Olden Dwyer Triumphs On Combative Night at Lebanon Valley

Olden Dwyer had a rough night at Lebanon Valley Saturday night. In the Modified feature, Dwyer was able to hold off a charging Brett Haas to take the victory.

“It was phenomenal. [My crew] did a great job,” Dwyer said after the race. “If it wasn’t for these guys, I would have given up a couple of weeks ago. I was just about at the end of my rope.

“I wasn’t going to let [someone knock me out of the lead] twice in one night,” Dwyer continued. “At that point, I was either going to win, or come across the line in circles or something.”

Dwyer started from the pole after winning his heat race and quickly ran away from inside pole sitter Josh Marcus. Dwyer pulled out a quick lead in the opening laps. Meanwhile, a stack up in turn 2 on the first lap allowed Haas to move up from the 11th starting spot into the top five.

An early yellow flew on lap 5 when Kyle Sheldon slowed on-track. The Alex Thomson team took a look at Sheldon’s No. 42, but could not make any fixes, ending his night. Later on, Kyle Armstrong crashed in turn 4 to bring out another yellow.

Following a third caution due to a spin for Timothy Davis, Dwyer began to pull away from the pack once again. Haas was able to take second from Kolby Schroder on lap 13 and slowly began to reel in Dwyer.

It was obvious that Haas had the better car, but he effectively didn’t have enough time. He was able to get there on the final lap and made a dive to the inside in turns 3 and 4. The two made contact and Dwyer leaned on Haas just enough to blunt his momentum and take the win. Schroder ended up third, followed by L.J. Lombardo and Andy Bachetti.

In the Small Block Modifieds, Dwyer also started from the pole and led early from Lorne Browe. Jason Herrington started in fifth and quickly made his way to third.

Herrington was able to pass Browe for second on lap 12 and quickly ran down Dwyer for the lead. The two drivers then fought hard for the lead. Herrington looked to Dwyer’s inside multiple times. At first, this wasn’t a problem. Then, the two had contact on lap 18. Dwyer was able to hold on, but this infuriated him and nearly allowed Bachetti to catch the both of them.

Herrington was able to finally get past on lap 21 and held off Bachetti over the final three laps to win. After the race, Dwyer (who finished third on the track) exited his car and attempted to go after Herrington, incensed about how he was raced. For this, Dwyer was disqualified. Afterwards, Dwyer accepted his disqualification.

Dwyer’s disqualification moved Browe up to third. Ryan Larkin was fourth, while Peter Carlotto was fifth.

In Sportsman, Ryan Heath started from the pole, but there was trouble behind him almost immediately. Whitey Slavin, Brady Cordova and Robbie Colburn crashed in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. Slavin was able to continue, but Colburn and Cordova were done. Cordova took a hard hit, but walked away.

Later on, Shane Powell spun in turn 2, collecting Jim VanZandt and Adam Schneider. VanZandt would drop out due to this incident. On the restart, Kevin Ward was able to get past Heath and take the lead. Tim Hartman Jr. would follow into second.

Hartman would run Ward down along with John Virgilio and race Ward hard for the lead. With three laps to go, Hartman was able to take the lead away, then pulled away to take his second win of the year. Virgilio was second, then Ward, Slavin and Jeff Reis. Kevin Ames finished 11th and won the Limited Sportsman feature.

The Pro Stock class was depleted after the crashes that marked the feature on June 4. As a result, there were no heat races, only a feature. A very competitive one.

Tom Dean started on the pole and led early with Zach Seyerlein giving chase. Seyerlein pressured Dean and was able to get the lead away on lap 7. Points leader Chad Jeseo was able to follow into second.

What followed was an epic duel for the lead between Seyerlein and Jeseo. The two drivers ran side-by-side for over half of the race with Seyerlein just barely able to keep himself ahead.

On the final lap, Jeseo and Seyerlein had contact in turn 2. This moved Seyerlein up the hill and allowed Jeseo to take the lead and the victory. Seyerlein held on for second, followed by Steven LaRochelle, Nick Hilt Jr. and Dean.

In Street Stock, Brian Walsh took the lead on lap 8 from Rob Partridge and held on to take the win over Partridge, Jeff Meltz Sr. and Dave Streibel Jr. Jim Dellea rounded out the top five.

Dave Prime Jr. MAC Tools Modified Feature (30 laps): 1) Olden Dwyer, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Kolby Schroder, 4) L.J. Lombardo, 5) Andy Bachetti, 6) Marc Johnson, 7) Bobby Hackel, IV, 8) Eddie Marshall, 9) Brian Berger, 10) Wayne Jelley, 11) Kenny Tremont Jr., 12) Brandon Lane, 13) Ryan Charland, 14) Mike King, 15) Timothy Davis, 16) Kenny Aanonsen Jr., 17) Keith Flach, 18) Kyle Armstrong, 19) Kyle Sheldon, 20) Josh Marcus

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Jason Herrington, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) Lorne Browe, 4) Ryan Larkin, 5) Peter Carlotto, 6) Frank Harper, 7) Kim LaVoy, 8) Montgomery Tremont, 9) Jeff Watson, 10) Ryan Charland, 11) Brian Sandstedt, 12) Alan Houghtaling, 13) L.J. Lombardo. 14) Kevin Petrucci, 15) Dylan Gibson. DQ: Olden Dwyer

Sportsman Feature Combined Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) John Virgilio, 3) Kevin Ward, 4) Whitey Slavin, 5) Jeff Reis, 6) Rob Maxon, 7) Peter Lorenzo, 8) Robbie Knipe, 9) Matt Burke, 10) Ryan Heath, 11) Kevin Ames, 12) Karl Barnes, 13) Shaeden Mosso, 14) Shane Powell, 15) Keith Johannessen, 16) Adam Schneider, 17) Jim VanZandt, 18) Brady Cordova, 19) Robbie Colburn, 20) Bob Fachini, 21) Frank Twing Jr.

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) John Virgilio, 3) Kevin Ward, 4) Whitey Slavin, 5) Jeff Reis, 6) Rob Maxon, 7) Peter Lorenzo, 8) Robbie Knipe, 9) Matt Burke, 10) Ryan Heath, 11) Shane Powell, 12) Keith Johannessen, 13) Brady Cordova, 14) Robbie Colburn, 15) Bob Fachini

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Kevin Ames, 2) Karl Barnes, 3) Shaeden Mosso, 4) Adam Schneider, 5) Jim VanZandt, 6) Frank Twing Jr.

Note: The Sportsman and Limited Sportsman features were run together, but scored separately. The combined results take the actual finishing positions in the race into effect.

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chad Jeseo, 2) Zach Seyerlein, 3) Steven LaRochelle, 4) Nick Hilt Jr., 5) Tom Dean, 6) Dave Stickles, 7) Zach Sorrentino, 8) Brian Keough, 9) Chris Stalker

Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Brian Walsh, 2) Rob Partridge, 3) Jeff Meltz Sr., 4) Dave Streibel Jr., 5) Jim Dellea, 6) Chris Stalker, 7) Scott Morris, 8) Dom Denue, 9) Rocco Procopio, 10) Evan Denue, 11) Dylan Fachini, 12) Katarina Foster, 13) Franklin Smith, 14) Christopher Brown, 15) Keri VanDenburg, 16) Craig Coons