Story By: PHIL ALLAWAY / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY – WEST LEBANON, NY – Brett Haas entered the final lap of the Modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway in third-place. By the middle of the backstretch, he was in the lead after going three-wide in turn 2. He was able to hold on from there to claim his first win of 2024.
“Lapped traffic really helped us…close up on them,” Haas said after the race. “John [Virgilio] and Kolby [Schroder] were side-by-side and got hung up in the black, so I got a good run on them. They ended up stuck on the outside [in turn 2] and I got a phenomenal run off.”
Haas won by .524 seconds over Kolby Schroder. John Virgilio was third, then Andy Bachetti and Marc Johnson.
Rob Maxon started from pole in his OD Auto-sponsored No. 96 in a feature that had some trouble getting started. First, Wayne Jelley spun and backed into the wall in turn 3 to bring out a yellow. Lorne Browe was also involved. The restart saw Jason Herrington, Ryan Larkin and Fred Pravia spin in turn 1.
On the third attempt to start the race, Virgilio quickly drove to the front from the fifth starting spot. It took only three laps for him to get the lead. Haas was right up there as well, but didn’t seem to have the pace of Virgilio.
The scariest incident of the night occurred on lap 10 when Brandon Lane and Kyle Sheldon collided and went into the wall in turn 3. Paul Gilardi spun to avoid and was broadsided by Mike King. The contact sent King into a series of rolls that brought out the red flag. Everyone was ok after the scary incident.
Right after the restart, Schroder took second away from Haas and put the pressure on Virgilio. The two drivers raced hard and put a little distance on Haas. However, it was lapped traffic that brought Haas back in the hunt.
With a couple of laps to go, the leaders caught Timothy Davis and had a lot of trouble getting past. Haas went to the inside on the final lap entering turn 1 to get past Davis. At the same time, Schroder went to the inside of Virgilio for the lead.
Haas got a run and went three-wide on the inside for the lead. Virgilio ultimately had to back off the throttle, allowing Haas to clear them both and go for the win.
In Sportsman, Ryan Giardini started from pole and ran well early on. However, a spin for Mike Engwer on lap 2 created a chain reaction that eliminated a number of drivers.
Only a few drivers were left unscathed after the wreck. Once the green came back out, Whitey Slavin was able to move up to second and had a much faster car than Giardini. He would have caught Giardini on merit, but an incident involving Gary O’Brien and Frank Frasco brought out a yellow with five laps to go.
Slavin was able to take the lead away from Giardini with three laps to go and held off Tim Hartman Jr. for the win on track. However, Slavin’s car failed post-race inspection and was disqualified, giving Hartman his second straight win. Giardini was second, then Alan Houghtaling, Karl Barnes and Justin Gozzi.
In Pro Stock, Tom Dean started from pole and led early. Zach Sorrentino, who won opening night, had a strong car and attempted to move in on the leaders. However, he spun underneath Chad Jeseo to bring out a yellow on lap 4. He would ultimately finish 11th.
The entire second half of the race saw Jeseo work on Dean for the lead. He had the outside line on Dean at one point, but Dean was able to hold him off. Despite a last-lap move in turns 1 and 2, Dean was able to hold on to take the win over Jeseo, Dave Stickles, Nick Hilt and Rick Duzlak.
The Limited Sportsman feature saw Fred Pravia lead from the pole and run well early on. Scott Zehnacker, driving a different chassis after crashing in warmups opening night, was able to run him down and take the lead on lap 8.
Pravia ended up hitting the wall on lap 10 to bring out the race’s only caution. The field bunched back up, but no one could prevent Zehnacker from taking victory. Harold Robitaille was second, then John Santolin, Brian Walsh and Jasen Brewer.
In Super Street Stock, Jeff Meltz Sr. slipped past Chris Stalker and a spinning Dave Streibel Jr. on lap 11, then held on to take his second straight win. Jon Shepard won the 4-Cylinder feature in the Dual-Cam class and overall. Dylan MacLeod won Single-Cam.
