
Saturday night was Christmas in July in Lebanon Valley Speedway. For Andy Bachetti, actual Christmas came early as he doubled up with Modified and Small Block Modified victories.
“[Getting the double’s] pretty hard to do here at Lebanon Valley,” Bachetti said after the races. “I’ve got great race cars, great sponsors and great people around me. It’s a testament of digging hard and working hard with everything that these guys do.”
Timothy Davis started from the pole and fended up fierce runs early on from Keith Flach. Behind him, Brett Haas moved up to third on the start and began to pressure Flach after he fell off of Davis’ rear end.
Haas took the second spot on lap 7 and set off to do battle with Davis. Meanwhile, Bachetti started seventh and slowly moved up the order.
Bachetti moved up to third after a fierce battle between Flach and Dwyer ended with Flach nearly hitting the wall in turn 4.
Haas eventually caught Davis and battled hard for the lead. Brett intended to use the inside line, but slower traffic blocked him from doing so. This allowed Bachetti to enter into the fray. He took second spot from Haas, then stalked Davis.
On lap 24, he was able to make the pass stick in turn 2. From there, Bachetti pulled away to take his fourth win of the year. Haas was second, then Davis, Dwyer and Eddie Marshall.
In Small Block Modified competition, Olden Dwyer started from the pole after winning his heat race, then quickly tried to open a gap over Peter Carlotto. Further back, Bachetti lined up 13th on the grid and had to methodically move his way forward.
Dwyer had a lead of 1.5 seconds before Carlotto was able to reel him in a little bit at a time. Meanwhile, Bachetti had gotten himself up to fifth by lap 9. By halfway, he was third, but quite a way behind the leaders despite a faster car.
Last week’s winner Brian Sandstedt slowing on the frontstretch with a steering issue. This brought out the race’s only yellow.
The restart determined the outcome of the race. Bachetti restarted third, then blasted around the outside of both Dwyer and Carlotto to take the lead. Behind the leaders, Alan Houghtaling had a mechanical failure, which stacked the field up. This allowed Bachetti to truly stretch his legs.
Bachetti proceeded to run away from the pack to take the win. Bachetti was 5.328 seconds ahead of L.J. Lombardo at the finish. Dwyer was third, then Ryan Larkin and Jason Herrington.
Sportsman drivers competed in the Inaugural Rod Fifield Memorial, a 25-lap feature that was postponed from last month. Keith Johannessen started from the pole and ran very well early. Robbie Knipe gave chase, while Whitey Slavin moved up to third.
A spin for Ryan Heath in turn 1 brought out the race’s first yellow with eight laps complete, closing everyone up. On the restart, Slavin was able to get by Knipe for second. A lap later, he was able to get past Johannessen and take the lead just before a spin for Bob Fachini brought out another yellow.
Shortly after the restart, Chris Lynch got up to second and started to pressure Slavin. However, that pressure was short-lived as the Connecticut racer began to drop off of Slavin’s car.
A crash for Alex Palmer-Sawyer in turn 4 brought out the final yellow with nine laps to go. That brought Tim Hartman Jr. into the hunt. Hartman was able to get past Lynch on lap 18 for second, then set out to get Slavin. However, Slavin was able to shake off the pressure and pull away to take his fourth win of the year.
Slavin won by 2.591 seconds over Hartman and Lynch. Butchie Irwin was fourth, while Peter Lorenzo was fifth.
Earlier in the evening, Hartman won a six-lap Sportsman Dash. In addition, Frank Twing Jr. won the Limited Sportsman Feature for his first career win at Lebanon Valley.
In Pro Stock, Tom Dean started from the pole and opened up a small gap over Chris Stalker. Further back, Steven LaRochelle and Chad Jeseo were progressing up the order.
LaRochelle was able to get up to second on lap 9. Shortly afterwards, Zach Seyerlein spun in turn 2 after a tap from Stalker to bring out the race’s only yellow.
On the restart, LaRochelle was able to get a good run and passed Dean for the lead. Once out front, LaRochelle was able to open up a decent gap and hold on for the win.
