Sunday, June 2, 2013

Andy Bachetti Takes Two in a Row to the Bank


Dirt Track Chassis and SuspensionHP1511: Advanced Setup and Design Technology for Dirt Track Racing

West Lebanon, NY: The hot, sultry weather brought out the hot racing action at the legendary High Banks at Lebanon Valley Speedway. On KeyBank and Doherty Brothers Construction night, Andy Bachetti hammered home a victory in Big Block Modifieds. While Steve Meilleur got his first win the new Small Block class; veteran Alan Houghtaling captured and extra cool $1,000 for his win in Budget Sportsman.


The heat of the night brought everyone out to pack the stands at the Valley of Speed. And the marquee feature was hitting the ½ dirt oval right on time. 30 laps were on the ‘104.9 The Cat’ Lap Counter, and Paul Gilardi and Denny Soltis were at the point, bringing the field to green.


But before the first lap was on the board, a jingle in turn 3 involving Soltis and several other cars brought out the caution and reset the field back to the original start. Involved in the melee was Gilardi, Brett Hearn, Donnie Corellis, Kenny Tremont Jr, Mike King, Matt Pupello and Wayne Jelley. All were able to continue, some from the rear of the field.


Back up front, the green flew again, but this time it was Rob Pitcher taking control of the field. Caution flew again on lap 1, this time for another multicar incident. The field was reset, but just before the green another jingle shuffled the field back in the pack. On the green everything sorted out except for Hearn, who suffered a flat right rear causing another multi-car melee on the backstretch involving John Ruchel, Jelley, Gilardi and Pupello.


Pitcher was out front again at the green, but the man on the move, once the racing got under way, was Andy Bachetti. The #34B charged its way into 2nd by lap 5, then into the lead by lap 11. The caution flew a few more times, slowing only the inevitable, as Bachetti goes back to back for the win.


Follow Bachetti across the line was Pitcher, Kyle Sheldon, Kolby Schroder and Hearn to round out the top 5.


The new Small Block Modified class is really starting to take a hold and the competition is really hot and heavy. At the start, Sean Mandell took control of the 24 lap affair, but Steve Meilleur was a man on a mission, and took control of the top spot by lap 8, and the win shortly thereafter.


A couple of cautions slowed the field briefly, by Meilleur had ‘em covered, taking his first win in the new class. Brian Sandstedt finished 2nd, followed by Jason Herrington, Wayne Jelley and Steve Hough.


There was plenty of racing action in the growing Budget Sportsman 20 lap $1,000 to win affair. 32 cars took to the high banks with Milo Campbell and Greg Catlin out in front of the field at the green.


The yellow flag flew only once on lap 3, then it was right back to green. But by lap 4, Alan Houghtaling charged out into the lead, and he checked out on the field. Plenty of racing back in the field, but they all were clearly racing for 2nd place.


At the checkers, Houghtaling took the checkers, and an extra $1,000 for his troubles. Whitey Slavin crossed the line 2nd followed by Tommy Johnson, Matt Pappa and Rob Maxon.


And if that weren’t enough racing action, the full fendered classes took to the Valley of Speed as well. In the Pro Stock 20 Lap feature, Tom Harkins was out front early, but caution flew on lap 2 for a serious incident on the backstretch involving several cars, including Danny Sanchez, Paul LaRochelle, Jay Corbin and others.


LaRochelle and Corbin were both attended to by the EMS team for their injuries, and were both done for the night. Everyone else involved did continue. After a brief red flag to clean up the track, Green was back out again with Harkins still in command.


Chuck Towslee powered his way into the lead on lap 7, but by lap 8, Jason Casey powered by him. Towslee took it back after a restart on lap 9, but Casey had the faster car on long run, and took it back for good by lap 11.


At the checkers, it was Casey, Towslee, Sanchez, Victory Hopkins, and Frank Twing to round out the top 5 finishers.


In the earlier events, Purestock #1 was captured by Larry Perez, Purestock was won by Gary O’Brian, and Purestock #3 was won by Ed Hatch.


Next Saturday Night, Whiteman Osterman and Hanna LLP present the 0st Annual $3,000 to Win ‘J.C. Flach Modified Memorial’, along with 4 Cylinders and all other weekly divisions. Then on June 15th it’s the Genderon’s Truck Center and Sysco Foods presenting the ESS Super Sprints, and the DMC Racing Products 8th Annual ‘Bubba Tanner 23 Lap Classic’ for the Pro Stocks!


More Races, More Fun, …… More Lebanon Valley!



