L.J. Lombardo Snatches Kathy Plotz Memorial Victory; Champions Crowned

On the final night of racing at Lebanon Valley Speedway for 2022, L.J. Lombardo took advantage of an almighty boost from Jason Herrington (boost seen above) on the final restart to get around Ryan Charland for the lead. From there, Lombardo held on for his second win of the year.

“I got a really good jump. I was even down the frontstretch [with Charland] and Jason [Herrington] gave me a really good push,” Lombardo said afterwards. “Jason helped me win that race.”

Charland started from the pole and opened a small gap on Ray Hall Jr. However, Jeff Gallup spun in turn 3 and created a chain reaction that damaged a number of cars. Reached after the race to describe what happened, Andy Bachetti simply replied, “There’s a full moon.”

Everyone was able to continue after the stackup, but there were drivers with handling issues afterwards. On the restart, there was more chaos as Gallup and Ryan Larkin collided in turn 1 to bring out another yellow. In addition, Lorne Browe and tapped the wall on the backstretch.

After the early yellows, things settled down. Charland and Hall were able to pull away from the pack. Meanwhile, Bachetti, Lombardo and Herrington all had to make gains from outside of the top 10.

Charland was never able to breathe very much during the race as Hall was right behind him. Meanwhile, Lombardo was able to move up to fourth early on. He was able to take third from Kim LaVoy with seven laps to go and set off to catch the leaders.

Lapped traffic held up the leaders and allowed Lombardo, Herrington and Bachetti to make it a five-way battle for the lead. On lap 22, Hall tried to go to the inside of Charland for the lead in turn 1. However, Larkin was there and Hall ran in the back of him, resulting in bumper bar damage. Lombardo was able to sweep past into second.

Shortly afterwards, Brady Cordova, who was making his Small Block debut, crashed in turn 3 to bring out the caution. On the restart, Lombardo got his push from Herrington, which nearly put him in the wall and changed his plan. Regardless, he was able to make the pass and take the win.

Lombardo won by .529 seconds over Charland. Herrington was third, then Bachetti and Hall. Bachetti had already clinched the Small Block title two weeks earlier.

In Sportsman, Bob Fachini started from the pole and led early over Frank Lorenzo. This ended up being an expensive feature with a lot of carnage.

Following an early spin for Brady Cordova, trouble broke out on the restart. Chris Lynch spun on the restart and collected Nick Giardini. Meanwhile, points leader Tim Hartman Jr. was hit by Rob Maxon, who went into the wall. The contact put Maxon out, while Hartman was forced to pit due to much of his right-side bodywork being peeled away. He would continue.

A lap after this restart, Cody Cordova crashed in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. Before everyone could get slowed down, Fachini had contact on the backstretch with Kevin Ward, spinning Ward into the outside wall. Ward climbed onto the wall and rolled over. He would be ok, but very upset afterwards.

Fachini was sent to the rear for the contact, giving the lead to Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s biggest threat at first was Lynch, but Lynch slowed with a mechanical issue. That allowed Hartman to move up to second with his wounded car.

Despite the damage, Hartman was quicker than Lorenzo, but could not prevent Lorenzo from taking his first career win. Giardini was third, then Brady Cordova and Shane Powell. With Whitey Slavin failing to race, Hartman ended up claiming the Sportsman title.

In Street Stock, Dave Streibel Jr. took the lead from pole sitter Lou Gancarz on lap 6. From there, he was able to hold off champion Chris Stalker to win the Go or Go Home 20-lapper for his fifth win of the year. Stalker was second, then Rob Partridge, Jeff Meltz Sr. and Gary O’Brien.

In 4-Cylinders, Gary Malloy took the Dual-Cam victory and the championship. Bradley Batho did likewise in Single-Cam.

In the Limited Sportsman feature, Anthony Maxon took the lead on the opening lap from pole sitter Justin Lilly. Once out front, Anthony was able to pull away from the pack.

Cody Cordova hit the wall on lap 3 and came to a halt in turn 1 to bring out the race’s sole caution. When the green came back out, Anthony picked right up where he left off, driving off into the distance to earn his first career win.

Anthony Maxon ended up 1.995 seconds ahead of Karl Barnes at the finish. Cody Cordova recovered for third, then Kevin Ames and Lilly. Ames officially claimed the Limited Sportsman title.

Small Block Modified Kathy Plotz Memorial Results (24 laps): 1) L.J. Lombardo, 2) Ryan Charland, 3) Jason Herrington, 4) Andy Bachetti, 5) Ray Hall Jr., 6) Peter Carlotto, 7) Jeff Watson, 8) Lorne Browe, 9) Brian Peterson, 10) Kim LaVoy, 11) Montgomery Tremont, 12) Frank Harper, 13) Kevin Petrucci, 14) Jeff Gallup, 15) Brian Sandstedt, 16) Ryan Larkin, 17) Brady Cordova, 18) Mark Pullen, 19) Alan Houghtaling, 20) Joey Coppola

Sportsman Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Peter Lorenzo, 2) Tim Hartman Jr., 3) Nick Giardini, 4) Brady Cordova, 5) Shane Powell, 6) Rick Wegner, 7) Karl Barnes, 8) John Miller, 9) Angelo DiCarlo, 10) Chris Lynch, 11) Colin Clow, 12) Ryan Heath, 13) Rob Maxon, 14) Kevin Ward, 15) Bob Fachini, 16) Anthony Maxon, 17) Cody Cordova, 18) Kevin Ames, 19) Justin Lilly, 20) Frank Twing Jr., 21) Matt Jordan

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (12 laps): 1) Anthony Maxon, 2) Karl Barnes, 3) Cody Cordova, 4) Kevin Ames, 5) Justin Lilly, 6) Frank Twing Jr., 7) Matt Jordan

Street Stock Go or Go Home 20-Lapper Results (20 laps): 1) Dave Streibel Jr., 2) Chris Stalker, 3) Rob Partridge, 4) Jeff Meltz Sr., 5) Gary O’Brien, 6) Brian Walsh, 7) Katarina Foster, 8) Scott Morris, 9) Ryan Brown, 10) Franklin Smith, 11) Daniel Coonradt, 12) Lou Gancarz, 13) Dylan Fachini, 14) Dominic Hilt, 15) Mike Dianda, 16) Keri VanDenburg, 17) Rocco Procopio, 18) Clem Toffolo

4-Cylinder Dual-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Gary Malloy, 2) Steve Burbank, 3) Chris Danylieko, 4) Mike Duncan, 5) Jon Shepard, 6) Doug Howe

4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Bradley Batho, 2) Joey Batho, 3) Joe Wolfe, 4) Victor Duncan Sr.