Brett Haas Breaks 3-Year Snide at Lebanon Valley

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Brett Haas. A blown engine last week set the team significantly, then he failed to make the King of Spring 100. Saturday night saw Haas take the lead from Ryan Charland on lap 15 and pull away to take his first Modified win at Lebanon Valley since 2020.

“We went back to what we know, setup-wise,” Haas said afterwards. “We put our Bilstein shocks back on [the car]. We needed a hard reset, and as a result, the car was much more drivable.”

Charland started from the pole and got a great start before a crash in turn 2 resulted in Alex Bell taking a significant hit. Bell suffered from a sprained neck in the incident, but was able to walk to the ambulance with assistance.

Early on, Kyle Sheldon was the man on the move. He was able to move up to eighth on the first lap under green, then dispatched of Andy Bachetti to get up to sixth.

As a result of Haas’ recent struggles, he started towards the front of the pack. He was able to get himself past Brandon Lane for second when L.J. Lombardo brought out the yellow due to a tire issue on lap 9.

After the restart, Charland and Haas pulled away from the pack. After working on the No. 10c for a number of laps, Haas made the pass stick, then drove away from everyone else.

Marc Johnson, the winner on May 27, had a very quick No. 9 Saturday night. Starting 14th, Johnson made his way up the order slowly, the cautions helping his case. Shortly after the Lombardo caution, he was up to third.

A caution for Kyle Armstrong’s blown right rear tire brought everyone back together for a three-lap sprint, but Haas was able to hold on to take the win. Marc Johnson was second, then Andy Bachetti, Keith Flach and Charland.

The Small Block Modified class saw Kevin Petrucci start on pole and open a decent lead. Joey Coppola was able to move up to second, then quickly ran down Petrucci. On lap 9, Coppola took the advantage.

Shortly after Coppola took the lead, Ray Hall Jr. and Montgomery Tremont both slowed with mechanical issues. Brian Sandstedt also spun to bring out the yellow. During that yellow, Petrucci ended up dropping out with his own issues.

Jeff Watson had contact with Donny Travaglin on the frontstretch shortly after the restart, breaking the right front corner of his No. 22 to bring out another yellow. After that yellow, L.J. Lombardo and Andy Bachetti began to threaten for the lead.

Following another caution, Bachetti took second from Lombardo on the restart, then took the lead from Coppola in turn 3. Shortly afterwards, Coppola lost his brakes, ending his night.

From there, Bachetti was able to pull away to take the win. He was 2.196 seconds ahead of Lombardo at the finish. Jason Herrington was third, then Lorne Browe and Kim LaVoy.

In Sportsman, Alan Houghtaling started from the pole and led early. Meanwhile, Keith Johannessen had a flat tire and slowed on the apron. Peter Lorenzo ran into the back of Johannessen to bring out a yellow. Lorenzo was out on the spot with heavy damage, while Johannessen was able to continue.

Behind Houghtaling, the man on the move was Kevin Ward. After the restart, Ward was able to dispatch of the Cordova brothers (Brady and Cody), then run down Houghtaling. On the seventh lap, Ward was able to get underneath Houghtaling and took the lead entering turn 1.

Once out front, Ward drove away from the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Houghtaling ended up in a battle with Rob Maxon and Tim Hartman Jr. that was only broken up due to a debris caution for a bollard getting caught up in the left front suspension of Gary O’Brien’s car.

Maxon took second on the lap 13 restart, but his time there was short-lived. Another yellow kept the field together and allowed Hartman to take it away on the next restart. That was as far as Hartman got as Ward was able to hold a steady lead to the finish to take his second win of the year.

Hartman was second, then Maxon, O’Brien and Lynch. In Limited Sportsman, Craig Coons took his maiden Lebanon Valley victory over Frank Twing Jr., Anthony Maxon, Mike Arnold and Harold Robitaille.