Dean finished second after spending most of the second half of the feature fighting off Jeseo. Nick Hilt Jr. was fourth, while Stalker was fifth.
In Street Stock competition, Chris Stalker took his fourth win of the year. He also won the Street Stock Dash.
Wohrle’s Foods/Benjamin Moore Points Christmas in July Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Timothy Davis, 4) Olden Dwyer, 5) Eddie Marshall, 6) Keith Flach, 7) Kenny Tremont Jr., 8) Kyle Sheldon, 9) Marc Johnson, 10) Mike King, 11) Brian Berger, 12) L.J. Lombardo, 13) John Virgilio, 14) Kyle Armstrong, 15) Brandon Lane, 16) Josh Marcus, 17) Dylan Gibson, 18) Ryan Larkin*, 19) Ryan Charland*, 20) Kevin Petrucci*, 21) Brian Sandstedt*
*- Ryan Larkin, Ryan Charland, Kevin Petrucci and Brian Sandstedt all drove Small Block Modifieds in the feature
Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) L.J. Lombardo, 3) Olden Dwyer, 4) Ryan Larkin, 5) Jason Herrington, 6) Peter Carlotto, 7) Frank Harper, 8) Jeff Watson, 9) Brian Peterson, 10) Ray Hall Jr., 11) Lorne Browe, 12) Brian Sandstedt, 13) Montgomery Tremont, 14) Ryan Charland, 15) Kevin Petrucci, 16) Alan Houghtaling
Sportsman Rod Fifield Memorial Results (25 laps): 1) Whitey Slavin, 2) Tim Hartman Jr., 3) Chris Lynch, 4) Butchie Irwin, 5) Peter Lorenzo, 6) Garret Poland, 7) Kevin Ward, 8) Ray Hall Jr., 9) Robbie Knipe, 10) Keith Johannessen, 11) Cody Cordova, 12) Karl Barnes, 13) Shane Powell, 14) Ryan Heath, 15) Bob Fachini, 16) Rob Maxon, 17) Alex Palmer-Sawyer, 18) Anthony Maxon, 19) Matt Jordan, 20) Robbie Colburn, 21) Kevin Ames, 22) Brady Cordova, 23) Frank Twing Jr., 24) Jacob Perry, 25) Andy Crane
Sportsman Dash Results (6 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Keith Johannessen, 3) Chris Lynch, 4) Whitey Slavin, 5) Robbie Knipe, 6) Shane Powell
Limited Sportsman Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Frank Twing Jr., 2) Cody Cordova, 3) Alex Palmer-Sawyer, 4) Kevin Ames, 5) Karl Barnes, 6) Anthony Maxon, 7) Jacob Perry, 8) Matt Jordan, 9) Andy Crane
Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Steven LaRochelle, 2) Tom Dean, 3) Chad Jeseo, 4) Nick Hilt Jr., 6) Chris Stalker, 6) Robbie Speed, 7) Rick Duzlak, 8) Dave Stickles, 9) Zach Seyerlein, 10) Zach Sorrentino*, 11) Bruno Richard, 12) Brian Keough, 13) Tom O’Connor, 14) Scott Kilmer, 15) Tyler Bushey
*- Scott Towslee drove in place of Zach Sorrentino as a substitute driver. Sorrentino will collect the points that Towslee earned for finishing 10th.
Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Brian Walsh, 3) Dave Streibel Jr., 4) Gary O’Brien, 5) Dave Streibel, 6) Jeff Meltz Sr., 7) Evan Denue, 8) Jim Dellea, 9) Scott Morris, 10) Katarina Foster, 11) Ray Royals, 12) Ryan Brown, 13) Daniel Coonradt, 14) Franklin Smith, 15) Dom Denue*, 16) Christopher Brown
*- Janai St. Pierre drove in place of Dom Denue as a substitute driver. Dom Denue will collect the points that St. Pierre earned for finishing 15th.
Street Stock Dash Results (6 laps): 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Dave Streibel Jr., 3) Gary O’Brien, 4) Dave Streibel, 5) Evan Denue, 6) Brian Walsh
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