RPW Exclusive: Last-Lap Pass Nets Andy Bachetti Lebanon Valley Modified Win & ’24 Track Title

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – With next week’s Mr. Dirt race counting only show up points, it was a race for the Modified Championship at Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday night.

It was such a tight battle between Andy Bachetti and Brett Haas that a couple of positions could make the difference.

That’s what it boiled down to as the lap counter clicked off, Bachetti and Haas were battling for every position they could get. And it turned out that Bachetti’s last lap pass of race long leader Eddie Marshall won himself the Modified feature and the championship.

“Hat’s off to Brett Haas and his whole team, they stayed with us all year and it came right down to the end of the line,” Bachetti said. “I had a decent car, but I had some help from upstairs. And 2024, here we are.”

Marshall had led from the pole and sprinted out to a healthy lead when the only caution flag of the race flew on lap 7. Marshall again pulled out to the lead as both Bachetti and Haas attempted to gain positions.

With 10 to go, Bachetti was 5th as he had the strong running cars of John Virgilio, Chris Curtis and Matt Pupello ahead of him. But Bachetti was able to move past that trio and closed in on Marshall.

The final lap saw Bachetti make the pass on Marshall as Eddie tried to regain the spot down low. But at the finish, it was Andy getting his 68th career Lebanon Valley win and 4th this year. Marshall finished 2nd and Curtis 3rd.

Haas, with his 4th place finish, came up a spot short in his championship bid. Virgilio was 5th.

Completing the top 10 were Pupello 6th, JR Heffner 7th, Alex Yankowski 8th, Kolby Schroeder 9th and Kyle Armstrong 10th.

“I was told that I had to win the race in order to get this job done. I did what I had to do,” Bachetti said. Hats off to my whole team for working their tails off all summer.”

And for the 2nd week in a row and the 3rd time this season, Bachetti was able to accomplish the sweep as he won the
358 Small Block Modified feature. It was Bachetti’s 10th 358 win of the season.

“We have two more races left including Mr. Dirt, so we hope to carry this momentum into that,” Andy said.

Bachetti got the lead from early leader Pete Carlotto and raced off to a big advantage. The race seemed stable until a caution with 4 laps to go when caution flew. Jerry Coppola and Kyle Sheldon were able to move past Carlotto and though Coppola kept it close, Bachetti still had enough to grab the win.

Following Coppola and Sheldon was Carlotto in 4th and Jason Harrington 5th.

Guy Sheldon, subbing for Lorne Browe, was 6th, Jeff Watson 7th, Brian Peterson 8th, Ryan Larkin 9th and Michael Trauschold 10th.

“It’s not easy, the guys work real hard in the shop. Just gotta drive hard and keep beating them,” Bachetti concluded.
For the Sportsman, it was the Rod Fifield Memorial and Matt Burke was able to end Tim Hartman Jr’s long winning streak.

“The car felt good. I certainly could have done without those restarts and the extra laps. The car was really solid under me all night and I could run my line. We resisted making changes after the heat and went with what we got,” Burke said.

Dylan Grogan make a late race bid for the lead, but finished 2nd. Brady Cordova was 3rd, Hartman Jr. 4th and Mike ranold 5th.

Michael Sabia was 6th, Nick Giardini 7th, Craig Wholey 8th, Chris Crane Jr. 9th and Alex Bell 10th.

The DIRTCar Pro Stock Series made a stop at Lebanon valley Speedway on Saturday for the Old Buzzard 30, run in memory of Jim Langenback. And Frank Twing, one of those who would compete against Jim, came away with a well earned win.

“The car felt great. The cautions were agonizing. I took a gamble with some changes. I was fastest in the group and won the heat and then the feature. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Twing said.

After getting the lead early from Luke Horning, it was a 3 car battle with Twing, Chris Stalker and Zach Sorrentino. All three ran nose to tail for a good portion of the race, but try as they may, Stalker and Sorrentino were unable to pass Twing.

Following Stalker in 2nd and Sorrentino in 3rd were Jason Casey 4th and Rich Crane 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Pete Stefanski 6th, Philip DiFigilo 7th, Devon Camenga 8th, Slater baker 9th and Jocelyn Roy 10th.

