Denny Soltis Wins First Feature Since 2002 In A Night For Records At Lebanon Valley

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – It couldn’t have been scripted any better. A veteran, acting as the rabbit, starting on the pole with a wild pack of hungry racers chasing him. That’s what we had on Saturday at Lebanon Valley with Denny Soltis leading the field from the prime starting spot.

Only one problem for the hunters…Soltis had a rocket for a racecar underneath him, and there were absolutely no yellow flags during the 30-lap Modified feature.

By the time the double checkered flags from starter Rodney Rescott flew, the unlettered and upstriped red #1x had built a full straightaway lead over second place finisher John Ruchel. With the win, the Torrington, CT racer made history as the oldest Modified winner ever on the high banks.

“This has been a long time coming with a lot of hard work,” Soltis said. “This is fantastic. We didn’t quit. My son, my grandson, my girlfriend, the guys that help me out. We finally got here. Hope we can get a few more.”

The win was so popular among his peers and fans alike that several drivers came over to congratulate him in victory lane. The likes of Paul Gilardi, Mike King and Rob Pitcher were just a few of the well-wishers who were excited to see the veteran get his first victory since the Modified companion event to the World of Outlaws Sprint cars in May of 2002 .

“Howard (Commander) said when I win one he’s kicking me out,” he said with a laugh. “He won’t let me come back, so I don’t know.”

The car, which ironically is the same chassis that Keith Flach ran last October at Oswego during Super DIRT Week, was perfect during the feature go but was far from a winning car up to that point.

“We were pretty bad in the heat race,” Soltis said. “We made a few changes and got it better for hot laps. We made a few more changes and we finally went the right way so yea, I’m pretty happy.”

At well over the 70 year mark in age, Soltis has made history as the oldest Big Block winner in speedway history. With his 15th career win dating back to 1975, the ageless veteran showed that age is just that…a number.

“Everything just went our way tonight,” he said. “I’m just God blessed to be able to do it at my age. I’m just so happy to be here every week and am so thankful that we are here.”

For runner-up man on the night, John Ruchel, a second place finish was just like a win.

“This is just as good to our team as sitting out in victory lane,” Ruchel said while leaning on his car after the race with several crew and friends around. “This is a great momentum builder heading into the off-season and finishing second to Denny, I’ll take it. I’m very, very happy to see him win.”

This season has been a struggle for Ruchel on the high banks with several poor finishes since beginning his season near the midway point. However, Saturday night was a big shot in the arm for the low-dollar race team.

“I’ve been starting to wonder if this was for us with all the troubles we’ve had recently,” he said. “It has really been tough to keep myself going and keep everything on the right track, but a finish like this is huge. This let’s me know we can do this and we have the equipment to get it done and I know I have the team. This is big for us.”

Finishing third on the evening was 15th place starter and newly-crowned 2017 Modified champion Brett Hearn. Hearn title was his twelfth at the Valley of Speed and amazingly his sixth-in-a-row (a new record).

“This is just fantastic news for everyone on our team (of the new record),” Hearn said. “We had a couple wins, a lot of top five finishes and just a real constant year.”

Hearn was quick to give credit to his support system for 2017 championship.

“Hats off to my crew, my ownership, my sponsors and everyone that helps us out,” he said. It’s been a fantastic year at the Valley for sure. Winning Thursday (Mr. DIRT Track USA) is a tough one to win because everyone’s here. We had a strong car that night and we’ve had a strong car all year really.”

Brett was also impressed by the guy who was sitting in victory lane.

“We were good tonight, but just didn’t get there,” he said. “Hats off to Denny, man. That’s awesome. Guess he’s still got a few years on me.”

Kyle Sheldon and Kyle Armstrong rounded out the top five.

In 358-Modified action, another green-to-checkers event as Brian Sandstedt led from the drop of the green and held off a late charge from Kim Lavoy to take his first career victory in the 358-Modified division on the high banks.

“I can’t explain how good this feels right now,” he said. “After last week with a smashed up car, this feels good.”

Brian’s last victory at the Valley came in the old Sportsman days, as he grabbed the checkered flag in June of 2012. Since then, he’s had some fast cars but has also had some struggles. On Saturday night, though, he put it all together.

“There’s plenty of nights when you don’t think you can do it,” he said. “But when opportunity knocks at the door, you can do it and we did.”

Even with leading from start to finish, Sandstedt wasn’t happy with his car. That was, however, until the checkers flew.

“I thought the car was absolutely no good,” he said. “I think it was all in my mind from hitting the wall last week, but obviously we had a good piece if we’re sitting in victory lane.”

Kim LaVoy crossed the line in second place Saturday and was pretty excited for a runner-up finish.

“I’m excited for my team,” she said. “These guys have worked hard all season. We had issues during the year so we only got to run a couple races and glad we got to end it with a strong finish.”

