Andy Bachetti Wraps Up Modified Title With Last-Lap Pass

Andy Bachetti needed to make up seven points on Brett Haas Saturday night at Lebanon Valley.  He managed to do it in spectacular fashion.

On the final lap, Bachetti was able to get to the inside of Eddie Marshall going into turn 1 and managed to pass him with a slide job.  Marshall came back and got side-by-side exiting turn 4, but Bachetti was able to hold on to take the victory and clinch his fifth straight Modified championship by three points.

“[Marshall] was letting up a little bit and we kept digging,” Bachetti said.  “[The race] just fell our way.  It was a pretty lucky night for us.”

Bachetti’s margin of victory was .209 seconds over Marshall.  Chris Curtis was third, then Haas and John Virgilio.

Ryan Charland started from the pole and led early.  On the second lap, he jumped the cushion in turn 4, which allowed Marshall to take the lead.

Haas and Bachetti started in 12th and 13th, respectively, and had to charge forward.  While Bachetti’s charge was smooth for the most part, Haas had contact with Kyle Armstrong in turn 4 that nearly caused a spin.

A caution early on for a Montgomery Tremont spin kept the field bunched up.  Once the race restarted, Bachetti and Haas continued to move forward.

Bachetti was really able to make up ground once traffic became an issue.  He was able to put a number of cars between himself and Haas.  That came despite contact with Virgilio while fighting for fourth on lap 18.

With four laps to go, Bachetti took second and went off after Marshall, while Haas had contact with Matt Pupello exiting turn 2 that nearly resulted in a spin.

From there, Bachetti had to run down Marshall in traffic.  Haas was able to get Virgilio for fourth.

As a result, the pass on Marshall on the final lap was necessary to win the title.  Had Marshall won over Bachetti, Haas would have won the championship by one point.

In the Small Blocks, Alan Houghtaling started from pole, but lost the advantage on the first lap to Peter Carlotto.  A series of incidents kept the field close.

First, Connor Crane cut a tire and slowed on track.  On the restart from that, Michael Trautschold spun in turn 1 to bring out another yellow.

On lap 4, a big crash broke out exiting turn 4 that involved seven cars.  Everyone was ok, but Ryan Heath, Michael Sabia, Donny Travaglin and Ray Hall Jr. were eliminated.

Bachetti started in the 12th position and took advantage of the early cautions and restarts to quickly move up the order.  By lap 6, he was already up to second.

Three laps later, Haas’ engine expired to bring out the yellow and bunch the field together again.  That was all Bachetti needed as he got a massive run on the restart to take the lead from Carlotto.

From there, he was off to the races.  He was more than a half-second faster than the rest of the field. 

When a debris caution came out with four laps to go, it wiped out a nearly six-second lead.  On the restart, Joey Coppola was able to snatch second from Carlotto, but he could not prevent Bachetti from taking his 10th win of the year.  The 10 victories match a small block record for wins in a season.

Bachetti won by 1.071 seconds over Coppola.  Kyle Sheldon was third, then Carlotto and Jason Herrington.

Sportsman teams raced in the Rod Fifield Memorial, a special 25-lap race Saturday night.  It was not business as usual.

Matt Burke started from the pole and ran well early, but the race had issues truly getting going.  On the initial start, Keith Johannessen hit the wall in turn 1, then and got collected by Ed Dachenhausen.  Both drivers were done for the night. 

After a restart, Taylor Wason spun and hit the inside wall after contact from Anthony DiCarlo to bring out another yellow.  Shortly after that restart, a wreck broke out in turn 4 involving DiCarlo, Connor Prokop, Bob Fachini, Dylan Madsen and Karl Barnes that resulted in a red flag since Madsen ended up on top of another car.

Once the race restarted, Burke continued to lead while Brady Cordova gave chase along with Dylan Grogan.  Meanwhile, undefeated points leader Tim Hartman Jr. was trapped further back and struggled to progress.

Hartman ended up spending a significant chunk of the race in a fierce battle for position with Michael Sabia.  Hartman had entered the night with a 122-point lead in the points over Sabia.  Sabia would have to win the race and hope bad luck befell Hartman just to get the championship to Labor Day weekend.

In the closing laps, Cordova began to fade away from Burke.  That allowed Grogan to pounce and take second with three laps to go.  Grogan tried to make a go at Burke, but he could not get the lead as Burke held on for his first win of the year.  Grogan was second, then Cordova. 

