RPW Exclusive: Saturday Night, Michael Sabia ‘Went Home Again’ At Lebanon Valley

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – If you’ve been a regular at Lebanon Valley over the years, Michael Sabia is a name that you should know. He dabbled in both Sportsman and Small Block competition at the High Banks in years past, however has been calling Orange County home in 2019.

With rain in the forecast in the southern part of New York on Saturday, Orange County was forced to cancel. One of Sabia’s crew members actually said that Mike walked into the shop and said ‘We are going to the Valley boys.’

So there you have it…a ‘house call’ of sorts for Sabia and his crew.

While not racing at Lebanon on a weekly basis is tough enough, having to jump back in and adjust your style from a flat half-mile oval to a banked one is hard enough. Throw in the steep competition in the Sportsman division at the Valley and Sabia new Saturday may be difficult.

Not being there weekly, Sabia qualified but, due to handicapping, started the feature in 18th. That’s a pretty big hill to climb in any feature…let alone 20 laps in Sportsman. However, the caution flag was his friend on this night.

The yellow silk was abundant through the first 12 laps of the race, Around that time is when many saw the black, red and white No. 7 passing for the lead and putting distance between himself and the field. You just wonder how that happened.

Sabia went on to capture the checkered flag…yes, he won, from 18th.

“The track was awesome tonight,” Sabia commented. “There was a top, a middle and a bottom. It had bite and that helped us starting deep to get up to the front. The cautions at the start worked for me too. Every lap I’d pick up one or two and then get bunched up. Towards the end, I wanted the cautions to stop and it was killing me.”

While it has kind of been an off year for Sabia at Middletown, he admits to his struggles but still loves Lebanon Valley.

“This (Lebanon Valley) is my home track,” he said. “Middletown (Orange County) is just something we are doing this year. It’s nice to come home and put all these guys in check, but there’s such strong competition here so it is good to get out in front. We won a couple of weeks ago at Orange County and we needed that with the way our year has gone.”

Did he miss the West Lebanon, NY track?

“I miss the passing here at Lebanon,” he said. “They string out down at Orange County. A driver has to make a mistake and you have to capitalize if you want to get by. Up here, there’s more than one lane and you just find another way around guys.”

For one Saturday night in June, Michael Sabia made a house call and showed why he is one of the best Sportsman drivers to compete at the Valley of Speed. Maybe, it was even a hint at becoming a regular again in 2020.