Brett Haas Scores Victory with 3-Wide Pass on Final Lap

Brett Haas entered the final lap of the Modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway in third-place.  By the middle of the backstretch, he was in the lead after going three-wide in turn 2.  He was able to hold on from there to claim his first win of 2024.

“Lapped traffic really helped us…close up on them,” Haas said after the race.  “John [Virgilio] and Kolby [Schroder] were side-by-side and got hung up in the black, so I got a good run on them.  They ended up stuck on the outside [in turn 2] and I got a phenomenal run off.”

Haas won by .524 seconds over Kolby Schroder.  John Virgilio was third, then Andy Bachetti and Marc Johnson.

Rob Maxon started from pole in his OD Auto-sponsored No. 96 in a feature that had some trouble getting started.  First, Wayne Jelley spun and backed into the wall in turn 3 to bring out a yellow.  Lorne Browe was also involved.  The restart saw Jason Herrington, Ryan Larkin and Fred Pravia spin in turn 1.

On the third attempt to start the race, Virgilio quickly drove to the front from the fifth starting spot.  It took only three laps for him to get the lead.  Haas was right up there as well, but didn’t seem to have the pace of Virgilio.

The scariest incident of the night occurred on lap 10 when Brandon Lane and Kyle Sheldon collided and went into the wall in turn 3.  Paul Gilardi spun to avoid and was broadsided by Mike King.  The contact sent King into a series of rolls that brought out the red flag.  Everyone was ok after the scary incident.

Right after the restart, Schroder took second away from Haas and put the pressure on Virgilio.  The two drivers raced hard and put a little distance on Haas.  However, it was lapped traffic that brought Haas back in the hunt.

With a couple of laps to go, the leaders caught Timothy Davis and had a lot of trouble getting past.  Haas went to the inside on the final lap entering turn 1 to get past Davis.  At the same time, Schroder went to the inside of Virgilio for the lead.

Haas got a run and went three-wide on the inside for the lead.  Virgilio ultimately had to back off the throttle, allowing Haas to clear them both and go for the win.

In Sportsman, Ryan Giardini started from pole and ran well early on.  However, a spin for Mike Engwer on lap 2 created a chain reaction that eliminated a number of drivers.

Only a few drivers were left unscathed after the wreck.  Once the green came back out, Whitey Slavin was able to move up to second and had a much faster car than Giardini.  He would have caught Giardini on merit, but an incident involving Gary O’Brien and Frank Frasco brought out a yellow with five laps to go.

Slavin was able to take the lead away from Giardini with three laps to go and held off Tim Hartman Jr. for the win on track.  However, Slavin’s car failed post-race inspection and was disqualified, giving Hartman his second straight win.  Giardini was second, then Alan Houghtaling, Karl Barnes and Justin Gozzi.

In Pro Stock, Tom Dean started from pole and led early.  Zach Sorrentino, who won opening night, had a strong car and attempted to move in on the leaders.  However, he spun underneath Chad Jeseo to bring out a yellow on lap 4.  He would ultimately finish 11th.

The entire second half of the race saw Jeseo work on Dean for the lead.  He had the outside line on Dean at one point, but Dean was able to hold him off.  Despite a last-lap move in turns 1 and 2, Dean was able to hold on to take the win over Jeseo, Dave Stickles, Nick Hilt and Rick Duzlak.

The Limited Sportsman feature saw Fred Pravia lead from the pole and run well early on.  Scott Zehnacker, driving a different chassis after crashing in warmups opening night, was able to run him down and take the lead on lap 8.

Pravia ended up hitting the wall on lap 10 to bring out the race’s only caution.  The field bunched back up, but no one could prevent Zehnacker from taking victory.  Harold Robitaille was second, then John Santolin, Brian Walsh and Jasen Brewer.

In Super Street Stock, Jeff Meltz Sr. slipped past Chris Stalker and a spinning Dave Streibel Jr. on lap 11, then held on to take his second straight win.  Jon Shepard won the 4-Cylinder feature in the Dual-Cam class and overall.  Dylan MacLeod won Single-Cam.

OD Auto Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Haas, 2) Kolby Schroder, 3). John Virgilio, 4) Andy Bachetti, 5) Marc Johnson, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Olden Dwyer, 8) Kyle Armstrong, 9) Keith Flach, 10) Ryan Darcy, 11) Brian Berger, 12) J.R. Heffner, 13) Matt Pupello, 14) Wayne Jelley, 15) Timothy Davis, 16) Rob Maxon, 17) Dan Humes, 18) Montgomery Tremont, 19), Kenny Aanonsen Jr., 20) Kyle Sheldon, 21) Brandon Lane, 22) Mike King, 23) Paul Gilardi, 24) Ryan Larkin, 25) L.J. Lombardo, 26) Jason Herrington, 27) Jeff Watson, 28) Anthony DiCarlo, 29) Joe Pravia, 30) Donny Travaglin, 31) Alan Houghtaling, 32) Ryan Heath, 33) Peter Carlotto, 34) Lorne Browe

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Nick Giardini, 3) Alan Houghtaling, 4) Karl Barnes, 5) Justin Gozzi, 6) Brady Cordova, 7) Frank Frasco, 8) Ricky Davis, 9) Keith Johannessen, 10) Gary O’Brien, 11) Michael Sabia, 12) Mike Engwer, 13) Kevin Ward, 14) Mike Arnold, 15) Chris Kokosa, 16) Anthony Maxon, 17) Whitey Slavin

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Scott Zehnacker, 2) Harold Robitaille, 3) John Santolin, 4) Brian Walsh, 5) Jasen Brewer, 6) Braxton Martin, 7) Dylan Holmes, 8) Ray Royals, 9) Owen Lewis, 10) Kent Clark, 11) Fred Pravia, 12) Jason Manchester, 13) Mike Bosco, 14) Garrett Biagiarelli, 15) Frank Twing Jr.

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tom Dean, 2) Chad Jeseo, 3) Dave Stickles, 4) Nick Hilt, 5) Rick Duzlak, 6) Chris Stalker, 7) Jonathan Levesque, 8) Paul LaRochelle, 9) Rocco Procopio, 10) Shawn Perez, 11) Zach Sorrentino, 12) Tom O’Connor, 13) Brian Keough, 14) Chris Dyer.  DNS: Mike Dianda

Super Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz Sr., 2) Chris Stalker, 3) Dave Streibel Jr., 4) Dave Streibel, 5) Keri VanDenburg, 6) Doug Sterling, 7) Evan Denue, 8) Franklin Smith, 9) Paul Vallee, 10) Lou Gancarz

4-Cylinder Feature Overall Results (12 laps): 1) Jon Shepard, 2) Jason Peck, 3) David Frame, 4) Dylan MacLeod, 5) Anthony Tarantino, 6) Stephen Burka, 7) Lilliana Loiselle