Andy Bachetti Starts Off 2026 With 15th Lebanon Valley Double
COLUMN BY: Phil Allaway / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY – WEST LEBANON, N.Y. – Saturday night saw the Modified season finally get underway. Andy Bachetti showed that he has lost nothing since last year as he took the lead on lap 12 and held on to take the win in slippery conditions
“You just had to bide your time and be patient [with the slick track],” Bachetti explained after the race. “Besides, we had good race cars tonight, too.”
Bachetti won by 3.669 seconds over Marc Johnson. J.R. Heffner was third, then Eddie Marshall and Matt Pupello.
By virtue of winning his heat back on April 25, Marshall started from pole on a very slick race track. This slickness was evident all evening.
Early on, cautions flew due to a spin for Mike Engwer in turn 1. Shortly after the restart, Brandon Lane spun out of second and collected Wayne Jelley in turn 1. The crash ended Jelley’s night. Lane would finish 18th.
Johnson moved up to second here, then took the lead from Marshall on lap 5. Bachetti followed past into second, then wasted no time in getting by Johnson for the lead a few laps later.
A litany of yellows around halfway kept the field bunched up. The biggest of these occurred when Brett Haas spun in turn 1 and collected John Virgilio, Keith Flach, Guy Sheldon and Chris Curtis. Curtis was eliminated from the race here, while everyone else made repairs and continued.
From here, Bachetti was able to slowly pull away from the rest of the field and take a comfortable victory. Heffner had the fastest car in hot laps, but he was hampered in traffic and was only able to get to third.
In the 358 Modifieds, Joey Coppola started from pole and was very confident, having stated that he liked slick tracks. Bachetti took no prisoners here. He started third and took over the lead on the second lap.
Haas quickly moved to second and was the only driver that was able to hang with Bachetti early on. However, as the race continued on, Bachetti’s margin continued to increase, especially to those further down the order.
Bachetti was able to easily hold on to take the victory, his 15th career Modified-Small Block Modified double at Lebanon Valley. He won by 2.523 seconds over Haas. Curtis was third, then Coppola and Brady Cordova.
Pro Stock saw Chris Stalker start on pole, then immediately spin out in turn 1 on the first lap with Rick Duzlak. That gave the lead to Shawn Perez.
Perez opened up a decent advantage, but started having sparking issues in his right rear corner. The lead went away when Dave Stickles stalled to bring out the yellow at halfway.
Jason Casey took advantage of the caution and mechanical issues for Ryan Crellin to get in the mix. A couple of laps after the restart, he was able to make the move on Perez to take the lead. From there, he was able to hold off Frank Twing to take his third straight Pro Stock win.
Casey won by .163 seconds over Twing, followed by Stalker and Perez. Tom Dean was fifth.
In Sportsman, John Agor started from pole, but lost the lead almost immediately to Connor Prokop. Prokop quickly opened up the advantage.
Owen Lewis was able to move up from fifth on the grid to second in the opening laps and could match Prokop’s lap times early on. However, he fell back and settled into the runner-up spot.
Prokop was able to hold on to take his first career Sportsman win by 3.703 seconds over Lewis. Tim Hartman Jr. was third, then A.J. Albreada and Anthony Maxon.
Limited Sportsman saw Brian Walsh start from pole after Dustin Bowen was penalized for a push start. Walsh was able to lead the opening lap before Braxton Martin was able to overtake him.
Once in the lead, Martin ran away from the field, opening up a four-second lead over Ray Royals. He held that lead until Garrett Biagiarelli spun in turn 4 to bring out a yellow with five laps to go.
On the final restart, Craig Coons was able to get by Royals for second, but he could nothing to prevent Martin from taking the win. Coons was 2.332 seconds back in second, then Royals, Kyle Burl and Dalton Gamache.
The Street Stock feature saw Anthony King rise to the lead after Gary O’Brien nearly spun out on lap 6. However, O’Brien came back, retook the lead on lap 12 and held on for the win. Jeff Meltz Sr. was second, then Peter Huntoon, King and Dave Streibel Jr.
In the 4-Cylinders, Matthew Martin claimed the victory when C.J. LaVair slowed in the closing laps.
Modified Butch Davenport Memorial Results (30 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) J.R. Heffner, 4) Eddie Marshall, 5) Matt Pupello, 6) Brett Haas, 7) Kyle Sheldon, 8) Kyle Armstrong, 9) Guy Sheldon, 10) Dylan Grogan, 11) John Virgilio, 12) Kolby Schroder, 13) Keith Flach, 14) Josh Marcus, 15) Alan Houghtaling, 16) Mike King, 17) Montgomery Tremont, 18) Brandon Lane, 19) Timothy Davis, 20) Chris Curtis, 21) Mike Engwer, 22) Alex Bell, 23) Wayne Jelley, 24) Jeff Watson, 25) Ryan Darcy (DNS)
358 Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Chris Curtis, 4) Joey Coppola, 5) Brady Cordova, 6) Kyle Sheldon, 7) Brian Berger, 8) Jeff Watson, 9) Ray Hall Jr., 10) Garrett Poland, 11) Donny Travaglin, 12) Brian Whittemore, 13) Joe Bonetti, 14) Guy Sheldon, 15) Kim LaVoy, 16) Montgomery Tremont, 17) Mark Pullen, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Joe Pravia, 20) Brian Sandstedt, 21) Harold Robitaille, 22) Mike Engwer, 23) Nick Perez
Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Jason Casey, 2) Frank Twing, 3) Chris Stalker, 4) Shawn Perez, 5) Tom Dean, 6) Jay Casey, 7) Paul LaRochelle, 8) Shaine Dowd-Smith, 9) Brian Keough, 10) Tom O’Connor, 11) Frank Twing Jr., 12) Richard Spencer, 13) Rick Duzlak, 14) Ryan Crellin, 15) Dave Stickles, 16) Shawn Perez Jr., 17) Jonathan Levesque (DNS)
Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Connor Prokop, 2) Owen Lewis, 3) Tim Hartman Jr., 4) A.J. Albreada, 5) Anthony Maxon, 6) Nick Brundige, 7) Cody Cordova, 8) Ed Dachenhausen, 9) John Agor, 10) Cam Van Zandt, 11) Karl Barnes, 12) Nick Giardini, 13) Craig Wholey
Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Braxton Martin, 2) Craig Coons, 3) Ray Royals, 4) Kyle Burl, 5) Dalton Gamache, 6) Daniel Odell, 7) Dustin Bowen, 8) Doug Sterling, 9) Brian Walsh, 10) Garrett Biagiarelli, 11) Matt Humes, 12) John Santolin, 13) Colten Emigh (DNS)
Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Peter Huntoon, 4) Anthony King, 5) Dave Streibel Jr., 6) Dave Streibel, 7) Julius Pepin, 8) Franklin Smith, 9) Keri VanDenburg, 10) Rocco Szemplinski, 11) Chris Streeter, 12) Dylan Quintero, 13) Bryan Rennell, 14) David Shepard
Claverack Well & Pump Services 4-Cylinder Feature (15 laps): 1) Matthew Martin, 2) C.J. LaVair, 3) Jason Peck, 4) Stephen Burka, 5) Morgan Houghtaling, 6) Prudence Peterson, 7) Dale Sirois, 8) Dawson Thompson
