Once again, rain played a big role at Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday night. Rains moved in during the third Pure Stock Feature, forcing the red flag to fly. The showers only lasted for about 15 minutes before the sun came back out. The track crew made short work of the repacking so that the action could resume. In the Modified feature, Olden Dwyer started from the pole, but was very quickly overhauled by J.R. Heffner, fresh off his 15th-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway Wednesday night. Heffner took the advantage and pulled out a slight lead. Kyle Sheldon passed Dwyer for second a couple of laps into the feature and seemed to be able to match Heffner, but not really gain on him at all. Meanwhile, Brett Hearn and Andy Bachetti had some troubles moving forward in the midfield. Kenny Tremont, Jr. failed to qualify for the handicapped spots in his heat race and had to start 18th. Tremont did make some progress during the feature, but slowed on lap 11 due to engine issues and retired. With no cautions to close the pack up, Heffner and Kyle Sheldon were able to leave the rest of the field in the dust and settle things amongst themselves. Sheldon tried to close in on Heffner, but just could not put anything together to challenge for the lead as Heffner held on for his first win of the year. For Heffner, Saturday night was a must-win. “We were in clean air. We had to do it. We had to win that race,” Heffner stated in the pits. “There was no other option.” Sheldon finished 1.9 seconds back in second. Rob Pitcher had a great battle for third with Keith Flach and managed to hold off the Ravena Rocket. Kyle Armstrong was fifth after fending off the advances of Hearn for the entire second half of the feature. In the Small Block Modifieds, Kim LaVoy started from the pole and was able to out drag Ricky Davis to turn 1 to assume the advantage. Meanwhile, back in the pack, Chad Pierce was hit from behind and spun out to bring out a quick caution. Once the race restarted, the man on the move was Brett Haas. Haas started seventh, but was already up to fourth by lap 5. Haas had a quick car and took advantage of that speed to make moves. Further back, Kenny Tremont, Jr. and J.R. Heffner were mired back in traffic and had significant trouble moving forward. Eighth was the best Tremont could muster on this evening. With 11 laps to go, Haas took second away from Brian Sandstedt and set off in search of LaVoy, who was a couple of seconds ahead. It took only a few laps to run down LaVoy, but Haas burned up his stuff in trying to catch her. Once there, Haas tried multiple times to get to LaVoy’s inside, but he could never get fully alongside. LaVoy was able to run her line on the outside and use that to hold off Haas and take her first win of the year. Afterwards, LaVoy stated that running her own line was the key to holding onto the lead. “The competition’s always tough in our class. So, I knew that someone would be right there,” LaVoy said after the race. “I just tried concentrating on my own line and hitting my marks on every lap and that let me bring it home in first. Behind LaVoy and Haas was Sandstedt in third. Olden Dwyer was fourth, while Frank Harper rounded out the top 5. The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series came to Lebanon Valley on Saturday. As a result, only appearance points were on offer for Valley regulars, but a large field of 32 took the green. Jon Routhier started from the pole and was able to beat Nick Stone to turn 1 to take the advantage. Further back, Dan Older was tagged exiting turn 2 and spun into the inside wall to bring out the yellow. Older was ok, but his night was over. Jay Corbin started fifth and quickly climbed the ladder towards the front. When Dean Charbonneau spun and hit the wall in turn 3 to bring out a yellow on lap 7, Corbin was already up to second. On the restart, Corbin was able to get past Routhier for the lead and began to drive away from the pack. When the fourth yellow flew on lap 19 for Devin Camenga’s spin in turn 2, Corbin had a lead of nearly four seconds wiped out. Routhier and Chuck Towslee would get to close back up and try to take the advantage away. The pack got two more chances on restarts to try to get past Corbin, but no one could prevent Corbin from taking his first career DIRTcar Pro Stock Series win. Routhier was second, followed by Towslee. Daniel Sanchez was fourth and Rob Yetman rounded out the top 5. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Brian Walsh started from the pole and led early. However, the man to beat in the race was Bill Deak, Jr. Starting seventh, Deak Jr. charged to the very front, dispatched of Walsh and pulled away from the pack to take the win. Clifford Booth was second, followed by Mark Dwyer, Karen Verhagen and Dennis O’Connor, Jr. Pure Stock Feature No. 2 saw Dom Denue start from the pole with Bill Deak, Sr. alongside. Deak wanted to follow in his son’s footsteps and claim a victory of his own, but he just didn’t have the car on this night. The man with the quick car in this race was Zach Sorrentino. Sorrentino charged up from the sixth starting spot to pass Denue for the lead and pulled away to take his second career win. Shawn Perez was second, followed by Denue, Bill Deak, Sr. and Chris Stalker. Unfortunately for Stalker, that fifth-place finish came at a price. Coming to the finish, a large plume of smoke came out of the purple and silver Hillsdale-based No. 111. It looks like Stalker’s team has a lot of work ahead of them. Zach Seyerlein led the 12-lap third Pure Stock feature to green, but Jeff Kreutziger quickly came up to the front. At this point, the skies opened up and brought out the red flag. Al Relyea, who was running fairly well, was sent to the rear because he pulled into the pits one lap too early. Once the track was dried, Kreutziger took off again on the restart, but the action was short lived as Mike Arnold hit the wall on the frontstretch hard after bouncing off another car. Arnold briefly came to a stop on the apron of turn 1 before resuming once the caution flew. When the green came back out, Kreutziger had to deal with Jason Meltz and Jeff Meltz, Sr. on his rear end. However, Kreutziger was able to shake the double barreled Ghent offensive and held on to take the win. Jason Meltz was second followed by Jeff Meltz, Sr. Jay Casey was fourth, followed by Ray Hall, Sr. Due to the earlier rains, the 4-Cylinder features were cut down to eight laps each. In the Single-cam race, Stephen Cameron, Jr. started on pole, but was quickly usurped by rookie Bradley Batho. However, Jim Williams was right there as well. On the second lap, Williams pounced and took the lead from Batho. From there, Williams made use of his Honda Civic’s power to pull away to take the win. Tim Meltz was second, followed by James Street, Chris White and Jethro Rossman. In Dual-Cam, Jared Powell started from pole in his yellow Honda Prelude, but once again, P.J. Bleau was the story. Bleau ran down Powell and took the lead relatively early. Kenny Stager in a newer Prelude followed Bleau to the front. However, Stager could not run down the No. 92 as Bleau won his second Dual-Cam feature of the year. Behind Bleau and Stager was Powell in third. Shawny Hazel was fourth, having raced his regular green car for the first time in months after completing repairs. Ammo Wright rounded out the top 5. NBT Bank Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) J.R. Heffner, 2) Kyle Sheldon, 3) Rob Pitcher, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Kyle Armstrong, 6) Brett Hearn, 7) Tyler Dippel, 8) Elmo Reckner, 9) Andy Bachetti, 10) Eddie Marshall, 11) Brian Berger, 12) Mike King, 13) Chad Jeseo, 14) Kolby Schroder, 15) Matt Pupello, 16) Mike Keeler, 17) Justin Boehler, 18) Jeff Sukup, 19) John Ruchel, 20) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 21) Olden Dwyer, 22) Guy Sheldon. DNS: Paul Gilardi Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kim LaVoy, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Brian Sandstedt, 4) Olden Dwyer, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Ricky Davis, 7) Ray Hall, Jr., 8) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 9) J.R. Heffner, 10) Jason Herrington, 11) Frank Hoard, III, 12) Joey Scarborough, 13) Alan Houghtaling, 14) Peter Carlotto, 15) Demetrios Drellos, 16) Chad Pierce, 17) Cody Ochs, 18) Brett Hearn, 19) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Feature (30 laps): 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Jon Routhier, 3) Chuck Towslee, 4) Daniel Sanchez, 5) Rob Yetman, 6) Jay Casey, 7) Ray Hall, Jr., 8) Kyle Hosier, 9) Jason Casey, 10) Nick Stone, 11) Sparky Reilly, 12) Jocelyn Roy, 13) Scott Govertsen, 14) Dave Bissonette, 15) Joe LaFlamme, 16) Rock Aubin, 17) Gus Hollner, 18) Robbie Speed, 19) Jocelyn Chicoine, 20) Marc Lalombe, 21) Tom O’Connor, 22) Norm Loubier, 23) Stephen Lebrun, 24) Devin Camenga, 25) Brian Keough, 26) Tom Dean, 27) Frank Twing, 28) Steve Chaput, 29) Dean Charbonneau, 30) Bruno Cyr, 31) Dan Older, 32) Rick Dempsey. DNS: Paul LaRochelle, Steven LaRochelle Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Bill Deak, Jr., 2) Clifford Booth, 3) Mark Dwyer, 4) Karen Verhagen, 5) Dennis O’Connor, Jr., 6) Rob Miner, 7) Brian Walsh, 8) Keri VanDenburg, 9) Nick Reilly Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Zach Sorrentino, 2) Shawn Perez, 3) Dom Denue, 4) Bill Deak, Sr., 5) Chris Stalker, 6) John Tisko, 7) Gary Malloy, 8) Wuggie Burdick, 9) John Devine Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Jeff Kreutziger, 2) Jason Meltz, 3) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 4) Jay Casey, 5) Ray Hall, Sr., 6) Al Relyea, 7) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 8) Gary O’Brien, 9) Dan Cote, 10) Mike Arnold, 11) Larry Perez, 12) Chris Murphy, 13) Zach Seyerlein, 14) Dave Stickles, 15) Harold Robitaille 4-Cylinder Single-Cam Results (8 laps): 1) Jim Williams, 2) Tim Meltz, 3) James Street, 4) Chris White, 5) Jethro Rossman, 6) Bradley Batho, 7) John Sheppard, 8) Mike Verhagen, 9) Robert Martin, 10) Stephen Cameron, 11) Victor Duncan 4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Results (8 laps): 1) P.J. Bleau, 2) Kenny Stager, 3) Jared Powell, 4) Shawny Hazel, 5) Ammo Wright, 6) Daniel Hoag, 7) Mike Duncan, 8) Philipp Gomm, 9) Derek Quintero

On Saturday night, $5,000 was up for grabs as Rifenburg Construction presented the annual King of the Track feature. However, rains forced a hurry-up procedure. Chad Jeseo was just fine with that. Jeseo earned the pole in his No. 25 and held off Mike King to get out in front. On the second lap of the race, there was contact exiting turn 4 as Brian Berger and Kyle Sheldon were balked. Mike Keeler ended up with a big dent in his right side, but everyone continued. No caution was thrown. The stack-up allowed Jeseo to pull out a big lead. Brett Hearn, who started 15th, was able to make up a number of spots as a result. So was Andy Bachetti, who once again had a very fast car. Jeseo continued to expand his advantage to nearly a straightaway over the rest of the field as Bachetti moved up. By lap 11, Bachetti was already fourth after starting 14th. From there, Bachetti began making inroads. He took third from Olden Dwyer on lap 13. A few laps later, he ran down and passed King for second. Then, he zeroed in on Jeseo. However, all the charging had taken a bit out of Bachetti’s tires. By the time he got to Jeseo, there simply wasn’t much left. On the other hand, Jeseo had saved a little bit and was able to exploit that. That extra oomph allowed Jeseo to hold off Bachetti for his second career Modified win. After the race, Jeseo talked about his late-race strategy. “With about ten [laps] to go, I saw that Bachetti had broke[n] into second and I knew we were going to have our hands full,” Jeseo said. “That’s when we really started picking the pace up. I saw [Bachetti] beneath me a couple of times, but the car was spot on.” Behind Jeseo and Bachetti was King in a season-best third, just beating out Matt Pupello. Kyle Armstrong beat out Hearn for fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, the big story of the week was that officials added 50 pounds to Kenny Tremont, Jr.’s No. 115 as a result of his domination of the class (six wins in eight races). While Tremont did show speed on Saturday night, he was ultimately not a factor and finished eighth after starting 15th. Brian Peterson started from the pole, but the real star of the race was Alan Houghtaling. Houghtaling quickly moved up from the third starting spot to take the lead away from Peterson on lap 2. From there, no one could do much with the Poughkeepsie native. A caution was thrown on lap 6 when Joey Scarborough spun on the backstretch. That bunched the field up, but once the green was displayed, Houghtaling drove off into the distance. Meanwhile, J.R. Heffner was on the move. Starting 11th, Heffner methodically made his way forward. By lap 10, he had entered the top 5. Matching Houghtaling’s lap times, Heffner passed Peter Carlotto for second on lap 18 and tried to run down Houghtaling. Heffner was just a little bit faster on some laps, but would then lose that time back on the next lap. Ultimately, Houghtaling was able to pull out the victory by just over three seconds. For Houghtaling, he entered the race 11th in points and had struggled a fair amount, but he had finished fourth two weeks ago and brought a little bit of momentum into the race. For Heffner, he moved up to second in points after Brett Haas was unable to move forward and finished 12th. Tremont now holds a 68 point lead in the standings. Behind Houghtaling and Heffner was Carlotto in a season-best third. Steve Hough and Peterson rounded out the top 5. For Peterson, Saturday night’s fifth-place finish was his best finish of the year as well. The Pro Stock race was the feature of the night. Joe LaFlamme started on pole, but Ray Hall, Jr. quickly took the lead away and claimed a decent advantage over the pack. The feature had a fair amount of bumping and banging, but nothing intentional. On the second lap, LaFlamme brushed the wall exiting turn 2 and caused a brief stack-up. Luckily, everyone continued without incident, but LaFlamme lost a number of positions. Later on, Rick Dempsey’s hood flew off to bring out the first caution on lap 7. Dempsey pitted for repairs, but was able to continued. On lap 9, a big crash occurred on the frontstretch when LaFlamme and Paul LaRochelle collided. Victor Hopkins was also involved. Tim McCarthy, who was running near the rear of the field in his No. 3 could not get stopped in time and piled in. LaFlamme’s car briefly caught fire, but the flames were extinguished quickly. Everyone was ok, but LaFlamme, LaRochelle and McCarthy were done for the night. Jay Corbin and Rob Yetman, the top 2 drivers in points entering Saturday night, charged up through the field from the sixth row. By halfway, Corbin was already second from 11th and putting the pressure on Ray Hall, Jr. for the lead. However, Hall Jr. had other plans. His Gary O’Brien-owned Chevrolet was quite fast and Hall Jr. did not intend to go down lightly. Unfortunately, Hall Jr.’s excellent run came to an end after he suffered issues on his car with seven laps to go. That allowed Jay Corbin into the lead with Rick Duzlak giving chase. After a caution due to Dempsey spinning and hitting the wall in turn 3, Duzlak ran down Corbin in the closing laps and staged a great side-by-side battle. On the final lap, Duzlak got a great run off of turn 2 and was able to get past for the lead. Rob Yetman, who got off to a slow start but made a serious run in the second half of the feature, followed Duzlak past Corbin into second. However, Yetman wanted more. Exiting turn 4, Yetman made a move for the win. In a drag race to the line, Duzlak was able to hold off the points leader by less than two-tenths of a second to take his second win of the year. Right behind the top 2, Corbin finished third in a three-wide battle to the line over Nick Hilt and Daniel Sanchez. The Sportsman feature saw Cody Ochs start on the pole and immediately end up in a battle for the lead with Rob Maxon. The two drivers began to open up a gap on the field until Carmon Carnibucci spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow on lap 5. On the restart, Maxon was able to make the move to take the lead away from Ochs. Ochs then had a moment in turn 4 that dropped him way back in the field. Another yellow flew due to a spin for Ben Brownell in turn 4. Here, the racing started to get a little chippy. Shortly after the restart, Timothy Davis, who was running second, had contact with Michael Sabia. Davis was sent to the rear for what was viewed as rough driving. Sabia made a pit stop to change a flat tire and would eventually finish 12th. After being sent to the rear, Davis eventually pulled off with an issue and finished 21st. Points leader Jeff Watson quickly moved up from the 11th starting spot to contend. Once in second, Watson stalked Maxon for the lead. A series of incidents kept the field bunched up and made it difficult for Watson to get past. First, Brownell crashed on the frontstretch to bring out a yellow. Then, Nikki Ouellette spun in turn 2. Carnibucci spun and hit the wall in turn 2. Finally, Christopher Delfino spun in turn 4 to bring out the seventh and final yellow. Maxon continued to lead through these issues with Watson giving chase. The last six laps were clean and Watson immediately started working on Maxon for the lead. It took a couple of laps for the Sportsman points leader to take the advantage away. From there, Watson pulled away to take his third win of the year ahead of Maxon. A big scrum broke out with less than two laps to go that featured contact between John Virgilio and Whitey Slavin, who dropped back as a result. Frank Hoard, Jr. was the beneficiary and brought home a third-place finish, followed by Chris Lynch and Kevin Ward. Slavin and Virgilio ended up sixth and seventh. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Wuggie Burdick led from the pole, but before he could complete a lap, Chris Streeter and Bill Deak, Sr. crashed on the backstretch to bring out a yellow. Streeter was able to continue, but Deak Sr. was done for the night. On the restart, Joe Wolcott was able to get past Burdick to take the lead, but brought Bill Deak, Jr. along with him. Deak Jr.’s No. 86x had a lot of speed and took no time to take the lead and run off to hide. Edwin Thomason hit the wall exiting turn 4 to bring out another caution and close the gap, but no one could catch Deak Jr., who held on for his second win of the year. Streeter came back from his early spin to finish second, while Shawn Perez finished third in his first race back after missing a couple of weeks due to a big crash. Karen Verhagen and John Tisko were fourth and fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 2, Mark Dwyer started from the pole, but Jay Casey made short work of the No. 35Xjr to take the lead. Scott Morris, back at the track after his rollover two weeks ago, had a short night after he laid down fluid in turn 1. Zach Sorrentino spun in Morris’ fluid, but was able to resume. Once the green came back out, Casey pulled out to a good lead and held on to take the win. Clifford Booth took second away from Phil Sherman coming to the white flag. Bob Palmer was third, followed by Dom Denue. The “Sherman Tank” was forced to settle for fifth after winning his first two starts of the year. Finally, Pure Stock Feature No. 3 saw Zach Seyerlein lead from the pole with Mike Arnold and the rest of the pack giving chase. Given the tight action, it wasn’t long before trouble broke out. Harold Robitaille spun on the backstretch after being hit from behind to bring out a quick caution. Later on, Dan Cote cut a tire and spun in turn 1 to bring out another yellow. However, the field bunched up after the yellow flew, leading to a chain reaction on the frontstretch that wiped out Gary O’Brien, Dave Stickles and Jeff Meltz, Jr. Stickles’ car hit Jeff Meltz, Sr.’s No. 5x and launched into the air before hitting the wall. Everyone involved walked away from their cars, but both Stickles and O’Brien were hobbling. Of those involved, only Jeff Meltz, Sr. was able to continue. Shortly after the restart, Ray Hall, Sr. was able to snatch the lead away from Seyerlein. Once out front, the elder of the Halls had to hold off Jason Meltz, Al Relyea and Jeff Kreutziger. A late yellow due to Jeff Meltz, Sr. audibly blowing a right rear tire and spinning in turn 1 brought out one more caution on lap 8. From there, Ray Hall, Sr. was able to hold off the pack to take his third win of the year. Jason Meltz was second, followed by Relyea, Kreutziger and Seyerlein. Rifenburg Construction King of the Track Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Chad Jeseo, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) Mike King, 4) Matt Pupello, 5) Kyle Armstrong, 6) Brett Hearn, 7) Eddie Marshall, 8) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 9) J.R. Heffner, 10) Keith Flach, 11) Kolby Schroder, 12) Brian Berger, 13) John Ruchel, 14) Kyle Sheldon, 15) Elmo Reckner, 16) Steve Hough, 17) Mike Keeler, 18) Olden Dwyer, 19) Paul Gilardi, 20) Rob Pitcher, 21) Dave McFeeters, 22) Guy Sheldon Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Alan Houghtaling, 2) J.R. Heffner, 3) Peter Carlotto, 4) Steve Hough, 5) Brian Peterson, 6) Chad Pierce, 7) Demetrios Drellos, 8) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 9) Frank Harper, 10) Jason Herrington, 11) Ray Hall, Jr., 12) Brett Haas, 13) Frank Hoard, III, 14) Joey Scarborough, 15) Ricky Davis, 16) Kory Sandstedt, 17) Brian Sandstedt, 18) Olden Dwyer. DNS: Kim LaVoy, Kenny Aanonsen, Jr. Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Watson, 2) Rob Maxon, 3) Frank Hoard, Jr., 4) Chris Lynch, 5) Kevin Ward, 6) Whitey Slavin, 7) John Virgilio, 8) Hunter Bates, 9) Jack Speshock, 10) Jim Boardman, 11) Jake Scarborough, 12) Michael Sabia, 13) Mike Block, 14) Nikki Ouelette, 15) Christopher Delfino, 16) Brandon Daley, 17) John Miller, 18) Cody Ochs, 19) Angelo DiCarlo, 20) Ben Brownell, 21) Timothy Davis. DNS: Gerard LeClair, Kevin Arnold Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Rick Duzlak, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Nick Hilt, 5) Daniel Sanchez, 6) Steven LaRochelle, 7) Jon Routhier, 8) Tom O’Connor, 9) Victor Hopkins, 10) Rich Crane, 11) Sean Corr, 12) Brian Keough, 13) Tom Dean, 14) Jeff Kelmel, 15) Ray Hall, Jr., 16) Rick Dempsey, 17) Paul LaRochelle, 18) Joe LaFlamme, 19) Tim McCarthy, 20) Rich Spencer. DNS: Chad Arsenault, Kyle Hosier, Chuck Towslee Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Bill Deak, Jr., 2) Chris Streeter, 3) Shawn Perez, 4) Karen Verhagen, 5) John Tisko, 6) Joe Wolcott, 7) Ray Royals, 8) Wuggie Burdick, 9) Edwin Thomason, 10) Bill Deak, Sr., 11) Dave Fachini. DNS: Kyle Cole (Driveshaft) Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Jay Casey, 2) Clifford Booth, 3) Bob Palmer, 4) Dom Denue, 5) Phil Sherman, 6) Mark Dwyer, 7) Zach Sorrentino, 8) Tim Thompson, 9) Vicky Meltz, 10) Nick Reilly, 11) Scott Morris Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Ray Hall, Sr., 2) Jason Meltz, 3) Al Relyea, 4) Jeff Kreutziger, 5) Zach Seyerlein, 6) Mike Arnold, 7) Chris Murphy, 8) Larry Perez, 9) Harold Robitaille, 10) Dan Cote, 11) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 12) Gary O’Brien, 13) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 14) Dave Stickles

Fireworks Night at Lebanon Valley is traditionally one of the more exciting nights on the calendar. Lots of great on-track action and a nice light show to boot. Andy Bachetti had other plans. To spoil the party. Bachetti clearly had the fastest car on Saturday night, but he had to get to the lead first. He wasted no time in getting to second from fifth, then the incidents started. First, a pile-up involving J.R. Heffner, Wayne Jelley, Denny Soltis, the visiting Matt Janiak and more brought out a yellow. Then, another stack-up in turn 2 collected Steve Hough, Kyle Sheldon and Kyle Armstrong. Both times, Bachetti was able to snatch the lead from pole sitter John Ruchel, but was forced to give it back. Once the race restarted for good, Bachetti made short work of Ruchel and drove off into the distance. With the pace Bachetti was setting, he got into competitive lapped traffic before the halfway point of the feature. Brian Berger had moved up into second early on, but could only watch as Bachetti walked away from the field. Point contenders Kenny Tremont, Jr. and Brett Hearn were progressing up the order, but the field was spread out enough that they couldn’t make gains. With four laps to go, Hearn cut a right rear tire. This brought out a caution and bunched together the nine remaining drivers on the lead lap. Once the green flew again, Bachetti drove away to take his third win of the year. After the race, Bachetti seemed confident that his team had really found something. “I think we’ve got our stuff on the right track,” Bachetti said. “Things are going good and we’ve got things in a rhythm. Can’t say enough about my team. They work real hard for me and that’s what this is about.” Berger held on for second while Keith Flach was a quiet third. Tremont was fourth and Elmo Reckner edged Hearn for fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, Olden Dwyer was back in his car and started from the pole. He was able to outdrive Frank Harper on the start, but a complete restart was called for after Kenny Aanonsen, Jr. spun in turn 1, collecting Buddy Hencke and Brian Peterson. On the second start, Dwyer pulled out a gap again over Harper. Meanwhile, Tremont was once again on the move. Tremont quickly moved up from the 15th starting spot to move into the top 10 in the first couple of laps. Then, Peter Carlotto hit the wall and broke his steering to bring out a yellow on lap 4. Once the green came back out, it took six laps for Tremont to get up to second. It was another four laps for Tremont to take over the lead from Dwyer. From there, Tremont pulled away to take his sixth Small Block Modified win of the year in eight races. Dwyer finished in a season-best second, but was well off of Tremont’s pace. Harper was third, followed by Alan Houghtaling and Steve Hough. In the Pro Stock division, a field of 25 took the green with Frank Twing and Steven LaRochelle on the front row. It did not take long for chaos to break out. Just after the completion of the first lap, Paul LaRochelle spun in turn 1 directly in front of Chad Arsenault. The Hudson native had nowhere to go but directly into the No. 78. While both drivers continued, the incident ruined both their nights. On the restart, a stack-up resulted in Paul LaRochelle destroying the front end of his car after running into another driver. This ended the night for the No. 78. Later on, Matt Cross brought out a yellow when he spun in turn 4. On the restart from that yellow, a huge pile-up broke out in turn 1 that involved at least seven cars. The red flag was thrown as a result, but everyone was ok. Once the dust cleared, the race came down to a four-car duel between Twing, Jon Routhier, Rob Yetman and Jay Corbin. Yetman slowly made his way to the front and took the lead from Twing with less than three laps to go. However, Corbin followed him through and a great battle resulted. On the final lap, Corbin was able to get past the winningest Pro Stock driver at Lebanon Valley and take an exciting victory. Yetman settled for second, while Twing was third. Routhier was fourth and Steven LaRochelle was fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Phil Sherman charged to the front in his No. 99 Chevrolet and claimed his second straight victory in a caution-free feature. Given his recent form, he's perfectly fine with starting the 2016 season late in the game. Bob Palmer, another driver who started his season late, was second in the No. 29. Keri VanDenburg was third, followed by Dan Cote and Dennis O'Connor, Jr. Pure Stock Feature No. 2 got off to an inauspicious start when Scott Morris rolled his F-Body in turn 1. Morris was ok, but his blue and orange No. 84 was done for the night. Karen Verhagen started from the pole and held off all challengers early in the going, even opening up a small gap over the pack. That small gap was eliminated when Brian Walsh crashed in turn 1 to bring out another yellow. Shortly after the restart, Verhagen got out of shape exiting turn 4. She was able to recover the slide, but not before Zach Sorrentino was able to charge past into the lead. Veteran John Devine was close in tow and pressured the young Marine. However, Devine could do nothing with the second year racer as Springfield's Sorrentino held on to take his first career victory. Devine was second, followed by Brock Couch in Dom Denue's regular ride. Verhagen was fourth and Gary Malloy fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 3, Al Relyea was able to get past pole sitter Jeff Kreutziger for the lead on lap 2 and managed to pull out a gap over the field. The Meltz crew was close in tow as well with Jeff Meltz, Sr. leading the charge. Eventually, Gary O'Brien charged into contention after starting ninth. He took over second with a few laps to go and slowly reeled in Relyea. On the last lap, he caught the No. 14 and went side-by-side with Relyea into turns 3 and 4. Significant contact was made in turn 4, which allowed O'Brien to win the race on the track. However, the officials looked down the tactics used by O'Brien to reach the checkered flag first. As a result, O'Brien was penalized for rough driving. Relyea inherited the win, his third of the season. Jeff Meltz, Sr. was credited with second, followed by Jason Meltz. O'Brien was forced to settle for fourth. In the 4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature, James Street quickly charged up from the fourth starting spot to take the lead from pole-sitter Victor Duncan. Tim Meltz and Brandon Ely gave chase. Shortly before halfway, Tim Meltz was able to get by in his Honda Prelude and pulled away to take the win. Ely technically crossed the line in second, but was penalized to the rear. As a result, Street finished second, followed by Jethro Rossman, Jim Williams and Chris White. The 4-Cylinder Dual-Cam race started with Kelly Duncan on the pole in her Dodge Stratus. However, Kelly appeared to have an issue and slid into the wall in turn 2 on the first lap. In the scramble that resulted, P.J. Bleau was able to get into the lead before the caution came out. Once the green flag came back out, Bleau had a very tough task on his hands. That was holding off Kenny Stager. Stager stalked Bleau for the rest of the race, but simply could not make the move as Bleau held on to win. Behind Bleau and Stager was Chris Vandeputte and Shawny Hazel. Todd Goldstein, driving a Nissan Sentra SE-R that was repaired after a big wreck in the Eve of Destruction, finished fifth. Berkshire Bank/Armory Garage Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Brian Berger, 3) Keith Flach, 4) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Brett Hearn, 7) Rob Pitcher, 8) Matt Pupello, 9) John Ruchel, 10) Steve Hough, 11) Kolby Schroder, 12) Kyle Armstrong, 13) Mike King, 14) Dave McFeeters, 15) Eddie Marshall, 16) Kyle Sheldon, 17) J.R. Heffner, 18) Matt Janiak, 19) Paul Gilardi, 20) Chad Jeseo, 21) Guy Sheldon, 22) Mike Keeler, 23) Denny Soltis, 24) Wayne Jelley, 25) Olden Dwyer. DNS: Jason Herrington Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Olden Dwyer, 3) Frank Harper, 4) Alan Houghtaling, 5) Steve Hough, 6) Demetrios Drellos, 7) Jason Herrington, 8) Brett Haas, 9) Chad Pierce, 10) Ray Hall, Jr., 11) Brian Sandstedt, 12) Chad Jeseo, 13) Frank Hoard, III, 14) Ricky Davis, 15) Buddy Hencke, 16) Brian Peterson, 17) J.R. Heffner, 18) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr., 19) Kim LaVoy, 20) Peter Carlotto, 21) Joey Scarborough Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Frank Twing, 4) Jon Routhier, 5) Steven LaRochelle, 6) Ray Hall, Jr., 7) Chuck Towslee, 8) Rick Dempsey, 9) Victor Hopkins, 10) Rich Crane, 11) Norm Loubier, 12) Sparky Reilly, 13) Brian Keough, 14) Nick Stone, 15) Matt Cross, 16) Nick Hilt, 17) Jeremy Cole, 18) Rick Duzlak, 19) Joe LaFlamme, 20) Don Kennedy, 21) Tom Dean, 22) Kyle Hosier, 23) Paul LaRochelle, 24) Chad Arsenault, 25) Mark Dupuis Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Phil Sherman, 2) Bob Palmer, 3) Keri VanDenburg, 4) Dan Cote, 5) Dennis O’Connor, Jr., 6) Wuggie Burdick, 7) Gary VanDenburg, 8) Rich Smith, 9) Zach Seyerlein, 10) Tom Murphy, 11) Clifford Booth, 12) Mark Dwyer, 13) Joe Walcott Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Zach Sorrentino, 2) John Devine, 3) Brock Couch, 4) Karen Verhagen, 5) Gary Malloy, 6) Rich Rogers, 7) Edwin Thomason, 8) Dave Fachini, 9) Nick Reilly, 10) Brian Walsh, 11) Scott Morris, 12) Mark Dwyer, 13) Joe Walcott Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Al Relyea, 2) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Gary O’Brien, 5) Larry Perez, 6) Jeff Kreutziger, 7) Dave Stickles, 8) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 9) Ray Hall, Sr., 10) Chris Murphy, 11) Harold Robitaille. DNS: Mike Arnold 4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Tim Meltz, 2) James Street, 3) Jethro Rossman, 4) Jim Williams, 5) Chris White, 6) Bradley Batho, 7) Victor Duncan, 8) Stephen Cameron, Jr., 9) Brandon Ely 4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) P.J. Bleau, 2) Kenny Stager, 3) Chris Vandeputte, 4) Shawny Hazel, 5) Todd Goldstein, 6) Jared Powell, 7) Ammo Wright, 8) William Sass, Jr., 9) Philipp Gomm, 10) Jim Guertin, 11) Jonathan Taylor, 12) Chris Callabro, 13) Kelly Duncan

