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Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Last week at Lebanon Valley Speedway, Brett Haas drove to his third career DIRTcar Big Block Modified win in a third-to-first run on the final lap, passing both Kolby Schroder and John Virgilio to do it.
This week, he showed that win was no fluke.
Saturday night on the high banks, the second-generation driver backed up his win of seven days ago with an emphatic exclamation point, taking the lead from Brandon Lane on a lap 19 restart and holding back a determined Andy Bachetti to find victory lane.
“Man, we got it done again,” Haas said. “This is awesome!”
Heading into 2024, Haas had just two career feature event wins. In the first three weeks of this season, however, he’s been able to double it and for the first time in his career he’s gone back-to-back.
“Back-to-back in the Big Blocks is kind of unreal,” he said. “I knew we had a chance tonight. Our car was good but with the ruts, you kind of had to navigate below them. Hopefully we’ve been able to gain some fans the last two weeks.”
Late in the going, defending champion Bachetti worked his way to second and was alongside Haas for the final two restarts of the event. Did that give the winner any extra motivation?
“In the last couple of laps, I saw the number 4 pull up,” he said. “There’s no more pressure then when you see Andy pull up next to you. You better be on your game.”
With the track the way it was, and how hard he had to work to get from his 11th starting spot to the lead, did the car stay consistent for all 30 laps?
“I thought we were fading towards the end,” he said. “However, I knew it was tough to pass on this track and we held on to get it done once again. This is awesome.”
This has been a dream start to the 2024 season for Haas and the 55 team. They have an 11th on opening night to go along with the two victories so far. On that night he gained seven spots to get to the 11th so they’ve moved forward in all three events.
That shows speed and preparation in the shop to go along with making the right calls on race day.
“We’ve been making changes on this thing,” he said. “This car has been that good. We’re making minor, minor tweaks on it. It’s good when the car is that balanced and man, what difference a year makes. We’re rolling right now.”
“In 2023, Haas did find victory lane but the team dug themselves a hole early on with cars that weren’t handling quite right, tough finishes and a blown primary motor. At one point, they were sitting 14th in points and had to dig to get back to fifth and the end of the season. After the first three races this year, Haas now sits 12 markers behind Bachetti in search of his first track title.
“We were struggle so bad last year,” he said. “This type of start this season is kind of unreal but I can’t thank Traction Lab enough for helping us out and all the guys on this crew. They’ve been amazing.”
Bachetti brought his number 4 home in the runner-up spot with Kolby Schroder having another amazing run to start 2024 to come home third. Marc Johnson and John Virgilio completed the top five.
Through the first three races, the top four drivers, Bachetti, Haas, Schroder and Johnson, are separated by just 18 points. This is going to be a dog fight this season to see who will take home the DIRTcar Big Block Modified crown.
Kyle Sheldon brought his Alex Thomson-owned number 42 Big Block home in the 13th spot on Saturday which was an amazing rebound after a week of tireless work by the team to rebuild their car after last week’s massive crash on lap 10.
However, that wasn’t the best story of the night for the young driver as he was able to make good on car owner Paul Wehnau’s choice to hire him to drive the team’s DIRTcar 358-Modified.
Sheldon won his heat race and led every single lap of the feature event Saturday night to score the victory in the division’s season opener and give Wehnau a quick return on his investment.
“I’m speechless,” Sheldon said. “I can’t believe we got to victory lane. I can’t thank Paul (Wehnau) enough for believing in me. I’ve never driven a race car like this in my life and I can’t wait to keep doing it.”
Sheldon had to hold off a fierce challenge from Joey Coppola lap after lap for what seemed like three quarters of the feature. However, each time, the second-generation driver was able to hit his marks and get the job done.
“I knew Joey was there the whole time,” he said. “I could see him and then could see the photographer’s flash bulbs going off so I knew I had someone there. I knew I had to just stay smooth, keep hitting my marks and I was hoping we’d get to victory lane and we did it!”
It was nearly impossible to wipe the smile off Sheldon’s face after his victory on Saturday night.
“To win in my first race with Paul, on our opening night, I still can’t believe it,” he said. “We’re going to be hung over tomorrow.”
Coppola drove a great race to come home in the number two spot with Ray Hall Jr., Lorne Browe and Brett Haas completing the top five.
Can anyone stop Tim Hartman Jr. in Sportsman competition at Lebanon Valley?
Three weeks into the 2024 season and nobody’s been able to do it this far.
Saturday, Hartman took the lead from Nick Giardini on lap seven and was untouched the rest of the way to remain perfect on the season at the West Lebanon, NY oval.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our season,” Hartman said. “I’m just super proud of this team.”
