Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Saturday night, Andy Bachetti made a statement.
He let it be known that if anyone wants to take the title of DIRTcar Big Block Modified champion at Lebanon Valley Speedway that he earned in 2023 away from him, they’re going to have to earn it.
Bachetti, who entered the night 19 points behind leader Brett Haas for the 2024 track title, put everyone on notice that he’s not out of the fight this year with a convincing victory in the 30-lap Modified feature.
That was in addition scoring his ninth Small Block Modified win of the season just two features earlier.
On a lap 17 restart, Bachetti made a dive bomb slide to the inside of leader Olden Dwyer heading into turns one and two to grab the top spot.
From there, the rest of the field was fighting for second as nobody was catching the black, white and florescent green number 4 as the Wild Child scored win number three on the season and gained ever critical points on Haas with just one full-points event remaining.
“No doubt this was a fast and furious race tonight,” Bachetti said. “This is a brand new race car and we just have to keep tweaking on it. We have to keep trying to figure everything out with it. This is definitely the way to go into Mr. Dirt Track USA. I can tell you that.”
For Saturday night, the Bachetti team decided to roll out a new piece to see if they can change the luck they’ve been having. While he’s been strong this year, with two victories, six top 5’s and 11 top 10’s in 12 starts, his last three runs have produced a sixth, seventh and eighth.
That forced some hard decisions by the 4 team to determine if their faithful Bicknell could get Andy back to his winning ways.
“Our old car, that’s won a lot of races and been so good here, was just missing something,” he said. “I brought up the idea that we should try the new car and earlier we talked about pulling the old one out of the trailer. However, I’m glad we stuck with the new car now.”
Outside of the result, was the car as good as he had hoped?
“It was good in the feature,” he said. “When you can race to the front from 13th like we did tonight, keep pace and keep driving forward, that’s what we’re looking for.”
Early race leader Dwyer, who just announced on Friday that this will be his final season as a full-time driver at Lebanon Valley, for the time being, had an amazing run to bring his number 88 home in the runner-up spot. He was able to hold off a fierce challenge from Marc Johnson who kept his S&S Asphalt number 9 in the hunt for the track championship with a fine third place finish.
Fourth was Kyle Armstrong who keeps racking up the consistent finishes and put himself solidly in fifth in points with his run.
Fifth, on the night was the point leader, Brett Haas, who missed a handicapped qualifying spot from him his heat race, and had to start 17th in the main event. Haas charged to the front and at one point got around the 11a of Armstrong for fourth but never could get any higher than that.
Now comes the fun. Mr. Dirt Track USA on August 31st is a Super DIRTcar Series race so Lebanon Valley had deemed that event as show-up points for the track regulars. That means next Saturday’s feature, sponsored by Driveshafts by DMC and RacingJunk.com, will be the last in the chase for the 2024 track title.
Heading into that event, Haas holds a seven-point lead over Bachetti, 32 over Johnson and 33 over last week’s winner, Kolby Schroder, who brought his number 99 home sixth on Saturday.
Next week is going to be a dog fight for sure.
Missed in all the fun of his Big Block win was that Bachetti also went to victory lane in the Small Block Modified feature. The Sheffield, MA driver had a dominant car in this race as well, but was aided a little bit of luck as well.
Bachetti go to second just passed the halfway mark of the 24-lap main event and was reeling in leader Alan Houghtaling when the right rear tire on the 250 exploded going through turns one and two, ending his shot at victory.
That gave Bachetti the top spot, a position he would not relinquish the rest of the event and helped him ninth win in ten feature starts this season and 58th of his career on the High Banks.
“The car was just awesome,” Bachetti said of his Small Block. “To all of my crew that works so hard back at the shop and here at the track, I just can’t say enough about them and what they do to make this car so good. They definitely have this thing tuned.”
Bachetti started deep on the starting grid again on Saturday, firing from the 14th spot, but that did not deter him from standing on the throttle from the moment the green flag flew.
“It’s a pleasure to drive this car,” he said. “I’ve been in cars that you really have to hustle to make them work and this is just one of them cars that’s easy to wheel. It’s just awesome.”
Kyle Sheldon rebounded from his tough finish of a week ago to bring the Mahindra Tractors, Southside Sales number 44 home in the second spot with Brett Haas bringing the Jim Winchell-owned 17 across the finish line in third. Jason Herrington and Lorne Browe completed the top five.