Saturday night saw the kids have fun riding in the back of cars. A good number of drivers from all of the classes brought their cars out onto the frontstretch for the rides. However, once the rides were complete, the action began in earnest. Steve Hough started from the pole and held off Olden Dwyer early. J.R. Heffner had a very fast car (second fastest in warm-ups), but never really got to show it. On the second lap, Heffner stalled in turn 3 and got hit by Rob Pitcher to bring out an early yellow. While slowing for said yellow, a crash broke out in turn 1 involving Mike King, Brian Berger, Wayne Jelley and Denny Soltis. Everyone managed to continue after pit stops. The biggest incident of the night saw Chad Jeseo spin out in turn 3 on lap 3. Jeseo was then hit hard by Pitcher and Mike Keeler, who was knocked onto his side before coming to rest right-side up. Everyone was ok, but done after that incident. As the race continued on, Brett Hearn charged towards the front from his 15th starting spot, along with Kenny Tremont, Jr. However, their charges weren’t quite as quick as in past weeks. In addition, Dwyer was still continuing to pressure Hough for the lead in his car with a more cost-effective engine package. Tremont was up to third by lap 13, but couldn’t run down Dwyer. Hearn only entered the top 5 with about six laps to go. Hough was able to hold off the field to take his first win in a number of years. Dwyer was still looking good for second, but ran out of fuel on the last lap and would be credited with ninth. Afterwards, Hough was very happy to get back to Victory Lane. “The car was perfect,” Hough said. “Good to be back in Victory Lane. It’s been a couple of years.” Tremont inherited second-place after Dwyer fell back. Kolby Schroder was third, followed by Hearn and Keith Flach. In the Small Block Modifieds, the big story of the night involved Brett Haas. Haas was second fastest in warm-ups and was quite confident of a good night ahead. However, during his heat race, his car broke a rear axle. It appeared that Haas, who entered the night third in points, would be done for the night. Olden Dwyer stepped forward and offered Haas the use of his No. 88JR Small Block Modified for the feature, which Haas graciously accepted. Starting at the back, Haas moved up through the field and finished ninth, earning 40 points on a night where he very well could have come away empty-handed. Joey Scarborough started from the pole and led early, despite wisps of smoke coming from the back of his No. 11. Frank Harper started fifth and ran well early, but fell victim to getting too high once again. Harper hit the wall in turn 3 to bring out a yellow on the second lap. At the same time, Kim LaVoy’s night came to an end when her car slowed to a stop on the frontstretch. Early on, Jeseo was Scarborough’s primary competitor for the lead. The Scott Hamlin Racing driver moved up to second from the eighth starting spot and pressured the Vermont native. However, Jeseo could not get by. All of the yellows allowed Tremont to move up into contention. Having started 15th, Tremont was already up to seventh by lap 5. He continued to gain positions and moved into the top 4 as a result of the Carlotto-Hough crash. Tremont was able to get past Demetrios Drello and Jeseo to move up to second shortly after the lap 9 restart. From there, it was only a matter of time before the defending class champion got past Scarborough for the lead on lap 12. Drellos followed Tremont past Jeseo and Scarborough and took off in chase of the the defending champion. However, Tremont pulled away from the field and would not be caught on his way to Small Block victory No. 5. Drellos finished a somewhat distant second, but was rather disappointed after the race that he couldn’t give Tremont more of a race. Jeseo got by Scarborough on lap 16 and held on to finish third. Scarborough finished a career-best fourth, while Jason Herrington rounded out the top 5. The Sportsman race was unusually clean. Former Pro Stock Champion Kevin Arnold started his Catlin21 Racing entry on pole and quickly opened up a gap on Frank Hoard, Jr. Meanwhile, the main point contenders were more or less buried in the midfield. Jeff Watson seemed to be the only points contender that could make much progress during the race, moving up from tenth to sixth. At the front, Arnold was able to maintain a comfortable lead over Hoard and took his first-ever Sportsman win in a race that went green flag-to-flag. Hoard finished second, followed by Jack Speshock, Timothy Davis and Chris Lynch. Pro Stock saw Steven LaRochelle start on pole and beat out Frank Twing to turn 1. While the younger LaRochelle was at the front of the field, his father Paul started fifth and spun on the second lap of the race in turn 4, which brought out the first yellow. On the restart, Rick Duzlak, who started third, was able to get past Steven LaRochelle for the lead and was able to open up a small gap. On lap 5, Rick Dempsey spun in turn 2 after contact from Chuck Towslee to bring out another yellow. After the restart, a four-car lead pack developed. Duzlak, Rob Yetman, Nick Stone and Jay Corbin pulled away from the field to try to settle things amongst themselves. Yetman tried multiple times to get to the inside, but Duzlak was able to use the momentum of the higher line to hold off Yetman. Duzlak was able to hold off the pack on a four-lap shootout to take his first win of the year. Yetman finished second, while Stone was third across the line. Stone was disqualified for being underweight. As a result, Corbin was credited was third, followed by Chad Arsenault and Nick Hilt. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Zach Seyerlein started from the pole and easily outdistanced Wuggie Burdick to turn 1. On the first lap, Jesse Murphy spun out on the backstretch after contact from Dom Denue. Denue was sent to the rear for causing the caution. On the restart, John Devine was able to get past Seyerlein for the lead. Bill Deak, Jr. followed past and put the pressure on Devine for the lead. Deak got to the inside, but could not get the nose of his black Monte Carlo ahead. Devine was able to hold on to take his first win of the year. Deak was second, followed by Jesse Murphy, Bob Palmer and Denue. In Pure Stock Feature No. 2, Karen Verhagen started from the pole and mentioned after the race that she was "...driving like an angry woman." Verhagen's improved pace allowed her to hold off the field until contact on lap 2 got her loose in turn 2. That contact allowed Zach Sorrentino to slip past and take the lead as Verhagen dropped back. Shortly afterwards, Brian VanDenburg spun in turn 3 to bring out the caution. The story of this race was Phil Sherman, who made his season debut in the "Sherman Tank." It did not take long for Sherman to move up from the seventh starting spot and take the lead away from Sorrentino. From there, Sherman pulled away to take the win. Sorrentino held on for second, followed by Mike Arnold and Chris Streeter. Dan Cote was fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 3, Jeff Kreutziger led early from the pole with the rest of the field storming from behind. Dave Stickles lost power at the end of the first lap and ground to a halt on the frontstretch to bring out the yellow. While he was out of this race, it was not the end of the night for the Double Nickels. Gary O’Brien, who was coming off of a win on Tuesday night during the Eve of Destruction, once again had a very fast car. Given the fifth starting spot, O'Brien stalked Kreutziger for much of the race. With five laps to go, O'Brien pounced and took the lead with Jason Meltz following past. However, Kreutziger was able to get back by Jason Meltz and put the pressure back on O'Brien. Despite this pressure, O'Brien held on to take his third win of the year. Kreutziger was second, followed by Jason Meltz. Jeff Meltz, Sr. was fourth and Ray Hall, Sr. was fifth. Saturday also the inaugural Meltz Lumber Pure Stock Feature, a 20-lap feature with an assorted group of Pure Stock racers taking each other on. Given that Lebanon Valley is like an engine dyno for Pure Stocks, it can be quite difficult. Dan Cote started on pole, but Mike Arnold tried like heck to get the lead in turn 1. Unfortunately, Mike tried a little too hard and spun himself out to bring out a quick caution. A couple of failed restarts saw Greg DeCamp sent to the rear for jumping multiple times. Once the race got back going, Harold Robitaille was able to get past Cote for the lead, but Dave Stickles was right there on Robitaille's tail. Barely a lap later, Stickles made the move to take the lead away. Spins for Karen Verhagen, Cote, Sorrentino and Bill Deak, Sr. kept the field bunched up early, but the last 14 laps were clean and green. Stickles was able to pull away from the pack to take a satisfying victory. Bill Deak, Jr. was second, followed by Larry Perez, Devine and Robitaille. Gendron’s Truck Center/Peckham Materials Corporation Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Steve Hough, 2) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 3) Kolby Schroder, 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Keith Flach, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Kyle Sheldon, 8) Andy Bachetti, 9) Olden Dwyer, 10) Elmo Reckner, 11) Kyle Armstrong, 12) Wayne Jelley, 13) Matt Pupello, 14) J.R. Heffner, 15) John Ruchel, 16) Dave McFeeters, 17) Paul Gilardi, 18) Brian Berger, 19) Denny Soltis, 20) Mike King, 21) Chad Jeseo, 22) Mike Keeler, 23) Rob Pitcher. DNS: Mark Chartrand (Crash) Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Demetrios Drellos, 3) Chad Jeseo, 4) Joey Scarborough, 5) Jason Herrington, 6) Ray Hall, Jr., 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) Frank Hoard, III, 9) Brett Haas, 10) Brian Sandstedt, 11) Chad Pierce, 12) Buddy Hencke, 13) Ricky Davis, 14) Peter Carlotto, 15) Sean Mandel, 16) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr., 17) Steve Hough, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Elmo Reckner, 20) Kim LaVoy, 21) Frank Harper. DNS: Olden Dwyer (Gave car to Brett Haas), Ken McGuire, Jason Tompkins (Crash) Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Kevin Arnold, 2) Frank Hoard, Jr., 3) Jack Speshock, 4) Timothy Davis, 5) Chris Lynch, 6) Jeff Watson, 7) Kevin Ward, 8) John Virgilio, 9) Michael Sabia, 10) Whitey Slavin, 11) Rob Maxon, 12) Dan Lyle, 13) Nikki Ouellette, 14) Kyle Plumstead, 15) Cody Ochs, 16) Mike Coffey, Jr. DNS: Mike Catone Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Rick Duzlak, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Chad Arsenault, 5) Nick Hilt, 6) Jon Routhier, 7) Steven LaRochelle, 8) Victor Hopkins, 9) Frank Twing, 10) Rick Dempsey, 11) Joe LaFlamme, 12) Ray Hall, Jr., 13) Tom O’Connor, 14) Paul LaRochelle, 15) Brian Keough, 16) Tom Dean, 17) Kyle Hosier, 18) Jeff Kelmel, 19) Chuck Towslee, 20) Preston Forbes. DNS: Mark Dupuis. Disqualified: Nick Stone (Weight Issue) Pure Stock Feature No. 1 (8 laps): 1) John Devine, 2) Bill Deak, Jr., 3) Jesse Murphy, 4) Bob Palmer, 5) Dom Denue, 6) Greg DeCamp, 7) Zach Seyerlein, 8) John Tisko, 9) Wuggie Burdick, 10) Dave Fachini, 11) Joe Walcott, 12) Mark Dwyer Pure Stock Feature No. 2 (8 laps): 1) Phil Sherman, 2) Zach Sorrentino, 3) Mike Arnold, 4) Chris Streeter, 5) Dan Cote, 6) Keri VanDenburg, 7) Lou Gancarz, 8) Karen Verhagen, 9) Martina Martin, 10) Ray Royals, 11) Brian VanDenburg Pure Stock Feature No. 3 (8 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Jeff Kreutziger, 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 5) Ray Hall, Sr., 6) Al Relyea, 7) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 8) Harold Robitaille, 9) Bill Deak, Sr., 10) Tim Thompson, 11) Chris Murphy, 12) Larry Perez, 13) Brian Walsh, 14) Dave Stickles Inaugural Meltz Lumber Pure Stock Feature (20 laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Bill Deak, Jr., 3) Larry Perez, 4) John Devine, 5) Harold Robitaille, 6) Zach Sorrentino, 7) Greg DeCamp, 8) Bill Deak, Sr., 9) Wuggie Burdick, 10) Dan Cote, 11) Karen Verhagen, 12) Martina Martin, 13) Dom Denue, 14) John Tisko, 15) Tim Thompson, 16) Mike Arnold. DNS: Zach Seyerlein, Brian VanDenburg, Keri VanDenburg, Phil Sherman, Dave Fachini, Chris Murphy

Saturday night brought action back to Lebanon Valley Speedway after last weekend’s rainout. The Modified feature nearly ended up with Keith Flach in Victory Lane until a veteran pulled a surprise. Mike Keeler started from the pole and quickly got away from inside-pole sitter Kyle Armstrong. Flach, who started sixth, quickly moved up into the second spot and pulled away from the pack to catch Keeler. The two racers fought a back-and-forth battle for the advantage. Flach took the lead on lap 7, but Keeler got it back. Flach re-passed Keeler on lap 9 for good. Meanwhile, Andy Bachetti and Brett Hearn were charging towards the front. Bachetti had started 14th, but was already to sixth by lap 5. Flach and Keeler’s battle brought them back to the pack. At halfway, Bachetti was right on Keeler’s tail for second when a mechanical failure ended his night and brought out a yellow. The caution put Hearn, who started 15th, up to second. On the restart, Hearn got by Keeler for second, then tried to run down Flach for the lead. Flach appeared to have the pace to win, but was not all that great in lapped traffic. That allowed Hearn to close up to Flach’s bumper. On the last lap, Hearn was able to get inside of Flach in turns 3 and 4. Hearn then out-dragged Flach to the line to win his fourth of the year by just 0.033 of a second, shocking the crowd in attendance. Afterwards, Hearn was surprised. “I think [that] this time around, I’m as stunned as everyone else because Keith Flach was running so well,” Hearn said after the race. “The lapped traffic may have broken [Flach’s] rhythm, which allowed me to get that extra bite off of turns 3 and 4.” Behind Hearn and Flach was JR Heffner in third. Kenny Tremont, Jr. was fourth and Eddie Marshall in fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, Art Collins made his season debut in the No. 68. Unfortunately, the Alligator’s first feature of the year lasted about eight seconds after he crashed in turn 1 to bring out a yellow on the opening lap. On the restart, Kim LaVoy took the lead away from pole-sitter Joey Scarborough and pulled away from the pack, easily outdistancing Drellos. Meanwhile, Tremont started in 15th and methodically worked his way up the order. Frank Harper ran well early in the feature, but dropped back before getting a little too high and hitting the wall in turn 1 to bring out a yellow on lap 13. On the restart, Tremont got past Drellos for second. Two more quick cautions kept Tremont on LaVoy’s bumper. On lap 16, Tremont pounced and took the lead away. Drellos continued to run in third until he got out of the groove and smacked the wall in turn 3 on lap 20. Drellos was ok, but the crash ended his night. On the final restart, Tremont pulled away to take his fourth win of the season. Afterwards, a teardown took place on Tremont’s engine to make sure that it was legal. Tremont did not seem too concerned about that after the race, but stated that it would give his competitors piece of mind. Brett Haas passed LaVoy on the final lap for second. Heffner was fourth, while Elmo Reckner was fifth. In the Bubba Tanner Pro Stock Classic, Steven LaRochelle was able to get by pole-sitter Joe LaFlamme on the restart from an early yellow to take the lead. Steven’s father Paul followed past and the two drivers ran nose-to-tail. The man that was on the move early was Rob Yetman. Yetman started 14th and quickly moved up the order. By lap 8, he was all over the LaRochelles. Paul was looking to take the lead, but Yetman was all up on Steven’s rear end. That allowed Steven to keep the lead. Unfortunately, all the contact came to a head on lap 10 when a crash involving both LaRochelles, Yetman and others broke out in turn 1. Steven LaRochelle was out on the spot, while Paul tried to continue, but eventually pulled off. Once the dust cleared, Jay Corbin ended up with the lead with Rick Dempsey in second with a damaged right front fender. Dempsey put the pressure on Corbin for the lead, but couldn’t get alongside. A late yellow involving Tom O’Connor and Rich Crane bunched the pack back up with four laps to go. On the first attempt at a restart, Corbin’s car refused to come up to speed. Dempsey ended up running into the back of him, further damaging