Chris Curtis scores Lebanon Valley Big Block Victory
COLUMN BY: Phil Allaway / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY – WEST LEBANON, NY – Chris Curtis was able to take the lead early from pole sitter Alex Bell Saturday night. From there, he was able to hold on to take his first Lebanon Valley win of 2026.
“Definitely starting on the front row helped us out a lot,” Curtis said afterwards. “I thought it was going to be dicey the first couple of laps with [Alex Bell]. We threw some good sliders at each other and it was clean racing. Once we got out front, it was a good run.”
Curtis won by 2.543 seconds over Keith Flach. Kolby Schroder was third, then Brett Haas and Andy Bachetti.
Alex Bell started from the pole and immediately came under pressure from Curtis, who was starting up front due to a 20th-place finish on May 16. On the second lap, he was able to get past Bell on the inside.
Bell was able to use the upper lane to keep tabs with Curtis for quite a few laps in his best ever Modified run at Lebanon Valley. The two were able to pull out two seconds on the rest of the pack.
The race’s only caution came out on lap 12 when Brandon Lane slowed on the frontstretch with a suspension issue. That ultimately ended his night.
On the restart, Bell didn’t get a good start, allowing those around him to swamp him. Flach was able to move up to second, followed by Schroder. Bell dropped all the way to seventh.
From there, Curtis slowly pulled away from the pack. The margins between the leaders stabilized as the Connecticut racer claimed the victory.
In the 358 Modified feature, Guy Sheldon started from the pole, but quickly lost the advantage to Alan Houghtaling. Houghtaling was running a unique low line all the way around the track. It was somewhat similar to that of a driver on a drying road course looking for moisture to cool his tires.
Kyle Sheldon quickly moved up the order from 10th on the grid to take third on the second lap. He then ran down Houghtaling and Sheldon. On lap 9, he was able to sneak by both drivers to take the lead. Shortly afterwards, a yellow flew due to Montgomery Tremont slowing in turn 3.
Shortly after the restart, Bachetti charged up into contention by taking second from Houghtaling. An early penalty for jumping the initial start put him way back, but he quickly progressed up the order.
Once in second, Bachetti ran Sheldon hard, but could not get past. A caution for debris with nine laps to go gave him another chance, but an uncharacteristically bad restart allowed Haas to take second away.
The trio of Sheldon, Haas and Bachetti raced each other hard over the final laps, but no one could prevent Sheldon from taking the win. Sheldon won by .503 seconds over Haas. Bachetti was third, then Joey Coppola and Garrett Poland in a career-best fifth.
The Sportsman feature saw Cody Cordova start on pole and lead early. One of the threats to win, A.J. Albreada, saw his chances to win go away on lap 2 when he cut his left front tire. While he got a caution and was able to change it in the pits, he was only able to get back to eighth.
Once again, Tim Hartman Jr. had a very quick Cyclone chassis. Starting 10th, he was able to get up to second by lap 5. Three laps later, he took the lead from Cordova.
From there, Hartman was never threatened as he drove off to his fourth Sportsman win of the year. He ended up 2.369 seconds ahead of Owen Lewis at the finish. Connor Crane was third, then Cordova and Craig Wholey.
Limited Sportsman saw Dustin Bowen start from pole. The first start saw John Santolin spin on the backstretch to bring out the caution. Garrett Biagiarelli, Brian Walsh and Doug Sterling were also involved.
Bowen continued to lead until he got a little out of the groove in turn 2. That allowed Matt Humes to get past. A lap later, Braxton Martin was able to get the jump on both of them and went from third to first.
From there, Martin was able to pull away to take his second straight win. Humes was 4.251 seconds back in second. Craig Coons was third, then Dan Odell and Dalton Gamache.
The Pro Stock feature was attrition-filled. On the first lap, Rick Duzlak spun exiting turn 2 and collected Dave Stickles, Jay Casey and Paul LaRochelle. Only Casey was able to continue.
A lap after the restart, another crash broke out on the frontstretch involving Jaxson Ryan, Brian Keough and both of the Twing (Frank and Frank Jr.). Only seven cars were remaining after that.