In the Limited Sportsman, long time racer John Santolin had the lead, lost it and then regained it and pulled away to take the win. Colby Kokosa was 2nd, Scott Zehnacker 3rd, Harold Robitaillie 4th and Chris Humes 5th.

David Streibel Jr. was the Super Street feature winner with Dave Streibel Sr. 2nd, Lou Gancarz 3rd, Kerianne Vandenburg 4th and Peter Huntoon 5th.

Jonathan Shepherd was the 4 Cylinder Dual Cam winner with Dawson Thompson taking the Single Cam honors.

Be sure to check out the action next Saturday, August 31st as it’s the huge Mr. Dirt Track USA DIRTcar Series event worth $15,500 to the winner.

DIRTCAR BIG BLOCK MODIFIED

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[13]; 2. 98-Eddie Marshall[2]; 3. 35-Chris Curtis[6]; 4. 55H-Brett Haas[12]; 5. 74V-John Virgilio[10]; 6. 115P-Matt Pupello[3]; 7. 74H-JR Heffner[7]; 8. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[15]; 9. 99-Kolby Schroder[9]; 10. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[21]; 11. 9-Marc Johnson[11]; 12. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 13. 43F-Keith Flach[8]; 14. 33-Brandon Lane[4]; 15. 28-Michael Trautschold[14]; 16. 10C-Ryan Charland[1]; 17. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[17]; 18. 55K-Mike King[18]; 19. 91M-Josh Marcus[16]; 20. 22E-Mike Engwer[22]; 21. 115-Montgomery Tremont[19]; 22. (DNS) 88D-Olden Dwyer

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10C-Ryan Charland[1]; 2. 99-Kolby Schroder[5]; 3. 55H-Brett Haas[6]; 4. 28-Michael Trautschold[8]; 5. 42S-Kyle Sheldon[3]; 6. 91M-Josh Marcus[4]; 7. 22E-Mike Engwer[7]; 8. 115-Montgomery Tremont[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 98-Eddie Marshall[1]; 2. 74H-JR Heffner[4]; 3. 4-Andy Bachetti[6]; 4. 74V-John Virgilio[5]; 5. 33-Brandon Lane[2]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]; 7. 88D-Olden Dwyer[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 115P-Matt Pupello[1]; 2. 35-Chris Curtis[3]; 3. 43F-Keith Flach[4]; 4. 9-Marc Johnson[5]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 6. 55K-Mike King[2]; 7. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[6]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.119[15]; 2. 43F-Keith Flach, 00:20.247[2]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:20.251[22]; 4. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:20.348[17]; 5. 74V-John Virgilio, 00:20.748[13]; 6. 11A-Kyle Armstrong, 00:20.494[16]; 7. 55H-Brett Haas, 00:20.596[7]; 8. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:20.605[14]; 9. 42S-Kyle Sheldon, 00:20.610[8]; 10. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:20.624[5]; 11. 10C-Ryan Charland, 00:20.645[11]; 12. 98-Eddie Marshall, 00:20.700[4]; 13. 99-Kolby Schroder, 00:20.713[9]; 14. 91M-Josh Marcus, 00:20.719[1]; 15. 33-Brandon Lane, 00:20.874[12]; 16. 115P-Matt Pupello, 00:20.896[6]; 17. 55K-Mike King, 00:21.002[18]; 18. 115-Montgomery Tremont, 00:21.053[3]; 19. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:21.362[21]; 20. 22E-Mike Engwer, 00:21.846[19]; 21. (DNS) 74H-JR Heffner; 22. (DNS) 28-Michael Trautschold

