Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Racing’s all about numbers.
You have a number on your car. You run a certain number of laps. You lap time is a certain number.
Well, Saturday at Lebanon Valley Speedway was an event honoring the late JC Flach, who drove number 77. Well, what a difference “7” days made for Brett Haas.
On a night memorializing a young racers taken from this earth way too young, it was another young gun who found his way to victory lane after a week of struggles.
Haas lost his primary engine last Saturday night and spent the last seven days trying to formulate a game plan to get back to the track. He did so on Monday for the King of Spring 100 but failed to make the show.
That only put even more fire in the 55 team to not only get back to Lebanon this week, but to be just as competitive as they have been in the past.
They succeeded in doing so and on Saturday, were rewarded with a $4,000 payday in the JC Flach Memorial.
Haas made the blast around leader Ryan Charland one lap after halfway in the 30-lap Modified main event and, as they say, that was all she wrote as the Pittsfield, MA driver went on to score a much-needed second career Big Block win.
“Man, getting back to victory lane only took us since 2020,” Haas said. “To win on JC’s night is just so extra special.”
You could see the elation, yet relief, on Haas’ face once he knew all the hard work of the last week had paid off.
“We just battle so hard and have gone through so much in the last seven days,” he said. “Thank you the Prime family. This is their car. This is their motor and to my team. I can’t thank my guys enough for busting their asses so much on this car to get us back here.”
After not winning in nearly three years, even with the success he’s had, Haas had begun to wonder when he’d return to victory lane.
“I’ve started to doubt myself as a driver,” he said. “I started to wonder time and time again if I could do it and my team stuck in with me and holy cow, it feels good to finally get back to victory lane.”
Haas used a good starting spot to get to the top three very quickly and then worked around Brandon Lane for second before setting his sights on Charland.
Once he got the lead, though, Haas stretched out his margin to nearly a full straightaway before several late-race cautions bunched things up.
Could this victory be the jumpstart to Haas’ season that he needs?
“I think we were like 14th in points and this just hasn’t been the type of start to a season as we’ve been accustomed to,” he said. “Thanks to the Prime family, my parents for everything they do for me and my team. They keep me in this and keep me going.”
Second place on the night was last week’s winner, Marc Johnson with current point leader, Andy Bachetti, having another solid finish to come home in third.
Keith Flach came home in the fourth position in his brother’s race while Charland had a career-best finish of fifth after leading half of the feature event.
It was a very good night for Bachetti in the Small Block Modified feature as well as he drove from 12th starting spot to grab the lead with six laps remaining.
The defending champion took the lead from Joey Coppola with a slide job in turns three and four and held on the rest of the way to grab win number one of the 2023 season in the class on a night honoring a fallen competitor.
“Getting to win on JC’s night is really special,” Bachetti said. “I’m glad we were able to get it done.”
Bachetti was quick to give props to the track surface and preparations they’ve been able to complete as the new configuration is a “work in progress.”
“They’re doing a real good job with the race track,” he said. “It’s definitely different. We’re trying to figure it out and it’s starting to come around for us.”
At the finish, LJ Lombardo put his #35 in the runner-up spot with Jason Herrington coming home in third. Last week’s winner, Lorne Browe finished fourth with Kim LaVoy having a strong run to finish fifth.
In Sportsman competition, heading into the night, there had only been two winners in the class in 2023, Tim Hartman Jr. and Kevin Ward.
When the night was complete, there still has been only two as Kevin Ward captured his second win of the season.
Ward took the lead from Alan Houghtaling on lap six of the 20-lap main event and fended off all challengers to grab the checkered flag.
“This is for everyone on this crew and all of my sponsors for their hard work,” Ward said. “We’re going to keep Tim Hartman on his toes.”
Don’t feel too bad for Hartman, though, as TH2 came home in the runner-up spot with Rob Maxon finishing in third. Gary O’Brien and Chris Lynch completed the top five.
Dave Stickles already has a victory to his credit in the Pro Stock class in 2023. Saturday night, the double nickel doubled that total as the veteran campaigner scored a convincing win on the High Banks.
