Brett Haas Scores $8,000 Victory on Howard Commander’s Birthday

Brett Haas was able to sweep past Andy Bachetti to take the lead with six laps to go Saturday night.  From there, he held on to win the Commander 8000, a special $8,000 to win 33-lap feature to celebrate Lebanon Valley Speedway owner/promoter Howard Commander’s 80th birthday.

“I knew we were good.  Andy was really good, too,” Haas said afterwards.  “Every restart, it seemed [that Bachetti] would gap us for the first three to five laps, then we’d start reeling him back in.  We were running opposite lines for most of the night, but I could put [the throttle] to the floor out of turn 2 and it worked.”

Bachetti was 2.366 seconds back in second.  John Virgilio was third, then Kolby Schroder and Kyle Sheldon.

By virtue of a redraw, Bachetti started from the pole and led early.  He was able to pull away from Keith Flach and the rest of the pack, but not by too much.  Spins for Josh Marcus and Montgomery Tremont kept the field close.

Haas took second from Flach on lap 10 and immediately started to pressure Bachetti for the lead.  He had him cleared on lap 12 with a run on the backstretch, but a spin for David Schilling brought out the caution right after Haas cleared Bachetti.  Since he did not get back to the start-finish line before the yellow, scoring reverted to the previous lap, putting Bachetti back out front.

Bachetti and Haas held serve at the front over the next few laps while pulling away from Schroder and the rest of the pack. With 10 laps to go, Rob Maxon crashed in turn 1 to bring out the sixth yellow of the race.  Maxon was ok, but his car was significantly damaged and done for the night.

After the restart, Haas really went after Bachetti for the lead.  On lap 28, Haas got a similar run to what he had early in the race off of turn 2 and cleared Bachetti entering turn 3.  This time, he was also able to get to the start-finish line to lock it in before Mike King slowed on track to draw the final yellow of the race.

Once the race restarted, Haas was able to pull away to take the victory.  It is Haas’ career-high fourth Modified win of the year.

In the Small Blocks, Brian Sandstedt started from pole and led early on.  Trouble started on lap 4 when Lorne Browe was hit from behind and spun, collecting Chris Curtis.  On the restart, a crash broke out in turns 1 and 2 involving Curtis, Peter Carlotto, Jeff Watson, Kyle Sheldon and Mark Pullen.  With a number of cars stuck together, the red flag was thrown in order to expedite cleanup and conserve fuel in the race cars.

On the restart, Joey Coppola took the lead away from Sandstedt, but that lead was short-lived.  A lap later, Carlotto and Michael Sabia crashed in turn 2 to bring out another yellow.  Contact in the early part of the race forced Coppola to make an unscheduled pit stop for a tire change and drop to the rear.

At the same time Coppola stopped, Sandstedt had his own problems and went to the attention of his crew inside of the backstretch.  That gave the lead to Bachetti, who had started 11th and quickly made his way forward.

Despite having to drop to the rear due to his pit stop, Coppola was able to use the cautions to help him get back up front.  By lap 12, he was back up to third.  He eventually snatched second.

On the final restart, Bachetti was able to pull out to a lead and held on to take the win.  Coppola was second, then Haas, Sheldon and Browe.

In Sportsman, Karl Barnes started from the pole and led until a caution for debris flew at the end of the first lap.  On the restart, Sabia, who started sixth, was able to take the lead away and drive off into the darkness.

Further back, Tim Hartman Jr. started 10th and quickly made his way forward.  By lap 7, he was up to third.  Two laps later, he was second.  Problem was, he was more than three seconds behind Sabia.

Over the next several laps, Hartman was able to cut a couple of tenths of a second off of the lead.  However, it wouldn’t have been enough. A spin for Owen Lewis in turn 4 to bring out the caution set up a one-lap shootout.

Here, Hartman dove to the inside for the lead in turn 1.  Sabia crossed him over.  Hartman tried again in turn 3 and made it stick.  Sabia tried to come back on the run to the checkered flag, but Hartman was able to hold on for his 11th straight Sportsman victory and ninth of the year.

Sabia was second, while Barnes was third.  Brady Cordova and Nick Giardini rounded out the top-five.

