Kenny Tremont Jr. Claims 142nd Lebanon Valley Big Block Win

Kenny Tremont Jr. recently announced his retirement from racing, which will commence at the end of the season. On Saturday night, Tremont took the lead on the first lap and led all 30 circuits to take his record-extending 142nd career Modified victory at Lebanon Valley.

Tremont won by 1.582 seconds over Brian Berger. Marc Johnson was third, then Ryan Charland and Olden Dwyer.

“I don’t think I could have asked for anything better,” Tremont said after the race. “It’s been a tough year, to be honest, but everything fell into place. The car ran really, really well. I don’t think I would have done anything different.”

Charland started from the pole, but trouble did not take long to break out. J.R. Heffner was hit by Brandon Lane in turn 2 on the opening lap and went hard into the wall, rolling over multiple times and landing on Kyle Sheldon. Both drivers were ok, but done for the night.

On the restart, Tremont was able to outdrag Charland to turn 1 and take the lead. Once out front, Tremont drove away from the rest of the pack. Meanwhile, Charland fell into a battle for second with Timothy Davis and Dwyer.

Tremont got his advantage up to over five seconds when Davis’ No. 7t suddenly slowed exiting turn 4. The issue nearly caused a pileup on the frontstretch, but everyone managed to avoid Davis. It did bring out the yellow and ended Davis’ night.

On the restart, a big scramble resulted in Berger moving up to second with Johnson giving chase. Further back, Andy Bachetti clinched the Modified title by showing up Saturday night, but he struggled to move up from his 12th starting spot. He would eventually finish eighth.

A late caution for Mike King having mechanical issues bunched up the pack for a six-lap sprint to the finish. Here, Tremont inched away again and took the checkered flag in front of a raucous crowd.

Ryan Heath started from the pole in the Small Block Modified feature, but quickly lost the advantage to Jeff Reis. Reis, in his strongest run to date in the class, proceeded to pull out a decent gap on the pack.

Joey Coppola started in the eighth position and slowly but surely made his way forward. The Poughkeepsie native would pick off drivers one at a time while using the pace that won his heat and the Cordova Heating & Plumbing Dash earlier in the evening to set quick times.

Coppola was up to third on lap 15 when Lorne Browe’s car suddenly burst into flames exiting turn 4. Browe was able to stop the car and exit under his own power, but the yellow was out.

On the restart, Reis’ car appeared to fail to come up to speed. This sparked a multi-car crash in turn 2 involving Jeff Watson, Ryan Larkin and others. Despite an excellent run, this was the end of the night for Reis.

Reis’ retirement put Coppola in the lead. Once the race got back underway, Coppola was able to hold on to win by .885 seconds over Jason Herrington. Kim LaVoy was third, then Charland and L.J. Lombardo.

In Sportsman, Chris Lynch started from the pole and ran well early on. Rob Maxon was giving chase early on before Kevin Ward was able to get by.

Lynch was never threatened until his car shut off on the frontstretch on lap 12. That drew a caution and gave the lead to Ward.

The final laps saw Ward and Tim Hartman Jr. fight it out. Hartman was briefly able to get by on lap 18, but Ward got him back immediately and held on for the win. Rob Maxon was third, then Whitey Slavin and Matt Burke. In Limited Sportsman, Anthony Maxon took his fourth win of the year.

The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series made their annual visit to Lebanon Valley Saturday night for the Ol’ Buzzard 30, a 30-lap race in memory of Jimmy Langenback. By virtue of a redraw, Nick Hilt Jr. started from the pole.

However, Devon Camenga got a little impatient on the initial start and jumped it. That resulted in confusion that led to a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch. No one was eliminated here, but there was damaged bodywork.

Additional issues for Tom Dean and Phil Defiglio on the backstretch, along with Jaxson Ryan losing his hood marked the early portions of the race. Once the laps started clicking off, Hilt had to do battle with Frank Twing. The veteran racer was right on Hilt’s tail but couldn’t do much with Hilt.