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[6]; 2. 99-Kolby Schroder[10]; 3. 74V-John Virgilio[5]; 4. 4-Andy Bachetti[15]; 5. 9-Marc Johnson[13]; 6. 98M-Eddie Marshall[9]; 7. 88D-Olden Dwyer[7]; 8. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[12]; 9. 43K-Keith Flach[19]; 10. 21-Ryan Darcy[16]; 11. 60-Brian Berger[14]; 12. 74H-JR Heffner[8]; 13. 115P-Matt Pupello[25]; 14. 45J-Wayne Jelley[4]; 15. 7T-Timothy Davis[17]; 16. 96-Rob Maxon[1]; 17. 0-Dan Humes[20]; 18. 115-Montgomery Tremont[23]; 19. 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr[28]; 20. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[11]; 21. 33-Brandon Lane[3]; 22. 55K-Mike King[18]; 23. 87X-Paul Gilardi[2]; 24. 39-Ryan Larkin[31]; 25. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[21]; 26. 91M-Jason Herrington[24]; 27. 22-Jeff Watson[27]; 28. 81D-Anthony Dicarlo[30]; 29. 519-Joe Pravia[26]; 30. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[22]; 31. 250-Alan Houghtaling[33]; 32. 6R-Ryan Heath[34]; 33. 12C-Peter Carlotto[32]; 34. 14-Lorne Browe[29]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[1]; 2. 87X-Paul Gilardi[2]; 3. 74H-JR Heffner[4]; 4. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 5. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[3]; 6. 21-Ryan Darcy[7]; 7. 43K-Keith Flach[6]; 8. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[11]; 9. 519-Joe Pravia[9]; 10. 14-Lorne Browe[12]; 11. 12C-Peter Carlotto[10]; 12. 6R-Ryan Heath[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 98M-Eddie Marshall[4]; 2. 96-Rob Maxon[1]; 3. 74V-John Virgilio[5]; 4. 45J-Wayne Jelley[2]; 5. 88D-Olden Dwyer[7]; 6. 7T-Timothy Davis[6]; 7. 0-Dan Humes[3]; 8. 115-Montgomery Tremont[8]; 9. 22-Jeff Watson[9]; 10. 81D-Anthony Dicarlo[11]; 11. 250-Alan Houghtaling[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Kolby Schroder[2]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti[4]; 3. 9-Marc Johnson[7]; 4. 60-Brian Berger[5]; 5. 33-Brandon Lane[1]; 6. 55K-Mike King[6]; 7. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[8]; 8. 91M-Jason Herrington[10]; 9. 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr[9]; 10. 39-Ryan Larkin[11]; 11. 115P-Matt Pupello[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.441[20]; 2. 11A-Kyle Armstrong, 00:20.459[6]; 3. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:20.565[18]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.630[17]; 5. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.649[13]; 6. 98M-Eddie Marshall, 00:20.659[10]; 7. 60-Brian Berger, 00:20.679[3]; 8. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.710[5]; 9. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:20.901[14]; 10. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:20.919[4]; 11. 45J-Wayne Jelley, 00:20.960[2]; 12. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:20.963[1]; 13. 21-Ryan Darcy, 00:20.989[15]; 14. 96-Rob Maxon, 00:21.335[7]; 15. 43K-Keith Flach, 00:21.749[8]; 16. 55K-Mike King, 00:22.106[11]; 17. 0-Dan Humes, 00:22.184[19]; 18. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:22.272; 19. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:22.336[16]; 20. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:23.965[21]; 21. (DNS) 88D-Olden Dwyer; 22. (DNS) 87X-Paul Gilardi; 23. (DNS) 250-Alan Houghtaling; 24. (DNS) 81D-Anthony Dicarlo; 25. (DNS) 7CT-Donny Travaglin; 26. (DNS) 519-Joe Pravia; 27. (DNS) 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr; 28. (DNS) 91M-Jason Herrington; 29. (DNS) 22-Jeff Watson; 30. (DNS) 7CTX-LJ Lombardo; 31. (DNS) 14-Lorne Browe; 32. (DNS) 39-Ryan Larkin; 33. (DNS) 6R-Ryan Heath
