Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Work hard, never give up and sometimes, you’re rewarded for your efforts.
That was the motto this week for Keith Flach and his team and the proof is in the results as the Ravena Rocket captured the DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature event win Saturday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway.
“Just like my team, I try not to quit,” Flach said. “Thankfully, we were blessed with a win tonight. To be honest, I didn’t think we’d get back to victory lane. It’s been a while.”
Nearly five years has passed since the last time Flach had visited the hallowed grounds of Lebanon Valley victory lane, and he’s been chomping at the bit.
Last week, the KFR team didn’t have the night they wanted and came home 11th in the main event. So, they went to work in the shop to chance their luck.
“We did some digging this week,” he said. “We weren’t very good last time out. Actually, we were very bad last week and hopefully we’ve hit on something and can do better coming from the back.”
Saturday night proved the effort was worth it. Flach wasn’t letting this opportunity pass him up.
“That was pretty wild,” he said. “Kyle (Sheldon) was so far out front early that I didn’t realize he was the leader. I thought Andy (Bachetti) was when he had his flat tire.”
Once Flach got into the mix, there was an amazing battle between himself, Sheldon, 15th place starter Brett Haas and Kolby Schroder, all of which could have easily gone to factory lane.
“It was just great racing tonight,” he said. “Our car was pretty good. We got a little jammed up once but this was the type of night we needed.”
However, it was the battle for the top spot between Flach, Sheldon and Haas as the feature neared the two-thirds mark that had the fans on their feet. Sheldon was leading with Flach and Haas hounding him. Flach was able to work his way by and ultimately, Haas would as well.
It was a torrid battle between driver 43, driver 55 and driver 42 for the victory with Flach coming out on top.
“Brett definitely raced me very clean,” he said. “I appreciate that. He’s a great guy to race with. I think I got into Kyle a little on the frontstretch one time. I tried to tell him under yellow that I was sorry for that. I thought I had him clear but it was definitely a good race. They’re definitely class guys and it was a lot of fun.”
You could see the relief on Flach’s face to finally return the familiar number 43 back to the winner’s circle at the Valley of Speed.
“It’s definitely good to finally get back to victory lane,” he said. “I have to thank my dad, Ben (Herbert, Flach’s Crew Chief) and everyone that helps us out. Hopefully now, we can gain some momentum going forward.”
Haas brought the BHR 55 home in the runner-up spot and is now your new Big Block Modified point leader, by four markers over Marc Johnson who came in fourth.
Sandwiched between the two on Saturday was Kolby Schroder who had another strong run at the Valley. He sits third in points, just eight behind Haas. Last week’s winner, JR Heffner, backed up that victory with a fine fifth place run.
Andy Bachetti looked like he was going to be in the mix on Saturday night until a flat tire just past halfway while he was running second to Sheldon derailed his chances. He did rebound to drive back through the field to come home seventh at the finish.
His night, however, was a little luckier earlier Saturday as the “Wild Child” scored his second-straight win in the 358-Modified division, getting around leader Alan Houghtaling on a lap 14 restart and never looking back.
“This feels good,” Bachetti said. “My guys worked their tails off and I’m glad I could reward them with a victory.”
Track conditions threw Bachetti and the rest of the competitors a curveball but the veteran from Sheffield, MA knew how to get the job done.
“The race track was real ‘dirty’ tonight,” he said. “It was hard to see on the backstretch so you had to bide your time and go easy. That’s not easy for me to do.”
At the end of the 24-lap event, Bachetti was cruising and crossed the line nearly four seconds ahead runner-up finisher Joey Coppola who had another strong run in 358-Modified competition.
Lorne Browe came home in third with Brett Haas fourth and Kyle Sheldon in fifth after rebounding from an early feature spin.
Will Tim Hartman Jr. ever let anyone else win a Sportsman feature at the Valley?
Saturday night, he wasn’t ready to relinquish his stranglehold on victory lane as the defending champion kept his perfect 2024 win record intact.
Hartman used the inside line to his advantage and drove from 12th to the lead in five and a half laps, sliding under pole sitter Anthony Maxon for the top spot on lap six and never looking back.
However, it was his ‘driving coach’ that gave him the idea to try the inside on Saturday.
“My daughter, Brexley, was actually the one who told me to run the bottom right before I went out on the track for the feature. She dove in the window when I was about to back up and told me to run the bottom. I was like, okay, I’ll probably try that.”
It worked. The key passes Hartman made on Saturday was on the low groove.
“The track crew gave us another lane down on the bottom this week,” he said. “Nobody seemed to want to go down there, so I said screw it, I’ll listen to Brexley and give it a shot and it worked. Everyone was bouncing off each other on top and I was just able to mosey along on the bottom and get to the lead.”