the right front fender. Officials ended up calling this a false start. On the second attempt, Corbin got a good start and pulled away to take his second win of the year over Dempsey, Chuck Towslee, Jon Routhier and Victor Hopkins. In Sportsman, Rob Maxon, driving a new chassis, started from the pole, but spent the first half under constant pressure from Timothy Davis. Nikki Ouellette then spun on lap 9 to bring out a yellow. There were then three attempts to restart. On the first try, Davis jumped Maxon, resulting in a false start. On the second attempt, Maxon stuttered and was hit from behind, hitting the outside wall, but keeping the lead as the yellow flew. On the third try, Davis jumped Maxon again. This time, Davis was sent to the rear, moving Chris Lynch up to second. Davis would eventually finish ninth. A lap later, a crash involving Ouellette, John Miller, Alissa Cody and Christopher Delfino brought out another yellow. On the restart, Lynch was able to get past Maxon and take the lead. From there, Lynch was able to pull away to take his first career Sportsman win. Afterwards, Lynch was very thankful to finally get the job done for his family. “My dad and I have been racing here for 15 years every Saturday night and never come home with a feature win,” Lynch said in the pits. “What a better way than to do it on Father’s Day weekend for the guy. Really got to thank my team. They put a front end on after the heat. “To get out in front and race Rob Maxon, who had a really good car, is an accomplishment in and of itself,” Lynch continued. “I’ve finished second nine times in this division in the past five years. We’ve lost to the Dippels, the Hackels and the Virgilios of the world. Those guys are really good drivers with great stuff. To run second to them is a great honor, but to finally visit Victory Lane is the best feeling in the entire world.” Kevin Ward finished in second, followed by points leader Jeff Watson. Albany-Saratoga regular Jack Speshock was fourth and Frank Hoard, Jr. was fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Chris Murphy started on pole in his silver and purple No. 011 and drove away from Wuggie Burdick. Ultimately, Bill Deak, Jr. and Kevin Paul ended up being the primary challengers in the race. Brian Walsh appeared to have a fast car as well, but he got in the back of Keri VanDenburg, spinning out the No. 89. Officials penalized Walsh by sending him to the rear of the field. Shortly after the restart, Deak Jr. and Paul collided in turn 4, resulting in Paul spinning out and causing a stack-up. The yellow did not fly for this incident, but it did shake up the field. Scott Morris, who had alternator issues, moved up to second and tried to run down Murphy. He was unsuccessful as Chris Murphy held on to take his first career win. Morris held on for second, followed by Chris Streeter, Dennis O’Connor, Sr. and Walsh. Deak Jr. actually finished fourth, but was penalized three spots for spinning out Paul on lap 5. As for Paul, he ended up crashing into the outside wall on the backstretch on the final lap, heavily damaging his Chevrolet. He was ok, but the car was not. In Pure Stock Feature No. 2, Mike Arnold started on the pole, but almost immediately lost the lead to Harold Robitaille. Behind Robitalle, Dave Stickles was on the move. Starting tenth, Stickles quickly moved up through the pack, taking the lead away from Robitaille on lap 4. Shortly afterwards, the caution came out due to a couple of spins. One involved Nick Reilly spinning his Camaro in turn 2. The other was when John Devine spun in turn 4 after contact from Arnold. Both drivers continued. Once the green came back out, Stickles pulled away to take his second win of the year. Jesse Murphy finished second, followed by Robitaille. Bob Palmer was fourth in his first start of the year, while Bill Deak, Sr. was fifth. In the third Pure Stock feature, Jeff Kreutziger started from the pole, but was quickly passed for the lead by Jay Casey. Shortly afterwards, a crash broke out in turn 4 involving Ray Hall, Sr., Dom Denue, Shawn Perez and Jeff Meltz, Jr. to bring out the yellow. Hall Sr. lost a wheel in the crash, but was able to make repairs in the pits. Jeff Meltz, Jr.’s No. 15 was eliminated in the crash, though. On the restart, Jeff Meltz, Sr. was able to get past Casey for the lead. However, just after the first lap was completed, Shawn Perez spun and hit the wall in turn 2. Denue was unable to avoid the stricken No. 09 and ran into the Monte Carlo, ripping the passenger door off of Denue’s No. 145 and severely damaging Perez’s No. 09. Both drivers were ok after the crash, but Perez was none too pleased about the situation. After the restart, Al Relyea moved himself up into second, but he could not do much with Jeff Meltz, Sr. The Meltz patriarch pulled away to take his second win of the year. Relyea was second, followed by Jason Meltz, Ray Hall, Sr. and Casey. Three Alarms of Berkshire County/DMC Racing Products Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Keith Flach, 3) J.R. Heffner, 4) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 5) Eddie Marshall, 6) Mike Keeler, 7) Elmo Reckner, 8) Kyle Armstrong, 9) Tyler Dippel, 10) Kyle Sheldon, 11) Brian Berger, 12) Wayne Jelley, 13) Kolby Schroder, 14) Olden Dwyer, 15) Matt Pupello, 16) Steve Hough, 17) Chad Jeseo, 18) Mike King, 19) John Ruchel, 20) Paul Gilardi, 21) Andy Bachetti, 22) Rob Pitcher, 23) Mark Chartrand, 24) Denny Soltis, 25) Jeff Sukup, 26) Stan Frankenfield Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Brett Haas, 3) Kim LaVoy, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Wayne Jelley, 7) Ray Hall, Jr., 8) Ricky Davis, 9) Frank Hoard, III, 10) Joey Scarborough, 11) Brian Sandstedt, 12) Jason Tompkins, 13) Ken McGuire, 14) Chad Pierce, 15) Peter Carlotto, 16) Alan Houghtaling, 17) Demetrios Drellos, 18) Jason Herrington, 19) Chad Jeseo, 20) Steve Hough, 21) Brian Peterson, 22) Frank Harper, 23) Buddy Hencke, 24) Olden Dwyer, 25) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr., 26) Art Collins Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chris Lynch, 2) Kevin Ward, 3) Jeff Watson, 4) Jack Speshock, 5) Frank Hoard, Jr., 6) John Virgilio, 7) Michael Sabia, 8) Whitey Slavin, 9) Timothy Davis, 10) Rob Maxon, 11) Dan Lyle, 12) Nikki Ouellette, 13) Kevin Arnold, 14) Alissa Cody, 15) John Miller, 16) Christopher Delfino, 17) Gerard LeClair, 18) Cody Ochs. DNS: Angelo DiCarlo Pro Stock Bubba Tanner Memorial Results (23 laps): 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Rick Dempsey, 3) Chuck Towslee, 4) Jon Routhier, 5) Victor Hopkins, 6) Rob Yetman, 7) Chad Arsenault, 8) Daniel Sanchez, 9) Nick Hilt, 10) Ray Hall, Jr., 11) Frank Twing, 12) Joe LaFlamme, 13) Brian Keough, 14) Tom O’Connor, 15) Sparky Reilly, 16) Kyle Hosier, 17) Rich Crane, 18) Rick Duzlak, 19) Paul LaRochelle, 20) Steven LaRochelle, 21) Robbie Speed, 22) Rich Colasanti, 23) Aaron Bennett, 24) Tom Dean Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Chris Murphy, 2) Scott Morris, 3) Chris Streeter, 4) Dennis O’Connor, Sr., 5) Brian Walsh, 6) Keri VanDenburg, 7) Bill Deak, Jr., 8) Ray Royals, 9) Gary Malloy, 10) Wuggie Burdick, 11) Brian VanDenburg, 12) Kevin Paul, 13) Zach Sorrentino Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Jesse Murphy, 3) Harold Robitalle, 4) Bob Palmer, 5) Bill Deak, Sr., 6) John Tisko, 7) Dan Cote, 8) John Devine, 9) Mike Arnold, 10) Zach Seyerlein, 11) Karen Verhagen, 12) Nick Reilly, 13) Rich Rogers Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 2) Al Relyea, 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Ray Hall, Sr., 5) Jay Casey, 6) Jeff Kreutziger, 7) Larry Perez, 8) Tim Thompson, 9) Shawn Perez, 10) Dom Denue, 11) Gary O’Brien, 12) Jeff Meltz, Jr.

Saturday night was the fourth annual J.C. Flach Memorial, a special race to honor the former racer who won his only Big Block feature on this weekend in 2012, before passing away later that year. In a short time, it’s become one of the bigger races of the season. Kyle Armstrong started from the pole and opened up a small gap on the field. Meanwhile, Rob Pitcher moved up to second early in the race, dispatching of front-row starter Mike King. Meanwhile, point leaders Brett Hearn and Kenny Tremont, Jr. had to start back in the pack and deal with lots of traffic. Hearn was up to eighth by lap 12, but was about a straightaway behind the leaders. Tremont was tenth after starting 13th. Pitcher ran down Armstrong after Armstrong had to check up behind the slower Jeff Sukup. What followed was a long-lived battle between the two racers for the lead. Pitcher would go to the inside, but Armstrong would use the outside to power past. The two continued to fight as Hearn and Tremont charged forward. On lap 19, Hearn took third from King and set off to catch the leaders. With three laps to go, Pitcher made his move in turn 1. The Chatham racer appeared to get partially past the No. 11A, but contact was made. Armstrong’s No. 11A broke a left front suspension part and swept down to the inside of the backstretch, coming to a stop near the inside wall. Armstrong then exited his car and waved angrily at Pitcher, blaming him for the incident. For his part, Pitcher claimed after the race that Armstrong came down on him exiting turn 2, precipitating the contact. The officials deliberated on whether to levy a penalty, but ultimately chose not to. As a result, Pitcher claimed the lead, but ended up with Hearn right on his tail with King in third. On the restart, Hearn immediately put the pressure on Pitcher for the lead and managed to get past with a lap and a half to go. From there, the veteran pulled away to take his third win of the year. Afterwards, Hearn indicated that he got lucky with the late yellow. “We kind of caught [Armstrong and Pitcher], but we used a lot of car to get to them,” Hearn said. “The yellow let us cool off our tires a little bit and gave us a chance at [Pitcher]. I don’t know whether I would have gotten them under green, especially with two of them running together.” Pitcher held on for second, while Eddie Marshall moved up to third with a repaired chassis after last week’s crash. Tremont moved up from seventh on the restart to finish fourth, while King was fifth. The Small Block Modified feature saw Ricky Davis start from pole and hold off Brian Peterson early. Shortly after the start, a stack-up occurred in turn 4 that resulted in Brian Sandstedt spinning after contact from Olden Dwyer. While Sandstedt continued, Dwyer had mechanical issues and was forced to retire. Davis continued to lead, but had to deal with Chad Jeseo and Elmo Reckner running him down. While Davis was able to hold off Jeseo’s charges, Reckner just appeared to be much faster. Reckner dispatched of Jeseo, then made short work of Davis, taking the lead on lap 8. From there, Reckner opened up a healthy gap on the field. Points leader Tremont had to come up from 15th, but the all-green stretch for the final 23 laps made it very difficult to put himself in the discussion, no matter how hard he tried. Reckner was able to hold on to take his first career victory at Lebanon Valley. Tremont was second, followed by Jeseo. Davis held on for fourth, while Demetrios Drellos was fifth. The Sportsman class had two features Saturday. In the first feature, a make-up from May 14th, Whitey Slavin took the lead from Carmon Carnibucci on lap 1, then consolidated the advantage when Nikki Ouellette was hit and spun in turn 2 to bring out a yellow. Shortly after the restart, Dan Lyle spun in turn 4 and was hit by Christopher Delfino, who was making his season debut in a car formerly raced by Kolby Schroder. Both drivers would eventually retire. The scariest moment of the night came on lap 9 when Rob Maxon and David Schilling had contact entering turn 1, sending Maxon hard into the wall and upside-down. Maxon was ok, but done for the night. The team may be out of action for quite a while as they seek the necessary funds to get back out onto the track. Jeff Watson, who won two weeks ago, was the man on the charge. Starting in 11th, the former champion drove into the top 5, then took advantage of the yellows to get right up on Slavin’s tail. He then worked on Slavin for a couple of laps before getting past on lap 12. A late caution for Gerard LeClair stopping in turn 4 allowed the rest of the field to catch up for a Green-White-Checker. On the GWC, Watson pulled away to take his second win in a row. Slavin was able to hold onto second, but he only just beat Chris Lynch to the line. Michael Sabia was fourth after starting 18th, while John Virgilio rounded out the top 5. With the double features, no heat races were held. Instead, the grid was set by handicapping the top 15 in Sportsman points after the first feature, then tacking on everyone else in the order they finished in the first feature. As a result, Dan Lyle ended up starting from pole with John Miller alongside. There was a stack-up on the start that allowed Cody Ochs to get past to take the lead before Kevin Ward spun out to bring out a quick yellow. Slavin once again had a very quick car and took advantage of the stack-up to move into the top 3. On the second lap of the race, he took the lead from Cody Ochs on lap 2 before another yellow came out due to Alyssa Cody stopping on-track with damage after wall contact. Lynch appeared to once again have a strong car in the second feature, but he was involved in a crash on the backstretch with Lyle and Albany-Saratoga regular Jack Speshock. Lynch tried to resume, but discovered that his spindle was split in two after a trip to the pits. As a result, his night was over. The rest of the feature was clean and green. Slavin spent the first ten laps fighting off a charging Virgilio, but eventually pulled away. Watson moved up into the top 3 late in the feature and battled Virgilio for second. Watson was able to make the pass on lap 19, but Virgilio was not quite done yet. Slavin held on to take his first win of the year, but Virgilio battled back and just eked out second over Watson at the line. Sabia finished fourth, while Ward recovered from his early spin to finish fifth. The Pro Stock feature was one that won’t be forgotten for a while. A number of incidents marred the evening. Jay Corbin brought out the first yellow by spinning all by himself exiting turn 4. Right after the caution flew, Rick Duzlak spun in turn 2 after contact from Paul LaRochelle as everyone was slowing down. Everyone involved continued. On the restart, Matt Cross and Tom Dean collided in turn 2 to draw another yellow. Later, a third yellow came out due to debris. Ray Hall, Jr. had led from the pole, but the yellows resulted in little actual racing. However, Chuck Towslee showed a lot a pace and quickly moved up from his seventh starting spot. Towslee was able to get by Chad Arsenault, then Hall and Nick Hilt at the same time to get the lead on lap 7. Shortly afterwards, Rick Dempsey spun out in turn 4 after a tap from Corbin to bring out the fourth yellow. Dempsey had another spin a lap after the restart, but that did not draw a yellow. Following one more caution, Corbin and Paul LaRochelle collided in turn 2 and ground to a halt to bring out the sixth yellow of the race on lap 9. Corbin continued at the rear, but Paul LaRochelle pulled into the pits and retired for the night. Jon Routhier then had mechanical issues on the restart and stopped in turn 2 to draw yet another caution. However, he tried to reassume his previous position on-track once he got going. This is a no-no and his electronic scorecard was pulled. Routhier was credited with a 19th-place finish as a result. In the second half of the race, Rob Yetman emerged as the primary challenger. He and Towslee ran away from the field and tried to settle things by themselves. A late caution due to a spin by Steven LaRochelle (for which Dempsey was sent to the rear for) set up a GWC, but Towslee held on to take his second win of the year. Yetman was second, while Hudson’s Chad Arsenault was third, followed by Victor Hopkins and Corbin. Pure Stock Feature No. 1 saw Dave Stickles take the lead on the first lap from Chris Murphy and pull away from the pack. Murphy later spun in turn 3 after colliding with Chris Streeter, who was making his first start of 2016 in the No. 32 Chevrolet. On the restart, Stickles opened his gap back up and was unchallenged on his way to victory. Clifford Booth was second, followed by Tim Thompson, Jesse Murphy and Streeter. Pure Stock Feature No. 2 saw Bill Deak, Sr. start on the pole and battle for part of the race with Harold Robitaille. However, Bill Deak, Jr. took over second late in the race and put strong pressure on his father for the lead. The elder Deak was able to hold off his son to take a