358 MODIFIED

A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[12]; 2. 94-Joey Coppola[18]; 3. 44-Kyle Sheldon[9]; 4. 12C-Peter Carlotto[3]; 5. 1-Jason Herrington[11]; 6. 14-Lorne Browe[13]; 7. 22-Jeff Watson[8]; 8. 82-Brian Peterson[6]; 9. 39-Ryan Larkin[5]; 10. 28-Michael Trautschold[14]; 11. 35C-Connor Crane[7]; 12. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[16]; 13. 7C-Brady Cordova[19]; 14. 30-Mark Pullen[21]; 15. 66P-SEAN MANDELL[15]; 16. 17H-Brett Haas[10]; 17. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 18. 7S-Michael Sabia[17]; 19. 72-Ray Hall Jr[4]; 20. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[2]; 21. 6R-Ryan Heath[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 250-Alan Houghtaling[1]; 2. 12C-Peter Carlotto[3]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas[6]; 4. 22-Jeff Watson[5]; 5. 82-Brian Peterson[4]; 6. 12S-Brian Sandstedt[2]; 7. 7C-Brady Cordova[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Lorne Browe[4]; 2. 35C-Connor Crane[5]; 3. 1-Jason Herrington[6]; 4. 28-Michael Trautschold[7]; 5. 72-Ray Hall Jr[3]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[2]; 7. 6R-Ryan Heath[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Andy Bachetti[6]; 2. 7CT-Donny Travaglin[2]; 3. 44-Kyle Sheldon[5]; 4. 39-Ryan Larkin[3]; 5. 66P-SEAN MANDELL[7]; 6. 94-Joey Coppola[4]; 7. (DNF) 30-Mark Pullen[1]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 94-Joey Coppola, 00:20.914[9]; 2. 4-Andy Bachetti, 00:20.929[2]; 3. 17H-Brett Haas, 00:21.089[14]; 4. 44-Kyle Sheldon, 00:21.151[7]; 5. 35C-Connor Crane, 00:21.296[12]; 6. 1-Jason Herrington, 00:21.308[8]; 7. 82-Brian Peterson, 00:21.402[4]; 8. 12C-Peter Carlotto, 00:21.418[6]; 9. 39-Ryan Larkin, 00:21.448[10]; 10. 72-Ray Hall Jr, 00:21.647[11]; 11. 22-Jeff Watson, 00:21.652[16]; 12. 6R-Ryan Heath, 00:21.769[13]; 13. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:21.821[21]; 14. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:21.850[19]; 15. 7CT-Donny Travaglin, 00:21.905[17]; 16. 12S-Brian Sandstedt, 00:21.910[3]; 17. 14-Lorne Browe, 00:21.993[1]; 18. 250-Alan Houghtaling, 00:22.026[5]; 19. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.045[20]; 20. 66P-SEAN MANDELL, 00:22.062[18]; 21. 30-Mark Pullen, 00:22.525[15]

DIRTCAR PRO STOCK

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 317-Frank Twing[2]; 2. 177-Chris Stalker[8]; 3. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[10]; 4. 324-Jason Casey[7]; 5. 711-Rich Crane[16]; 6. 2S-Pete Stefanski[9]; 7. 28-Philip DeFiglio[11]; 8. 110-Devon Camenga[13]; 9. 9B-Slater Baker[19]; 10. 48-Jocelyn Roy[5]; 11. 2E-Brandon Emigh[4]; 12. 55-David Stickles[3]; 13. 52-Tom O’Connor[21]; 14. 311-Brian Keough[23]; 15. (DNF) 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[18]; 16. (DNF) 2H-Luke Horning[1]; 17. (DNF) 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[6]; 18. (DNF) 120-Dave Kokindo[22]; 19. (DNF) 63-Ryan Crellin[14]; 20. (DNF) 15-Beau Ballard[15]; 21. (DNF) 09-Shawn Perez Sr[12]; 22. (DNF) 58-Roxanne Roy[20]; 23. (DNS) 17-Nick Hilt; 24. (DNS) 62-Rocco Procopio

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[1]; 2. 324-Jason Casey[3]; 3. 55-David Stickles[4]; 4. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[6]; 5. 110-Devon Camenga[2]; 6. 711-Rich Crane[5]; 7. 9B-Slater Baker[7]; 8. 311-Brian Keough[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 317-Frank Twing[1]; 2. 2S-Pete Stefanski[2]; 3. 48-Jocelyn Roy[3]; 4. 28-Philip DeFiglio[4]; 5. 63-Ryan Crellin[5]; 6. 62-Rocco Procopio[6]; 7. 58-Roxanne Roy[7]; 8. (DQ) 17-Nick Hilt[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker[1]; 2. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[2]; 3. 2E-Brandon Emigh[3]; 4. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[4]; 5. 15-Beau Ballard[5]; 6. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean[6]; 7. 52-Tom O’Connor[7]; 8. 120-Dave Kokindo[8]

