Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – If there’s been a car in Lebanon Valley Speedway’s Big Block Modified division this season that’s been the most consistent, it’d have to be Brett Haas’ #55.
Through six races heading into Saturday night, the Pittsfield, MA native’s worst finish this season was a 12th place showing on opening night. Better yet, the other five starts produced two wins and no finish worse than fifth.
Correction. Make that three wins in seven starts as the current Modified point leader padded his cushion on the season-long standings with a lap 23 pass of Olden Dwyer for the top spot after starting in 15th.
“This thing has just been flawless,” Haas said. “To win three Big Block features in a year is a huge accomplishment and I wouldn’t be here without my Dad, my family and my crew.”
As the race went on, Dwyer had driven away from everyone but had Brian Berger his closest competitor. However, last week’s winner, Andy Bachetti, had quickly moved from his eighth starting spot into third and looked poised for a run at back-to-back Big Block wins.
Haas had other ideas, though.
“We picked off quite a few cars early on,” he said. “Then, I realized we were catching Andy and I was able to get by him. Then, he slid back by me and I thought, damn, that might have been my one chance to get him.”
It wasn’t. Haas regrouped and went back to work on his fellow Baystate driver, and the charge was on.
“We got by Andy again with using a lap car as a pick,” he said. “Then we got Berger, and then chased down Olden and got him. I just tried driving as hard as I could those last five laps and those sure were a long five laps.”
Once out front, the Haas 55 was not to be denied. It just showed how good of a car and team they have right now with putting another check in the win column.
“We’re just plugging away and it’s fun when you have a car that drives where you want it to,” he said. “When you can catch some breaks, it helps too, like tonight, winning the Bill Darcy Memorial and the extra money. Without a primary sponsor, we’re racing like we need the money because we do so thank you to the Darcy family for that.”
Bachetti was able to get around his good friend Dwyer late in the going to grab the second position with Berger and Marc Johnson completing the top five.
Bachetti wasn’t to be outdone early on, however, as the Wild Child made a bit of history Saturday night, capturing his fourth-straight victory in Small Block Modified competition.
Bachetti sliced through the field like a hot knife through butter, taking the top spot from the 12c of Peter Carlotto in the first quarter of the event.
Then, the driver of the Garrity #4 was able to run the line he wanted and went on to set a new record at the Valley of Speed.
“The race track kind of fell into our hands tonight,” Bachetti said. “I can’t say enough about all these guys on this crew. They work their tails off for me and it’s showing in the performance of this car.”
Even as good as the car was running on Saturday, Bachetti could sense a bit of a change as the laps began to wean.
“I think we broke an exhaust pipe or something towards the end of the race,” he said. “I don’t know what really happened but the car’s been really good and this just proved it again tonight.”
Bachetti fired from tenth starting spot and was able to use the extreme low line he found in last week’s feature to his advantage. As the early laps clicked off, there were several circuits that the Sheffield, MA driver was able to get multiple cars at one time.
“The car was good tonight,” he said. “It went wherever I put it. That’s the kind of balance you’re looking for and you have to work hard to find it. That’s what this team does. They’ve been working hard and now we’ve won four in-a-row.”
Jason Herrington charged to a well-earned second place finish. He was able to get around Brett Haas in the Jim Winchell-owned #17 on a late restart. Haas came home in P3.
Joey Coppola had an eventful night. Heading into the night, he was the division point leader and was having a strong night until contact with the lapped car of Ryan Heath sent both of them spinning.
Coppola tried to drive to the bottom to keep his charge going, misjudged the gap he had and clipped the right front of Heath, taking the #94 out of a third place position. Also collected was fourth place Kyle Sheldon, sending all three to the rear of the field.
With only a handful of laps left, both Coppola and Sheldon charged through the field, once again, with Coppola getting back to fourth at the finish. Sheldon came home seventh. Peter Carlotto rounded out the top five.
What else can be said about the roll Tim Hartman Jr. has been on in Sportsman competition at Lebanon Valley in 2024? Nothing to be honest as it’s just been amazing to watch and it continued on Saturday night.
Hartman worked his way to the front, yet again, from his tenth starting spot, and got by leader Ray Hall Jr. as lap 11 of 20 was set to click off the lap counter.
From there, history was made by TH2 as he was able to capture his ninth victory in-a-row at the Valley.
“This car’s just so good,” Hartman said. “It has been every week this year.”
Hartman and his team weren’t going on previous laurels to try and get back to victory lane. Right until the very last minute, they were fine-tuning on the number 22.
“We were making adjustments as we were pulling up to the grid, after watching the 358-Modified feature,” he said. “Those changes were just perfect for turns one and two. I could really roll the top and keep my momentum up.”
Now, he’s found yet another way to get into the record books at the West Lebanon, NY oval after recently taking over the all-time Crate Sportsman wins mark.