With only running a partial schedule in 2017, LaVoy has been trying to get the best finishes possible while enjoying her time at the track.

“We’ve been trying to have a good time when we can race and make the best of each night,” she said. “I’m really proud of my team. They worked hard and gave me a great car all night and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Jason Herrington finished third in the feature event with a severally injured knee. It was so bad that Jason could not get into the car without the team taking the roof off so he could slide through the top.

“I hurt it jumping off a tractor at work,” he said. “Taking the roof off was the only for me to get in and out. I misjudged getting out of the thing and am supposed to go see the doctor again on Tuesday.”

Even on a bum knee, Herrington had a solid race to keep him in the top five in track points with just one race to go.

“I’m not supposed to be on it, but we won’t tell anyone,” Herrington said with a big laugh. “My dad says he’s going to hit me with a bat in the other knee next week and maybe I can win…haha.”

Fourth and fifth were JR Heffner and Brett Haas. For Heffner, coupled with an eighth place finish by Kenny Tremont, puts him just two markers behind the #115 heading into the season finale which is a King of DIRT 358-Modified Series event next Saturday. Haas moved by Demetrios Drellos for third in points due to a DNF by the #111 driver.

In the Sportsman main event, Peter Carlotto got out to an early lead. However, the car to watch was the 53 of Whitey Slavin who made a power move on the bottom of turns three and four to grab the top spot from the 12c and went on to win his first of the season.

“Peter’s a good runner but we had a car that was good for the second half of the race,” Slavin said. “I can’t thank my boys and everyone on this Cedar Peaks team enough. It’s just an awesome time.”

Pete Carlotto was able to bring his car home in the number two spot followed by Kevin Ward, point leader Michael Sabia and former track champion John Virgilio.

Steven Larochelle took home his second career Pro Stock feature event victory Saturday after making a pass of Scott Govertsen just pass halfway in the 20-lap feature.

“Scott was real strong and led a lot of laps tonight,” Larochelle said. “All I wanted to do was to try and get by him without touching him, because that’s what it’s all about out here…respect.”

Once Larochelle got out in front, he checked out and was able to put some distance between himself and second place finisher Nick Hilt.

“I rode side-by-side with Scott, door-to-door, for a few laps and somehow managed to get by him on the inside,” he said. “I have to thank my whole crew. They put in a lot of time and dedication to this deal as well as my mom and dad. I’m sure I’m forgetting some but this is just great.”

Jason Meltz followed Hilt across the line for third, followed by 2017 Pro Stock Champion Rob Yetman and Jon Routhier. For Yetman it was a culmination of another successful year on the high banks.

“What a year,” Yetman said. “I was in the pits like six or eight times this year. The recoveries are what made this possible and that’s the guys on pit road. We did some stuff to the car this year that really worked well. Hats off to my guys. They are the ones who really dig for this.”

Brian Walsh, Jesse Murphy and Bill Deak Jr. took home the three Pure Stock feature events.

News & Notes…
If there is one driver who is glad to see the season come to an end, based on his luck over the last month, it may just be Paul Gilardi.

Since totaling his HigFab Chassis on July 29th, Gilardi has had one finish higher than 14th and that was a fourth place on August 19th. Before July 29th, Gilardi had run a streak of seven top 10 finishes in nine events.

On Saturday, during early night warm-ups, Gilardi felt something go array with his motor. Come to find out, the team found a bent pushrod. What actually happened was the adjuster on the rocker arm failed and that caused the bent pushrod.

So what did Gilardi do? He and his father left the track and raced down to the team’s shop which is five miles down the road in New Lebanon to get the necessary parts to fix it. They returned just in time to make repairs and get out for their heat race…and they qualified to boot.

In the feature, however, Paul was a retiree just passed the two thirds mark and the #87x was credited with a 19th place finish.

LJ Lombardo has had an eventful three days, to say the least. After finishing twelfth in Mr. DIRT Track USA on Thursday, LJ’s team, led by crew chief Robbie Albreada, worked the entire day Friday to get the car ready for the final night of points. When LJ went to set the valves, however, he noticed something that wasn’t good.

“I took the valve covers off to check the valves and three valve retainers were cracked,” he said. “Without having any extras, we thought we were watching from the stands tonight. Pat Morrison (the engine builder) felt horrible that we’d have to give up our points chase, so we scaled the hotrod and Dale (Morehouse) left for Fulton, NY (Morrison’s engine shop) Friday night with the hauler, getting there at 5am. Pat and his crew changed everything they had to change and we made it to the Valley.”

LJ brought the Paul Wehnau Snap-On #35 home in the 11th position but just missed the top 10 in points by seven markers. It was still a great season for the Connecticut team and driver as they collected their first victory on the Valley high banks on June 10th.