well-deserved victory. Robitaille trailed the Deaks in third, followed by Nick Reilly and James Kinney. Pure Stock Feature No. 3 saw Mike Arnold start from pole, but immediately come under pressure from Jay Casey. Casey took the lead on lap 2 and brought Ray Hall, Sr. with him. Feature No. 3 tends to be relatively frantic and Saturday night was no exception. Ray Hall, Sr. was able to drive past Casey a lap later to take the advantage. The race’s lone caution came out on lap 4 when Dom Denue’s Camaro stopped in turn 2, bunching the pack back up. During the yellow, Jeff Meltz, Jr. was penalized two spots after having been judged to have jumped the start. After the restart, Ray Hall, Sr. was briefly able to open up a gap on the pack. However, Gary O’Brien moved up to second and ran down the veteran Pure Stock racer. The two battled for the win late, but Ray Hall, Sr. held on to take his second win of the year. Behind Hall and O’Brien was Al Relyea, who made a late pass to finish third. Casey was fourth and Jason Meltz was fifth. KeyBank/Flach Family 4th Annual J.C. Flach Memorial Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Rob Pitcher, 3) Eddie Marshall, 4) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 5) Mike King, 6) Kolby Schroder, 7) Brian Berger, 8) J.R. Heffner, 9) Kyle Sheldon, 10) Andy Bachetti, 11) Keith Flach, 12) Steve Hough, 13) Chad Jeseo, 14) Matt Pupello, 15) Kyle Hoffman, 16) Kyle Armstrong, 17) Elmo Reckner, 18) Jeff Sukup, 19) John Ruchel, 20) Dave McFeeters, 21) Paul Gilardi, 22) Olden Dwyer, 23) Mark Chartrand, 24) Ed Kitchell, 25) Denny Soltis, 26) Mike Keeler Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Elmo Reckner, 2) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 3) Chad Jeseo, 4) Ricky Davis, 5) Demetrios Drellos, 6) Ray Hall, Jr., 7) Frank Hoard, III, 8) Jason Herrington, 9) J.R. Heffner, 10) Brett Haas, 11) Peter Carlotto, 12) Alan Houghtaling, 13) Brian Peterson, 14) Frank Harper, 15) Chad Pierce, 16) Brian Sandstedt, 17) Joey Scarborough, 18) Dan Humes, 19) Michael Sabia, 20) Olden Dwyer. DNS: Kim LaVoy, Ken McGuire, Rob Pitcher Sportsman Feature from May 14 Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Watson, 2) Whitey Slavin, 3) Chris Lynch, 4) Michael Sabia, 5) John Virgilio, 6) Timothy Davis, 7) Jack Speshock, 8) Frank Hoard, Jr., 9) Kevin Ward, 10) David Schilling, 11) Michael DuBois, 12) Brandon Pitcher, 13) John Miller, 14) Dan Lyle, 15) Alissa Cody, 16) Gerard LeClair, 17) Rob Maxon, 18) Carmon Carnibucci, 19) Christopher Delfino, 20) Nikki Ouellette, 21) Cody Ochs. DNS: Kevin Arnold, Jim Boardman, Ben Brownell, Greg Catlin, Ryan Heath, Anthony Savoca Sportsman Feature from June 4 Results (20 laps): 1) Whitey Slavin, 2) John Virgilio, 3) Jeff Watson, 4) Michael Sabia, 5) Kevin Ward, 6) Timothy Davis, 7) David Schilling, 8) Jack Speshock, 9) Michael DuBois, 10) Nikki Ouellette, 11) Christopher Delfino, 12) Dan Lyle, 13) John Miller, 14) Frank Hoard, Jr., 15) Chris Lynch, 16) Cody Ochs, 17) Alissa Cody. DNS: Carmon Carnibucci, Rob Maxon, Brandon Pitcher, Gerard LeClair. Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chuck Towslee, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Chad Arsenault, 4) Victor Hopkins, 5) Jay Corbin, 6) Rick Duzlak, 7) Nick Stone, 8) Ray Hall, Jr., 9) Steven LaRochelle, 10) Sparky Reilly, 11) Rick Dempsey, 12) Frank Twing, 13) Joe LaFlamme, 14) Nick Hilt, 15) Paul LaRochelle, 16) Matt Cross, 17) Tom Dean, 18) Tom O’Connor, 19) Jon Routhier, 20) Aaron Bennett. DNS: Kyle Hosier, Rick Spencer. Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Dave Stickles, 2) Clifford Booth, 3) Tim Thompson, 4) Jesse Murphy, 5) Chris Streeter, 6) Dan Cote, 7) Chris Murphy, 8) Keri VanDenburg, 9) Karen Verhagen, 10) Wuggie Burdick, 11) Lou Gancarz Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Bill Deak, Sr., 2) Bill Deak, Jr., 3) Harold Robitaille, 4) Nick Reilly, 5) James Kinney, 6) Dennis O’Connor, 7) Rich Rogers, 8) Victoria Meltz, 9) Greg DeCamp Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Ray Hall, Sr., 2) Gary O’Brien, 3) Al Relyea, 4) Jay Casey, 5) Jason Meltz, 6) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 7) Shawn Perez, 8) Mike Arnold, 9) Jeff Kreutziger, 10) Larry Perez, 11) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 12) Dom Denue, 13) Brian Walsh, 14) Kevin Paul, 15) Zach Seyerlein, 16) Mike Estes #JCFlach

Saturday night was a rather physical night of racing at Lebanon Valley. Eddie Marshall’s car was eliminated in a heat race crash with Chad Jeseo. Scott Hamlin Racing provided a backup for Marshall with the order to “drive it like it’s yours.” In the Modified feature, Mike Keeler started from pole, but lost the advantage to Matt Pupello. Shortly afterwards, a big crash broke out in turn 3 that involved a number of big names. Kenny Tremont, Jr., Brett Hearn, J.R. Heffner, Jeseo, Brian Berger and more were caught up in it. Hearn’s car suffered a front-end failure and was forced to retire for the evening, along with Jeseo, Olden Dwyer and Kyle Armstrong. After the restart, Kyle Sheldon made short work of Keeler and immediately put the pressure on Pupello for the lead. Sheldon was able to get to the inside of Pupello, but just couldn’t quite get by. Meanwhile, Andy Bachetti was the man on the move. While he did get some contact in the big crash, he continued to move up in the order. A caution on lap 8 for Marshall spinning in turn 4 bunched the field up and allowed him to make more passes. Eventually, the top 4 (Pupello, Sheldon, Kolby Schroder and Bachetti) were nose-to-tail, racing for position. Then, a yellow flew with eight laps to go for a collision between Keeler and Mike King. During the yellow, Schroder pulled off with mechanical issues. Shortly before that, Tremont pulled off with what turned out to be a burned piston. Bachetti was able to get past Sheldon for second on lap 25 and took two laps of side-by-side racing to get past Pupello for the lead. From there, Bachetti pulled away to take his second win of the year. Afterwards, Bachetti was thankful to get out of the evening unscathed. “We came out of the night pretty lucky,” Bachetti said. “Our damage was more cosmetic than anything. Other than that, the car was pretty decent. Still got some homework to do.” Pupello held on for second, followed by Sheldon. Keith Flach finished fourth, while Heffner finished fifth. The Small Block Modified feature saw Ricky Davis lead the field to green with Olden Dwyer giving chase. Meanwhile, Jeseo’s tough night continued with a crash in turn 3 with Peter Carlotto on lap 2, drawing the first yellow. Olden Dwyer took the lead away from Ricky Davis on lap 5, but incidents kept the pack close. Brett Haas was jostled around in turn 2, leading to a caution. Shortly afterwards, Joey Scarborough and Steve Hough collided exiting turn 2, creating a crash that wrapped up Kim LaVoy and Jason Tompkins. With all the incidents, plus moves on restarts, Tremont was able to get himself up to third from 15th by lap 7. A couple laps later, Tremont swept past Jason Herrington for second. Another yellow for a spin for Ricky Davis on lap 12 bunched the pack back up. Once the green flew, Olden Dwyer and Tremont drove off from the pack to settle the race themselves. The two fought for a couple of laps before Tremont got past on lap 16. From there, Tremont pulled away to take his third win of the year. Olden Dwyer finished second, followed by Herrington. Heffner finished fourth after starting 23rd, while Frank Hoard, III was fifth. In Pro Stock, the night started off with the completion of last week’s feature. Last week, the race started with a couple of incidents. At the end of the first lap, a crash broke out on the frontstretch involving Steven LaRochelle, Chuck Towslee and Frank Twing. All three drivers continued. Shortly after the restart, Nick Hilt and Jon Routhier collided while racing for the lead in turn 2. Both drivers lost control. Hilt ended up spinning out, while Routhier ended up on the apron, but kept going. The save ultimately gave Routhier the lead. On the restart, Jay Corbin was able to get past Routhier for the lead as the rain started to fall. A couple of laps later, the yellow was thrown due to the rain making the track unraceable. It was at that point that the race restarted on Saturday night with Corbin in front of Chad Arsenault, Rick Duzlak, Routhier and Paul LaRochelle. Once the green came out, Corbin was able to pull out to a decent lead. Routhier was able to get back into second, but could do nothing with the multiple-time Pro Stock championship. A late caution for an incident involving Victor Hopkins brought the pack back together for a final run to the finish. Here, Corbin was able to hold on to take his first win of the year over Routhier, Rob Yetman, Duzlak and Paul LaRochelle. The regular feature got off to a spectacular start when the field stacked up on the original start. Steven LaRochelle got hooked and turned into Yetman, then went into a series of barrel rolls. The crash collected Corbin, Paul LaRochelle and Victor Hopkins. Steven LaRochelle walked away from the crash after the rolls, however, both he and Corbin were done for the night. The race continued to have trouble getting underway when Twing, Ryan Hosier and Rick Dempsey all got together in turn 1 to bring out another caution. Tom Dean also spun to avoid the incident. Once the race finally underway, Rick Duzlak was able to take the lead on lap 2. However, shortly afterwards, the car gave up on him, allowing pole sitter Nick Hilt to regain the advantage. Despite his right side damage and a slight right rear tire rub, Yetman was the man on the move. By lap 5, he was already up to third and knocking on the door of the leaders. The very next lap saw Yetman take second from Chad Arsenault. Hilt put up a fight against him, but it didn’t take long for Yetman to take the lead. After a brief yellow due to a spin for Paul LaRochelle, Yetman set sail and drove off into the distance. Towslee was able to take second from Hilt on lap 11, but could do nothing with Yetman’s pace. Yetman drove away to take the win by over five seconds over Towslee. Routhier finished third, followed by Hilt and Hopkins, who finished fifth despite his Pontiac missing the right front fender after his crash in the first feature. In Pure Stock, Clifford Booth was able to take his first victory of the season in Feature No. 1 after dueling for much of the race with second-place finisher Kevin Paul. Dan Cote was third, followed by Jesse Murphy and Zach Sorrentino. Feature No. 2 saw Larry Perez start from the pole and hold off a significant charge from Bill Deak, Jr. to claim his first win of the year. Dave Stickles was third, followed by Scott Morris and Bill Deak, Sr. Feature No. 3 saw Jeff Meltz, Jr. come out on top after spending much of the race in an epic duel with teammate Jason Meltz, along with Al Relyea and Gary O’Brien. Ray Hall, Sr. rounded out the top 5. In the 4 Cylinder ranks, a much larger entry than normal led officials to split the class into separate races for Single-Cam and Dual-Cam cars of ten laps each. In the Single-Cam feature, Emily Deming was turned into the outside wall at the very start of the feature, ending her night. The race was more or less decided on the restart as James Street got an excellent start and took the lead away from Nick McClendon. However, that start was a little too good. While Street led, Brandon Ely came to up to second in his Honda Civic. Veteran Jim Williams didn’t take that kindly, though. The two drivers raced cleanly for the rest of the race, swapping second-place. Street was the first driver across the line, but the restart came back to haunt him. The officials gave Street a two place penalty for jumping the restart. As a result, he was put back to third. Jim Williams got past Brandon Ely for good on lap 8 and held that to the line. With Street’s penalty, that was enough to give him the win. Jim Williams was very happy with his Honda Civic. “[The Honda] was pretty fast,” Jim Williams said after the race. “I was dueling pretty good with Brandon Ely there. We’ve been racing together for a long time and know each other’s moves. We never touched. It was a good race.” In the Dual-Cam feature, Jared Powell took the lead on the start from Kelly Duncan and seemed to have his Honda Prelude working for him. However, Powell went into turn 1 and wiped out, spinning into the wall and bringing out the caution. Powell was able to drive back to the pits, but was done for the night. Powell’s crash gave the lead to Chris Vandeputte. However, Todd Goldstein was on the move in his Nissan Sentra SE-R. Before the halfway point, Goldstein had come from the rear of the field to battle Vandeputte for the lead. It did not take long for the 4-Cylinder veteran to snag the advantage. From there, Goldstein pulled away to take the win. Vandeputte finished second, followed by Kenny Stager. Wohrles Food & County Waste Modified Results (30 Laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Matt Pupello, 3) Kyle Sheldon, 4) Keith Flach, 5) J.R. Heffner, 6) Brian Berger, 7) Elmo Reckner, 8) Eddie Marshall, 9) Mike Keeler, 10) Mike King, 11) Kolby Schroder, 12) Kenny Tremont Jr, 13) Paul Gilardi, 14) Rob Pitcher, 15) Ed Kitchell, 16) Kyle Armstrong, 17) Olden Dwyer, 18) Chad Jeseo, 19) Brett Hearn. DNS) Stan Frankenfield, DNS) Steve Hough Small Block Modified Results (24 Laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Olden Dwyer, 3) J.R. Heffner, 4) Jason Herrington, 5) Frank Hoard III, 6) Frank Harper, 7) Brian Sandstedt, 8) Chad Pierce, 9) Ray Hall Jr, 10) Brett Haas, 11) Brian Peterson, 12) Alan Houghtaling, 13) Ricky Davis, 14) Ken McGuire, 15) Demetrios Drellos, 16) Rob Pitcher, 17) Steve Hough, 18) Joey Scarborough, 19) Elmo Reckner, 20) Kim LaVoy, 21) Jason Tompkins, 22) Pete Carlotto, 23) Chad Jeseo. Pro Stock Feature No. 1 (Delayed from 5/21) Results (20 Laps): 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Jon Routhier, 3) Rob Yetman, 4) Rick Duzlak, 5) Paul LaRochelle, 6) Rick Dempsey, 7) Frank Twing, 8) Chuck Towslee, 9) Steven LaRochelle, 10) Nick Stone, 11) Rich Crane, 12) Tom O'Connor, 13) Joe LaFlamme, 14) Gus Hollner, 15) Ray Hall, Jr., 16) Victor Hopkins, 17) Kyle Hosier, 18) Chad Asenault, 19) Tom Dean, 20) Brian Keough, 21) Nick Hilt, 22) Jeff Kelmel. DNS: Matt Cross, Sparky Reilly Pro Stock Feature No. 2 Results (20 Laps): 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Chuck Towslee, 3) Jon Routhier, 4) Nick Hilt, 5) Victor Hopkins, 6) Rick Dempsey, 7) Chad Asenault, 8) Daniel Sanchez, 9) Nick Stone, 10) Gus Hollner, 11) Joe LaFlamme, 12) Ray Hall, Jr., 13) Tom O'Connor, 14) Tom Dean, 15) Jeff Kelmel, 16) Kyle Hosier, 17) Paul LaRochelle, 18) Rick Duzlak, 19) Frank Twing, 20) Jay Corbin, 21) Steven LaRochelle, 22) Rich Crane. DNS) Brian Keough Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 Laps): 1) Clifford Booth, 2) Kevin Paul, 3) Dan Cote, 4) Jesse Murphy, 5) Zach Sorrentino, 6) Joe Walcott, 7) Karen Verhagen, 8) Wuggie Burdick, 9) Rich Rogers Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 Laps): 1) Larry Perez, 2) Bill Deak, Jr., 3) Dave Stickles, 4) Scott Morris, 5) Bill Deak, Sr., 6) Greg DeCamp, 7) George Miles, III, 8) Gary Malloy, 9) Nick Reilly. DNS: Mark Dwyer Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 Laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 2) Jason Meltz, 3) Al Relyea, 4) Gary O'Brien, 5) Ray Hall, Sr., 6) Jeff Kreutziger, 7) Mike Arnold, 8) Shawn Perez, 9) Dom Denue, 10) Walsh Brian, 11) Chris Murphy, 12) Harold Robitalle, 13) Tim Thompson, 14) Jeff Meltz, 15) Zach Seyerlein, 16) Jay Casey 4 Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Jim Williams, 2) Brandon Ely, 3) James Street, 4) Tim Meltz, 5) Luke Williams, 6) Jethro Rossman, 7) Scott Morris, 8) Robert Martin, 9) Nick McClendon, 10) Victor Duncan, 11) Mike Dianda, 12) Stephen Cameron, Jr, 13) Emily Deming, 14) Chris White, 15) Bradlley Batho 4 Cylinder Dual-Cam Results: 1) Todd Goldstein, 2) Chris Vandeputte, 3) Kenny Stager, 4) Shawny Hazel, 5) Ammo Wright, 6) William Sass, Jr., 7) Kelly Duncan, 8) Philipp Gomm, 9) Jonathan Taylor, 10) Jared Powell, 11) Jim Guertin #KyleSheldon #MattPuppelo