The Pro Stock class saw trouble almost immediately in turn 1. Steven LaRochelle was hit by Rick Duzlak, resulting in both cars spinning out. Zach Sorrentino was collected as the caution flew. Duzlak was out of the race, while LaRochelle and Sorrentino continued.

Fred Lee started from the pole and led early, but went too fast into turn 3 on lap 2. The resulting wall contact allowed Dave Stickles to get himself into the lead.

Once out front, Stickles was able to open up a decent gap. Meanwhile, LaRochelle got back to second after his spin and had to deal with Chad Jeseo. The two fought until Jeseo cut his right front tire and stopped to draw a caution with five laps to go. He would eventually finish seventh.

Stickles was able to hold on over the final few laps to win his second feature of the year and take the points lead. LaRochelle was second, then Tom Dean, Sorrentino and Brian Keough.

In Street Stock, Chris Stalker was able to get around Jeff Meltz Sr. on the final lap to win the 20-lap feature. Bradley Batho won his fourth 4-Cylinder feature of the year. Tim Meltz won in Single-cam.

Modified 11th Annual J.C. Flach Memorial Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Haas, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Ryan Charland, 6) Kyle Sheldon, 7) Brandon Lane, 8) Ryan Darcy, 9) Kenny Tremont Jr., 10) J.R. Heffner, 11) John Virgilio, 12) Kolby Schroder, 13) Olden Dwyer, 14) Wayne Jelley, 15) Matt Pupello, 16) Eddie Marshall, 17) Josh Marcus, 18) Kyle Armstrong, 19) Brian Berger, 20) L.J. Lombardo, 21) Kenny Aanonsen Jr., 22) Jeff Sukup, 23) Paul Gilardi, 24) Timothy Davis, 25) Alex Bell, 26) Mike King

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) L.J. Lombardo, 3) Jason Herrington, 4) Lorne Browe, 5) Kim LaVoy, 6) Ryan Charland, 7) Ryan Heath, 8) Peter Carlotto, 9) Jeff Reis, 10) Brian Sandstedt, 11) Joey Coppola, 12) Donny Travaglin, 13) Ryan Larkin, 14) Jeff Watson, 15) Kevin Petrucci, 16) Ray Hall Jr., 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Montgomery Tremont, 19) Olden Dwyer

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Kevin Ward, 2) Tim Hartman Jr., 3) Rob Maxon, 4) Gary O’Brien, 5) Chris Lynch, 6) Alan Houghtaling, 7) Brady Cordova, 8) Matt Burke, 9) Bob Fachini, 10) Karl Barnes, 11) Jim VanZandt, 12) Kevin Ames, 13) Keith Johannessen, 14) Cody Cordova, 15) Peter Lorenzo

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Craig Coons, 2) Frank Twing Jr., 3) Anthony Maxon, 4) Mike Arnold, 5) Harold Robitaille, 6) Alex Palmer-Sawyer, 7) Scott Zehnacker, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Allyson Papp, 10) Kent Clark, 11) Mike Engwer, 12) Jason Manchester, 13) Owen Lewis, 14) Billy Brandt

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Steven LaRochelle, 3) Tom Dean, 4) Zach Sorrentino, 5) Brian Keough, 6) Fred Lee, 7) Chad Jeseo, 8) Katarina Foster, 9) Mike Dianda, 10) Frank Twing, 11) Rick Duzlak

Street Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Dave Streibel Jr., 4) Jim Dellea, 5) Dave Streibel, 6) Katarina Foster, 7) Ray Royals, 8) Keri VanDenburg, 9) Milo Campbell, 10) Lou Gancarz, 11) Franklin Smith, 12) Mike Dianda, 13) Rocco Procopio

4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Bradley Batho, 2) Jim Guertin, 3) Jason Peck, 4) Shawny Hazel, 5) Mike Duncan

4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Tim Meltz, 2) Joey Batho, 3) Joe Wolfe, 4) Stephen Burka, 5) Dylan MacLeod