Hartman finished second to Giardini in his heat race and the team went to work to fine-tune the MRP Services DKM 22 machine for the feature, knowing they had to come from the 12th starting spot.
It worked.
“We made a lot of adjustments right before the feature,” he said. “The sea’s parted when I took the lead from Nick and then I just had to make sure to hit my marks from there.”
Giardini came home second to TH2 for the second straight week with Michael Sabia, Mike Arnold and Brady Cordova rounding out the top five finishers.
Saturday was a night that the Twing family will remember for quite some time. The Wild Twing, Frank Twing parked his number 317 DIRTcar Pro Stock in victory lane while his grandson, Frank Twing Jr., took his first win of the season in Limited Sportsman.
“What a night,” Twing said after his Pro Stock win. “Since my grandson started racing, all I ever thought about was both of us winning at the same track on the same night and here we are. We did it. This is awesome.”
The elder Twing took the lead from Shawn Perez on a lap nine restart and then simply drove away from the rest of the field for the convincing victory.
“I had one hope and that was it right there (the restart),” he said. “I was watching Shawn from the beginning and he was getting a push. Then, he started getting it corrected. On that restart, I knew I had to get a good jump and get into the first corner hard. I had a feeling that once his tires cooled off, it was going to happen again.”
The push returned to Perez’s car on that restart and Twing saw his opening, and took it.
“That was the only move I had,” he said. “Getting around Shawn would have been hard. I guess I pulled away once I was in the lead but sometimes, in this class, you have to be three-tenth’s faster to make a pass so I’m glad we were able to make the pass then.”
Perez ran a great race to come home second on the night. Rick Duzlak crossed the line third but was disqualified post-race giving third to opening night winner, Zach Sorrentino.
Defending champion Chad Jeseo was fourth with Chris Stalker completing the top five.
Early in the evening, in the Limited feature, Kid Dynamite, Frank Twing Jr. showed his grandfather the way to victory lane, leading every lap of the feature from the pole to score the win.
Brian Walsh came home second with last week’s winner, Scott Zehnacker finishing third. Mike Bosco and Ray Royals rounded out the top five.
Dave Striebel Jr. put an end to the Jeff Meltz Sr. stranglehold on the Super Street Stock division as driver 73 parked his car in victory lane for the first time in 2024.
Meltz did finish second in the feature on Saturday night, however. Ray Hall Sr., Evan Denue and Scott Morris were the top five finishers in the third race of 2024 for the new class.
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[11]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti[15]; 3. 99-Kolby Schroder[14]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson[13]; 5. 74V-John Virgilio[18]; 6. 98M-Eddie Marshall[17]; 7. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[10]; 8. 88D-Olden Dwyer[9]; 9. 43K-Keith Flach[12]; 10. 21-Ryan Darcy[6]; 11. 115P-Matt Pupello[5]; 12. 7T-Timothy Davis[4]; 13. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[16]; 14. 74H-JR Heffner[7]; 15. 33-Brandon Lane[1]; 16. 115-Montgomery Tremont[3]; 17. 96-Rob Maxon[2]; 18. 10C-Ryan Charland[8]; 19. 55K-Mike King[20]; 20. 1-Josh Marcus[21]; 21. (DNS) 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 115-Montgomery Tremont[1]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti[7]; 3. 33-Brandon Lane[2]; 4. 10C-Ryan Charland[4]; 5. 43K-Keith Flach[6]; 6. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[3]; 7. 98M-Eddie Marshall[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7T-Timothy Davis[2]; 2. 88D-Olden Dwyer[4]; 3. 21-Ryan Darcy[3]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[5]; 5. 9-Marc Johnson[6]; 6. 55K-Mike King[1]; 7. 1-Josh Marcus[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Rob Maxon[1]; 2. 115P-Matt Pupello[2]; 3. 74H-JR Heffner[3]; 4. 55H-Brett Haas[5]; 5. 99-Kolby Schroder[6]; 6. 74V-John Virgilio[4]; 7. 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr[7]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.363[14]; 2. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:20.498[19]; 3. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.541[7]; 4. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:20.570[2]; 5. 43K-Keith Flach, 00:20.588[13]; 6. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:20.619[8]; 7. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.712[12]; 8. 21-Ryan Darcy, 00:20.766[15]; 9. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.800[10]; 10. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.849[16]; 11. 10C-Ryan Charland, 00:20.919[9]; 12. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:20.985[5]; 13. 98M-Eddie Marshall, 00:21.006[18]; 14. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:21.079[3]; 15. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:21.171[11]; 16. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:21.214[17]; 17. 96-Rob Maxon, 00:21.581[4]; 18. 55K-Mike King, 00:21.869[6]; 19. (DNS) 11A-Kyle Armstrong; 20. (DNS) 1-Josh Marcus; 21. (DNS) 43A-Kenny Aanonsen Jr
DIRTcar 358 Modifieds
A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 44-Kyle Sheldon[1]; 2. 94-Joey Coppola[2]; 3. 72-Ray Hall Jr[3]; 4. 14-Lorne Browe[6]; 5. 17H-Brett Haas[8]; 6. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[13]; 7. 1-Jason Herrington[4]; 8. 39-Ryan Larkin[10]; 9. 22W-Jeff Watson[5]; 10. 35-Chris Curtis[7]; 11. 26R-Corey Cormier[11]; 12. 12C-Peter Carlotto[12]; 13. 3-Kim Lavoy[9]; 14. 6R-Ryan Heath[14]; 15. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[19]; 16. 46-Dillon Gannon[17]; 17. 7S-Michael Sabia[18]; 18. 250-Alan Houghtaling[15]; 19. 4-Andy Bachetti[16]; 20. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[20]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 44-Kyle Sheldon[1]; 2. 1-Jason Herrington[2]; 3. 35-Chris Curtis[3]; 4. 39-Ryan Larkin[7]; 5. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[4]; 6. 46-Dillon Gannon[6]; 7. 4-Andy Bachetti[5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 94-Joey Coppola[1]; 2. 22W-Jeff Watson[2]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas[6]; 4. 26R-Corey Cormier[3]; 5. 6R-Ryan Heath[5]; 6. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[4]; 7. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[7]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 72-Ray Hall Jr[2]; 2. 14-Lorne Browe[5]; 3. 3-Kim Lavoy[1]; 4. 12C-Peter Carlotto[4]; 5. 250-Alan Houghtaling[6]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 14-Lorne Browe, 00:21.118[3]; 2. 12C-Peter Carlotto, 00:21.291[8]; 3. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo, 00:21.298[1]; 4. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:21.337[17]; 5. 17H-Brett Haas, 00:21.364[4]; 6. 39-Ryan Larkin, 00:21.399[2]; 7. 94-Joey Coppola, 00:21.420[19]; 8. 72-Ray Hall Jr, 00:21.496[15]; 9. 1-Jason Herrington, 00:21.528[10]; 10. 3-Kim Lavoy, 00:21.723[6]; 11. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:21.800[12]; 12. 22W-Jeff Watson, 00:21.978[13]; 13. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:21.994[11]; 14. 6R-Ryan Heath, 00:22.091[5]; 15. 44-Kyle Sheldon, 00:22.135[14]; 16. 46-Dillon Gannon, 00:22.232[16]; 17. 7CT-Donny Travaglin, 00:22.396[7]; 18. 12S-Brian Sandstedt, 00:22.613[20]; 19. (DNS) 7S-Michael Sabia; 20. (DNS) 250-Alan Houghtaling
DIRTcar Sportsman
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr.[12]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini[5]; 3. 7S-Michael Sabia[8]; 4. 76A-Mike Arnold[7]; 5. 7C-Brady Cordova[10]; 6. 85-Justin Gozzi[13]; 7. 21D-Ricky Davis[11]; 8. 57-Gary O’Brien[2]; 9. 112-Joseph Menitte[16]; 10. 22-Mike Engwer[3]; 11. 307-Karl Barnes[9]; 12. 00-Chris Kokosa[4]; 13. 96-Anthony Maxon[1]; 14. (DNS) 186-Frank Frasco; 15. (DNS) 16-Nikki Ouellette; 16. (DNS) 12P-Connor Prokop
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 399-Nick Giardini[3]; 2. 22H- Tim Hartman Jr.[7]; 3. 22-Mike Engwer[2]; 4. 96-Anthony Maxon[1]; 5. 76A-Mike Arnold[4]; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova[5]; 7. 16-Nikki Ouellette[8]; 8. 85-Justin Gozzi[6]