Once again, rain played a role in the overall outcome at Lebanon Valley. This week, the Pro Stock feature was red-flagged after five laps due to enough rain falling to lose the racing surface. It will be joined in-progress next Saturday night with Jay Corbin in the lead. Before the rains came, Chad Jeseo started the Modified feature from the pole with Kyle Sheldon alongside. Sheldon has struggled so far in 2016, but seemed to find the proper setup. He was able to keep tabs with Jeseo for the first few laps, then pounced to take the advantage on lap 4. From there, Sheldon began pulling away from the field. Meanwhile, Brett Hearn, Kenny Tremont, Jr. and Andy Bachetti were attempting to move up from their mid-pack starting positions to contend. By lap 6, Hearn was up from 15th to ninth and seventh by lap 12. Tremont and Bachetti’s advances were much slower. They would stall out around ninth and tenth, then battle with each other. Sheldon had a big lead until Kyle Armstrong and Mike King collided exiting turn 4 and spun on lap 18 after battling hard for quite a few laps. The caution put Hearn, who was up to fourth, on the tail of the leaders. It also set Bachetti back two places to 11th as a result of illegally changing lanes on the initial start of the race. On the restart, Hearn passed Steve Hough for third while Tremont moved up a number of spots after restarting ninth. Four laps later, another yellow flew when Kolby Schroder bunched up the pack for the last eight laps. On the restart, Hearn made quick work of Jeseo for second, then began running down Sheldon for the lead. Hearn tried the inside on Sheldon, but the young racer used the outside line to keep ahead. Coming to the white flag, Hearn got alongside Sheldon and finally made it stick exiting turn 2 on the final lap. From there, Hearn pulled away to take his second win in a row. Hearn was very happy with the win, but acknowledged that it was not easy. “Tonight was a little harder,” Hearn said in the pits. “I thought that we might have to settle [for] second at the end because the tires were so overheated. I got just enough of a run there on the last lap…to execute the pass.” For Sheldon, his second-place finish was by far his best run of the year and he’s happy with the progress shown.“Our car was absolutely phenomenal,” Sheldon said. “I knew that on the initial green when I dove underneath Chad [Jeseo] and it stuck. I knew that if I stayed patient, I would get him. “In the end, the cautions got us,” Sheldon continued. “It was fun to be able to race with [Brett Hearn]. I know he’s going to race me clean. It stinks to get passed, no matter who it is, but it’s a very respectable second-place. I’m very proud of my guys.” Jeseo finished in a season-best third. He admitted after the race that he didn’t have much for Hearn and Sheldon, but was very satisfied with his run. Brian Berger was fourth, while Tremont was fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, Buddy Hencke led from the pole and was easily able to maintain the advantage over Alan Houghtaling. Meanwhile, Tremont started in a distant 14th and quickly made his way up through the order. Steve Hough crashed into the Jersey barrier on the frontstretch to bring out the yellow on lap 11. At the same time, Hencke developed issues with his engine and was forced to retire, giving the lead to Houghtaling. On the restart, Tremont had a great run from fourth and quickly dispatched Brian Sandstedt and Rob Pitcher to move up to second. Frank Harper followed Tremont past Brian Sandstedt and moved up to fourth. Tremont then ran down Houghtaling and took the lead away two laps later. From there, the veteran racer pulled away from the pack. Earlier in the evening, Brett Haas had touted the strength of his brakes while reviewing video from last week’s feature. However, those brakes turned traitor in warm-ups, resulting in a crash. The Brett Haas Racing team repaired the No. 55 mechanically in time for Haas to drive in his heat race. Starting 15th, the Pittsfield native quickly made his way up into the top 10. When Hough crashed, Haas was up to sixth. Shortly after the restart, Haas passed Sandstedt for fifth and spent much of the remainder of the race battling Harper for fourth. With two laps to go, Haas moved past Harper for fourth. Houghtaling, after dealing with panhard bar issues last week, held on for second. Rob Pitcher held on for a season-best third. Haas held on for fourth, salvaging what could have been a terrible night with a wounded race car. Harper rounded out the top 5. The Sportsman class saw the scariest incident of the night. Just after the first lap was completed, Anthony Savoca slid into the wall exiting turn 2 and ground to a halt on the backstretch. Savoca was then hit, triggering a multi-car crash in which both Savoca and Greg Catlin rolled over. Catlin’s roll was of the end over end variety. Dan Speedling, Alissa Cody, Ryan Heath, David Schilling and Jim Boardman were also involved. At the same time, a separate incident in turn 1 wrapped up Nikki Ouellette, Dan Lyle and John Miller. Despite the severity of the crash, everyone involved was ok. A lengthy red flag was required for cleanup. Catlin, Savoca and Speedling’s cars were the most severely damaged, with Speedling taking a big hit in the roll cage. All three were eliminated. Heath and Boardman were also done for the night, while John Miller retired due to the secondary incident. Schilling and Cody continued after significant repairs in the pits. It was difficult to get a rhythm going due to the start-stop nature of the feature. Shortly after the restart, Nikki Ouellette spun in turn 1, drawing another caution. Ouellette would continue without damage. Once the race got back underway, Whitey Slavin was able to take the lead away from Carmon Carnibucci, bringing Jeff Watson with him. Following another spin for Ouellette, Watson tried for the lead in turn 3. However, Brandon Pitcher spun and hit the wall in turn 1 to bring out the fourth caution. Watson technically beat Slavin to the line, but had to give the spot back since the pass happened after the yellow flew. Watson took the lead for good on lap 8 and pulled away from the pack. Meanwhile, Slavin began to drop back. Kevin Ward got by for second. After a third yellow for an Ouellette spin, Slavin continued to fall back. Watson held on over the final seven laps to take his first win of the year. Ward finished second, followed by John Virgilio. Michael Sabia was fourth after missing opening night due to the birth of his son, Luke, while Chris Lynch was fifth. These results are unofficial pending the results of the inspection of Jeff Watson’s engine. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Zach Seyerlein started from the pole and kept the advantage on the start. Meanwhile, contact between Bill Deak, Sr. and Dan Cote sent Deak spinning in turn 2 to bring out an early yellow. Deak continued without damage. Scott Morris was the man on the move in his orange and blue Camaro, quickly moving up from the sixth starting spot to take the lead from Seyerlein on lap 3. From there, Morris pulled away to take his first win of the year. Seyerlein finished second, followed by Dennis O’Connor, Cote and Deak. Pure Stock Feature No. 2 saw Nick Reilly lead early from the pole in what was the best run to this point in the season for the No. 46. However, Reilly had to deal with the No. 013 of Jesse Murphy. Murphy used his flat-out driving style to get past Reilly on lap 5. Shortly afterwards, John Devine spun exiting turn 4 and hit the inside wall, bringing out a yellow. Devine was ok after the crash, but was clearly upset. Once the green flag came back out, Jesse Murphy drove away to take his first win of the year. Dave Stickles moved up late to finish second, followed by Zach Sorrentino. Clifford Booth and Reilly rounded out the top 5. Pure Stock Feature No. 3 saw Chris Murphy start from the pole, but Jason Meltz took the lead in turn 2 from the second starting spot. The most serious Pure Stock incident of the evening occurred on lap 2 when a stack up exiting turn 4 sent Kevin Paul and Shawn Perez hard into the outside wall. Both drivers walked away from the crash, but their cars were heavily damaged. Later, Gary O’Brien spun in turn 2 after contact from Chris Murphy. That brought out another caution. Chris Murphy was judged to be responsible for the crash and was sent to the rear of the field. The race ended up coming down to a duel between Jason Meltz and Al Relyea. Relyea was able to get his orange and black No. 14 fully alongside the No. 51, but Jason Meltz was able to hold off Relyea to claim his second win of the year. Jay Casey was third, followed by Ray Hall, Sr. and Jeff Meltz, Sr. Madsen Overhead Doors/Mark’s Variety Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Kyle Sheldon, 3) Chad Jeseo, 4) Brian Berger, 5) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 6) Andy Bachetti, 7) Eddie Marshall, 8) Steve Hough, 9) Keith Flach, 10) Matt Pupello, 11) Olden Dwyer, 12) J.R. Heffner, 13) Rob Pitcher, 14) Elmo Reckner, 15) Kyle Hoffman, 16) Mike Keeler, 17) Kyle Armstrong, 18) Paul Gilardi, 19) Denny Soltis, 20) Kolby Schroder, 21) Mike King, 22) Stan Frankenfield, 23) Mark Chartrand, 24) Ken McGuire, 25) Lorne Browe Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Alan Houghtaling, 3) Rob Pitcher, 4) Brett Haas, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Demetrios Drellos, 7) Brian Sandstedt, 8) Chad Jeseo, 9) Kim LaVoy, 10) J.R. Heffner, 11) Chad Pierce, 12) Jason Herrington, 13) Elmo Reckner, 14) Peter Carlotto, 15) Bryan McGuire, 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Brian Peterson, 18) Dan Humes, 19) Michael Sabia, 20) Olden Dwyer, 21) Buddy Hencke, 22) Steve Hough, 23) Ray Hall, Jr., 24) Frank Hoard, III. DNS: Joey Scarborough Sportsman Andrew Sherman Memorial Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Watson, 2) Kevin Ward, 3) John Virgilio, 4) Michael Sabia, 5) Chris Lynch, 6) Whitey Slavin, 7) Timothy Davis, 8) Kevin Arnold, 9) David Schilling, 10) Cody Hunt, 11) Frank Hoard, Jr., 12) Rob Maxon, 13) Cody Ochs, 14) Alissa Cody, 15) Dan Lyle, 16) Nikki Ouellette, 17) Carmon Carnibucci, 18) Brandon Pitcher, 19) Anthony Savoca, 20) Greg Catlin, 21) Ryan Heath, 22) Dan Speedling, 23) Jim Boardman, 24) John Miller Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Scott Morris, 2) Zach Seyerlein, 3) Dennis O’Connor, 4) Dan Cote, 5) Bill Deak, Sr., 6) Tim Thompson, 7) Greg DeCamp, 8) Wuggie Burdick, 9) Joe Walcott. DNS: Mark Dwyer, Ed Hatch Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Jesse Murphy, 2) Dave Stickles, 3) Zach Sorrentino, 4) Clifford Booth, 5) Nick Reilly, 6) Mike Arnold, 7) Keri VanDenburg, 8) Martina Martin, 9) Karen Verhagen, 10) John Devine. DNS: Brian VanDenburg Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Jason Meltz, 2) Al Relyea, 3) Jay Casey, 4) Ray Hall, Sr., 5) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 6) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 7) Gary O’Brien, 8) Jeff Kreutziger, 9) Brian Walsh, 10) Dom Denue, 11) Chris Murphy, 12) Harold Robitaille, 13) Kevin Paul, 14) Shawn Perez. DNS: Larry Perez #BrettHearn #KyleHoffman #RobPitcher #AndyBachetti #JRHeffner #KennyTremont #BrettHaas

Lebanon Valley was just about the only track in New York to race on Saturday night. Nearly all of the scheduled features were completed before the rains finally came. That action was quite fast and furious. The only race that was not completed as scheduled was the Sportsman Feature. After a false start and an incident on the second start attempt, the rains came and finished the night off. As a result, the Sportsman class will have double features on May 21. In the Modified feature, Olden Dwyer started from pole with a hard-charging Lorne Browe alongside. Browe clearly wanted the lead early and went into turns 3 and 4 hard on the inside. Unfortunately, Browe pushed it a little too hard. He lost control in turn 4 and spun in front of the field. Steve Hough, Paul Gilardi, Brian Berger and Andy Bachetti were all collected in the resulting crash. Everyone was ok, but only Bachetti was able to continue. As a result of the crash, Kyle Hoffman moved up to second, but quickly lost it to Mike King. Meanwhile, Brett Hearn took advantage of the crash to move up the order quickly. By lap 5, he was knocking on the door of the top 5 after starting 14th. A couple of laps later, he was right up on the leaders. Hoffman re-took second on lap 8 and put the pressure on Dwyer for the lead. At the same time, Hearn moved in on them both. Lapped traffic held up Hearn and allowed Hoffman to get past Dwyer for the lead on lap 12. That advantage was short-lived as Hearn got by Hoffman a lap later and began pulling away. A yellow on lap 21 for Bachetti cutting a tire brought the field back together. This allowed Kenny Tremont, Jr. to enter the fray. Tremont passed Dwyer for third with seven laps to go. An exhaust pipe on the backstretch created a Green-White-Checker situation. On that final restart, Tremont was able to get by Hoffman for second, but could not keep Hearn from taking the win. Afterwards, Hearn stated that getting his car optimized was key. “It’s a new car for us here for the first time in about four years,” Hearn said. “It was a matter of finding out what this car likes. Every car has a different personality that I have to relate to, and then adjust from there.” Hoffman held on for third, followed by Keith Flach. Elmo Reckner was fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, an early incident set the tone. On the initial start, a pile-up involved a number of drivers including Brett Haas, Demetrios Drellos, Kim LaVoy, and J.R. Heffner, among others. Jeseo was done for the night, but Haas and others continued after repairs. Shortly after the restart, Olden Dwyer and Ryan Darcy had contact in just the right spot exiting turn 4. That resulted in the two cars getting hooked together and grinding to a stop on the frontstretch and drawing a second caution. Darcy was able to continue after being disconnected, but the No. 88jr was done for the night. On the next restart, Tremont was able to get past pole-sitter Chad Pierce to take the lead. Another chain reaction put that pass in stone when Jason Herrington slowed in turn 1. The aftermath resulted in Alan Houghtaling spinning out following contact from Brett Haas. As well as Drellos’ opening night went, race No. 2 was the opposite. After getting caught in the first wreck, Drellos was angry at himself. As a result, he tried too hard to make up the positions that he lost. On lap 7, Drellos ran over the left rear of LaVoy’s No. 5 entering turn 1. The result was that Drellos spun and put himself hard in the wall. Afterwards, Drellos blamed himself for the crash, which ended his night. The car was heavily damaged, but the team believes that it can be fixed. LaVoy continued with damage and finished tenth. The wrecking continued after the restart when Jason Tompkins went a little too hot into turn 3 and smacked the outside wall to bring out another yellow. Tompkins was ok, but the car was done for the night. For the rest of the race, Haas was the man on the move. After pitting and dropping to the rear after the first lap crash, Haas made a methodical move towards the front. Houghtaling having a mechanical failure and spinning on the backstretch with six laps to go bunched the field and allowed Haas to eventually move up to second, but he could do nothing with Tremont, who held on for the win. Tremont was happy to make up for his oil pressure issues from last week. “[The race] really went well,” Tremont said in his transporter after the race. “We made some chassis adjustments to. Everything worked in our favor. Of course, the starting spot helped. Next week will be the test, coming from the rear.” Haas felt that he had an excellent car, despite the contact. “The car was phenomenal, it was definitely the car to beat tonight,” Haas said after the race. “I thought we were out of it when I got in the first incident, but the cards fell in our favor. We bent the front bumper and a radius rod, but I think that it actually helped the car a little bit. I wish we had one more caution because I think we had something for Kenny [Tremont].” Behind Tremont and Haas was Hough in third. Heffner charged back for fourth, while Harper was fifth. In Pro Stock, veteran Victor Hopkins started from the pole with his longtime competitor Frank Twing alongside. The 55-year old Hopkins was able to get out to the advantage while Steven LaRochelle moved to second. A slip by LaRochelle on lap 4 ended up dropping him right out of the hunt, though. LaRochelle’s slip put Rick Dempsey in second. Dempsey slowly reeled in Hopkins, but ultimately could not a move on him at first. Meanwhile, Jay Corbin was slowly making progress towards the front, one position at a time. The only yellow of the race came when Jon Routhier spun in turn 4. He would continue, but eventually finished 12th. After the restart, Hopkins pulled out a lead while Corbin continued to move forward. Eventually a great battle erupted between Corbin and Dempsey for second. Contact was made on the frontstretch. This fierce battling allowed Hopkins to get away and take his first win of the year. Corbin was able to get past on the final