With Stickles victory, coupled with a seventh place finish by Chad Jeseo, driver 55 is now the new point leader in the division.
“I just can’t believe how fast this car is right now,” Stickles said. “It’s on rails.”
Consistency is the name of the game for Stickles right now.
“Thanks to all of my family, my crew and my sponsors for making this happen,” he said. “For some reason, over the last four races, this car hasn’t been out of the top three. That’s pretty amazing.”
Steven LaRochelle came home second with Tommy Dean, Zach Sorrentino and Brian Keough completing the top five.
Craig Coons captured his first career open wheel win by taking home the Limited Sportsman feature while Chris Stalker racked up win number three on the season in Street Stocks.
Bradley Batho (Dual Cam) and Tim Meltz (Single Cam) were the two winners in the Four-Cylinder division.
Big Block Modified Feature Results (30 Laps): 1) Brett Haas, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Ryan Charland, 6) Kyle Sheldon, 7) Brandon Lane, 8) Ryan Darcy, 9) Kenny Tremont Jr., 10) J.R. Heffner, 11) John Virgilio, 12) Kolby Schroder, 13) Olden Dwyer, 14) Wayne Jelley, 15) Matt Pupello, 16) Eddie Marshall, 17) Josh Marcus, 18) Kyle Armstrong, 19) Brian Berger, 20) L.J Lombardo, 21) Kenny Aanonsen JR. 22) Jeff Sukup, 23) Paul Gilardi, 24) Timothy Davis, 25) Alex Bell, 26) Mike King
Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 Laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) L.J Lombardo, 3) Jason Herrington, 4) Lorne Browe, 5) Kim Lavoy, 6) Ryan Charland, 7) Ryan Heath, 8) Peter Carlotto, 9) Jeffrey Reis, 10) Brian Sandstedt, 11) Joey Coppola, 12) Donny Travaglin, 13) Ryan Larkin, 14) Jeff Watson, 15) Kevin Petrucci, 16) Ray Hall JR., 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Montgomery Tremont, 19) Olden Dwyer
Sportsman Feature Results (20 Laps): 1) Kevin Ward, 2) Tim Hartman, 3) Rob Maxon, 4) Gary O’Brein, 5) Chris Lynch, 6) Alan Houghtaling, 7) Brady Cordova, 8) Matt Burke, 9) Bob Fachini, 10) Karl Barnes, 11) Jim VanZandt, 12) Kevin Ames, 13) Keith Johannessen, 14) Cody Cordova, 15) Pete Lorenzo
Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 Laps): 1) Craig Coons, 2) Frank Twing JR., 3) Anthony Maxon, 4) Mike Arnold, 5) Harold Rabitalle, 6) Alex Palmer-Sawyer, 7) Scott Zehnacker, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Allyson Papp, 10) Kent Clark, 11) Mike Engwer, 12) Jason Manchester, 13) Owen Lewis, 14) Billy Brandt
Pro Stocks Feature Results (20 Laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Steven LaRochelle, 3) Tom Dean, 4) Zach Sorrentino, 5) Brian Keough, 6) Fred Lee, 7) Chad Jeseo, 8) Katrina Foster, 9) Mike Dianda, 10) Frank Twing, 11) Rick Duzlak
Street Stocks Feature Results (20 Laps): 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Jeff Meltz SR., 3) Dave Striebel JR., 4) Jim Dellea, 5) David Striebel, 6) Katarina Foster, 7) Ray Royals, 8) Kerri Vandenburg, 9) Milo Campbell, 10) Lou Gancarz, 11) Franklin Smith, 12) Mike Dianda, 13) Rocco Procopio
4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (15 Laps): 1) Bradley Batho, 2) James Guertin, 3) Jason Peck, 4) Shawny Hazel, 5) Mike Duncan
4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (15 Laps): 1) Tim Meltz, 2) Joey Batho, 3) Joe Wolfe, 4) Stephen Burka, 5) Dylan Macleod