DIRTcar Pro Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[1]; 2. 25-Chad Jeseo[4]; 3. 55-David Stickles[3]; 4. 17-Nick Hilt[5]; 5. 29-rick duzlak[2]; 6. 177-Chris Stalker[7]; 7. 32-Jonathan Levesque[13]; 8. 78-Paul LaRochelle[11]; 9. 62-Rocco Procopio[9]; 10. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[12]; 11. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[6]; 12. 52-Tom O’Connor[8]; 13. 311-Brian Keough[15]; 14. 825-Chris Dyer[10]; 15. (DNS) 315-Michael Dianda
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 55-David Stickles[6]; 2. 311-Brian Keough[8]; 3. 17-Nick Hilt[1]; 4. 177-Chris Stalker[3]; 5. 52-Tom O’Connor[5]; 6. 825-Chris Dyer[4]; 7. 78-Paul LaRochelle[2]; 8. (DNS) 315-Michael Dianda
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 29-rick duzlak[3]; 2. 25-Chad Jeseo[6]; 3. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[5]; 4. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[4]; 5. 32-Jonathan Levesque[7]; 6. 62-Rocco Procopio[2]; 7. (DNS) 09-Shawn Perez Sr
Hot Laps 1: 1. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.197[10]; 2. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:24.234[7]; 3. 29-rick duzlak, 00:24.365[5]; 4. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:24.409[6]; 5. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:24.417[2]; 6. 32-Jonathan Levesque, 00:24.459[12]; 7. 311-Brian Keough, 00:24.467[13]; 8. 78-Paul LaRochelle, 00:24.624[9]; 9. 52-Tom O’Connor, 00:24.830[4]; 10. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:24.831[1]; 11. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:25.007[11]; 12. (DNS) 25-Chad Jeseo; 13. (DNS) 825-Chris Dyer; 14. (DNS) 315-Michael Dianda
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[10]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini[1]; 3. 250-Alan Houghtaling[15]; 4. 307-Karl Barnes[4]; 5. 85-Justin Gozzi[6]; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova[5]; 7. 186-Frank Frasco[16]; 8. 21D-Ricky Davis[8]; 9. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[3]; 10. 57-Gary O’Brien[17]; 11. 7S-Michael Sabia[13]; 12. 22-Mike Engwer[2]; 13. 98-Kevin Ward[12]; 14. 76A-Mike Arnold[9]; 15. 00-Chris Kokosa[11]; 16. 96-Anthony Maxon[14]; 17. (DQ) 5-Whitey Slavin[7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 21D-Ricky Davis[2]; 2. 22-Mike Engwer[1]; 3. 7C-Brady Cordova[3]; 4. 307-Karl Barnes[5]; 5. 85-Justin Gozzi[4]; 6. 00-Chris Kokosa[7]; 7. 7S-Michael Sabia[9]; 8. 250-Alan Houghtaling[6]; 9. 57-Gary O’Brien[8]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[4]; 2. 76A-Mike Arnold[3]; 3. 399-Nick Giardini[2]; 4. 5-Whitey Slavin[7]; 5. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[1]; 6. 98-Kevin Ward[8]; 7. 96-Anthony Maxon[6]; 8. 