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 57-Gary O’Brien[1]; 2. 00-Chris Kokosa[2]; 3. 307-Karl Barnes[5]; 4. 21D-Ricky Davis[6]; 5. 186-Frank Frasco[3]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[4]; 7. 112-Joseph Menitte[7]; 8. 12P-Connor Prokop[8]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H- Tim Hartman Jr., 00:22.180[3]; 2. 21D-Ricky Davis, 00:22.471[13]; 3. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:22.486[10]; 4. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.613[7]; 5. 76A-Mike Arnold, 00:22.839[9]; 6. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:22.985[1]; 7. 96-Anthony Maxon, 00:23.124[4]; 8. 00-Chris Kokosa, 00:23.628[5]; 9. 112-Joseph Menitte, 00:24.774[15]; 10. 16-Nikki Ouellette, 00:25.284[14]; 11. (DNS) 57-Gary O’Brien; 12. (DNS) 85-Justin Gozzi; 13. (DNS) 22-Mike Engwer; 14. (DNS) 186-Frank Frasco; 15. (DNS) 7S-Michael Sabia; 16. (DNS) 12P-Connor Prokop
DIRTcar Pro Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 317-Frank Twing[3]; 2. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[1]; 3. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[7]; 4. 25-Chad Jeseo[11]; 5. 177-Chris Stalker[6]; 6. 62-Rocco Procopio[2]; 7. 55-David Stickles[9]; 8. 17-Nick Hilt[10]; 9. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[8]; 10. 78-Paul LaRochelle[4]; 11. 311-Brian Keough[14]; 12. 10-Katrina Foster[13]; 13. 825-Chris Dyer[12]; 14. 32-Richard Spencer[16]; 15. 315-Michael Dianda[15]; 16. (DQ) 29-Rick Duzlak[5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[1]; 2. 317-Frank Twing[3]; 3. 17-Nick Hilt[8]; 4. 55-David Stickles[6]; 5. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[5]; 6. 29-Rick Duzlak[4]; 7. 825-Chris Dyer[2]; 8. 32-Richard Spencer[7]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 78-Paul LaRochelle[2]; 2. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[4]; 3. 62-Rocco Procopio[1]; 4. 177-Chris Stalker[3]; 5. 25-Chad Jeseo[8]; 6. 311-Brian Keough[5]; 7. 10-Katrina Foster[7]; 8. 315-Michael Dianda[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 317-Frank Twing, 00:24.225[10]; 2. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:24.297[4]; 3. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:24.514[3]; 4. 78-Paul LaRochelle, 00:24.563[5]; 5. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:24.595[11]; 6. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:24.615[7]; 7. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.835[2]; 8. 29-Rick Duzlak, 00:24.994[1]; 9. 311-Brian Keough, 00:25.137[9]; 10. 825-Chris Dyer, 00:26.609[8]; 11. 10-Katrina Foster, 00:26.827[13]; 12. 315-Michael Dianda, 00:28.480[12]; 13. (DNS) 177-Chris Stalker; 14. (DNS) 32-Richard Spencer
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Frank Twing Jr[1]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[8]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[11]; 4. 31B-Mike Bosco[2]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[4]; 6. 27-Dylan Holmes[5]; 7. 128-Kent Clark[12]; 8. 25B-Jasen Brewer[7]; 9. 09-Braxton Martin[6]; 10. 03-Harold Robitaille[10]; 11. 19-Owen Lewis[3]; 12. 04-Chris Humes[13]; 13. 6S-John Santolin[9]; 14. 250B-Billy Brandt[14]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1-Frank Twing Jr[1]; 2. 19-Owen Lewis[2]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[6]; 4. 25B-Jasen Brewer[4]; 5. 27-Dylan Holmes[3]; 6. 6S-John Santolin[5]; 7. (DNS) 04-Chris Humes
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 31B-Mike Bosco[1]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[4]; 3. 09-Braxton Martin[3]; 4. 03-Harold Robitaille[5]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[2]; 6. 128-Kent Clark[6]; 7. 250B-Billy Brandt[7]
Super Street Stock
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 73-David Streibel[6]; 2. 5X-Jeff Meltz[9]; 3. 27-Ray Hall Sr[4]; 4. 245-Evan Denue[5]; 5. 84-Scott Morris[7]; 6. 46-Doug Sterling[2]; 7. 76-Franklin Smith[1]; 8. 25-Paul Vallee[8]; 9. 08-Lou Gancarz[10]; 10. 89V-Kerianne Vandenburg[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 73-David Streibel, 00:26.262[5]; 2. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 00:26.832[4]; 3. 27-Ray Hall Sr, 00:27.415[9]; 4. 245-Evan Denue, 00:27.489[3]; 5. 89V-Kerianne Vandenburg, 00:27.514[2]; 6. 84-Scott Morris, 00:27.870[8]; 7. 46-Doug Sterling, 00:27.964[7]; 8. 25-Paul Vallee, 00:29.015[6]; 9. (DNS) 76-Franklin Smith; 10. (DNS) 08-Lou Gancarz