Andy Bachetti, Kyle Sheldon Split Commander 81 Twin 20s

In celebration of track owner/promoter Howard Commander’s 81^st birthday, the Modifieds ran two 20-lap features for $4,050 each to win.  Only appearance points were on the line.  These features were won by Andy Bachetti and Kyle Sheldon.

Feature No. 1 saw Brett Haas start from pole after winning his heat.  He started strong, but had Kolby Schroder breathing down his neck almost immediately.

On lap 3, Schroder used the high line to take the lead exiting turn 4.  He was one of the only drivers to make significant progress in the first feature up high.  Bachetti was close behind and followed Schroder into second.

Bachetti raced Schroder hard for much of the race for the lead, never straying far from the No. 99.  Finally, with five laps to go, Bachetti was able to make the move for the lead stick.  From there, he held on for the victory.

Schroder was .523 seconds back in second, then Haas.  J.R. Heffner was fourth, while John Virgilio was fifth.

For the second feature, Bachetti did a blind draw in victory lane.  That draw determined that the top 10 finishers from the first feature would be inverted.

That meant that Kyle Sheldon, who finished 10^th in Race No. 1, ended up with the pole with Marc Johnson alongside.  Here, Kyle had to fight Johnson hard for his position.

The sole caution in the Commander 81 flew a couple laps in when Matt Pupello suddenly slowed on the frontstretch.  Most of the drivers were able to avoid him, but Mike King spun and tapped the wall.  He was able to continue, but Pupello was done for the night.

On the restart, Johnson tried again for the lead, but Sheldon was eventually able to fend him off.  Slowly but surely, Kyle pulled away while Johnson fell into the clutches of Eddie Marshall.

Marshall took second on lap 12, then ran down Kyle for the lead.  What followed was a back-and-forth battle.  Marshall took the lead on lap 14, then lost it, then regained it.  However, it was lapped traffic that allowed Kyle to retake the lead for good with three laps to go.

From there, Kyle held on for the win.  Marshall was .403 seconds back in second, then Johnson, Kyle Armstrong and Bachetti.

“[The car] was excellent,” Kyle Sheldon said afterwards.  “We might not have had the fastest car, but sometimes, the fastest car doesn’t always win.  I gotta thank Eddie Marshall.  He’s such a gentleman on and off the track.  It was a pleasure racing with him.”

The 358 Modified feature saw Michael Sabia start on pole and lead early in one of his strongest small block runs.  Further back, Chris Curtis started in ninth and slowly made his way up the grid.

For Haas, this just hasn’t been his month.  On lap 9, he slowed in turn 4 and pulled behind the wall, a second straight DNF that will cost him the points lead.

Curtis caught Sabia with 10 laps to go for the lead.  Once there, it didn’t take long for the black and orange No. 35 to take the lead on lap 16.

Curtis then drove away over the final laps to win by 5.265 seconds over Sabia.  Bachetti was third, then Guy Sheldon and Ray Hall Jr.

The Sportsman feature saw Tim Hartman Jr. assert his dominance once again.  Craig Wholey started from pole and lead early.  Meanwhile, the race’s only yellow flew on the first lap when Brady Cordova spun and was collected by Owen Lewis and Karl Barnes.  Cordova was able to continue, but Barnes and Lewis were done for the night.

Hartman started ninth, but quickly drove up into the top-five.  Another few laps saw him right on the tail of Wholey.  Coming to the halfway point, Hartman was able to take over the lead.

Once out front, Hartman ran away and hid to take the win by 8.326 seconds.  Wholey was second, then Alex Bell, Anthony Maxon and Cordova.

The Pro Stock feature saw Tom Dean start on pole and dominate early.  Dave Stickles was able to pass Shawn Perez for second early on, but could just barely keep pace.

However, right at halfway, Dean’s car suffered an ignition issue.  That allowed Stickles to get past for the lead.

Shortly afterwards, Jason Meltz ran into Dean in turn 1 and spun to bring out the first caution.  Both drivers were able to continue.

Dean was challenging again at the front when his car backfired again on the backstretch.  Right after that happened, Frank Twing and Chris Stalker collided and spun in turn 4, creating a stack up.

From there, Stickles was able to hold off Meltz and Nick Hilt to take his first win of the year.  Meltz was second, then Dean, Shawn Perez Jr. and Twing.

In Street Stock, Dave Streibel Jr. earned his second victory of the season.

All Green Hydroseed Modified Commander 81 Twin 20 No. 1 Results (20 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Kolby Schroder, 3) Brett Haas, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) John Virgilio, 6) Chris Curtis, 7) Kyle Armstrong, 8) Eddie Marshall, 9) Marc Johnson, 10) Kyle Sheldon, 11) Matt Pupello, 12) Keith Flach, 13) L.J. Lombardo, 14) Ryan Charland, 15) Chris Bisson, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) Josh Marcus, 18) Brandon Lane, 19) Mike King, 20) Montgomery Tremont, 21) Bubba McPhee, 22) Alan Houghtaling, 23) Rob Maxon, 24) Ryan Darcy

All Green Hydroseed Modified Commander 81 Twin 20 No. 2 Results (20 laps): 1) Kyle Sheldon, 2) Eddie Marshall, 3) Marc Johnson, 4) Kyle Armstrong, 5) Andy Bachetti, 6) Kolby Schroder, 7) Chris Curtis, 8) Keith Flach, 9) L.J. Lombardo, 10) Brett Haas, 11) J.R. Heffner, 12) John Virgilio, 13) Brandon Lane, 14) Chris Bisson, 15) Josh Marcus, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) Ryan Charland, 18) Mike King, 19) Bubba McPhee, 20) Montgomery Tremont, 21) Rob Maxon, 22) Matt Pupello, 23) Alan Houghtaling (DNS)

Herrington Farms 358 Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Chris Curtis, 2) Michael Sabia, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Guy Sheldon, 5) Ray Hall Jr., 6) Joey Coppola, 7) Jeff Watson, 8) Ryan Larkin, 9) Brady Cordova, 10) Mark Pullen, 11) Mike Engwer, 12) Kyle Sheldon, 13) Joe Pravia, 14) John Kendall, 15) Brett Haas, 16) Angelo DiCarlo, 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Donny Travaglin

S&G Roofing Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Craig Wholey, 3) Alex Bell, 4) Anthony Maxon, 5) Brady Cordova, 6) A.J. Albreada, 7) Nick Giardini, 8) Dylan Grogan, 9) Michael Sabia, 10) Shawn McPhee, 11) Pat Mann, 12) Ray Royals, 13) Nathan Johnson, 14) Chayton Young, 15) Kyle Burl, 16) Stephen Gray, 17) Owen Lewis, 18) Karl Barnes, 19) Kevin Ames (DNS)

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Jason Meltz, 3) Tom Dean, 4) Shawn Perez Jr., 5) Frank Twing, 6) Zach Sorrentino, 7) Chris Stalker, 8) Ryan Crellin, 9) Paul LaRochelle, 10) Nick Hilt, 11) Shawn Perez, 12) Richard Spencer, 13) Rocco Procopio

Street Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Streibel Jr., 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Bob Sleight, 4) Anthony King, 5) Keri VanDenburg, 6) Dave Streibel, 7) Gary O’Brien, 8) Franklin Smith, 9) Peter Huntoon, 10) Rob Partridge, 11) Hannah Stalker