KeyBank and Doherty Brothers Construction Big Block Modified Feature (30Laps): 1)Andy Bachetti, 2)Rob Pitcher, 3)Kyle Sheldon, 4)Kolby Schroder, 5)Brett Hearn, 6)Mark Flach Jr, 7)Donnie Corellis, 8)J.R. Heffner, 9)Eddie Marshall, 10)Keith Flach, 11)Kyle Armstrong, 12)Brian Berger, 13)Steve Hough, 14)Jack Brown, 15)Bobby Hackel, 16)Jimmy Burns, 17)Matt Pupello, 18)Kim LaVoy, 19)Mike King, 20)Denny Soltis, 21)Nick Hotaling, 22)Kenny Tremont Jr, 23)Kyle Hoffman, 24)Jason Harrington (SB), 25)Paul Gilardi, 26)Wayne Jelley, 27)John Ruchel


Small Block Modified Feature (24 Laps): 1)Steve Meilleur, 2)Brian Sandstedt, 3)Jason Herrington, 4)Wayne Jelley, 5)Steve Hough, 6)Chad Jeso, 7)Brett Haas, 8)Chad Pierce, 9)Ryan Darcy, 10)Angelo DeCarlo, 11)Jason, Thompkins, 12)Kenny Aanonsen JR, 13)Alan Houghtaling, 14)Matt Quinn, 15)Tyler Dippel, 16)Sean Mandell, 17)Andy Bachetti, 18)Olden Dwyer, DNS)Kim LaVoy, DNS)Ken Morse


All Season’s Power $1,000 Budget Sportsman (20 Laps): 1)Alan Houghtaling, 2)Whitey Slavin, 3)Tommy Johnson, 4)Matt Pappa, 5)Rob Maxon, 6)Tyler Dippel, 7)John Virgilio, 8)Ray Hall Jr., 9)Brian Peterson, 10)Chris Lynch, 11)Jake Jelley, 12)Milo Campbell, 13)Scott Duso, 14)Peter Carlotto, 15)Frank Hoard, 16)Rob Knipe, 18)Robbie Speed, 19)Michael Sabia, 20)Colin Clow, 21)Josh Gaylord, 22)Joey Scarborough, 23)Brandon Pitcher, 24)Ricky Davis, 25)Cody Ochs, 26)Brandon Page, 27)Zeb Catlin, 28)Keith Johannessen, 29)Alissa Cody, 30)Randall Sousie, 31)Greg DeCamp, 32)Mike Verhagen, DNS)Timothy Davis 2nd, DNS)Jake Scarborough


Pro Stock Feature (20 Laps): 1)Jason Casey, 2)Chuck Towslee, 3)Danny Sanchez, 4)Victor Hopkins, 5)Frank Twing, 6)Jay Casey, 7)Nick Hilt, 8)Tom Harkins, 9)Brian Keough, 10)Milo Campbell, 11)Jason Meltz, 12)Steven Kahler JR, 13)Robbie Speed, 14)Rick Duzlak, 15)Rick Dempsey, 16)Paul LaRochelle, 17)Jay Corbin, 18)Tom O'Connor


Purestock #1 (8 Laps): 1)Larry Perez, 2)Jeff Meltz, 3)Clifford Booth, 4)Ron Johnson, 5)Jay Casey, 6)Dave Fachini, 7)Brian Walsh, 8)Bob Palmer JR, 9)Hunter Sanchez, 10)Raymond Mandel, 11)Kristin Stickles, 12)Joe Walcott, 13)Lou Ganczar, 14)Matt Cross, 15)Scott Morris, 16)Mike Sanchez, 17)Wuggie Burdick


Purestock #2 (8 Laps): 1)Gary O'Brien, 2)Mike Eichstedt, 3)Jim Groncki, 4)Richard Puff, 5)Dave Stickles, 6)Shawn Lancey, 7)Joe Cheneil, 8)Gary Vandenburg, 9)Bob Brown, 10)Harold Robitaille, 11)Chris Pierce, 12)Cody Mead, DNS)Tom Murphy, DNS)Dennis O'Connor JR


Purestock # 3 (12 Laps): 1)Ed Hatch, 2)John Devine, 3)Ray Hall Sr, 4)John Felarecki, 5)James Hatch, 6)Steven LaRochelle, 7)Jeff Meltz Sr., 8)Al Relyea, 9)Daniel Sanchez, 10)Pete Wiegand, 11)Doug Olds, 12)Dan Cote, 13)Lloyd Tomlin, 14)Shawn Perez, DNS)Jeremy Closson

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