Shaine Dowd-Smith started from the pole, but lost his advantage right before the second wreck to Shawn Perez Jr. On the second restart, Tom Dean was able to take the lead away.
Once in the lead, Dean pulled away to take his seventh career Pro Stock win. He won by 3.825 seconds over Chris Stalker. Casey was third, then Perez and Dowd-Smith.
The Street Stock feature saw Gary O’Brien take the lead away from Dave Streibel Jr. From there, O’Brien held on to win over Jeff Meltz Sr., David Shepard, Chris Streeter and Franklin Smith.
In the 4-Cylinders, Can-Am Speedway regular Matthew Martin made the long haul to claim his second win of the year.
SATURDAY 5/30/2026 RESULTS:
Modified Madsen Overhead Doors Guy Madsen Memorial presented by Contractor Sales Results (30 laps): 1) Chris Curtis, 2) Keith Flach, 3) Kolby Schroder, 4) Brett Haas, 5) Andy Bachetti, 6) Marc Johnson, 7) Alex Bell, 8) Kyle Armstrong, 9) Matt Pupello, 10) J.R. Heffner*, 11) Kyle Sheldon, 12) Dylan Grogan, 13) Eddie Marshall, 14) Timothy Davis, 15) John Virgilio, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) Josh Marcus, 18) Montgomery Tremont, 19) Mike Engwer, 20) Mike King, 21) Alan Houghtaling, 22) Brandon Lane
*- Brian Berger raced the No. 74 in substitution for Heffner. As per track rules, Heffner will acquire the points from Berger’s 10th-place finish.
358 Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kyle Sheldon, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Joey Coppola, 5) Garrett Poland, 6) Brian Berger, 7) Jeff Watson, 8) Brady Cordova, 9) Guy Sheldon, 10) Kim LaVoy, 11) Donny Travaglin, 12) Ray Hall Jr., 13) Joey Bonetti, 14) Brian Whittemore, 15) Mike Engwer, 16) Nick Perez, 17) Mark Pullen, 18) Harold Robitaille, 19) Brian Sandstedt, 20) Alan Houghtaling, 21) Montgomery Tremont, 22) Joe Pravia
Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Owen Lewis, 3) Connor Crane, 4) Cody Cordova, 5) Craig Wholey, 6) Connor Prokop, 7) Nick Brundige, 8) A.J. Albreada, 9) Jordan Hill, 10) Cam Van Zandt, 11) Ed Dachenhausen, 12) Justin Gozzi, 13) Dylan Holmes, 14) Karl Barnes, 15) John Agor, 16) Anthony Maxon, 17) John Gibson (DNS)
Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Braxton Martin, 2) Matt Humes, 3) Craig Coons, 4) Dan Odell, 5) Dalton Gamache, 6) Dustin Bowen, 7) Kyle Burl, 8) John Santolin, 9) Ray Royals, 10) Brian Walsh, 11) Garrett Biagiarelli, 12) Doug Sterling
Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tom Dean, 2) Chris Stalker, 3) Jay Casey, 4) Shawn Perez Jr., 5) Shaine Dowd-Smith, 6) Brian Keough, 7) Shawn Perez, 8) Jaxson Ryan, 9) Frank Twing Jr., 10) Frank Twing, 11) Rick Duzlak, 12) Dave Stickles, 13) Paul LaRochelle, 14) Paul Engwer, 15) Jason Casey (DNS)
*- The Pro Stock feature was run for appearance points only due to the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series racing at Autodrome Drummond. Any Lebanon Valley regular that went to Drummondville would also earn the appearance points.
Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Dave Shepard, 4) Chris Streeter, 5) Franklin Smith, 6) Dave Streibel, 7) Bryan Rennell, 8) Mike Dianda, 9) Dylan Quintero, 10) Anthony King, 11) Julius Pepin, 12) Henry Morris, 13) Rocco Szemplinski, 14) Keri VanDenburg, 15) Peter Huntoon, 16) Dave Streibel Jr.
Claverack Well & Pump Service 4-Cylinder Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Matthew Martin, 2) Stephen Burka, 3) Logan Hatch, 4) Morgan Houghtaling, 5) Prudence Peterson, 6) Dale Sirois