The Sportsman feature for Saturday night was a Capital District Racing Association point event which made it a show-up point race for the Valley’s track points.
It also made it a heads-up start which heat race winners Michael Sabia (heat one), Tim Hartman Jr. (heat two) and Craig Wholey (heat three) in the first three spots on the grid.
However, it was the 22 of Hartman keeping his unprecedented streak of victories this season going, as the second-generation driver rolled to his 13th victory of the season and 15th in a row dating back to last year.
Hartman and Sabia put on a whale of a show early on in the 20-lap feature, trading sliders and just had some real, good hard racing for the top spot. There were several caution flags that flew early on in the race which gave these two veterans chances to battle door-to-door for the lead.
Unfortunately for the rest of the field, the final lead change took place on a lap two restart. Hartman made the inside move around Sabia and that was all she wrote for the event as TH2 grabbed another at the Valley of Speed.
“The top side was a little tricky in turns one and two,” Hartman said. “I noticed that in the other features before us and knew it was a fine line. There were a few times that I thought I was going to wreck myself but I was able to keep this thing underneath me.”
Not that he’s needed much help this season, starting up front didn’t hurt on Saturday.
“Sure is helpful starting on the front row,” he said. “When you get something like that, you have to take advantage and we did that tonight.”
That didn’t mean it was a cakewalk for the current point leader. He still had to race one of the best in the class in Michael Sabia for the lead early.
“I knew if Michael got out front and got rolling that it’d be hard to get him,” he said. “So, I had to try and get him on restarts and you never know when the next caution’s going to be, or even if there’s going to be one, so I had to make my move and slide him the best I could. I was just glad I got around him because if I didn’t, and he got rolling, he would have been tough to beat.”
Sabia brought his Teo Pro Car RXD across the line in second with Brady Cordova, Alex Bell and Nick Giardini completing the top five.
The DIRTcar Pro Stock feature was a special one on Saturday night as it was the second annual Steven Larochelle Memorial, in honor of the Massachusetts racer who lost his life in a highway accident in 2023.
The race was a dogfight early on as several drivers, including Dave Stickles, Nick Hilt and Tommy Dean, all battled for the top spot. Hilt would make the inside move around Stickles for the top spot as the race reached its midway point.
The caution came out one lap later for Chad Jeseo’s hood that went sailing in the air, off his number 25, in turn four.
Then, a turning point in the event. On the ensuing restart, a multi-car pileup occurred on the backstretch which took out several cars including that of Shawn Perez Sr. and Jr., Rocco Procopio, Richard Spencer and Steven Larochelle’s father, Paul.
From there, however, the race belong to Nick Hilt took home his second win of the 2024 season and kept the pressure on point leader Zach Sorrentino for the division crown. With his victory and Sorrentino’s finish of fourth Saturday, Hilt now sits just two points behind the 54s with two races remaining.
“The car felt great tonight,” Hilt said. “I messed up a couple times but got lucky that we had enough of a lead that nobody passed us and I’m grateful that we were able to pull off the win.”
Dean was strong all night and was rewarded with a solid second place finish at the end. Chad Jeseo grabbed third as he’s still, amazingly, chasing win number one on the season at the Valley. As stated, Sorrentino was fourth and last week’s winner, Chris Stalker, had another amazing run to cross in fifth.
The Limited Sportsman win streak of Owen Lewis has come to an end at three at the hands of Harold Robitaille.
Robitaille started third and was strong all race long and came away with his first victory of the 2024 season.
Brian Walsh was second with point leader, Scott Zehnacker, third, Ray Royals and Nick Arnold rounding out the top 5.
Jason Meltz kept the Super Street Stock checkered flags in the Meltz family on Saturday as the former Street Stock Champion and Pro Stock competitor recorded his first win in dominating fashion, winning by over five seconds.
Dad, Jeff Sr., held off a hard challenge from Dave Striebel Jr. to make it a Meltz 1-2 finish while Dave Striebel Sr. and Peter Huntoon rounded out the top 5.