Is “TH2” able to comprehend just what type of roll he’s on right now at the Valley?
“I can’t,” he said. “It’s pretty surreal honestly. At a place that historically has ‘no passing,’ to be able to run the top, the middle or the bottom, on any given night, is one of the big reasons we’re able to have this streak. It also helps that our car is phenomenal on and track condition that is thrown at us.”
Saturday night, Hartman also tied John Virgilio for the lead in all-time wins for the ‘Crate’ Sportsman division at the Valley. However, his win may be the second best thing that happened to his family on this day.
“The coolest thing was that my daughter won at the kart track this morning and we got it done tonight,” he said. I’m so proud of her and glad that she’s interested in racing. She really wants to be a part of it and really gets into it. This is so great to see.”
Michael Sabia came home in second on this night with Ray Hall Jr. in the Gary O’Brien number 57 finishing in third. Mike Arnold and Nick Giardini rounded out the top five.
FIRST TIME WINNER ALERT! Sound the alarm. Shawn Perez finally found his way to victory lane in the DIRTcar Pro Stock division at the Valley.
“It’s been many, many years since I’ve been in the winner’s circle,” Perez said. “I have to thank my team and my sponsors. This wasn’t just me. This was a whole team effort.”
Perez lead from the drop of the green flag but had to hold off a ferocious challenge from Nick Hilt and Paul Larochelle late in the going to score the win, but the Rensselaer, NY driver did what he had to and was rewarded with the win.
“Most of the people and sponsors that are a part of this team have been with me forever,” he said. “This is just awesome. We’re going to be partying afterwards.”
Hilt and Larochelle were second and third, respectively, with Dave Stickles holding off Tommy Dean in a side-by-side battle for fourth which went on for nearly a quarter of the event.
Brian Walsh had one bad fast Limit Sportsman car on Saturday and was able to put his number 43 in victory lane for the first time this season. Garrett Biagiarelli was second with Harold Robitaille, Scott Zehnacker and Ray Royals completing the top five.
Chris Stalker backed up his Friday night win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway with a checkered flag on Saturday at the Valley in the Super Street Stock division. Dave Striebel Jr. and Jeff Meltz Sr. completed the podium.
Unfortunately, the 4-Cylinders were the final race on the night and as the green flag flew on their feature, the skies opened up and several cars spun out in turn one. No real damage was made but the track became super slick.
That forced officials to red flag the feature and at the time this story was posted, no word about when the feature will be made up.
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 43F-Keith Flach[6]; 2. 55H-Brett Haas[15]; 3. 99-Kolby Schroder[14]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson[13]; 5. 74H-JR Heffner[8]; 6. 74V-John Virgilio[12]; 7. 4-Andy Bachetti[10]; 8. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[2]; 9. 98M-Eddie Marshall[9]; 10. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[11]; 11. 7T-Timothy Davis[19]; 12. 88D-Olden Dwyer[5]; 13. 115-Montgomery Tremont[16]; 14. 55K-Mike King[17]; 15. 96-Rob Maxon[18]; 16. 115P-Matt Pupello[4]; 17. 21-Ryan Darcy[3]; 18. 33-Brandon Lane[1]; 19. 60-Brian Berger[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 60-Brian Berger[3]; 2. 88D-Olden Dwyer[4]; 3. 98M-Eddie Marshall[5]; 4. 55H-Brett Haas[7]; 5. 74V-John Virgilio[6]; 6. 115-Montgomery Tremont[1]; 7. 55K-Mike King[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[2]; 2. 33-Brandon Lane[1]; 3. 43F-Keith Flach[4]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson[6]; 5. 4-Andy Bachetti[5]; 6. 7T-Timothy Davis[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Ryan Darcy[2]; 2. 115P-Matt Pupello[3]; 3. 74H-JR Heffner[4]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[5]; 5. 99-Kolby Schroder[6]; 6. 96-Rob Maxon[1]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 43F-Keith Flach, 00:20.616[1]; 2. 21-Ryan Darcy, 00:20.654[18]; 3. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.671[7]; 4. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.730[19]; 5. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:20.748[8]; 6. 60-Brian Berger, 00:20.813[4]; 7. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.839[17]; 8. 98M-Eddie Marshall, 00:20.914[14]; 9. 11A-Kyle Armstrong, 00:21.002[9]; 10. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:21.116[11]; 11. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:21.141[12]; 12. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:21.175[16]; 13. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:21.185[3]; 14. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:21.207[5]; 15. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:21.348[6]; 16. 55K-Mike King, 00:21.360[2]; 17. 96-Rob Maxon, 00:21.405[13]; 18. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:21.418[10]; 19. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:21.498[15]
358-Modifieds
A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[7]; 2. 94-Joey Coppola[12]; 3. 14-Lorne Browe[11]; 4. 17H-Brett Haas[14]; 5. 44-Kyle Sheldon[13]; 6. 39-Ryan Larkin[6]; 7. 22W-Jeff Watson[9]; 8. 3-Kim Lavoy[3]; 9. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[5]; 10. 7C-Brady Cordova[16]; 11. 30-Mark Pullen[18]; 12. 12C-Peter Carlotto[8]; 13. 72-Ray Hall Jr[10]; 14. 6R-Ryan Heath[4]; 15. 7S-Michael Sabia[17]; 16. 519-Joe Pravia[15]; 17. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 18. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 2. 39-Ryan Larkin[4]; 3. 72-Ray Hall Jr[6]; 4. 44-Kyle Sheldon[8]; 5. 12C-Peter Carlotto[5]; 6. 6R-Ryan Heath; 7. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[3]; 8. 519-Joe Pravia[9]; 9. 7S-Michael Sabia[2]; 10. 7C-Brady Cordova[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22W-Jeff Watson[5]; 2. 94-Joey Coppola[7]; 3. 4-Andy Bachetti[4]; 4. 17H-Brett Haas[8]; 5. 3-Kim Lavoy[2]; 6. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[1]; 7. 14-Lorne Browe[6]; 8. 30-Mark Pullen[9]; 9. (DNS) 6R-Ryan Heath
Hot Laps 1: 1. 17H-Brett Haas, 00:20.911[14]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:21.061[16]; 3. 44-Kyle Sheldon, 00:21.109[6]; 4. 14-Lorne Browe, 00:21.239[15]; 5. 94-Joey Coppola, 00:21.254[7]; 6. 72-Ray Hall Jr, 00:21.393[17]; 7. 39-Ryan Larkin, 00:21.400[4]; 8. 22W-Jeff Watson, 00:21.478[3]; 9. 12C-Peter Carlotto, 00:21.509[9]; 10. 12S-Brian Sandstedt, 00:21.743[8]; 11. 3-Kim Lavoy, 00:21.781[2]; 12. 7CT-Donny Travaglin, 00:21.861[10]; 13. 6R-Ryan Heath, 00:22.067[12]; 14. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.220[11]; 15. 519-Joe Pravia, 00:24.762[13]; 16. 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:24.763[5]; 17. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:24.764[1]
Sportsman
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr.[12]; 2. 7S-Michael Sabia[8]; 3. 57-Ray Hall Jr[3]; 4. 76A-Mike Arnold[6]; 5. 399-Nick Giardini[11]; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova[13]; 7. 711X-Connor Crane[14]; 8. 85-Justin Gozzi[9]; 9. 22-Mike Engwer[2]; 10. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[10]; 11. 250-Alan Houghtaling[15]; 12. 307-Karl Barnes[5]; 13. 21D-Ricky Davis[7]; 14. 96-Anthony Maxon[1]; 15. 112-Joseph Mennite[4]
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 96-Anthony Maxon[1]; 2. 57-Ray Hall Jr[2]; 3. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr.[8]; 4. 21D-Ricky Davis[4]; 5. 307-Karl Barnes[3]; 6. 85-Justin Gozzi[5]; 7. 7C-Brady Cordova[6]; 8. 711X-Connor Crane[7]
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 76A-Mike Arnold[3]; 2. 7S-Michael Sabia[5]; 3. 399-Nick Giardini[7]; 4. 112-Joseph Mennite[2]; 5. 22-Mike Engwer[1]; 6. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[6]; 7. 250-Alan Houghtaling[4]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr., 00:22.208[10]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:22.509[2]; 3. 21D-Ricky Davis, 00:22.645[13]; 4. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:22.646[11]; 5. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.815[9]; 6. 57-Ray Hall Jr, 00:22.943[1]; 7. 85-Justin Gozzi, 00:22.951[6]; 8. 76A-Mike Arnold, 00:23.015[12]; 9. 112-Joseph Mennite, 00:23.088[4]; 10. 711X-Connor Crane, 00:23.120[3]; 11. 96-Anthony Maxon, 00:23.505[5]; 12. 22-Mike Engwer, 00:23.602[15]; 13. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:23.711[7]; 14. 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:23.712[14]; 15. 711C-Chris Crane Jr, 00:23.713[8]