lap to finish second, while Dempsey settled for third. Twing was fourth, while Rob Yetman was fifth. In Pure Stock Feature No. 1, Jesse Murphy started from pole and opened up a decent lead. Meanwhile, Mike Arnold apparently jumped the start and would have been penalized. However, Arnold spun out on lap 2 and dropped to the rear, neutralizing any penalty that would have occurred. No yellow was thrown. As the race continued on, Gary O’Brien charged to the front and ran down Murphy. On the final lap, O’Brien caught Murphy and made a move to the inside exiting turn 4. From there, O’Brien was able to use horsepower to outdrag Murphy to the line for the win. Behind O’Brien and Murphy was Ed Hatch in third in his Camaro. Zach Sorrentino was fourth in his season debut, while Zach Seyerlein was fifth. Pure Stock Feature No. 2 saw Mark Dwyer start from the pole and spend the first half of the race battling with Tim Thompson for the lead. Dom Denue didn’t exactly want any of that. Once he got to the battling duo, he jumped to the inside on the backstretch and made it three-wide entering turn 3. Denue was able to make that move work and came out of the corner with the lead. From there, Denue pulled away as Mark Dwyer slowed with serious overheating problems to take his first career win. Tim Thompson held on for second, followed by Harold Robitaille, Nick Reilly and Joe Walcott. Pure Stock Feature No. 3 saw Jeff Kreutziger lead from the pole, while Jeff Meltz, Jr. jumped the start. However, Meltz’s No. 15 then cut a tire and spun in turn 1 to draw a caution. After a tire change, Jeff Meltz, Jr. would eventually finish sixth. As the race continued, Al Relyea moved up from his eighth starting spot and put pressure on Kreutziger for the lead. It took only a lap or so for the orange and black No. 14 to get the lead and pull away. A crash exiting turn 4 involving Shawn Perez and Jay Casey set up a one-lap shootout, but Relyea was easily able to hold on for the win. Jeff Meltz, Sr. was second, followed by Jason Meltz, Ray Hall, Sr. and Kreutziger. The Sportsman feature was officially rained out with no laps completed. As a result, the Sportsman class will have double features next weekend. Bonded Concrete/Empire Chemical Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 3) Kyle Hoffman, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Olden Dwyer, 8) Kolby Schroder, 9) Rob Pitcher, 10) Matt Pupello, 11) Andy Bachetti, 12) Mike King, 13) Kyle Armstrong, 14) J.R. Heffner, 15) Stan Frankenfield, 16) Mike Keeler, 17) Kyle Sheldon, 18) Mark Chartrand, 19) Denny Soltis, 20) Lorne Browe, 21) Paul Gilardi, 22) Steve Hough, 23) Brian Berger, 24) Chad Jeseo Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Brett Haas, 3) Steve Hough, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Elmo Reckner, 7) Frank Hoard, III, 8) Chad Pierce, 9) Peter Carlotto, 10) Kim LaVoy, 11) Ryan Darcy, 12) Rob Pitcher, 13) Ryan Charland, 14) Jason Herrington, 15) Ray Hall, Jr., 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Brian Peterson, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Brian Sandstedt, 20) Jason Tompkins, 21) Demetrios Drellos, 22) Buddy Hencke, 23) Olden Dwyer, 24) Chad Jeseo. DNS: Kenny Aanonsen, Jr. Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Victor Hopkins, 2) Jay Corbin, 3) Rick Dempsey, 4) Frank Twing, 5) Rob Yetman, 6) Rick Duzlak, 7) Chuck Towslee, 8) Chad Arsenault, 9) Steven LaRochelle, 10) Paul LaRochelle, 11) Ryan Hosier, 12) Jon Routhier, 13) Ray Hall, Jr., 14) Brian Keough, 15) Nick Hilt, 16) Sparky Reilly, 17) Joe LaFlamme. DNS: Tom Dean (Crash), Mark Dupuis Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Jesse Murphy, 3) Ed Hatch, Zach Sorrentino, 5) Zach Seyerlein, 6) Joe Cheneil, 7) Mike Arnold, 8) Wuggie Burdick Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Dom Denue, 2) Tim Thompson, 3) Harold Robitaille, 4) Nick Reilly, 5) Joe Walcott, 6) Victoria Meltz, 7) Mark Dwyer. DNS: Bill Deak, Sr. Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Al Relyea, 2) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Ray Hall, Sr., 5) Jeff Kreutziger, 6) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 7) Chris Murphy, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Jay Casey, 10) Shawn Perez, 11) Kevin Paul, 12) Larry Perez #KennyTremont #PaulLaRochelle #JayCorbin #RobYetman #BrettHaas #JRHeffner #BrettHearn

Despite being a busy 16-year old, Tyler Dippel still takes the time to have at it in a Big Block. Saturday night was the second in what Dippel says will be about five appearances at Lebanon Valley this year. He made the best of it. Paul Gilardi started from pole and immediately came under attack from last week’s runner-up, Brian Berger. Berger tried to get underneath Gilardi, but could not do so before Mike Keeler hit the wall in turn 4, bringing out a yellow. On the restart, Gilardi moved down low after the start-finish line to block Berger. However, that move allowed Andy Bachetti to blast past on the outside from third to take the lead and pull out into the distance. Behind Bachetti, a number of drivers were on the charge. Dippel, who started 13th, quickly moved up to fifth by lap 3 with Kenny Tremont, Jr. close in tow. Brett Hearn’s charge was slower in nature, but still impressive. Dippel took second position from Gilardi on lap 7 and took off after Bachetti. The two seemed to be evenly matched, but Bachetti’s advantage disappeared when an incident involving Kyle Sheldon, Mike King and Matt Pupello in turn 2 brought out another yellow. On the restart, Bachetti and Dippel began to battle amongst themselves. Dippel initially tried the inside to get past, but was blocked. Dippel then used Bachetti’s lost momentum against him to sweep past on the outside of turn 2 to take the lead on lap 12. From there, Dippel was able to expand his lead to nearly two seconds. However, the blistering pace meant lapped traffic. Dippel had a little trouble with lapped cars, allowing Bachetti and Tremont into the mix. However, Dippel was able to hold on to take his first career Big Block Modified win. At 16, he is the youngest driver ever to win a Big Block Modified feature at Lebanon Valley. Afterwards, Dippel was elated. “Oh man, [the car] was just so good,” Dippel said in the pits. “Every little gap that opened, I just pounced right on it. I had to go. “[After] the restart, I was watching [Bachetti’s] line. I had a run on him and he thought I was running the bottom. I psyched him out so he blocked the bottom, then I went right by up top.” Bachetti was right behind in second, but still believes that his team needs just a little bit more to be able to battle for wins on a weekly basis. Tremont was a half-second behind Bachetti in third. Hearn had some troubles moving up through the field during the race. After the lap 9 restart, he dropped back to eighth. However, as the race continued on, Hearn was able to get past J.R. Heffner for fifth, then ran down Berger to take fourth in the final laps of the race. Berger held on for fifth. In the Small Block Modifieds, Kim LaVoy, driving the re-numbered No. 5 this season in memory of former racer and crewmember Russell Reckner, started from the pole in the heads-up start and seemed quite strong early. Heat No. 2 winner Demetrios Drellos gave hasty chase. Just after lap 2 was completed, Jason Herrington spun in turn 1, creating a stack-up situation that wrapped up Ricky Davis, Frank Harper and others. Herrington was able to continue and eventually finished eighth. On the restart, LaVoy’s car seemed to hesitate. At the same time, Drellos got a heck of a restart and blasted past into the lead. J.R. Heffner, driving the No. 17 small block, followed past into second. From there, the Queensbury native pulled away from the field. A caution on lap 15 due to Buddy Hencke stopping in turn 2 bunched up the field and gave Heffner another chance. However, when the green came back out, Drellos pulled away once again and took a very satisfying victory. Afterwards, Drellos was still very impressed with his mount. “The car was an absolute rocket ship right from the drop of the green,” Drellos beamed in the pits. “We knew if we could get out in front, it was going to be nearly impossible for anyone to catch us because we have the best [Small Block Modified] equipment we can get and the best engine we could get. It’s going to be a terrific year and I’m so excited to run this car every week.” Heffner finished second, followed by Brett Haas in third. LaVoy finished a strong fourth while Elmo Reckner was fifth. In Pro Stock, rookie Ryan Hosier started on pole, but quickly lost his advantage to the veteran Paul LaRochelle. Despite losing the lead early, Hosier kept the pressure up on Paul through much of the race. Paul’s son, Steven LaRochelle, was right there as well. The only yellow of the feature came out on lap 9 when Rick Duzlak had a mechanical failure and coasted to a stop in turn 1. On the restart, Hosier tried to get the lead back from Paul LaRochelle, but was unable to do so. Eventually, Hosier got loose and fell into Steven LaRochelle’s clutches. Steven LaRochelle tried to get past Hosier in the last couple of laps, but got out of shape and dropped back. Paul LaRochelle held off Hosier to take the victory. Hosier was second, followed by Jay Corbin in third. Rob Yetman finished fourth, while Steven LaRochelle settled for fifth. In Pure Stock, the drivers were racing for places in the annual Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Clash during the regular three features. Feature No. 1 saw Dave Stickles start on pole and lead handily early. Meanwhile, Jeff Meltz, Sr. had to charge up from eighth starting spot. With a faster car than Stickles, Meltz got to second in the last couple of laps and put the moves on Stickles for the lead as the white flag was going to come out. However, Ed Hatch spun in turn 2 to bring out a caution. On the one-lap shootout, Meltz was able to complete the pass and take the win. Stickles was second, followed by Scott Morris and Bill Deak, Sr. Hatch was able to recover from his spin to finish fifth. In Feature No. 2, Mark Dwyer started on pole, but quickly lost the advantage to Jeff Kreutziger. Kreutziger was able to pull a small gap on the field, but Brian Walsh made a charge from fourth. On the fourth lap, Walsh caught and passed Kreutziger for the lead. From there, Walsh held on to take his first win of the year. Kreutziger held on for second, followed by John Devine, Dan Cote and Dwyer. Feature No. 3 saw Ray Hall, Sr. take the lead on the first lap from pole-sitter Tim Thompson. From there, Hall held off a hard-charging Jay Casey over the full 12-lap distance to take a satisfying victory. Casey was second, followed by Jeff Meltz, Jr., Al Relyea and Larry Perez. The three regular features determined the field for the annual Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Clash, a 20-lap race with a significant payout on the line. After the draw, Hall claimed the pole and immediately had Jeff Meltz, Sr. right on him at the start. Hatch’s disappointing night continued with a spin in turn 2 that brought out the race’s only yellow. After another spin (that did not bring out a yellow), Hatch eventually finished in a disappointing 13th. As the race continued on, Hall was clearly outnumbered as the entire Meltz team (Jeff Jr., Jeff Sr. and Jason) took aim at getting the lead away from Hall. Jeff Jr. took second from his father on lap 14 and began pressuring Hall. Hall was able to hold off Jeff Jr. until lap 17, when the No. 15 slipped past into the lead. From there, Jeff Meltz, Jr. held on to win the Clash. Hall held on to finish second and claim a substantial percentage of the lap money. Jason Meltz was third, followed by Jeff Meltz, Sr. Al Relyea moved in on the front quartet in the final laps, but could do no better than fifth. In the 4-Cylinder class, Victor Duncan started from the overall pole, but failed to come up to speed at the start. That resulted in Duncan’s Neon getting hit from behind, spinning the No. 37 into the wall and bringing out a quick yellow. Duncan’s crash gave Bradley Batho the lead, but Batho’s advantage was short-lived. Shortly after the restart, Batho spun in turn 3 after contact from Luke Williams. Williams took over the lead as a result, but Jethro Rossman drove past shortly afterwards and opened up a good advantage. After a yellow flew for an incident on the frontstretch, Brandon Ely was able to use the pace of his Honda Civic to his advantage. Ely got by Rossman on the restart and pulled away. In the Dual-Cam race, Kenny Stager started near the rear of the field, but quickly charged to the front of the class. Ammo Wright was right behind him with Chris Vandeputte charging as well. Another yellow flew when Emily Deming and Kelly Duncan collided in turn 4 to bunch the field up on lap 9. On the restart from that yellow, Deming seemed to suffer some kind of failure on her car. As a result, Deming made a dive to try to get into the pits. That move resulted in contact with Shawny Hazel, causing another yellow. After the final restart, Ely ran away from the rest of the Single-Cam class. However, Stager made the necessary moves to put himself in second overall with a couple of laps to go. In that time, Stager ran down Ely and made the move to the inside exiting turn 4 on the final lap. Ultimately, the horsepower in Stager’s Prelude won out as Stager just edged Ely for the overall win. Despite finishing second overall, Ely still took the Single-cam win. Behind the two class winners was Vandeputte in third, second in Dual-Cam. Tim Meltz was fourth (second in Single-Cam), followed by Wright in fifth (third in Dual-Cam). Jim Williams finished sixth overall (third in Single-Cam). Contractor Sales/Boomer’s Performance Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Tyler Dippel, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Brian Berger, 6) J.R. Heffner, 7) Kyle Armstrong, 8) Keith Flach, 9) Paul Gilardi, 10) Rob Pitcher, 11) Steve Hough, 12) Chad Jeseo, 13) Eddie Marshall, 14) Kolby Schroder, 15) Elmo Reckner, 16) Lorne Browe, 17) Kyle Sheldon, 18) Mark Chartrand, 19) Dave McFeeters, 20) Kyle Hoffman, 21) Matt Pupello, 22) Mike King, 23) Olden Dwyer, 24) Denny Soltis, 25) Mike Keeler Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Demetrios Drellos, 2) J.R. Heffner, 3) Brett Haas, 4) Kim LaVoy, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Ray Hall, Jr., 7) Ryan Darcy, 8) Jason Herrington, 9) Brian Peterson, 10) Peter Carlotto, 11) Rob Pitcher, 12) Olden Dwyer, 13) Frank Hoard, III, 14) Steve Hough, 15) Brian Sandstedt, 16) Frank Harper, 17) Joey Scarborough, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Buddy Hencke, 20) Ricky Davis, 21) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 22) Jason Tompkins, 23) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr., 24) Chad Pierce Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Paul LaRochelle, 2) Kyle Hosier, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Rob Yetman, 5) Steven LaRochelle, 6) Chad Arsenault, 7) Jon Routhier, 8) Chuck Towslee, 9) Rick Dempsey, 10) Victor Hopkins, 11) Nick Hilt, 12) Rich Crane, 13) Ray Hall, Jr., 14) Joe LaFlamme, 15) Tom Dean, 16) Rick Duzlak. DNS: Matt Cross Pure Stock Feature No. 1 (8 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 2) Dave Stickles, 3) Scott Morris, 4) Bill Deak, Sr., 5) Ed Hatch, 6) Dom Denue, 7) Harold Robitaille, 8) Gary Malloy, 9) Karen Verhagen, 10) Wuggie Burdick. DNS: James Cross Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Brian Walsh, 2) Jeff Kreutziger, 3) John Devine, 4) Dan Cote, 5) Mark Dwyer, 6) Keri VanDenburg, 7) Zach Seyerlein, 8) Joe Cheneil, 9) Gary VanDenburg, 10) Nick Reilly Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Ray Hall, Sr., 2) Jay Casey, 3) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 4) Al Relyea, 5) Larry Perez, 6) Jason Meltz, 7) Bill Deak, Jr., 8) Shawn Perez, 9) Chris Murphy, 10) Aaron Fachini, 11) Kevin Paul, 12) Gary O’Brien, 13) Tim Thompson. DNS: Clifford Booth, Mike Arnold Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Clash Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 2) Ray Hall, Sr., 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 5) Al Relyea, 6) Jeff Kreutziger, 7) Dom Denue, 8) John Devine, 9) Dave Stickles, 10) Bill Deak, Sr., 11) Bill Deak, Jr., 12) Brian Walsh, 13) Ed Hatch, 14) Harold Robitaille, 15) Zach Seyerlein, 16) Dan Cote, 17) Mark Dwyer. DNS: Jay Casey, Scott Morris, Larry Perez, Keri VanDenburg 4-Cylinder Dual Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Kenny Stager, 2) Chris Vandeputte, 3) Ammo Wright, 4) Philipp Gomm, 5) Daniel Hoag, 6) Kelly Duncan, 7) Shawny Hazel, 8) Jim Guertin, 9) P.J. Bleau 4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Brandon Ely, 2) Tim Meltz, 3) Jim Williams, 4) Jethro Rossman, 5) Luke Williams, 6) Stephen Cameron, Jr., 7) Bradley Batho, 8) Robert Martin, 9) James Street, 10) Emily Deming, 11) Nick McClendon, 12) Victor Duncan #AndyBachetti #Meltz #BoomersPerformance #PaulLaRochelle #TylerDippel