186-Frank Frasco[5]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN, 00:22.081[8]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:22.632[16]; 3. 96-Anthony Maxon, 00:22.769[4]; 4. 85-Justin Gozzi, 00:22.791[1]; 5. 5-Whitey Slavin, 00:22.837[5]; 6. 76A-Mike Arnold, 00:22.859[7]; 7. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:22.974[13]; 8. 98-Kevin Ward, 00:23.057[12]; 9. 21D-Ricky Davis, 00:23.110[2]; 10. 57-Gary O’Brien, 00:23.128[3]; 11. 00-Chris Kokosa, 00:23.254[11]; 12. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:23.284[10]; 13. 4NY-Keith Johannessen, 00:23.315[6]; 14. 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:23.393[15]; 15. 22-Mike Engwer, 00:23.703[9]; 16. 186-Frank Frasco, 00:23.736[17]; 17. (DNS) 7C-Brady Cordova
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 143-Scott Zehnacker[2]; 2. 03-Harold Robitaille[3]; 3. 6S-John Santolin[6]; 4. 43-Brian Walsh[5]; 5. 25B-Jasen Brewer[8]; 6. 09-Braxton Martin[14]; 7. 27-Dylan Holmes[13]; 8. 10-Ray Royals[10]; 9. 19-Owen Lewis[4]; 10. 128-Kent Clark[7]; 11. F1-Fred Pavia[1]; 12. 77X-Jason Manchester[9]; 13. 31B-Mike Bosco[15]; 14. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[12]; 15. 1-Frank Twing Jr[11]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. F1-Fred Pavia[1]; 2. 03-Harold Robitaille[2]; 3. 19-Owen Lewis[4]; 4. 6S-John Santolin[5]; 5. 27-Dylan Holmes[3]; 6. 25B-Jasen Brewer[8]; 7. 10-Ray Royals[6]; 8. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[7]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 143-Scott Zehnacker[2]; 2. 31B-Mike Bosco[1]; 3. 43-Brian Walsh[4]; 4. 09-Braxton Martin[7]; 5. 128-Kent Clark[6]; 6. 77X-Jason Manchester[5]; 7. 1-Frank Twing Jr[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 31B-Mike Bosco, 00:22.989[4]; 2. 143-Scott Zehnacker, 00:23.246[7]; 3. 03-Harold Robitaille, 00:24.019[2]; 4. 25B-Jasen Brewer, 00:24.083[10]; 5. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:24.188[8]; 6. 6S-John Santolin, 00:24.475[5]; 7. 09-Braxton Martin, 00:24.628[14]; 8. 43-Brian Walsh, 00:24.719[3]; 9. F1-Fred Pavia, 00:25.493[6]; 10. 10-Ray Royals, 00:25.777[11]; 11. 77X-Jason Manchester, 00:25.781[15]; 12. 27-Dylan Holmes, 00:25.968[9]; 13. (DNS) 1-Frank Twing Jr; 14. (DNS) 128-Kent Clark; 15. (DNS) 77-Garrett Biagiarelli
Super Street Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5X-Jeff Meltz[1]; 2. 177-Chris Stalker[5]; 3. 73-David Streibel[6]; 4. 273-Dave Streibel[7]; 5. 89V-Kerrianne Vandenburg[2]; 6. 46-Doug Sterling[3]; 7. 245-Evan Denue[4]; 8. 76-Franklin Smith[8]; 9. 25-Paul Vallee[10]; 10. 08-Lou Gancarz[9]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 00:26.726[5]; 2. 89V-Kerrianne Vandenburg, 00:27.178[4]; 3. 46-Doug Sterling, 00:27.532[3]; 4. 245-Evan Denue, 00:27.856[6]; 5. 25-Paul Vallee, 00:30.770[10]; 6. (DNS) 177-Chris Stalker; 7. (DNS) 273-Dave Streibel; 8. (DNS) 73-David Streibel; 9. (DNS) 08-Lou Gancarz; 10. (DNS) 76-Franklin Smith
4 Cylinder Single
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 99D-Jonathan Shepherd[6]; 2. 14S-Dylan Macleod[1]; 3. 0D-Jason Peck[4]; 4. 9D-David Frame[5]; 5. 48D-Anthony Tarantino[7]; 6. 22S-Lillianna Loiselle[3]; 7. (DNF) 8S-Stephen Burka[2]