Hartman finished fourth, snapping a 15-race winning streak that stretched back nearly a full calendar year.  Mike Arnold was fifth.

Hartman’s fourth-place finish was more than enough for him to clinch his second straight Sportsman championship with two races remaining to run.

In Limited Sportsman, Brandon Lemaire started from the pole and led early.  However, this was another race that was run in a start-and-stop fashion.

Mike Bosco appeared to have mechanical issues with his car.  A couple of laps into the race, he stopped on-track in turn 3 to draw the first caution.  Shortly after the restart, Garrett Biagiarelli spun in turn 4 to bring out another yellow.  Ray Royals and Brian Walsh were also involved.

On the restart, John Santolin was able to take the lead away from Lemaire and attempted to open up a decent advantage.  Contact prevented that from happening.

A little more than a lap later, Owen Lewis and Dylan Holmes collided and spun into the inside wall on the backstretch.  Both drivers were ok, but done for the night, ending Lewis’ chances at a third straight win.

Then, Chris Humes spun in turn 2 and was then hit by Nick Arnold to bring out the third caution.  Humes was able to continue, but Nick Arnold was done for the night and not very happy about it.

Two laps later, Phil Arnold spun and backed into the wall on the backstretch.  His No. 216 then rode up on the wall and rolled over.  That triggered a red flag to get Phil’s car right-side up. 

Points leader Scott Zehnacker took the lead on lap 9 from Santolin, but was unable to put any kind of distance on the pack.  Instead, Santolin was able to take the lead back from Scott Zehnacker two laps later and held on to win.  Colby Kokosa was second, then Zehnacker, Harold Robitaille and Humes.

The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series was in town Saturday for the Old Buzzard 30, a special race in honor of the late Jimmy Langenback.  Luke Horning earned the pole, but he was under immediate pressure from Frank Twing.

That pressure was briefly halted by the first caution of the race when Shawn Perez Jr., Devin Camenga and Roxanne Roy collided exiting turn 4 to bring out the first caution.  Roxanne was done for the night, ending a disappointing birthday run.

On the restart, Twing was able to take the lead away from Horning on and managed to hold onto the lead.  What followed was a series of incidents.

Horning’s night went downhill quickly after losing the lead when he stopped in turn 2 to bring out another yellow.  Following a spin for David Kokindo, Horning’s night ended in a multi-car crash on the backstretch that also involved Kokindo, Shawn Perez, Shawn Perez Jr., Paul LaRochelle, Jocelyn Roy and Brandon Emigh.  The red flag was thrown so that crews could clean up the mess. 

Both of the Perez’s, Horning and Kokindo were eliminated here.  Emigh continued, then drew another caution when his hood flew up on the frontstretch.

After this point, single-file restarts were declared.  That kept things a bit quieter with a depleted field.

For most of the race, Twing was in a fierce battle for the lead with Chris Stalker.  Stalker tried multiple times on the inside, and even a couple of times on the outside, to take the lead, but was unsuccessful.

Twing was able to hold on to win the Old Buzzard 30 for his first DIRTcar Pro Stock Series win since 1999.  Stalker was second, then Zach Sorrentino, Jason Casey and Rich Crane.

In the Super Street Stock feature, Doug Sterling started from the pole and led early on.  After a flat tire for Peter Huntoon drew a caution, Jeff Meltz Sr. was able to get the drop on him on the restart to seize the advantage.

For much of the year, Meltz’s main competition has been Dave Streibel Jr. and this night was no different.  Streibel Jr. was able to move up to second and put the pressure on the veteran racer.

On lap 12, Streibel Jr. was able to take the lead away from Meltz.  Despite this, the veteran campaigner kept the pressure on.

With two laps to go, Meltz suffered a ball joint failure in the right front corner of his car.  This ended his night and brought out the caution.

From there, Streibel Jr. held on to take his sixth win of the year.  The margin of victory was .683 seconds over his father.  Doug Sterling was third over the line, but was disqualified due to a technical infringement.

As a result of the DQ, Lou Gancarz inherited third.  Keri VanDenburg was fourth, while Huntoon was fifth.

The 4-Cylinder class saw Jon Shepard snatch the lead on the first lap, then drive away to win the 10-lap feature overall and in Dual-cam.  Shepard won by 13.938 seconds over Anthony Tarantino.  Dawson Thompson finished third and won in Single-cam, followed by Stephen Burka and Dylan MacLeod.