Pro Stock saw Rick Duzlak start from the pole and lead early.  Shawn Perez gave chase, but Chris Stalker was moving up quickly.

Following a caution for a Shawn Perez Jr. spin, Stalker got himself up to second.  A lap later, Stalker challenged Duzlak for the lead.  Stalker got the advantage, but Duzlak broke at the same time in turn 4.

Zach Sorrentino moved towards the front in the second half of the race, aided by additional cautions.  He was able to run down Stalker in the closing laps for the lead.

On the final lap, Sorrentino made what he called a “Hail Mary” move for the lead inside of Stalker.  No contact was made, but Stalker ended up spinning out to bring out a yellow.

Sorrentino held on in a one-lap shootout to take his fourth win of the year.  Nick Hilt was second, then Shawn Perez, Chad Jeseo and Tom Dean.

In the Super Street Stocks, Dave Streibel Jr. took the lead from Jeff Meltz Sr. on lap 15, then held on for his fourth win of the year.  Jon Shepard won the 4-Cylinder feature, while Henry Morris won in Single-Cam.

Benjamin Moore Paints/All Green Hydroseed Commander $8000 to Win Birthday Event Results (33 laps): 1) Brett Haas, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) John Virgilio, 4) Kolby Schroder, 5) Kyle Sheldon, 6) Keith Flach, 7) L.J. Lombardo, 8) Eddie Marshall, 9) Neil Stratton, 10) J.R. Heffner, 11) Olden Dwyer, 12) Chris Curtis, 13) Bob Hentschel, 14) Timothy Davis, 15) Montgomery Tremont, 16) Ryan Charland, 17) Matt Pupello, 18) Mike King, 19) Kyle Armstrong, 20) Josh Marcus, 21) David Schilling, 22) Ryan Darcy, 23) Rob Maxon, 24) Brandon Lane, 25) Marc Johnson

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Joey Coppola, 3) Brett Haas, 4) Kyle Sheldon, 5) Lorne Browe, 6) Donny Travaglin, 7) Brian Sandstedt, 8) Jason Herrington, 9) Kim LaVoy, 10) David Schilling, 11) Ryan Heath, 12) Alan Houghtaling, 13) Jeff Watson, 14) Mark Pullen, 15) Ryan Larkin, 16) Chris Curtis, 17) Ray Hall Jr., 18) Michael Sabia, 19) L.J. Lombardo, 20) Peter Carlotto

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Michael Sabia, 3) Karl Barnes, 4) Brady Cordova, 5) Nick Giardini, 6) Keith Johannessen, 7) Ray Hall Jr., 8) Cody Bleau, 9) Alex Bell, 10) Mike Arnold, 11) Anthony Maxon, 12) Justin Gozzi, 13) Owen Lewis, 14) Joseph Mennite, 15) Brandon Lemaire, 16) Harold Robitaille, 17) Garrett Biagiarelli, 18) Peter Lorenzo, 19) Bob Fachini (DNS)

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Zach Sorrentino, 2) Nick Hilt, 3) Shawn Perez, 4) Chad Jeseo, 5) Tom Dean, 6) Dave Stickles, 7) Shawn Perez Jr., 8) Chris Stalker, 9) Tom O’Connor, 10) Ryan Crellin, 11) Rocco Procopio, 12) Dave Kokindo, 13) Brian Keough, 14) Rick Duzlak, 15) Mike Dianda, 16) Danny Burl

Super Street Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Streibel Jr., 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Dave Streibel, 4) Ray Hall Sr., 5) Lou Gancarz, 6) Franklin Smith, 7) Peter Huntoon, 8) Doug Sterling, 9) Kyle Burl, 10) Keri VanDenburg, 11) Jim Dellea (DNS)

4-Cylinder Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Jon Shepard, 2) Jason Peck, 3) Gary Malloy, 4) Henry Morris, 5) Stephen Burka, 6) Dylan MacLeod, 7) Chris Danylieko

4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (10 laps): 1) Jon Shepard, 2) Jason Peck, 3) Gary Malloy, 4) Chris Danylieko

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