Timed Hot Laps 1 (3 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning, 00:24.350[7]; 2. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:24.474[3]; 3. 324-Jason Casey, 00:24.562[2]; 4. 55-David Stickles, 00:24.692[8]; 5. 711-Rich Crane, 00:24.748[5]; 6. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:24.961[6]; 7. 9B-Slater Baker, 00:25.517[1]; 8. 311-Brian Keough, 00:25.565[4]

Timed Hot Laps 2 (3 Laps): 1. 317-Frank Twing, 00:24.410[6]; 2. 2S-Pete Stefanski, 00:24.468[8]; 3. 48-Jocelyn Roy, 00:24.695[7]; 4. 28-Philip DeFiglio, 00:24.705[4]; 5. 63-Ryan Crellin, 00:24.747[2]; 6. 62-Rocco Procopio, 00:24.981[5]; 7. 58-Roxanne Roy, 00:25.292[3]; 8. (DNS) 17-Nick Hilt, 00:25.293

Timed Hot Laps 3 (3 Laps): 1. 177-Chris Stalker, 00:24.036[8]; 2. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:24.394[7]; 3. 2E-Brandon Emigh, 00:24.492[1]; 4. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:24.540[2]; 5. 15-Beau Ballard, 00:24.665[5]; 6. 413-Tom (Tommy) Dean, 00:24.795[3]; 7. 52-Tom O’Connor, 00:24.877[4]; 8. 120-Dave Kokindo, 00:25.620[6]

SPORTSMAN

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 12-MATT BURKE[1]; 2. 34-Dylan Grogan[8]; 3. 7C-Brady Cordova[6]; 4. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[11]; 5. 76-Mike Arnold[2]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[10]; 7. 399-Nick Giardini[7]; 8. 98-Craig Wholey[16]; 9. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[9]; 10. 23-Alex Bell[18]; 11. 12P-Connor Prokop[19]; 12. 07W-Taylor Wason[12]; 13. 307-Karl Barnes[3]; 14. 728-Bob Fachini[13]; 15. (DNF) 89-Dylan Madsen[17]; 16. (DNF) 81D-Anthony Dicarlo[14]; 17. (DNF) 4NY-Keith Johannessen[5]; 18. (DNF) 85-Justin Gozzi[15]; 19. (DNS) 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer; 20. (DNS) 43-Kevin Ames

Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 12-MATT BURKE[1]; 2. 76-Mike Arnold[2]; 3. 34-Dylan Grogan[8]; 4. 307-Karl Barnes[3]; 5. 7S-Michael Sabia[7]; 6. 399-Nick Giardini[6]; 7. 81D-Anthony Dicarlo[9]; 8. 85-Justin Gozzi[4]; 9. 89-Dylan Madsen[10]; 10. 23-Alex Bell[5]; 11. 12P-Connor Prokop[11]

Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN[6]; 2. 4NY-Keith Johannessen[4]; 3. 7C-Brady Cordova[5]; 4. 07W-Taylor Wason[8]; 5. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[7]; 6. 728-Bob Fachini[9]; 7. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[3]; 8. 98-Craig Wholey[2]; 9. (DNS) 43-Kevin Ames

Hot Laps 1: 1. 22H-TIM HARTMAN, 00:22.259[4]; 2. 07W-Taylor Wason, 00:22.516[17]; 3. 23-Alex Bell, 00:22.535[8]; 4. 7C-Brady Cordova, 00:22.536[3]; 5. 85-Justin Gozzi, 00:22.672[11]; 6. 98-Craig Wholey, 00:22.749[10]; 7. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:22.781[6]; 8. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:22.791[16]; 9. 34-Dylan Grogan, 00:22.798[5]; 10. 12P-Connor Prokop, 00:22.844[15]; 11. 76-Mike Arnold, 00:22.880[14]; 12. 728-Bob Fachini, 00:22.894[19]; 13. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:22.895[9]; 14. 711C-Chris Crane Jr, 00:22.913[7]; 15. 4NY-Keith Johannessen, 00:22.976[2]; 16. 81D-Anthony Dicarlo, 00:23.060[18]; 17. 12-MATT BURKE, 00:23.267[13]; 18. 399-Nick Giardini, 00:23.400[1]; 19. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer, 00:23.463[12]