“We’re just having a lot of fun right now,” he said. “This is the best race track around right now and I’m glad we were able to stand in victory lane tonight.”
Hall finished in second with Mike Arnold, Justin Gozzi and Nick Giardini completing the top five.
In the DIRTcar Pro Stock main event, it was right place at the right time for Zach Sorrentino as the driver from Lee, MA slipped by leader Paul Larochelle and second place Chad Jeseo when Larochelle got loose off of turn two.
That was all Sorrentino needed as he led the remaining laps to score win number three on the season.
“This car was phenomenal tonight.” Sorrentino said. “When you start so far back, you try to be patient but not too patient. It’s a tough cat and mouse game you play but with this team behind me, I can’t believe we’ve been to victory lane three times already this year.”
Late in the going, the race was marred by a multiple car pileup that saw Shawn Perez Sr. drive over the top of Jeseo’s #25. Contact between Larochelle and Jeseo saw both drivers spin with Tommy Dean, last week’s winner, Nick Hilt, Jaxson Ryan and Perez with no where to go.
Hilt rebounded quite well and ended up driving back to second at the finish to keep his point lead intact. Chris Stalker led the early portion of the feature and came home third with rookie Chris Dyer getting a career best fourth place finish.
Brian Keough completed the top five.
Scott Zehnacker got his season back on track in Limited Sportsman as the Clintondale, NY driver took his #143 Teo Pro Car to victory lane for the fourth time in 2024.
Braxton Martin rebounded from a flip one week ago to lead the early portion of the race before getting passed by Zehnacker. He came home second with Owen Lewis, Ray Royals and Colby Kokosa completing the top five.
Dave Striebel Jr. made a late-race pass of Chris Stalker to win another Super Street Stock main event. Dave Striebel Sr., Jeff Meltz Sr. and Kerri Vandenburg were third through fifth, respectively.
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[15]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti[8]; 3. 88D-Olden Dwyer[1]; 4. 60-Brian Berger[3]; 5. 9-Marc Johnson[12]; 6. 33-Brandon Lane[4]; 7. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[9]; 8. 99-Kolby Schroder[14]; 9. 74H-JR Heffner[11]; 10. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[17]; 11. 74V-John Virgilio[10]; 12. 7T-Timothy Davis[7]; 13. 115P-Matt Pupello[5]; 14. 21-Ryan Darcy[22]; 15. 43F-Keith Flach[21]; 16. 96-Rob Maxon[20]; 17. 10C-Ryan Charland[13]; 18. 115-Montgomery Tremont[2]; 19. 91M-Josh Marcus[18]; 20. 45X-Wayne Jelley[19]; 21. 98-Eddie Marshall[16]; 22. 55K-Mike King[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88D-Olden Dwyer[1]; 2. 74V-John Virgilio[6]; 3. 55H-Brett Haas[8]; 4. 115P-Matt Pupello[3]; 5. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 6. 98-Eddie Marshall[4]; 7. 45X-Wayne Jelley[7]; 8. (DNS) 21-Ryan Darcy
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 60-Brian Berger[2]; 2. 9-Marc Johnson[7]; 3. 55K-Mike King[3]; 4. 10C-Ryan Charland[6]; 5. 7T-Timothy Davis[4]; 6. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[5]; 7. 96-Rob Maxon[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[4]; 2. 74H-JR Heffner[6]; 3. 99-Kolby Schroder[7]; 4. 115-Montgomery Tremont[1]; 5. 33-Brandon Lane[2]; 6. 91M-Josh Marcus[3]; 7. 43F-Keith Flach[5]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.205[13]; 2. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:20.380[10]; 3. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.556[7]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.766[18]; 5. 55K-Mike King, 00:20.775[17]; 6. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.801[9]; 7. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.810[3]; 8. 10C-Ryan Charland, 00:20.835[12]; 9. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:20.869[11]; 10. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:20.882[21]; 11. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:20.985[14]; 12. 98-Eddie Marshall, 00:21.012[5]; 13. 45X-Wayne Jelley, 00:21.065[19]; 14. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:21.107[22]; 15. 21-Ryan Darcy, 00:21.151[4]; 16. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:21.183[2]; 17. 60-Brian Berger, 00:21.186[8]; 18. 96-Rob Maxon, 00:21.256[20]; 19. 43F-Keith Flach, 00:21.257[6]; 20. 91M-Josh Marcus, 00:21.349[1]; 21. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:21.650[15]; 22. (DNS) 11A-Kyle Armstrong