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[13]; 2. 88D-Olden Dwyer[1]; 3. 9-Marc Johnson[15]; 4. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[14]; 5. 55H-Brett Haas[17]; 6. 99-Kolby Schroder[11]; 7. 74V-John Virgilio[19]; 8. 35-Chris Curtis[6]; 9. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[7]; 10. 43F-Keith Flach[9]; 11. 74H-JR Heffner[12]; 12. 33-Brandon Lane[4]; 13. 115-Montgomery Tremont[2]; 14. 55K-Mike King[5]; 15. 96-Rob Maxon[3]; 16. 22E-Mike Engwer[22]; 17. (DNF) 7T-Timothy Davis[10]; 18. (DNF) 21-Ryan Darcy[21]; 19. (DNF) 91M-Josh Marcus[20]; 20. (DNF) 98-Eddie Marshall[16]; 21. (DNS) 10C-Ryan Charland; 22. (DNS) 115P-Matt Pupello
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88D-Olden Dwyer[1]; 2. 33-Brandon Lane[2]; 3. 4-Andy Bachetti[6]; 4. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[3]; 5. 7T-Timothy Davis[5]; 6. 98-Eddie Marshall[4]; 7. 74V-John Virgilio[7]; 8. 21-Ryan Darcy[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 115-Montgomery Tremont[1]; 2. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[6]; 3. 55K-Mike King[2]; 4. 115P-Matt Pupello[3]; 5. 99-Kolby Schroder[5]; 6. 55H-Brett Haas[7]; 7. 91M-Josh Marcus[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Chris Curtis[2]; 2. 43F-Keith Flach[4]; 3. 74H-JR Heffner[5]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson[6]; 5. 96-Rob Maxon[1]; 6. 10C-Ryan Charland[3]; 7. 22E-Mike Engwer[7]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 74H-JR Heffner, 00:20.363[6]; 2. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.544[21]; 3. 43F-Keith Flach, 00:20.545[2]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.555[1]; 5. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.561[8]; 6. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:20.600[17]; 7. 11A-Kyle Armstrong, 00:20.628[20]; 8. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:20.640[15]; 9. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:20.661[19]; 10. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.697[14]; 11. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.717[13]; 12. 98-Eddie Marshall, 00:20.733[11]; 13. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:20.751[7]; 14. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:20.763[3]; 15. 7T-Timothy Davis, 00:20.793[5]; 16. 55K-Mike King, 00:20.795[9]; 17. 91M-Josh Marcus, 00:20.801[12]; 18. 10C-Ryan Charland, 00:20.852[18]; 19. 21-Ryan Darcy, 00:20.886[10]; 20. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:21.052[16]; 21. 96-Rob Maxon, 00:21.113[4]; 22. 22E-Mike Engwer, 00:21.569[22]
358-Modifieds
A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[14]; 2. 44-Kyle Sheldon[8]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas[9]; 4. 1-Jason Herrington[12]; 5. 14-Lorne Browe[7]; 6. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[15]; 7. 72-Ray Hall Jr[6]; 8. 22-Jeff Watson[11]; 9. 82-Brian Peterson[5]; 10. 35C-Connor Crane[16]; 11. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[18]; 12. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[4]; 13. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 14. 30-Mark Pullen[3]; 15. 94-Joey Coppola[13]; 16. 6R-Ryan Heath[2]; 17. 7S-Michael Sabia[17]; 18. 39-Ryan Larkin[10]; 19. 12C-Peter Carlotto[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[9]; 2. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 3. 1-Jason Herrington[8]; 4. 72-Ray Hall Jr[5]; 5. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo[10]; 6. 39-Ryan Larkin[7]; 7. 14-Lorne Browe[3]; 8. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[2]; 9. (DNS) 7S-Michael Sabia; 10. (DNS) 12C-Peter Carlotto