LIMITED SPORTSMAN

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 6S-John Santolin[3]; 2. 00-Colby Kokosa[10]; 3. 143-Scott Zehnacker[9]; 4. 03-Harold Robitaille[7]; 5. 04-Chris Humes[5]; 6. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[2]; 7. 2E-Rich Eggers[16]; 8. 09-Braxton Martin[21]; 9. 250-Chip Martin[18]; 10. 128-Kent Clark[20]; 11. 43-Brian Walsh[6]; 12. 69-Dakota Green[14]; 13. 25-Sarah Arnold[22]; 14. 10-Ray Royals[11]; 15. 756-Brandon Lemaire[1]; 16. 216-Phil Arnold[17]; 17. 1A-Nick Arnold[13]; 18. 31B-Mike Bosco[15]; 19. 27-Dylan Holmes[4]; 20. 19-Owen Lewis[12]; 21. 25B-Jasen Brewer[8]; 22. (DQ) 1-Frank Twing Jr[19]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 43-Brian Walsh[3]; 2. 143-Scott Zehnacker[4]; 3. 19-Owen Lewis[5]; 4. 6S-John Santolin[2]; 5. 1A-Nick Arnold[7]; 6. 2E-Rich Eggers[8]; 7. 1-Frank Twing Jr[6]; 8. (DNS) 09-Braxton Martin

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 756-Brandon Lemaire[1]; 2. 27-Dylan Holmes[2]; 3. 00-Colby Kokosa[4]; 4. 69-Dakota Green[7]; 5. 03-Harold Robitaille[3]; 6. 216-Phil Arnold[6]; 7. 128-Kent Clark[5]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[1]; 2. 25B-Jasen Brewer[3]; 3. 04-Chris Humes[2]; 4. 31B-Mike Bosco[7]; 5. 10-Ray Royals[4]; 6. 250-Chip Martin[6]; 7. 09-Braxton Martin; 8. (DNS) 25-Sarah Arnold

Hot Laps 1: 1. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:22.709[9]; 2. 143-Scott Zehnacker, 00:22.982[5]; 3. 04-Chris Humes, 00:23.275[13]; 4. 25B-Jasen Brewer, 00:23.291[10]; 5. 69-Dakota Green, 00:23.373[15]; 6. 1-Frank Twing Jr, 00:23.444[20]; 7. 43-Brian Walsh, 00:23.511[2]; 8. 6S-John Santolin, 00:23.586[4]; 9. 1A-Nick Arnold, 00:23.595[18]; 10. 27-Dylan Holmes, 00:23.629[1]; 11. 03-Harold Robitaille, 00:23.668[7]; 12. 756-Brandon Lemaire, 00:23.675[3]; 13. 10-Ray Royals, 00:23.694[12]; 14. 216-Phil Arnold, 00:23.884[21]; 15. 31B-Mike Bosco, 00:23.939[14]; 16. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli, 00:23.952[11]; 17. 2E-Rich Eggers, 00:24.743[19]; 18. 09-Braxton Martin, 00:25.405[8]; 19. 250-Chip Martin, 00:26.697[16]; 20. (DNS) 00-Colby Kokosa; 21. (DNS) 128-Kent Clark; 22. (DNS) 25-Sarah Arnold

SUPER STREET STOCK

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 73-David Streibel[7]; 2. 273-Dave Streibel[5]; 3. 08-Lou Gancarz[6]; 4. 89-Kerianne Vandenburg[3]; 5. 3-Peter Huntoon[4]; 6. 76-Franklin Smith[2]; 7. 5X-Jeff Meltz[8]; 8. 75-Ray Tarantino Jr[9]; 9. (DQ) 46-Doug Sterling[1]

4 CYLINDER SINGLE & DUAL

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 99D-Jonathan Shepherd[4]; 2. 48D-Anthony Tarantino[2]; 3. 80S-Dawson Thompson[7]; 4. 8S-Stephen Burka[6]; 5. 14S-Dylan Macleod[5]; 6. 191D-Chris Danylieko[1]; 7. 19D-Brian Blanck[3]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 48D-Anthony Tarantino, 00:29.184[1]; 2. 8S-Stephen Burka, 00:29.805[3]; 3. 80S-Dawson Thompson, 00:29.853[4]; 4. 14S-Dylan Macleod, 00:30.042[2]; 5. 19D-Brian Blanck, 00:30.043[5]; 6. 191D-Chris Danylieko, 00:30.044[7]; 7. 99D-Jonathan Shepherd, 00:30.045[6]