RPW Exclusive: Mike King’s DIRTcar Big Block Win Saturday At Lebanon Valley Was Well-Deserved

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Even if it’s only for the next seven days, all is right in the Dirt Modified world surrounding Lebanon Valley Speedway.  The Kingfish made his way back to victory lane.

Mike King led the 30-lap DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature from green-to-checkers and, to the delight of the crowd, it was probably one of the more popular wins during the 70+ year history of the track.

“That was so much fun,” King said.  “The car actually didn’t drive that well but I kept after it and it was good.”

From the drop of Rodney Rescott’s green flag until the checkers flew, King never took his foot off the gas, never giving less than 100% in his search for the victory lane visit.

“If I had known I had a no real challenges, I may have let off a little,” he said.  “This thing was getting harder to drive.  This thing was not perfect but it was a pretty good car tonight.”

King had to fend off the challenges of people like Matt Pupello, Eddie Marshall and on one key restart, defending champion Andy Bachetti.  However, to the delight of everyone, the Lebanon Valley Hall of Fame driver was up for the task.

“Man, this was just fun tonight,” he said.  “It was a lot of work, but man, it was so much fun.”

There was one monkey wrench that was thrown into the mix.  Mother Nature decided to play a hand during the 358-Modified feature, and led to a lengthy weather delay.  That also put a lot of moisture back into the track which probably may not have come into play and severely changed several team’s setups.

“The track changed considerably after the rain,” he said.  “I over-corrected for this type of track without changing anything and it worked out for us.”

To say 2024 has been a struggle for King would be an understatement.  Until a third place finish on May 18th, King had no finish better than 19th and had already destroyed a race car.

Since then, he’s grabbed another top 10, a sixth on June 1st, and now the win.  Things sure have completely turned around for the popular driver and now, momentum is on his side.

“I have to thank EVERYONE that has been with me along the way,” he said.  “From my wife to Barb who does everything for us in the pits to my amazing crew and our great sponsors, that means everything to me.  PMC Race Cars did a phenomenal job with this piece tonight.  This is the second car we’ve had to put together this year, Dan Bedell built a hell of a motor and Gary Waters helps me with the driveline.  I can’t forget anyone that’s helped me get back to the winner’s circle.”

Pupello held on a late charge from LJ Lombardo to score a hard-fought second place finish.  Kyle Armstrong and Marshall completed the top five.

Heading into the night, Brett Haas was the point leader on the strength of three wins.  Unfortunately, he didn’t leave the night in that manner as he was the first car out of the feature event after just one lap.

That was a complete 180-degree turn from how his night went in the 358-Modified feature as he was able to make a move around leader Ray Hall Jr. on a late restart and then went on to score the win, his first of the season.

“I knew Ray (Hall) had a good gap on us,” Haas said.  “The caution came out and I was like, okay, this is my chance.  I actually made myself nervous with how hard I drove it in.”

The win was just another victory in Haas’ column in 2024 to go along with his Big Block prowess, but it hasn’t come easy.

“My guys have been working very hard on this PMC to get it rolling and get the motor up to snuff,” he said.  “We’re not quite there yet but we had track position and avoided a couple of the wrecks and we’re here.”

This season, Haas teamed up with car owner Jim Winchell for a return to the Small Block ranks and the Pittsfield, MA campaigner finally paid him back for doing so.

“I have to thank Jim for this opportunity,” he said.  “To get this win is huge and getting on the track twice a night is very helpful.”

Marc Johnson, subbing for Joey Coppola, stayed close to Haas at the end but had to settle for second with Lorne Browe, Hall and Jason Herrington completing the top five.

In the Sportsman feature, yup, he did it again.  Tim Hartman Jr. found his way to victory lane, but this one had a very special meaning behind it.  Saturday’s victory kept him perfect on the season at the Valley of Speed, but it was also win number 100 for his career.

“This has just been so unbelievable for the last 15 years,” Hartman said.  “Things just seem to be getting better and better and I’m just so proud of everyone that has helped me to get to this point.  I’m so thankful and appreciative for everyone who’s been involved.”

To get his 100th career victory, the effort to get to that point was not lost on Hartman.

“It’s been 15 years of hard work by a lot of people and been a lot of practice,” he said.  “It was also 15 years before that of watching my dad be successful and learning from the sidelines.  There’s a lot that goes into this and luckily we’ve got a phenomenal car that makes me look good as a driver and this is just unbelievable.”

Hartman made the move around leader Mike Engwer on lap nine and that was all she wrote for the rest of the field as Hartman stayed perfect on the season.

Nick Giardini drove a great race to bring his #399 home in the second spot with Michael Sabia, Brady Cordova and Ray Hall Jr., who had two top five’s on the night, bringing the Gary O’Brien #57 home fifth.