Saturday night marked the beginning of the Super DIRTcar Series season at Fulton Speedway. As a result, only appearance points were on the table for the Modifieds (you got them if you were at Lebanon Valley or Fulton). That didn’t mean that there wasn’t any action. Paul Gilardi started from the pole, but was immediately pressured by Brian Berger. Berger had the stronger car and was able to get past on lap 3 for the lead. However, as the race continued on, Berger’s car got tighter and tighter. Andy Bachetti, who started fourth, was easily able to take advantage of this deficiency. Berger’s car went up the track in turn 3 on lap 7, and that was all Bachetti needed to take the lead. From there, Bachetti unleashed some of the wicked pace that he had shown earlier in the evening during warm-ups. Earlier, Bachetti had turned the fastest laps of the evening. Further back, Kenny Tremont, Jr. was charging forward from his 15th starting spot, but finding it a bit tough. The first couple of spots were easy, but he got stuck right around the time he got to seventh. At that point, Wayne Jelley blew a right rear tire, bringing out the race’s only yellow. With the field bunched back up, moves for position began again. Kolby Schroder was able to get past Mike King for third on the restart. Tremont was able to make a nice move to go from seventh to fourth, then tacked onto Schroder. For much of the rest of the race, Tremont hassled Schroder for third, eventually getting by on lap 26. At the front, Bachetti pulled away from the pack and ran unchallenged to his first win of the year. It is the 15th consecutive year that the Sheffield, Mass. racer has won a Big Block feature at Lebanon Valley. Afterwards, Bachetti was happy to be back where he feels he needs to be. “We just have to keep [the performance] up,” Bachetti said in the pits. “Hopefully, we’re back on track. Gotta thank all my sponsors; everybody who’s involved here. We’ve had two tough years. We’ve been in a little bit of a slump, but hopefully, we’re pulling out of it.” Berger held on for second, but only just beat out Tremont. Schroder was fourth, while Steve Hough was fifth. In Pro Stock, Chuck Towslee started from the pole and asserted himself early. Meanwhile, last week’s runner-up Rick Duzlak had a rough beginning, spinning in turn 3 after contact from Tom O’Connor and collecting Steven LaRochelle. Rob Yetman essentially had to stop to miss Duzlak, but continued undamaged. Effectively stopping on track did drop Yetman nearly to the rear of the field as a result. Ryan Hosier pressured Towslee on the restart, but he slipped up the track, allowing Rick Dempsey to move up to second. Dempsey was quick, but did not appear to have all that much for Towslee. Hosier kept himself towards the front of the pack until he had contact with Chad Arsenault in turn 1 on lap 9. While Hosier did not spin out, he was forced onto the apron. Jon Routhier ended up getting collected as well. The caution was put out as a result of the incident. All three drivers were able to continue. After the restart, Yetman started making his move towards the front. He quickly passed a number of competitors, including a group of five at a time shortly after the restart. In the last couple of laps, Yetman passed Dempsey for second, but ran out of time as Towslee held on to take his seventh career Pro Stock win. Afterwards, Towslee was pleased with his performance, but still thinks that there's still more speed to be found. "[The car] was good, but it wasn't 100 percent," Towslee said in the pits. "We're still fine tuning things, but we're close. It was all right. I think the cold weather's helping us with the moisture coming out of the track and giving us a lot of bite. It's good. I like it" Yetman finished second, but would have needed only a couple more laps to catch Towslee. Dempsey was third, followed by Arsenault and Nick Hilt. In Sportsman, Whitey Slavin appeared to have the fastest car out there. However, a recurring problem doomed his effort. Slavin was able to take the lead from pole-sitter Frank Hoard, Jr. on lap 4 just as Jeff Watson cut a tire in front of most of the field. While Watson was able to get down to the apron and eventually change his tire, the chain reaction resulted in Rob Maxon sliding into the inside wall on the frontstretch, ending his night and bringing out a yellow. On the restart, Slavin pulled away, but his car began to overheat. A GM 602 Crate engine can do a lot of things, but it cannot function with water temperatures approaching 270 degrees. The Slavin team encountered the issue during his heat race early in the evening. During the Modified Hot Laps, the team was trying to figure out the issues, but felt that they were in a good place for the feature. Unfortunately, the issues returned as soon as the feature started. The caution for Maxon's crash allowed the temperatures to drop to around 240 degrees, but once the green came back out, the temps went back to 270. In addition, the car was putting some water down on the track. As a result, Slavin was forced to shut it down on lap 7 and pull to the inside on the frontstretch to save the engine. The move ended Slavin's night and forced him to settle for a 19th-place finish. Hoard reclaimed the lead as a result. From there, Hoard kept up a decent advantage over the rest of the pace. He was never challenged on the way to the opening night victory. "The car was awesome," Hoard said after the race. "Last year, we struggled with brakes a lot and we found an issue over the winter. Pretty sure we got that part of it solved." Behind Hoard was a thrilling battle between Timothy Davis, Jim Boardman and defending champion John Virgilio. While Davis had second on hold for much of the race, Virgilio and Boardman had a back and forth battle for third. The Virgilio team built Boardman's No. 70 and Boardman used that chassis to defeat Virgilio. In the final laps, Boardman and Virgilio caught Davis and gave him a run for his money, but Davis was able to hold for second. Boardman came home in a career-best third, while Virgilio was fourth. Jeff Watson charged back from his early flat tire to finish fifth. Now, these results are unofficial as officials are vigorously inspecting the engines out of the top 3 finishers. In Pure Stock, Gary O’Brien passed Larry Perez in the closing laps to take home another victory in feature No. 1. In feature No. 2, the race was between Bill Deak, Jr. and Ed Hatch. Hatch had a hose come loose during warm-ups, resulting in a thrash to get ready for the race. During the feature, Hatch drove much of it one-handed, but gave Deak a fair race. Eventually, the issues resulted in Hatch dropping back and Deak taking the victory. Finally, in feature No. 3, Shawn Perez earned his first career win in the toughest of the Pure Stock features, holding off a charging Jeff Meltz, Jr. Afterwards, he was very proud of his accomplishment. "My car was running good tonight; it was sticking to the track," Perez said in the pits. "I've been racing in the third feature for two years now and I hadn't gotten a win yet. [The] third race is a big win." Heavy Hauler/Slovak Excavating Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Brian Berger, 3) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 4) Kolby Schroder, 5) Steve Hough, 6) J.R. Heffner, 7) Mike King, 8) Kyle Sheldon, 9) Kyle Armstrong, 10) Kyle Hoffman, 11) Chad Jeseo, 12) Lorne Browe, 13) Matt Pupello, 14) Paul Gilardi, 15) Mike Keeler, 16) Dave McFeeters, 17) Rob Pitcher, 18) Wayne Jelley, 19) Eddie Marshall, 20) Olden Dwyer, 21) Elmo Reckner, 22) Mark Chartrand, 23) Demetrios Drellos (Small Block), 24) Ricky Davis (Small Block), 25) Peter Carlotto (Small Block), 26) Art Collins (Small Block), 27) Frank Hoard, III (Small Block), 28) Alan Houghtaling (Small Block). DNS: Ray Hall, Jr. (Small Block), Brett Haas (Small Block) Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Frank Hoard, Jr., 2) Timothy Davis, 3) Jim Boardman, 4) John Virgilio, 5) Jeff Watson, 6) Chris Lynch, 7) Kevin Ward, 8) Kevin Arnold, 9) Joey Scarborough, 10) Brandon Pitcher, 11) Alissa Cody, 12) Anthony Savoca, 13) Nikki Ouellette, 14) Ryan Heath, 15) John Miller, 16) Cody Ochs, 17) Ben Brownell, 18) Dan Lyle, 19) Whitey Slavin, 20) Rob Maxon, 21) Carmon Carnibucci, 22) Gerard LeClair. DNS: Greg Catlin (Driver Change) Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chuck Towslee, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Rick Dempsey, 4) Chad Arsenault, 5) Nick Hilt, 6) Rick Duzlak, 7) Jay Corbin, 8) Jon Routhier, 9) Victor Hopkins, 10) Frank Twing, 11) Steven LaRochelle, 12) Ray Hall, Jr., 13) Kyle Hosier, 14) Tom O’Connor, 15) Tom Dean, 16) Joe LaFlamme, 17) Jeff Kelmel, 18) Matt Cross, 19) Paul LaRochelle. DNS: Hugh Page (Driver Change) Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Larry Perez, 3) Bill Deak, Sr., 4) Clifford Booth, 5) Brian Walsh, 6) John Devine, 7) Keri VanDenburg, 8) George Miles, III, 9) Aaron Fachini, 10) John Tisko, 11) Gary Malloy Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Bill Deak, Jr., 2) Ed Hatch, 3) Dan Cote, 4) Mike Arnold, 5) Tim Thompson, 6) Zach Seyerlein, 7) Wuggie Burdick, 8) Brian Vandenburg, 9) James Cross. DNS: Mark Dwyer, Jesse Murphy Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Shawn Perez, 2) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 3) Jay Casey, 4) Jason Meltz, 5) Kevin Paul, 6) Chris Murphy, 7) Ray Hall, Sr., 8) Scott Morris, 9) Al Relyea, 10) Harold Robitaille, 11) Dom Denue, 12) Jeff Kreutziger, 13) Dennis O’Connor, Jr., 14) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 15) Dave Stickles. DNS: Nick Reilly

Ah, opening night. Everyone’s at square one. Hopes and dreams are still attainable. Teams in the Modified, Pro Stock, Pure Stock and 4-Cylinder classes took to the high banks for their first races of the year. Unfortunately, the high banks bit back. In the Modified feature, Kyle Sheldon started on pole, but hit a hole wrong in turn 1 on the start and went up the hill. That allowed Keith Flach to move into the lead. A combination of Kyle Armstrong stopping on course and a flag being blown out of the flag stand due to brisk wind brought out a quick caution shortly afterwards. Armstrong would continue. On the restart, a collision involving Paul Gilardi, Kolby Schroder and newcomer Stan Frankenfield brought out another yellow. Gilardi, who was racing with a pinched nerve in his neck, along with Frankenfield, were out on the spot. Schroder did briefly return to the race, but later retired. The conditions led to a great deal of attrition. Brian Berger retired early due to a suspension failure. Andy Bachetti dropped out early as well, as did Steve Hough due to overheating. Even Brett Hearn had issues, breaking a shock tower on lap 6. Despite the breakage, he was able to get up to second. The most serious incident of the night occurred on lap 8 when Mike King and Denny Soltis collided and spun into the wall in turn 1. King walked away from the crash, but Soltis complained of a back injury. Medical staff checked Soltis out and gave him a ride back to his pit. On the restart, Kenny Tremont, Jr. made his move. Tremont went to the outside of Hearn in turns 1 and 2, bringing the fans to their feet. Tremont cleared Hearn, then immediately tried to go to the inside of Flach in turn 3 for the lead. That move didn’t work out, but Tremont continued to pressure the Ravena native. A lap later, Tremont was able to make the move stick. While Tremont pulled away from the pack, Hearn fell back into the clutches of NASCAR K&N Pro Series East regular Tyler Dippel, who will be making intermittent appearances during the season. Dippel tried to make the move on Hearn, but could not make it stick. Eventually, Hearn was able to pull away from Dippel and run Flach back down for second. Hearn eventually regained second with ten laps to go, but by that point, Tremont had nearly a full straightaway lead. From there, Tremont held on to take his record 126th career Modified win at Lebanon Valley by more than five seconds. Afterwards, Tremont was pleased with his performance. “[My car] was actually pretty good,” Tremont said in the pits. “It took me a while to get used to going through the hole in turn 1, but once I figured out what was best for the car, I think we were able to go through there and make up some time. That was the key for me tonight.” Hearn battled his broken right rear shock tower and a head cold to finish second. Flach was third, while Dippel was fourth. Eddie Marshall rounded out the top-5. In Pro Stock, it was once again a battle between the crate motors and open motors. Rick Duzlak led the field to green with his open motor-powered Chevrolet, with Jay Corbin and Jon Routhier close in tow. The first part of the race saw a small front pack develop with Duzlak in front. Routhier was able to get around Corbin at the start and pressured Duzlak, but was unable to get by. Next were Corbin and Rob Yetman, then Paul LaRochelle. Yetman eventually made his move just after the halfway point to get past Corbin for third. Shortly afterwards, Routhier tried to get past Duzlak for the lead coming off of turn 2. The move slowed both Routhier and Duzlak down, which allowed Yetman to make a spectacular move on the backstretch to sweep past both drivers and take the lead. From there, Yetman ran off and hid from the rest of the field while Duzlak had to wage battle with Corbin and Routhier. A late caution due to a flat tire for Chuck Towslee led to a one-lap shootout. From there, Yetman was able to hold on to take his record 46th career Lebanon Valley Pro Stock win. Duzlak held on for a strong second-place finish with Corbin right on his tail in third. Routhier was fourth, while Paul LaRochelle was fifth. In Pure Stock, Al Relyea, Kevin Paul and Jason Meltz each claimed opening night victories. Finally, in the 15-lap 4-Cylinder feature, Kenny Stager took the Dual-Cam and overall win with his Honda Prelude. Brandon Ely was third overall, good enough to win Single-Cam in his Honda Civic. Results: L&M Motors/Sayer’s Auto Wrecking Modified Feature (30 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Keith Flach, 4) Tyler Dippel, 5) Eddie Marshall, 6) JR Heffner, 7) Matt Pupello, 8) Rob Pitcher, 9) Chad Jeseo, 10) Wayne Jelley, 11) Kyle Sheldon, 12) Elmo Reckner, 13) Mike Keeler, 14) Kyle Armstrong, 15) Mark Chartrand, 16) Kolby Schroder, 17) Steve Hough, 18) Denny Soltis, 19) Mike King, 20) Olden Dwyer, 21) Kyle Hoffman, 22) Stan Frankenfield, 23) Andy Bachetti, 24) Lorne Browe, 25) Brian Berger, 26) Paul Gilardi, 27) Ken McGuire. DNS: Ed Kitchell. Small Block Racers: Craig Seeley, Demetrios Drellos, Alan Houghtaling, Jason Herrington, Brett Haas, Frank Harper, Ryan Heath Pro Stock Feature (20 laps): 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Rick Duzlak, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Jon Routhier, 5) Paul LaRochelle, 6) Rick Dempsey, 7) Nick Hilt, 8) Steven LaRochelle, 9) Victor Hopkins, 10) Ray Hall, Jr., 11) Rich Crane, 12) Kyle Hosier, 13) Hugh Page, 14) Chris Morris, 15) Chad Arsenault, 16) Chuck Towslee, 17) Tom O’Connor, 18) Joe LaFlamme, 19) Frank Twing, 20) Daniel Sanchez. DNS: Matt Cross Pure Stock Feature #1 (10 laps): 1) Al Relyea, 2) Jay Casey, 3) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 4) Scott Morris, 5) Jeff Kreutziger, 6) Tim Thompson, 7) Mike Arnold, 8) Joe Cheneil, 9) Wuggie Burdick, 10) Gary Vandenburg. DNS: Gary Malloy Pure Stock Feature #2 (10 laps): 1) Kevin Paul, 2) Chris Murphy, 3) Dennis O’Connor, 4) Tom Denue, 5) Harold Robitalle, 6) Keri Vandenburg, 7) Mark Dwyer, 8) Zach Seyerlein, 9) Aaron Fachini, 10) George Miles, III Pure Stock Feature #3 (10 laps): 1) Jason Meltz, 2) Ray Hall, Sr., 3) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 4) Dave Stickles, 5) Shawn Perez, 6) Larry Perez, 7) Clifford Booth, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Dan Cote, 10) Bill Deak, Jr., 11) Gary O’Brien. DNS: Bill Deak, Sr., Ed Hatch, Jesse Murphy 4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature: 1) Kenny Stager, 2) Chris Vandeputte, 3) Shawny Hazel, 4) Ammo Wright, 5) Daniel Hoag, 6) Jared Powell, 7) William Sass, Jr., 8) Todd Goldstein, 9) Kelly Duncan 4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature: 1) Brandon Ely, 2) Tim Meltz, 3) Jethro Rossman, 4) Jim Williams, 5) Luke Williams, 6) James Street, 7) Nick McClendon, 8) Stephen Cameron, Jr., 9) Victor Duncan, 10) Batho Bradley