RPW Exclusive: Brett Haas Was The DIRTcar Mod “Commander” Saturday Night At Lebanon Valley

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – There may not have been points on the line for the DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature at Lebanon Valley Speedway Saturday night, but there was a whole lot of greenbacks up for grabs…8,000 of them to be exact.

There was also two of the best in the division, Andy Bachetti and Brett Haas, showing why they have been the cars to beat in 2024 at the Valley of Speed.

In the end, Haas made a late-race move around the defending champion Bachetti to score his fourth win of the season on the high banks in the Commander, the $8,000-to-win event in honor of promoter Howard Commander’s 80th birthday.

“What a year so far and what a race,” Haas said. “I knew I had a good run on Andy. He was sliding himself in the corner and I was diamonding the corners to get a wicked run in (turns one and two). He was better in three and four. Whatever I gained in the east end I’d lose in the west end.”

The two drivers were almost equal as the 33-lap race went on and it showed as they began to gap third place as different runs went on. Once the Pittsfield MA driver had gotten to the runner-up spot, did he feel like he had anything for Bachetti?

“I was overdriving the corners a little bit,” he said. “When started to back it down a little bit, and enter a little easier, that’s when I started to catch him again. I was hoping he’d abuse his stuff.”

Then, it seemed as if Haas’ #55 came to life.

“I was hoping he’d use up his tires,” he said. “I think I had a little too much fuel early on in the feature. I was a little free but the car got better.”

When it did, Haas pounced. He was able to drive underneath Bachetti heading into turn three to get the top spot. One lap later, the caution came out for Mike King who slowed to a stop on the backstretch.

Then came the defining moment for Haas. The final restart saw the 55 get the jump on Bachetti, and drove to the bottom to take away Andy’s line. That was all she wrote.

“I knew if I made the restart work, and he didn’t get by me, I thought we’d be good,” he said. “I saw he almost slid me going into three but I knew it killed his momentum, but we made it. What a year.”

Haas knew exactly what he was able to do on Saturday night, passing Bachetti and winning the Commander.

“Andy’s the class of the field here,” he said. “When you can beat him, you’re having a good night. We’re just plugging away right now, taking things race-by-race, and not really worrying about the points. We’re just trying to get as many wins as we can.”

While it wasn’t a perfect night for Bachetti by winning the Big Block feature, he did however come home victorious in the 358-Modified slugfest on Saturday night.

After starting in 11th, Bachetti was in a battle for the top running spot with both Brian Sandstedt and Joey Coppola as the race hit the one-quarter mark. The #4 made a blast past both and looked like he had the lead exiting turn two when the caution came out for Peter Carlotto who had slowed.

At that time, leader Coppola went pit side for a flat right rear tire and simultaneously, Sandstedt’s left rear sneaker went soft.

That handed the lead to Bachetti, a spot he never relinquished.

“The car felt good tonight,” Bachetti said. “I think we might have been getting a flat right rear tire late but it held on and we definitely had a good race car under us.”

This was a solid rebound after misfortune fell upon the #4 team last week.

“We had to clip this chassis after last week’s accident,” he said. “We were a little nervous about how it would do but my team does an awesome job and we got it done.”

The Sportsman feature could be a tale of two events. The first was laps 1-19 when Michael Sabia had a command of the feature. It honestly looked like Tim Hartman Jr’s win streak was going to come to and end.

However, the stalled car of Anthony Maxon right in the middle of the groove in turns three and four forced a yellow flag and the field bunched back up. This put Hartman, who was second, right to the inside of the leader.

On the one-lap dash, Hartman threw a slider in turns one and two. Sabia countered and retook the lead. Hartman did it again entering turn three, and as the two exited the final corner, it was a flat-footed drag race.

Hartman nosed out in front and kept the streak alive.

“I wasn’t going to catch Michael if not for that caution,” Hartman said. “It was super fortunate that it happened. I was gaining on him but I certainly wasn’t going to have enough.”

With a one-lap shootout, Hartman knew what he had to do.

“I feel like I had an advantage on the restart,” he said. “I had nothing to lose. I threw it in there and he crossed me over. I threw it in again in three and luckily he couldn’t get back underneath me. I can’t believe this win. It’s pretty cool.”

The Pro Stock main event was another barn-burner as Christopher Stalker, after recording his first career win in the class last week, taking home the 19th annual Bubba Tanner Pro Stock Classic, looked to be on his way to back-to-back wins.

However, Zach Sorrentino made the dive bomb entering turn one on the last lap, slid up in front of Stalker, forcing the 177 to change his line every so slightly. What resulted was Stalker looping it in the corner.

From that point, Sorrentino drove on to record his fourth win of the 2024 season at the Valley of Speed.

“The more laps we ran tonight, the better and better our car got,” Sorrentino said. “I could see Chris was starting to develop a push at the end and the track was so slick, but our car was good tonight.”

Dave Striebel Jr. captured another Super Street Stock feature, passing leader Jeff Meltz Sr. as the laps clicked off.  Jon Sheppard was victorious in the 4-Cylinders.