Followed a crash for Dave Stickles, Chad Jeseo drove up into the hunt. He took second from Twing on lap 19 and attempted to challenge for the win. Every time he got in position, a yellow stopped his charge.

In the final couple of laps, Jeseo was able to get alongside Hilt for the lead, but Hilt was able to hold on to lead all 30 laps to win. Jeseo was second, then Twing, Zach Sorrentino and Pete Stefanski.

In Street Stock, Jeff Meltz Sr. took the win after a huge crash on the final lap involving Dave Streibel Jr. and Chris Stalker.

SHR Speed & Supply/Driveshafts by DMC Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont Jr., 2) Brian Berger, 3) Marc Johnson, 4) Ryan Charland, 5) Olden Dwyer, 6) Kyle Armstrong, 7) L.J. Lombardo, 8) Andy Bachetti, 9) Eddie Marshall, 10) Brett Haas, 11) Kolby Schroder, 12) John Virgilio, 13) Wayne Jelley, 14) Matt Pupello, 15) Keith Flach, 16) Ryan Darcy, 17) Brandon Lane, 18) Mike King, 19) Timothy Davis, 20) J.R. Heffner, 21) Kyle Sheldon, 22) Dave McFeeters, 23) Kenny Aanonsen Jr.

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Joey Coppola, 2) Jason Herrington, 3) Kim LaVoy, 4) Ryan Charland, 5) L.J. Lombardo, 6) Ray Hall Jr., 7) Chris Curtis, 8) Donny Travaglin, 9) Ryan Heath, 10) Ryan Larkin, 11) Montgomery Tremont, 12) Andy Bachetti, 13) Brian Peterson, 14) Mark Pullen, 15) Kevin Petrucci, 16) Jeff Watson, 17) Jeff Reis, 18) Lorne Browe, 19) Brian Sandstedt, 20) Olden Dwyer

Small Block Modified Cordova Heating & Plumbing Dash (4 laps): 1) Joey Coppola, 2) Jason Herrington, 3) Lorne Browe, 4) Kevin Petrucci, 5) Ray Hall Jr., 6) Ryan Heath

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Kevin Ward, 2) Tim Hartman Jr., 3) Rob Maxon, 4) Whitey Slavin, 5) Matt Burke, 6) Gary O’Brien, 7) Nick Giardini, 8) Brady Cordova, 9) Karl Barnes, 10) Gerard Leclair*, 11) Kevin Ames, 12) Harold Robitaille#, 13) Scott Zehnacker#, 14) John Miller, 15) Chris Lynch, 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Cody Cordova, 18) Dan Ferguson

*- Gerard Leclair intended on racing his No. 71 Saturday night, but was unable to make it due to work issues. Mike Arnold raced in his place as a substitute. As a result, Leclair gets credit for the finish.

#- Harold Robitaille and Scott Zehnacker competed in the feature for money only. Their finishing positions are not factored into the points.

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Anthony Maxon, 2) Scott Zehnacker, 3) Mike Arnold, 4) Harold Robitaille, 5) Craig Coons, 6) Owen Lewis, 7) Mike Engwer, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Bella Pickard, 10) Kent Clark

DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Ol’ Buzzard 30 Results (30 laps): 1) Nick Hilt Jr., 2) Chad Jeseo, 3) Frank Twing, 4) Zach Sorrentino, 5) Pete Stefanski, 6) Devon Camenga, 7) Luke Horning, 8) Slater Baker, 9) Fred Lee, 10) Shawn Perez Jr., 11) Dave Stickles, 12) Shane Playford, 13) Johnny Rivers, 14) Tom O’Connor, 15) Phil Defiglio, 16) Tom Dean, 17) Ken Griffin, 18) Dave Kokindo, 19) Shawn Perez, 20) Paul LaRochelle, 21) Brian Keough, 22) Jaxson Ryan, 23) Jay Fitzgerald, 24) Mike Dianda

Street Stock Feature Results (12 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz Sr., 2) Lou Gancarz, 3) Keri VanDenburg, 4) Scott Kilmer, 5) Dave Streibel Jr., 6) Chris Stalker, 7) Franklin Smith, 8) Don Kennedy