DIRTcar Pro Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[1]; 2. 17-Nick Hilt[6]; 3. 78-Paul LaRochelle[2]; 4. 55-David Stickles[3]; 5. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[10]; 6. 25-Chad Jeseo[16]; 7. 29-Rick Duzlak[9]; 8. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[7]; 9. 62-Rocco Procopio[5]; 10. 311-Brian Keough[13]; 11. 52-Tom O’Connor[4]; 12. 32-Richard Spencer[14]; 13. 825-Chris Dyer[12]; 14. 4-Michael Dianda[15]; 15. (DNF) 317-Frank Twing[8]; 16. (DNS) 177-Chris Stalker
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[1]; 2. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[5]; 3. 317-Frank Twing[4]; 4. 62-Rocco Procopio[3]; 5. 17-Nick Hilt[8]; 6. 825-Chris Dyer[6]; 7. 177-Chris Stalker[2]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 78-Paul LaRochelle[2]; 2. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[5]; 3. 55-David Stickles[3]; 4. 29-Rick Duzlak[4]; 5. 52-Tom O’Connor[1]; 6. 311-Brian Keough[7]; 7. 32-Richard Spencer; 8. 4-Michael Dianda[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:23.959[3]; 2. 78-Paul LaRochelle, 00:24.422[2]; 3. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:24.432[9]; 4. 29-Rick Duzlak, 00:24.507[5]; 5. 317-Frank Twing, 00:24.522[8]; 6. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.534[7]; 7. 311-Brian Keough, 00:24.577[11]; 8. 52-Tom O’Connor, 00:24.599[1]; 9. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:24.700[6]; 10. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:25.060[4]; 11. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:25.346[10]; 12. 32-Richard Spencer, 00:25.442[13]; 13. 825-Chris Dyer, 00:26.284[12]; 14. 4-Michael Dianda, 00:27.265[14]
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 43-Brian Walsh[9]; 2. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[2]; 3. 03-Harold Robitaille[4]; 4. 143-Scott Zehnacker[10]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[8]; 6. 25B-Jasen Brewer[7]; 7. 27-Dylan Holmes[12]; 8. 09-Braxton Martin[11]; 9. 6S-John Santolin[5]; 10. 128-Kent Clark[13]; 11. F1-Fred Pavia[6]; 12. 19-Owen Lewis[1]; 13. (DNS) 216-Phil Arnold
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 03-Harold Robitaille[3]; 2. 19-Owen Lewis[1]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[7]; 4. 216-Phil Arnold[2]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[6]; 6. 27-Dylan Holmes[5]; 7. (DNS) 09-Braxton Martin
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 25B-Jasen Brewer[4]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[5]; 3. 6S-John Santolin[1]; 4. F1-Fred Pavia[3]; 5. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[2]; 6. 128-Kent Clark[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 43-Brian Walsh, 00:23.056[8]; 2. 03-Harold Robitaille, 00:23.252[11]; 3. 10-Ray Royals, 00:23.404[6]; 4. 25B-Jasen Brewer, 00:23.770[5]; 5. 6S-John Santolin, 00:23.975[3]; 6. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:23.998[4]; 7. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli, 00:24.075[12]; 8. 27-Dylan Holmes, 00:24.280[1]; 9. 216-Phil Arnold, 00:24.620[10]; 10. F1-Fred Pavia, 00:25.002[7]; 11. 09-Braxton Martin[2]; 12. 143-Scott Zehnacker[9]; 13. 128-Kent Clark[13]
Super Street Stock
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker[7]; 2. 73-David Streibel[6]; 3. 5X-Jeff Meltz[8]; 4. 273-Dave Streibel[5]; 5. 08-Lou Gancarz[9]; 6. 46-Doug Sterling[3]; 7. 89V-Kerianne Vandenburg[2]; 8. 76-Franklin Smith[1]; 9. 25-Paul Vallee[10]; 10. 245-Evan Denue[4]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 73-David Streibel, 00:25.947[8]; 2. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 00:26.117[5]; 3. 273-Dave Streibel, 00:26.372[4]; 4. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:26.527[7]; 5. 46-Doug Sterling, 00:26.591[6]; 6. 89V-Kerianne Vandenburg, 00:26.792[1]; 7. 245-Evan Denue, 00:26.861[3]; 8. 76-Franklin Smith, 00:27.670[2]; 9. 25-Paul Vallee, 00:28.006[9]; 10. (DNS) 08-Lou Gancarz
4 Cylinder Single & Dual
Hot Laps 1: 1. 0D-Jason Peck, 00:27.148[7]; 2. 7D-Adam Montville, 00:28.474[3]; 3. 48D-Anthony Tarantino, 00:28.799[5]; 4. 14S-Dylan Macleod, 00:29.100[6]; 5. 8S-Stephen Burka, 00:32.701[1]; 6. 13-Jason Porter, 00:27.140[4]; 7. 99D-Jonathan Shepherd, 00:32.700[2]