In the 23-lap 19th annual Bubba Tanner Pro Stock Classic, it was a first time winner in the event as well as a first-time winner in the DIRTcar Pro Stock division, Chris Stalker, taking the $1,323 victory.

To top it off, the race went 23 laps, green-to-checkers.

Stalker took the lead from Rocco Procopio early in the event and never looked back to score a well-deserved first career win in the division.

“Never in a million years would I have thought we’d be able to win this season,” Stalker said.  “It started out a little rough at the beginning of 2024 but, of all nights to win, the Bubba Tanner, I’m ready to cry.  This is just the best feeling in the world.”

While nobody was touching the #177 on this night, the battle for second was a good one between Dave Stickles and point leader Zach Sorrentino.  At the line, Sorrentino would nip Stickles for the runner-up spot at the line.  Shawn Perez Sr. came home fourth and Paul Larochelle rounded out the top five.

Colby Kokosa used lessons learned from his father, multi-time Sportsman feature winner Chris Kokosa, to drive to his first career open wheel victory in the Limited Sportsman feature.

Young Braxton Martin led the race early but had to settle for a well-earned second place finish.  Scott Zehnacker was third, John Santolin was fourth and Ray Royals completed the top five.

Jeff Meltz Sr. held off a determined family battle with the Striebel’s to take the Super Street Stock feature event win.  Dave Striebel Sr. was second with Keri Vandenburg, Doug Sterling and Paul Vallee completing the top five.

DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55K-Mike King[1]; 2. 115P-Matt Pupello[2]; 3. 7CT-LJ Lombardo[17]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[9]; 5. 98-Eddie Marshall[4]; 6. 4-Andy Bachetti[14]; 7. 60-Brian Berger[8]; 8. 43F-Keith Flach[10]; 9. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[11]; 10. 99-Kolby Schroder[18]; 11. 74H-JR Heffner[16]; 12. 9-Marc Johnson[12]; 13. 74V-John Virgilio[13]; 14. 21-Ryan Darcy[3]; 15. 35-Chris Curtis[21]; 16. 7T-Timothy Davis[19]; 17. 33-Brandon Lane[6]; 18. 91M-Josh Marcus[20]; 19. 96-Rob Maxon[22]; 20. 115-Montgomery Tremont[23]; 21. 0-Dan Humes[24]; 22. 88D-Olden Dwyer[5]; 23. (DNF) 10C-Ryan Charland[7]; 24. (DNF) 55H-Brett Haas[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55K-Mike King[1]; 2. 98-Eddie Marshall[3]; 3. 115P-Matt Pupello[2]; 4. 33-Brandon Lane[4]; 5. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[6]; 6. 74H-JR Heffner[5]; 7. 99-Kolby Schroder[7]; 8. 35-Chris Curtis[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Marc Johnson[6]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti[7]; 3. 88D-Olden Dwyer[3]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[5]; 5. 10C-Ryan Charland[4]; 6. 7CT-LJ Lombardo[8]; 7. 7T-Timothy Davis[2]; 8. 96-Rob Maxon[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 74V-John Virgilio[6]; 2. 43F-Keith Flach[5]; 3. 55H-Brett Haas[7]; 4. 21-Ryan Darcy[2]; 5. 60-Brian Berger[4]; 6. 0-Dan Humes[8]; 7. 91M-Josh Marcus[3]; 8. 115-Montgomery Tremont[1]

358 Modifieds

A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 17H-Brett Haas[10]; 2. 94-Joey Coppola[14]; 3. 14-Lorne Browe[20]; 4. 72-Ray Hall Jr[2]; 5. 1-Jason Herrington[9]; 6. 44-Kyle Sheldon[7]; 7. 39-Ryan Larkin[8]; 8. 12C-Peter Carlotto[4]; 9. 88H-Walter Hammond Jr[16]; 10. 77-Walter J Hammond[17]; 11. 35-Chris Curtis[11]; 12. 82-Brian Peterson[15]; 13. 6R-Ryan Heath[22]; 14. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[5]; 15. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[1]; 16. 22-Jeff Watson[6]; 17. 4-Andy Bachetti[13]; 18. 7S-Michael Sabia[3]; 19. 7C-Brady Cordova[18]; 20. 21L-Jeff Lutes[21]; 21. 250-Alan Houghtaling[19]; 22. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12C-Peter Carlotto[2]; 2. 22-Jeff Watson[4]; 3. 94-Joey Coppola[6]; 4. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[3]; 5. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[1]; 6. 82-Brian Peterson[7]; 7. 6R-Ryan Heath[8]; 8. 250-Alan Houghtaling[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Ray Hall Jr[1]; 2. 1-Jason Herrington[4]; 3. 44-Kyle Sheldon[3]; 4. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[5]; 5. 7S-Michael Sabia; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova[6]; 7. 88H-Walter Hammond Jr[8]; 8. 21L-Jeff Lutes[7]; 9. 14-Lorne Browe[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[6]; 2. 17H-Brett Haas[5]; 3. 39-Ryan Larkin[3]; 4. 35-Chris Curtis[4]; 5. 77-Walter J Hammond[7]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[1]; 7. 3-Kim Lavoy[2]