DIRTcar 358 Modifieds
A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[10]; 2. 1-Jason Herrington[5]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas[8]; 4. 94-Joey Coppola[9]; 5. 12C-Peter Carlotto[2]; 6. 22-Jeff Watson[7]; 7. 44-Kyle Sheldon[6]; 8. 39-Ryan Larkin[14]; 9. 3-Kim Lavoy[3]; 10. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[4]; 11. 435-Chris Bisson[12]; 12. 7S-Michael Sabia[16]; 13. 6R-Ryan Heath[1]; 14. 46-Dillon Gannon[11]; 15. 57-Ray Hall Jr[17]; 16. (DNF) 519-Joe Pravia[15]; 17. (DNF) 12S-Brian Sandstedt[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[8]; 2. 17H-Brett Haas[7]; 3. 1-Jason Herrington[5]; 4. 22-Jeff Watson[6]; 5. 12C-Peter Carlotto[2]; 6. 6R-Ryan Heath[9]; 7. 46-Dillon Gannon[3]; 8. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[1]; 9. 39-Ryan Larkin[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kim Lavoy[2]; 2. 14-Lorne Browe[4]; 3. 44-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 4. 7S-Michael Sabia[1]; 5. 94-Joey Coppola[7]; 6. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[3]; 7. 435-Chris Bisson[9]; 8. 57-Ray Hall Jr[8]; 9. 519-Joe Pravia[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:21.149[15]; 2. 39-Ryan Larkin, 00:21.209[13]; 3. 14-Lorne Browe, 00:21.216[9]; 4. 94-Joey Coppola, 00:21.287[17]; 5. 44-Kyle Sheldon, 00:21.381[7]; 6. 1-Jason Herrington, 00:21.387[5]; 7. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:21.415[3]; 8. 3-Kim Lavoy, 00:21.488[10]; 9. 17H-Brett Haas, 00:21.500[11]; 10. 7CT-Donny Travaglin, 00:21.607[12]; 11. 22-Jeff Watson, 00:21.615[2]; 12. 12C-Peter Carlotto, 00:21.682[1]; 13. 12S-Brian Sandstedt, 00:21.923[8]; 14. 6R-Ryan Heath, 00:22.086[4]; 15. 46-Dillon Gannon, 00:22.170[6]; 16. 435-Chris Bisson, 00:22.438[16]; 17. 519-Joe Pravia, 00:24.373[14]; 18. (DNS) 57-Ray Hall Jr
DIRTcar Pro Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[9]; 2. 17-Nick Hilt[10]; 3. 177-Chris Stalker[1]; 4. 825-Chris Dyer[16]; 5. 311-Brian Keough[13]; 6. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[8]; 7. 78-Paul LaRochelle[4]; 8. 25-Chad Jeseo[7]; 9. 62-Rocco Procopio[2]; 10. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[5]; 11. 04-Jaxson Ryan[14]; 12. 52-Tom O’Connor[3]; 13. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[12]; 14. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[15]; 15. 29-rick duzlak[11]; 16. (DNF) 55-David Stickles[6]; 17. (DNS) 32-Richard Spencer
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[5]; 2. 177-Chris Stalker[1]; 3. 55-David Stickles[4]; 4. 17-Nick Hilt[6]; 5. 25-Chad Jeseo[7]; 6. 52-Tom O’Connor[3]; 7. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[9]; 8. 825-Chris Dyer[8]; 9. 29-rick duzlak[2]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 78-Paul LaRochelle[3]; 2. 62-Rocco Procopio[2]; 3. 04-Jaxson Ryan[8]; 4. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[1]; 5. 311-Brian Keough[7]; 6. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[4]; 7. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[5]; 8. (DNS) 32-Richard Spencer
Hot Laps 1: 1. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:23.834[10]; 2. 04-Jaxson Ryan, 00:24.326[13]; 3. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:24.336[2]; 4. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:24.571[6]; 5. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:24.605[8]; 6. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:24.642[7]; 7. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.700[3]; 8. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr, 00:24.707[12]; 9. 825-Chris Dyer, 00:24.766[14]; 10. 78-Paul LaRochelle, 00:24.768[1]; 11. 311-Brian Keough, 00:24.792[16]; 12. 32-Richard Spencer, 00:24.991[15]; 13. 52-Tom O’Connor, 00:25.011[4]; 14. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:25.508[11]; 15. (DNS) 17-Nick Hilt; 16. (DNS) 29-rick duzlak
