Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – For the first two-thirds of Saturday night’s Modified feature at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, it certainly looked like there was going to be a new winner that was going to be driving into victory lane in the form of Ryan Charland.
However, as often happens, a late race caution changed the whole complexion of the race and the win went to the hottest driver right now at the Valley of Speed.
Brett Haas took advantage of a late race restart to get around Charland and then took the win that was worth $5,000.
With last Saturday’s $8,000 win, that a cool $13,000 added to the personable driver’s wallet.
“Holy cow, that’s the only way to explain that,” said the happy driver in Victory Lane.
While the 11th starting Haas was working his way towards the front, xCharland led the first 22 laps from the pole position and looked to be in position for his first Modified win at The Valley.
With the race running caution free, J.R. Heffner was chasing Charland and although the veteran driver was able to close in on a couple of occasions, Charland was able to hold his ground and maintain the top spot.
When Kyle Armstrong rolled to a stop with 22 laps completed, that was the break Haas needed and he took advantage, taking the lead after the restart on lap 23 and pulled away for the win.
“I saw J.R. and Ryan. Ryan ran a hell of a race up front,” Haas said. “He was really the man to beat. I got underneath him and I thought I could get a run.”
While Haas quickly checked out after making the pass, John Virgilio also was able to get past Charland and Heffner to take 2nd. Charland finished 3rd with Heffner 4th and Eddie Marshall 5th.
“What a win, what a race. The water threw us for a little loop down there,” Haas said. “It sure brought some bite back. The car was very good.”
Finishing 6th was Marc Johnson, Kolby Schroder was 7th, Andy Bachetti 8th, Keith Flach 9th and Kyle Sheldon 10th.
With the extra track prep done prior to the Modified feature, Haas didn’t know what role it would play for him in the feature.
“I didn’t know how it was going to play out. Obviously, it worked out in our favor,” Haas said. “the track and the track crew have been doing a hell of a job this year with everything. This is the place to be on a Saturday night.”
And any time a driver can win back-to-back good paying races, they will be one happy driver in Victory Lane.
“To win back-to-back big dollar races is awesome. What a year it’s been. After last year, I was really burnt out,” Haas summarized. “Actually, for a couple of years, I was burnt out. This year, we just have a different mindset. We’re just having fun. We’re not putting any stress on anything. What a year.”
Winning is always a refreshing way to get rid of the burnt out blues.
“We are very humble. Last year, we were struggling. We are firing now. The team does such a great job.”
The win for Haas was his 5th of the season and the 7th of his career. The win by Haas paired with Bachetti’s 8th place finish will see Brett now the Big Block points leader heading into next Saturday’s event.
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[11]; 2. 74V-John Virgilio[9]; 3. 10C-Ryan Charland[1]; 4. 74H-JR Heffner[5]; 5. 98-Eddie Marshall[4]; 6. 9-Marc Johnson[7]; 7. 99-Kolby Schroder[13]; 8. 4-Andy Bachetti[14]; 9. 43F-Keith Flach[15]; 10. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[10]; 11. 35-Chris Curtis[16]; 12. 7T-Timothy Davis[3]; 13. 115P-Matt Pupello[8]; 14. 33-Brandon Lane[6]; 15. 91M-Josh Marcus[2]; 16. 55K-Mike King[18]; 17. 115-Montgomery Tremont[17]; 18. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[12]; 19. 7C-Rob Maxon[20]; 20. (DNF) 88D-Olden Dwyer[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55H-Brett Haas[8]; 2. 10C-Ryan Charland[1]; 3. 98-Eddie Marshall[4]; 4. 4-Andy Bachetti[10]; 5. 74V-John Virgilio[7]; 6. 9-Marc Johnson[6]; 7. 99-Kolby Schroder[9]; 8. 43F-Keith Flach[5]; 9. 115-Montgomery Tremont[2]; 10. 88D-Olden Dwyer[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 74H-JR Heffner[4]; 2. 91M-Josh Marcus[1]; 3. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[6]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[8]; 5. 7T-Timothy Davis[2]; 6. 115P-Matt Pupello[7]; 7. 33-Brandon Lane[5]; 8. 35-Chris Curtis[9]; 9. 55K-Mike King[3]; 10. 7C-Rob Maxon[10]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 98-Eddie Marshall, 00:20.627[10]; 2. 43F-Keith Flach, 00:20.650[17]; 3. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.673[13]; 4. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:20.701[14]; 5. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:20.709[3]; 6. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:20.716[18]; 7. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.852[9]; 8. 11A-Kyle Armstrong, 00:20.856[16]; 9. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.912[8]; 10. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.918[11]; 11. 10C-Ryan Charland, 00:20.922[2]; 12. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.968[6]; 13. 55K-Mike King, 00:20.991[19]; 14. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:21.119[4]; 15. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:21.144[12]; 16. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:21.220[7]; 17. 91M-Josh Marcus, 00:21.393[1]; 18. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:21.426[15]; 19. 7C-Rob Maxon, 00:22.224[20]; 20. (DNS) 115-Montgomery Tremont