RPW Exclusive: Trouble For Tremont Helps Kolby Schroder Score First Modified Win Of ’23 At Lebanon Valley
News Director 
Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – If Saturday night at Lebanon Valley was a regular Saturday night, Kenny Tremont is your DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature winner.
However, instead of double features after last week’s rainout, speedway officials decided to make this week a 50-lap, double payout, double point show.
On lap 30, Tremont was leading the feature event. Just five circuits later, the driver of the #115 was ducking on to pit road with a mechanical issue, handing the lead to Kolby Schroder.
Over the next 15 green flag laps, Schroder never let go of the lead and went on to score his first victory of 2023.
“I really wish I got to race it out with Ken,” Schroder said. “That was going to be pretty cool there at the end. I felt like he was fading a little bit and I was coming on. Maybe we could have duked it out but we’ll never know now.”
What was going through Schroder’s mind when he saw Tremont have his misfortune, handing him the lead?
“I was excited but I was also heartbroken for him,” he said. “This is his last year and I wanted to run with him for the win but didn’t get the chance to do it.
Late in the going, Schroder had to fend off the Brett Haas #55 but there was no touching the victor as the race closed.
“I saw Brett stick his nose underneath me,” he said. “I had a tear off stuck on my wind screen and I couldn’t see for a couple of laps. Then, I saw his nose and I started poking at the screen to try and rip it out. Once I got it I was able to pick up the pace again and we got it done. It was a fun race.”
There was an opening lap multi-car incident in turns one and two which eliminated a lot of quality competitors. Brandon Lane overcooked the corner from his inside front row starting spot and went for a spin. The likes of Marc Johnson, Haas, Kyle Sheldon, Andy Bachetti, Kyle Armstong, Olden Dwyer Mike King and Ryan Charland were all involved.
Johnson, Charland and Dwyer were among those unable to continue but Schroder was lucky to make it through.
“That was quite the jumble up there,” he said. “Luckily I was low enough to clear it. I was happy because I came out around fourth and thought it was going to be great. Then they put everyone back to where they started and I had to pick my way through.”
Even though he stood in victory lane, things didn’t end perfectly for Schroder and the 99 team.
“We actually blew up as we crossed the finish line,” he said. “That’s why my guys pushed me to victory lane. Luckily we were able to make it.”
Upon further review, it appears it was a rear end problem in the Steve’s Auto Repair #99.
Schroder dedicated the win to someone he’s been close to, in matter of speaking, for many years at the track.
“Obviously, we have Steve Larochelle in our hearts this weekend,” he said. “It’s just special to win on this night with Steve being our “pit buddy” and it’s sad but exciting at the same time to win this in his memory.”
Haas came home with a fine second place finish after recovering from the opening lap accident and driving from the rear of the field. JR Heffner had another steady finish to come home in third.
Andy Bachetti capitalized on the double point event and Marc Johnson’s troubles to finish in fourth and Keith Flach completed the top five.
Even though the Modifieds took center stage, it was the DIRTcar Pro Stocks that were the headliner on this night as they raced in memory of Steven Larochelle, who tragically lost his life due to a motorcycle incident last weekend.
A touching memorial was held on the frontstretch before the feature with hundreds gathering to pay their respects. Steve’s father, Paul, ran his #178 in the feature event and came home in 11th.
The 20-lap race came home to a battle between leader Zach Sorrentino and Chad Jeseo who battled door-to-door in the weaning laps.
Finally, Jeseo got just enough of a run on the leader entering turn three, moved up just enough to make slight contact and made Sorrentino change his line. He then went on to grab the top spot, a place he wouldn’t relinquish.
Jeseo went on to score the extra-money event in Larochelle’s honor, and remembered just what it was like racing with his fallen competitor.
“Over the year’s we had a lot of great races with Steven,” Jeseo said. “Four weeks ago, we were fighting with each other but when we got all the bad news about what happened, I feel like I lost a friend. This is a racing family and the Larochelle’s have been such a big supporter here for years. This has been just terrible.”
If he didn’t make the move on Sorrentino when he did, could he have gotten around him?
“I did have to rough him up and get with him,” he said. “These guys are just so fast now. The cars are so close. Zach and his crew do an awesome job with their stuff. I feel bad that it happened the way it did, but I just didn’t want to let my team down.”
Tommy Dean got around Sorrentino for second with Jeseo’s contact and that’s where he finished. Sorrentino had to settle for third with Nick Hilt and Frank Twing completing the top five.
The 24-lap DIRTcar 358-Modified feature was marred on the opening lap by a multi-lap crash off the second corner which eliminated the strong cars of Olden Dwyer and Jason Herrington.
On the ensuing restart, Ryan Larkin made a slide under leader Brian Sanstedt and took his lane away and grabbed the top spot.
He then drove on to score his first victory of the season, fending off challenges from the likes of Kevin Petrucci at first and then LJ Lombardo, Kim LaVoy and Andy Bachetti.
At the end, Larkin parked his #39 in victory lane but it wasn’t for a lack of effort by Lombardo who gave him one final shot in lap traffic in turns three in four, but to no avail.
Bachetti, LaVoy and Jeff Watson completed the top five.
There were two Sportsman feature events that took place on Saturday night as one was heldover from last week’s rainout.