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[10]; 2. 57-Ray Hall Jr[3]; 3. 76-Mike Arnold[9]; 4. 85-Justin Gozzi[6]; 5. 399-Nick Giardini[13]; 6. 96-Anthony Maxon[4]; 7. 112-Joseph Mennite[1]; 8. 711X-Connor Crane[8]; 9. 23-Alex Bell[5]; 10. 7C-Brady Cordova[12]; 11. 22-Mike Engwer[2]; 12. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[19]; 13. 21D-Ricky Davis[14]; 14. 307-Karl Barnes[7]; 15. 43-Kevin Ames[18]; 16. 7S-Michael Sabia[11]; 17. 728-Bob Fachini[17]; 18. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[15]; 19. 186-Frank Frasco[16]
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[7]; 2. 112-Joseph Mennite[1]; 3. 85-Justin Gozzi[3]; 4. 57-Ray Hall Jr[2]; 5. 399-Nick Giardini[5]; 6. 23-Alex Bell[8]; 7. 7S-Michael Sabia[6]; 8. 21D-Ricky Davis[4]; 9. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[9]; 10. 43-Kevin Ames[10]
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 22-Mike Engwer[1]; 2. 7C-Brady Cordova[4]; 3. 76-Mike Arnold[6]; 4. 307-Karl Barnes[3]; 5. 711X-Connor Crane[5]; 6. 96-Anthony Maxon[2]; 7. 728-Bob Fachini[9]; 8. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[8]; 9. 186-Frank Frasco[7]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN, 00:22.363[10]; 2. 21D-Ricky Davis, 00:22.444[7]; 3. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:22.601[13]; 4. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:22.755[9]; 5. 57-Ray Hall Jr, 00:22.806[2]; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.830[16]; 7. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:22.843[11]; 8. 76-Mike Arnold, 00:22.861[3]; 9. 23-Alex Bell, 00:23.038[8]; 10. 85-Justin Gozzi, 00:23.074[14]; 11. 4NY-Keith Johannessen, 00:23.108[5]; 12. 96-Anthony Maxon, 00:23.130[4]; 13. 112-Joseph Mennite, 00:23.256[6]; 14. 22-Mike Engwer, 00:23.296[12]; 15. 728-Bob Fachini, 00:23.341[18]; 16. 186-Frank Frasco, 00:23.605[1]; 17. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer, 00:23.761[19]; 18. 711X-Connor Crane, 00:23.762[15]; 19. (DNS) 43-Kevin Ames
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 143-Scott Zehnacker[8]; 2. 09-Braxton Martin[1]; 3. 19-Owen Lewis[2]; 4. 10-Ray Royals[3]; 5. 00-Colby Kokosa[7]; 6. 25B-Jasen Brewer[5]; 7. 03-Harold Robitaille[4]; 8. 43-Brian Walsh[9]; 9. 27-Dylan Holmes[6]; 10. 4NY-Shawn Johannessen[10]; 11. 128-Kent Clark[11]; 12. 04-Chris Humes[14]; 13. 2-Bob Hollabeck[12]; 14. (DNS) F1-Fred Pavia
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 143-Scott Zehnacker[6]; 2. 09-Braxton Martin[1]; 3. 10-Ray Royals[2]; 4. 00-Colby Kokosa[4]; 5. 25B-Jasen Brewer[3]; 6. 04-Chris Humes[5]; 7. (DNS) 2-Bob Hollabeck
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 19-Owen Lewis[1]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[4]; 3. 03-Harold Robitaille[2]; 4. 27-Dylan Holmes[3]; 5. 4NY-Shawn Johannessen[5]; 6. 128-Kent Clark[6]; 7. F1-Fred Pavia[7]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 03-Harold Robitaille, 00:23.087[2]; 2. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:23.153[3]; 3. 25B-Jasen Brewer, 00:23.338[4]; 4. 10-Ray Royals, 00:23.404[5]; 5. 143-Scott Zehnacker, 00:23.412[11]; 6. 43-Brian Walsh, 00:23.704[9]; 7. 00-Colby Kokosa, 00:23.803[1]; 8. 04-Chris Humes, 00:23.851[8]; 9. 09-Braxton Martin, 00:24.012[7]; 10. 27-Dylan Holmes, 00:24.075[10]; 11. 4NY-Shawn Johannessen, 00:24.434[14]; 12. (DNS) F1-Fred Pavia; 13. (DNS) 2-Bob Hollabeck; 14. (DNS) 128-Kent Clark
Super Street Stock
A Feature 1: 1. 73-David Streibel, 2. 177-Chris Stalker, 3. 273-Dave Streibel, 4. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 5. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg, 6. 46-Doug Sterling, 7. 08-Lou Gancarz, 8. 84-Scott Morris, 9. 47-Kyle Burl, 10. 76-Franklin Smith, 11. 3-Peter Huntoon
Hot Laps 1: 1. 73-David Streibel, 00:26.428[7]; 2. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 00:26.576[4]; 3. 273-Dave Streibel, 00:26.633[1]; 4. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg, 00:26.679[3]; 5. 46-Doug Sterling, 00:27.079[2]; 6. 47-Kyle Burl, 00:27.292[10]; 7. 84-Scott Morris, 00:27.310[8]; 8. (DNS) 177-Chris Stalker; 9. (DNS) 76-Franklin Smith; 10. (DNS) 08-Lou Gancarz