, as the #83 of Chad Piece, the #2 of K.C. Goewey, and the #9 of Ed Harkins were all involved in wrecks ending their nights.  The #09 of Kevin lynch, the #00 of Chris Kokosa, and the #3 of Kim Lavoy suffered mechanical issues (one worse than the other two).

But out front, it was Chris Tryon's #5 taking over the helm on lap 8 from Kevin Petrucci's #77S, and never looked back.  At the checkers, Tryon took his first win of 2007, followed by the #25 of Frank Harper.  3rd was Kory Sandstedt, 4th was Danny Sanchez, and 2006 Champ Jeff Watson rounded out the top 5.

Nick Hilt took his 5th Limited Pro Stock victory of 2007.  Rob Partridge, Lou Ganzar, and Tom Murphy all took the checkers in the Pure Stock Division.

The Annual Berkshire Bank Fireworks Spectacular is set for next Saturday June 30th, 2007.  All classes will be in action for a night of action both on and off the track at the Valley of Speed.

For more information, tickets, or directions, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, and click on "Speedway".  Or call the Speedway Offices during normal business hours at (518)794-9606, (518) 794-9965.

Saturday June 23, 2007 - Anderson Equipment & DMC Racing Products -Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Hector Stratton, 2 Andy Bachetti, 3 Eddie Marshall, 4 Steve Hough, 5 Russ Reckner, 6 J. R. Heffner, 7 Kenny Tremont, 8 John Hewitt, 9 Guy Sheldon, 10 Brian Berger, 11 Mike King, 12 Keith Flach, 13 John Alberti, 14 Matt Quinn, 15 Paul Gilardi, 16 Charlie Humes, 17 Ryan Larkin(R), 18 Mark Flach Jr, 19 Wayne Figler, 20 Dave McFeeters, 21 Wayne Jelley, 22 Jeff Trombley, 23 Kyle Sheldon, 24 John Ruchel, 25 Dickie Larkin

Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Results (24 Laps) - 1 Ray Hoard, 2 Jeff Trombley, 3 Andy Bachetti, 4 Keith Flach, 5 Tom Faxon, 6 Sean Gallivan, 7 J. R. Heffner, 8 Roy Bridge, 9 Matt Quinn, 10 Rich Salisbury, 11 Dickie Larkin, 12 Art Collins, 13 J.C. Flach, 14 Ted Teal, 15 Denny Young Jr, 16 Danny Burl, 17 Donnie Ackner, 18 Dave Baranowski, 19 Mark Pullen

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Chris Tryon, 2 Frank Harper, 3 Kory Sandstedt, 4 Danny Sanchez, 5 Jeff Watson, 6 Kyle Hoffman, 7 Brian Sandstedt, 8 Art Collins, 9 Kevin Petrucci, 10 Don Miller, 11 Alan Houghtaling, 12 Wayne Keyes, 13 Carmon Carnibucci, 14 Neil Stratton, 15 Bill Singer, 16 Joe Carnibucci, 17 Kolby Schroder, 18 Kim Lavoy, 19 Kevin Lynch, 20 Chris Kokosa, 21 K.C. Goewey, 22 Ed Harkin, 23 Derek Schibi, 24 Chad Pierce, 25 D.T. Pickard

DMC Racing Products "Bubba Tanner Classic" Pro Stock Results (23 Laps) - 1 Kevin Arnold, 2 Robbie Speed, 3 Rick Dempsey, 4 Paul LaRochelle, 5 Jason Casey, 6 Chris Crews, 7 Kyle Hosier, 8 Jon Routhier, 9 Jay Corbin, 10 Don Carlson, 11 Victor Hopkins, 12 Ed Bishop, 13 Paul Rogers, 14 Johnny Rivers, 15 John Drake, 16 Jeff Kelmel, 17 Don Collins, 18 Ed Bachand, 19 Brian Keough,  20 Rick Spencer, 21 Mike Middleton, 22 Jay Casey, 23 Jim Langenback

Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Dave Colwell, 3 Chad Jeseo, 4 Jay Kretuziger Jr, 5 Rob Maxon, 6 Dale Kennedy, 7 Justin Herron, 8 Gary Ashley, 9 Jery Helms Jr., 10 George Miles Jr, 11 Kevin Winters, 12 Joe Mennite

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Rob Partridge, 2 Rich Douglass, 3 Chuck Lampe, 4 Lynn Wesley, 5 Richard Puff, 6 Gary Vandenberg, 7 John Quiqley, 8 Joe Walcott, 9 Jim Fachini, 10 Karl Castagna, 11 Tom Davies, 12 Kirk Stanaway, 13 Mike Fachini, 14 Dave Fachini Jr, DNS Doug Olds

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Lou Ganzar, 2 Ray Hall Sr, 3 Ed Hatch, 4 Jeff Douglass, 5 Tim Sayers, 6 Chris Streeter, 7 Jay Martin, 8 Johnny Lane, 9 Joe Chenail, 10 Dan Olds, 11 Jeff Kreutziger, 12 Adam Tator, 13 Ron Hoyt Jr, 14 Steve Hatch

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Tom Murphy, 2 John Chapman, 3 Al Relyea, 4 Matt Humes, 5 Mike Eichstedt, 6 Dave Streibel, 7 Jay Casey, 8 Dave Houser, 9 Dave Stickles, 10 Jesse Murphy, 11 Phil Wood, 12 Robert Hammell, 13 Bob Palmer, 14 Pete Wiegand, 15 Tom Harkins