In that first one, Tim Hartman Jr. showed why he’s been the man to beat this year in the division, capturing his fourth victory of the 2023 racing campaign and put a solid stranglehold on the championship battle.
“Our car got tight as the race went on,” Hartman said. “Luckily, we had a big enough lead that I could afford to make a few mistakes. This was another great run for us as we build some momentum heading into the end of the season.”
Rob Maxon came home second with Cody Cordova, Gary O’Brien and Brady Cordova completing the top five.
In the second feature, Kevin Ward was able to get around leader Kevin Ames on the opening circuit held on to take yet another victory as he tries to keep pace with Hartman in the title fight.
“Tim Hartman’s a good wheelman,” Ward said. “I just had to hit my marks tonight and try to beat him. He’s been fast all year and we’ve been fast all year. I just did everything I could.”
Hartman had another solid finish to come home second followed by O’Brien, Maxon and Whitey Slavin.
Mike Arnold and young Connor Crane captured the two Limited Sportsman features on the evening while Jeff Meltz Sr. held off a fierce challenge from Chris Stalker to win the Street Stock main event.
MODIFIED FEATURE RESULTS (50 LAPS) 1) Kolby Schroder* 2) Brett Haas* 3) J.R. Heffner* 4) Andy Bachetti** 5) Keith Flach 6) L.J Lombardo 7) Brian Berger 8) John Virgilio* 9) Wayne Jelley 10) Eddie Marshall* 11) Ryan Darcy 12) Timothy Davis 13) Mike King 14) Brandon Lane 15) Kyle Armstrong 16) Kenny Tremont Jr. 17) Matt Humes 18) Matt Pupello* 19) Kyle Sheldon 20) Kenny Aanonsen JR. 21) Olden Dwyer 22) Marc Johnson* 23) Ryan Charland 24) Dave Mcfeeters
358 MODIFIED FEATURE RESULTS (24 LAPS) 1) Ryan Larkin* 2) L.J Lombardo* 3) Andy Bachetti** 4) Kim Lavoy 5) Jeff Watson 6) Ray Hall JR.* 7) Brian Sandstedt 8) Ryan Charland 9) Brian Petrerson 10) Joey Coppola* 11) Peter Carlotto 12) Jeffrey Reis 13) Donny Travaglin 14) Ryan Heath 15) Montgomery Tremont 16) Alan Houghtaling 17) Kevin Petrucci* 18) Olden Dwyer* 19) Lorne Browe* 20) Jason Herrington
SPORTSMAN 8/12/2023 FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Tim Hartman**** 2) Rob Maxon* 3) Cody Cordova 4) Gary O’Brien* 5) Brady Cordova* 6) Whitey Slavin* 7) Ricky Davis 8) Cody Bleau 9) Kevin Ward** 10) Chris Crane JR. 11) Gerard Leclair 12) Alan Houghtaling 13) Kevin Ames 14) Joe Pravia 15) Karl Barnes 16) Chris Lynch
SPORTSMAN 8/19/2023 FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Kevin Ward*** 2) Tim Hartman**** 3) Gary O’Brien* 4) Rob Maxon* 5) Whitey Slavin* 6) Ricky Davis 7) Gerard Leclair 8) Brady Cordova* 9) Chris Crane JR. 10) Karl Barnes 11) Cody Bleau 12) Chris Lynch 13) Cody Cordova 14) Alan Houghtaling 15) Kevin Ames 16) Joe Pravia
PRO STOCKS FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Chad Jeseo** 2) Tom Dean* 3) Zach Sorrentino*** 4) Nick Hilt 5) Frank Twing** 6) Rick Duzlak 7) Shawn Perez JR. 8) Jay Casey 9) John Rivers 10) Jason Casey 11) LaRochelle 12) Rocco Procopio 13) Brian Keough 14) Dave Kokindo 15) Mike Dianda 16) Tom O’Connor 17) Katrina Foster 18) Doug Sheely 19) Gary Silkey 20) Fred Lee 21) Shawn Perez 22) Jay Fitzgerald 23) Dave Stickles** 24) Rob Yetmen
LIMITED SPORTSMAN 8/12/2023 FEATURE RESULTS (15 LAPS) 1) Mike Arnold* 2) Anthony Maxon*** 3) Connor Crane 4) Fred Pavia 5) Craig Coons* 6) Brian Walsh* 7) Kent Clark 8) Harold Rabitalle* 9) Scott Zehnacker 10) Bella Pickard 11) Mike Engwer 12) Alex Palmer-Sawyer* 13) Owen Lewis DQ) Ira Doull
LIMITED SPORTSMAN 8/19/2023 FEATURE RESULTS (15 LAPS) 1) Connor Crane 2) Anthony Maxon*** 3) Scott Zehnacker 4) Mike Arnold* 5) Craig Coons* 6) Owen Lewis 7) Matt Jordan 8) Mike Engwer 9) Fred Pavia 10) Bella Pickard 11) Brian Walsh* 12) Harold Rabitalle* 13) Kent Clark 14) Alex Palmer-Sawyer*
STREET STOCK FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) Jeff Meltz SR.** Chris Stalker*** Bob Gibson Dave Striebel JR.** Kerri Vandenburg Lou Gancarz Franklin Smith