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Mark Pullen[1]; 2. 82-Brian Peterson[3]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas[6]; 4. 44-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 5. 94-Joey Coppola[8]; 6. 22-Jeff Watson[7]; 7. 6R-Ryan Heath[4]; 8. 35C-Connor Crane[9]; 9. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[2]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:21.090[2]; 2. 44-Kyle Sheldon, 00:21.275[3]; 3. 14-Lorne Browe, 00:21.309[10]; 4. 1-Jason Herrington, 00:21.330[13]; 5. 35C-Connor Crane, 00:21.369[19]; 6. 94-Joey Coppola, 00:21.483[16]; 7. 17H-Brett Haas, 00:21.526[14]; 8. 72-Ray Hall Jr, 00:21.569[17]; 9. 39-Ryan Larkin, 00:21.586[9]; 10. 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:21.806[12]; 11. 7CTX-LJ Lombardo, 00:21.813[18]; 12. 82-Brian Peterson, 00:21.897[5]; 13. 7CT-Donny Travaglin, 00:21.959[15]; 14. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:22.102[4]; 15. 30-Mark Pullen, 00:22.167[6]; 16. 12S-Brian Sandstedt, 00:22.318[1]; 17. 6R-Ryan Heath, 00:22.418[8]; 18. (DNS) 12C-Peter Carlotto, 00:22.417; 19. (DNS) 22-Jeff Watson, 00:22.419
Sportsman
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[2]; 2. 7S-Michael Sabia[1]; 3. 7C-Brady Cordova[6]; 4. 23-Alex Bell[5]; 5. 399-Nick Giardini[4]; 6. 307-Karl Barnes[7]; 7. 34-Dylan Grogan[11]; 8. 98-Craig Wholey[3]; 9. 12-MATT BURKE[8]; 10. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[13]; 11. 07W-Taylor Wason[10]; 12. 89-Dylan Madsen[12]; 13. 43-Kevin Ames[17]; 14. 76-Mike Arnold[18]; 15. 33-Cody Ochs[14]; 16. 25-Colin Clow[20]; 17. (DNF) 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[22]; 18. (DNF) 4NY-Keith Johannessen[15]; 19. (DNF) 6-Pat Mann[21]; 20. (DNS) 85-Justin Gozzi; 21. (DNS) 250-Alan Houghtaling; 22. (DNS) 12P-Connor Prokop
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 7S-Michael Sabia[3]; 2. 399-Nick Giardini[4]; 3. 307-Karl Barnes[5]; 4. 07W-Taylor Wason[6]; 5. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[7]; 6. 12P-Connor Prokop[2]; 7. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 8. 25-Colin Clow[8]
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[6]; 2. 23-Alex Bell[1]; 3. 12-MATT BURKE[2]; 4. 34-Dylan Grogan[3]; 5. 33-Cody Ochs[4]; 6. 43-Kevin Ames[7]; 7. 4NY-Keith Johannessen; 8. 6-Pat Mann[5]
Heat 3 (7 Laps): 1. 98-Craig Wholey[1]; 2. 7C-Brady Cordova[4]; 3. 85-Justin Gozzi[3]; 4. 89-Dylan Madsen[5]; 5. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[7]; 6. 76-Mike Arnold[6]; 7. (DNF) 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[2]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN, 00:22.345[19]; 2. 711C-Chris Crane Jr, 00:22.644[20]; 3. 07W-Taylor Wason, 00:22.658[18]; 4. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:22.733[16]; 5. 98-Craig Wholey, 00:22.777[6]; 6. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.860[15]; 7. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:22.879[10]; 8. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:22.910[7]; 9. 33-Cody Ochs, 00:23.066[9]; 10. 76-Mike Arnold, 00:23.091[2]; 11. 23-Alex Bell, 00:23.109[3]; 12. 34-Dylan Grogan, 00:23.180[13]; 13. 43-Kevin Ames, 00:23.186[22]; 14. 25-Colin Clow, 00:23.259[21]; 15. 12P-Connor Prokop, 00:23.328[4]; 16. 12-MATT BURKE, 00:23.340[14]; 17. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:23.430[17]; 18. 85-Justin Gozzi, 00:23.475[5]; 19. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer, 00:23.507[12]; 20. 6-Pat Mann, 00:23.561[11]; 21. (DNS) 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:23.562; 22. (DNS) 4NY-Keith Johannessen, 00:23.560
DIRTcar Pro Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 17-Nick Hilt[6]; 2. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[8]; 3. 25-Chad Jeseo[17]; 4. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[7]; 5. 177-Chris Stalker[9]; 6. 55-David Stickles[2]; 7. 52-Tom O’Connor[14]; 8. 15-Beau Ballard[10]; 9. 311-Brian Keough[12]; 10. 120-Dave Kokindo[11]; 11. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[4]; 12. 62-Rocco Procopio[1]; 13. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[3]; 14. 32-Richard Spencer[13]; 15. 78-Paul LaRochelle[15]; 16. 29-rick duzlak[5]; 17. 08-Doug Sheely[16]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker[6]; 2. 55-David Stickles[2]; 3. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[3]; 4. 29-rick duzlak[4]; 5. 15-Beau Ballard[8]; 6. 120-Dave Kokindo[1]; 7. 32-Richard Spencer[7]; 8. 78-Paul LaRochelle[5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 62-Rocco Procopio[1]; 2. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[5]; 3. 17-Nick Hilt[8]; 4. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[4]; 5. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[2]; 6. 311-Brian Keough[6]; 7. 52-Tom O’Connor[3]; 8. 08-Doug Sheely[7]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:24.210[3]; 2. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:24.356[1]; 3. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:24.532[4]; 4. 08-Doug Sheely, 00:24.678[15]; 5. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.740[8]; 6. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:24.841[10]; 7. 311-Brian Keough, 00:25.034[14]; 8. 17-Nick Hilt, 00:25.411[16]; 9. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:25.463[5]; 10. 52-Tom O’Connor, 00:25.470[9]; 11. 15-Beau Ballard, 00:25.510[13]; 12. 29-rick duzlak, 00:26.197[11]; 13. 120-Dave Kokindo, 00:26.218[2]; 14. 78-Paul LaRochelle, 00:26.217[7]; 15. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:26.216[6]; 16. 32-Richard Spencer, 00:24.763[12]
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 03-Harold Robitaille[3]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[5]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[10]; 4. 10-Ray Royals[7]; 5. 1A-Nick Arnold[12]; 6. 6S-John Santolin[4]; 7. 19-Owen Lewis[15]; 8. 00-Colby Kokosa[11]; 9. 04-Chris Humes[6]; 10. 27-Dylan Holmes[8]; 11. 2-Mike Block[16]; 12. 216-Phil Arnold[13]; 13. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[14]; 14. 756-Brandon Lemaire[1]; 15. 128-Kent Clark[17]; 16. 25-Sarah Arnold[18]; 17. 1I-Daniel Odell[9]; 18. 09-Braxton Martin[2]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 756-Brandon Lemaire[1]; 2. 43-Brian Walsh[2]; 3. 00-Colby Kokosa[6]; 4. 27-Dylan Holmes[5]; 5. 1A-Nick Arnold[9]; 6. 04-Chris Humes[4]; 7. 216-Phil Arnold[8]; 8. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[3]; 9. (DNS) 128-Kent Clark
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 09-Braxton Martin[1]; 2. 03-Harold Robitaille[2]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[5]; 4. 6S-John Santolin[3]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[4]; 6. 1I-Daniel Odell[7]; 7. 25-Sarah Arnold[8]; 8. 2-Mike Block[9]; 9. 19-Owen Lewis[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 03-Harold Robitaille, 00:23.056[4]; 2. 1A-Nick Arnold, 00:23.332[18]; 3. 10-Ray Royals, 00:23.620[12]; 4. 143-Scott Zehnacker, 00:23.750[10]; 5. 04-Chris Humes, 00:23.877[7]; 6. 00-Colby Kokosa, 00:23.972[11]; 7. 6S-John Santolin, 00:24.102[9]; 8. 27-Dylan Holmes, 00:24.187[6]; 9. 43-Brian Walsh, 00:24.276[8]; 10. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli, 00:24.317[3]; 11. 2-Mike Block, 00:24.478[17]; 12. 756-Brandon Lemaire, 00:24.631[2]; 13. 09-Braxton Martin, 00:24.808[5]; 14. 216-Phil Arnold, 00:25.130[16]; 15. 1I-Daniel Odell, 00:25.315[1]; 16. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:25.532[13]; 17. 25-Sarah Arnold, 00:25.533[15]; 18. 128-Kent Clark, 00:25.534[14]
Super Street Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 51-Jason Meltz[8]; 2. 5X-Jeff Meltz[10]; 3. 73-David Streibel[9]; 4. 273-Dave Streibel[5]; 5. 3-Peter Huntoon[4]; 6. 08-Lou Gancarz[6]; 7. 77-Jim Dellea[7]; 8. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg[2]; 9. 76-Franklin Smith[3]; 10. 46-Doug Sterling[1]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 273-Dave Streibel, 00:27.892[4]; 2. 77-Jim Dellea, 00:28.091[9]; 3. 5X-Jeff Meltz, 00:28.634[6]; 4. 73-David Streibel, 00:28.666[3]; 5. 46-Doug Sterling, 00:28.750[1]; 6. 3-Peter Huntoon, 00:29.803[8]; 7. 08-Lou Gancarz, 00:29.804[2]; 8. 51-Jason Meltz, 00:29.802[10]; 9. 76-Franklin Smith, 00:29.801[7]; 10. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg, 00:29.806[5]