DIRTcar Pro Stock

A Feature 1 (23 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker[2]; 2. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[9]; 3. 55-David Stickles[5]; 4. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[4]; 5. 78-Paul LaRochelle[6]; 6. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[8]; 7. 17-Nick Hilt[10]; 8. 41-Rich Colesanti[11]; 9. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[7]; 10. 62-Rocco Procopio[3]; 11. 311-Brian Keough[13]; 12. 4-Michael Dianda[12]; 13. 32-Richard Spencer[16]; 14. 120-Dave Kokindo[15]; 15. (DNS) 29-rick duzlak; 16. (DNS) 28-Philip DeFiglio

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[4]; 2. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[5]; 3. 29-rick duzlak[1]; 4. 62-Rocco Procopio[2]; 5. 55-David Stickles[3]; 6. 311-Brian Keough[7]; 7. 32-Richard Spencer[6]; 8. 28-Philip DeFiglio[8]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker[1]; 2. 17-Nick Hilt[5]; 3. 78-Paul LaRochelle[3]; 4. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[2]; 5. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[4]; 6. 41-Rich Colesanti[8]; 7. 4-Michael Dianda[6]; 8. 120-Dave Kokindo[7]

Sportsman

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[9]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini[5]; 3. 7S-Michael Sabia[7]; 4. 7C-Brady Cordova[4]; 5. 57-Ray Hall Jr[8]; 6. 8-Kevin Chaffee[12]; 7. 112-Joseph Mennite[1]; 8. 12-MATT BURKE[11]; 9. 728-Bob Fachini[10]; 10. 23-Alex Bell[13]; 11. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[15]; 12. 307-Karl Barnes[3]; 13. 313-Jimmy Van Zandt[16]; 14. 85-Justin Gozzi[6]; 15. (DNF) 22-Mike Engwer[2]; 16. (DNF) 96-Anthony Maxon[14]; 17. (DNF) 76-Mike Arnold[17]; 18. (DNS) 3G-Peter Lorenzo III

Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[6]; 2. 307-Karl Barnes[2]; 3. 399-Nick Giardini[4]; 4. 112-Joseph Mennite[1]; 5. 728-Bob Fachini[7]; 6. 12-MATT BURKE[8]; 7. 23-Alex Bell[3]; 8. 76-Mike Arnold[5]; 9. 3G-Peter Lorenzo III[9]

Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 22-Mike Engwer[1]; 2. 7C-Brady Cordova[2]; 3. 85-Justin Gozzi[4]; 4. 7S-Michael Sabia[5]; 5. 57-Ray Hall Jr[6]; 6. 8-Kevin Chaffee[9]; 7. 96-Anthony Maxon[3]; 8. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[7]; 9. 313-Jimmy Van Zandt[8]

Limited Sportsman

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 00-Colby Kokosa[4]; 2. 09-Braxton Martin[1]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[9]; 4. 6S-John Santolin[10]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[5]; 6. 43-Brian Walsh[8]; 7. 03-Harold Robitaille[2]; 8. 27-Dylan Holmes[12]; 9. 128-Kent Clark[14]; 10. 04-Chris Humes[7]; 11. 19-Owen Lewis[3]; 12. 756-Brandon Lemaire[15]; 13. 25B-Jasen Brewer[6]; 14. F1-Fred Pavia[11]; 15. 250-Brian Houghtaling[13]; 16. 44-Greg Decamp[16]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 143-Scott Zehnacker[6]; 2. 04-Chris Humes[5]; 3. 09-Braxton Martin[1]; 4. 19-Owen Lewis[2]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[3]; 6. 756-Brandon Lemaire[8]; 7. 44-Greg Decamp[7]; 8. F1-Fred Pavia[4]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 03-Harold Robitaille[1]; 2. 00-Colby Kokosa[2]; 3. 25B-Jasen Brewer[4]; 4. 43-Brian Walsh[5]; 5. 6S-John Santolin[6]; 6. 27-Dylan Holmes[3]; 7. 128-Kent Clark[8]; 8. 250-Brian Houghtaling[7]

Super Street Stock

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5X-Jeff Meltz[3]; 2. 273-Dave Streibel[7]; 3. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg[4]; 4. 46-Doug Sterling[5]; 5. 25-Paul Vallee[12]; 6. 47-Kyle Burl[9]; 7. 76-Franklin Smith[1]; 8. 73-David Streibel[8]; 9. 08-Lou Gancarz[2]; 10. 22-Rob Partidge[6]; 11. 51-Jason Meltz[11]; 12. (DQ) 3-Peter Huntoon[10]