Kenny Tremont had an eventful night in 358-Modifed competition. The team had to roll out a back-up Small Block after determining there was some sort of issue with the primary car.

The team isn’t sure if it’s electrical, ignition, or engine but something has been plaguing the point leader for about a month. The back-up car is the same piece that Brian Berger drove to quick time for the team at the All Star Sprint night on July 30th.

Tremont started in the twelfth position but was only able to work his way up to eighth at the finish, narrowing the point gap between he and JR Heffner to just two.

Jeremy Wilder was a surprise entrant in the Small Block division Saturday night, driving his own #22J DKM Cyclone chassis. Wilder, who is following the entire King of Dirt 358-Modified Series this year, was using Saturday as a test for next weekend series race on the high banks.

Wilder was using the shock package off his regular ride for the series, the Romano #97 Teo, but it didn’t seem what he was looking for. He brought his ride home in twelfth but gained plenty of notes for next week.

Joe LaFlamme had two goals in the beginning of year…get a win and finish top 10 in points. While he didn’t win, he attained his point goal by putting his #60 in tenth place for the final 2017 division standings.

“I just wanted to keep my nose clean and have a good run tonight,” LaFlamme said. “I know what I had to do and who I was racing against, but this is great for us.”

Just how close was it? LaFlamme finished one spot behind Brian Keough on the track, and held on to tenth in points by just one. Now that is close.

Look for Pro Stock racers Rich Crane, Jon Routhier and Tommy Dean to all make their way to the Oswego Speedway for Super DIRT Week 2017. Crane and Routhier have raced the event before while this will be a first for Dean.

Saturday September 02 , 2017 – West Lebanon, NY – Snap-On Tools Presents – Modified Results (30 Laps) -1) Denny Soltis, 2) John Ruchel, 3) Brett Hearn, 4) Kyle Sheldon, 5) Kyle Armstrong, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Andy Bachetti, 8) J.R. Heffner, 9) Kenny Tremont Jr, 10) Elmo Reckner, 11) L.J Lombardo, 12) Kolby Schroder, 13) Wayne Jelley, 14) Brian Berger, 15) Mike Keeler, 16) Chad Jeseo, 17) Keith Flach, 18) Mike King, 19) Paul Gilardi, 20) Olden Dwyer,

Small Block Modified Results (24 Laps) -1) Brian Sandstedt, 2) Kim LaVoy, 3) Jason Herrington, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Brett Haas, 6) Timothy Davis, 7) Brandon Pitcher, 8) Ken Tremont Jr, 9) Ryan Charland, 10) Frank Hoard III, 11) Alan Houghtaling, 12) Jeremy Wilder, 13) Frank Harper, 14) Sean Mandel, 15) Chad Pierce, 16) Demetrios Drellos,

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) -1) Whitey Slavin, 2) Pete Carlotto, 3) Kevin Ward, 4) Michael Sabia, 5) John Virgilio, 6) Chris Curtis, 7) Chris Lynch, 8) Nikki Ouellette, 9) Frank Hoard Jr,10) Rob Maxon, 11) Aan Houghtaling, 12) Cody Ochs, 13) Harold Robitaille 14) Mike Gramolini,

Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) -1) Steven LaRochelle, 2) Nick Hilt, 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Rob Yetman, 5) Jon Routhier, 6) Ed Bishop, 7) Scott Govertsen, 8) Rick Duzlak, 9) Rich Crane, 10) Nick Arnold, 11) Brian Keough, 12) Joe LaFlamme, 13) Don Collins, 14) Jeff Kelmel, 15) Tom Dean, 16) Doug Olds, 17) Tom O’Connor 18) Rick Dempsey,

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) – 1) Brian Walsh, 2) Chad Arsenault, 3) Zach Sorrentino, 4) Mike Arnold, 5) Jordan Miller, 6) Clifford Booth, 7) Chris Murphy, 8) Scott Morris, 9) Adam Schneider, 10) Karen Verhagen, 11) Brian Vandenburg,

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) – 1) Jesse Murphy, 2) Mark Dwyer, 3) Dave Stickles, 4) Mike Eicchstedt, 5) Zach Seyerlein, 6) Evan Denue, 7) Nick Reilly, 8) Tim Meltz, 9) Joe Walcott, 10) Luke Van Allen, 11) Rocco Procopio, 12) Aaron Fachini, 13) Wuggie Burdick,

Pure Stock #3 Results (12 Laps) -1) Bill Deek Jr, 2) Jeff Kreutzinger, 3) Gary O’Brien, 4) Jeff Meltz Jr, 5) Jeff Meltz, 6) Ed Hatch, 7) Al Relyea, 8) Larry Perez, 9) Dom Denue, 10) Tim Thompson, 11) John Devine, 12) Shawn Perez,