SHR Speed & Supply Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Eddie Marshall, 3) Chris Curtis, 4) Brett Haas, 5) John Virgilio, 6) Matt Pupello, 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) Alex Yankowski, 9) Kolby Schroder, 10) Kyle Armstrong, 11) Marc Johnson, 12) Kyle Sheldon, 13) Keith Flach, 14) Brandon Lane, 15) Michael Trautschold, 16) Ryan Charland, 17) Jimmy Phelps, 18) Mike King, 19) Josh Marcus, 20) Mike Engwer, 21) Montgomery Tremont, 22) Olden Dwyer

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Joey Coppola, 3) Kyle Sheldon, 4) Peter Carlotto, 5) Jason Herrington, 6) Lorne Browe*, 7) Jeff Watson, 8) Brian Peterson, 9) Ryan Larkin, 10) Michael Trautschold, 11) Connor Crane, 12) Brian Sandstedt, 13) Brady Cordova, 14) Mark Pullen, 15) Sean Mandel, 16) Brett Haas, 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Michael Sabia, 19) Ray Hall Jr., 20) Donny Travaglin, 21) Ryan Heath

*- Guy Sheldon raced in substitution for Lorne Browe because Browe had to attend a wedding.  As a result, Browe will earn the points for Guy’s sixth-place finish.

Sportsman Rod Fifield Memorial Results (25 laps): 1) Matt Burke, 2) Dylan Grogan, 3) Brady Cordova, 4) Tim Hartman Jr., 5) Mike Arnold, 6) Michael Sabia, 7) Nick Giardini, 8) Craig Wholey, 9) Chris Crane Jr., 10) Alex Bell, 11) Connor Prokop, 12) Taylor Wason, 13) Karl Barnes, 14) Bob Fachini, 15) Dylan Madsen, 16) Anthony DiCarlo, 17) Keith Johannessen, 18) Justin Gozzi*, 19) Alex Palmer-Sawyer (DNS), 20) Kevin Ames (DNS)

*- Ed Dachenhausen drove the No. 85 in substitution of Justin Gozzi.  The 18th-place finish will be credited to Gozzi.

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) John Santolin, 2) Colby Kokosa, 3) Scott Zehnacker, 4) Harold Robitaille, 5) Chris Humes, 6) Garrett Biagiarelli, 7) Rich Eggers, 8) Braxton Martin, 9) Chip Martin, 10) Kent Clark, 11) Brian Walsh, 12) Dakota Green, 13) Sarah Arnold, 14) Ray Royals, 15) Brandon Lemaire, 16) Phil Arnold, 17) Nick Arnold, 18) Mike Bosco, 19) Dylan Holmes, 20) Owen Lewis, 21) Jasen Brewer.  DQ: Frank Twing Jr.

Frank Twing Jr. was disqualified for an illegal rejoin from the pits.

DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Old Buzzard 30 Results (30 laps): 1) Frank Twing, 2) Chris Stalker, 3) Zach Sorrentino, 4) Jason Casey, 5) Rich Crane, 6) Pete Stefanski, 7) Phil DeFiglio, 8) Devon Camenga, 9) Slater Baker, 10) Jocelyn Roy, 11) Brandon Emigh, 12) Dave Stickles, 13) Tom O’Connor, 14) Brian Keough, 15) Tom Dean, 16) Luke Horning, 17) Shawn Perez Jr., 18) Dave Kokindo, 19) Ryan Crellin, 20) Beau Ballard, 21) Shawn Perez, 22) Roxanne Roy, 23) Nick Hilt (DNS), 24) Rocco Procopio (DNS)

Super Street Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Streibel Jr., 2) Dave Streibel, 3) Lou Gancarz, 4) Keri VanDenburg, 5) Peter Huntoon, 6) Franklin Smith, 7) Jeff Meltz Sr., 8) Ray Tarantino Jr.  DQ: Doug Sterling

4-Cylinder Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Jon Shepard, 2) Anthony Tarantino, 3) Dawson Thompson, 4) Stephen Burka, 5) Dylan MacLeod, 6) Chris Danylieko, 7) Brian Blanck

4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Jon Shepard, 2) Anthony Tarantino, 3) Chris Danylieko, 4) Brian Blanck

4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Dawson Thompson, 2) Stephen Burka, 3) Dylan MacLeod