RPW Exclusive: LJ Lombardo Gets “Much Needed” Victory Saturday At Lebanon Valley Speedway

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Saturday night was a night to remember. The Modifieds at Lebanon Valley Speedway raced 30-laps in honor of the late Maynard Forrette, and LJ Lombardo led wire-to-wire to take his third career feature event win on the high banks.

However, it was far from easy.

With the Super DIRTcar Series running the Hall of Fame 100 at Weedsport on the same night, and Brett Hearn in Central NY for that event, the Valley ran a ‘show-up’ point format. That also meant a draw for heat race starting positions and a head-up start for the main event. Lombardo’s girlfriend, Mikey, drew the #1 for the heats, which LJ went out and won. That gave him the pole in the feature, and he made the most of it.

“We’ve had some really bad luck this year,” Lombardo said. “Early in the year we broke the motor and anything that could go wrong with us has. Half our crew is still at home after getting in a car accident on the way to Middletown (for the Super DIRTcar event, the Battle Of The Midway 100) last Thursday. This is really going to lift everyone’s spirits, especially everyone back home.”

Lombardo tried to get out and hide early in the feature event, but he had both Kyle Sheldon and last week’s feature event winner, Keith Flach, hounding him as the feature went on. Just around the halfway point of the race, Flach got to the runner-up position and began to stalk the Paul Wehnau Snap-On #35 machine.

Flach looked to be making his move on the inside of Lombardo as the two came off turn two on lap 19, only to have the caution flag fly. That cooled everyone’s tires and bunched the field. For the final 11 laps, Flach kept his #43 glued to the back bumper of Lombardo, but never was able to make a challenge to get by, as the Outlaw rode home to his third-career victory on the high banks.

“This win is very important for us, but I wish this was a points night obviously,” he said. “We’re just chasing the money now. It’s the only way to foot the bill here now and we’ve got some great help from a whole bunch of different sponsors and a great crew. I know I get to stand here but these guys deserve this more than anything in the world. They work their asses off and this feels awesome.”

Lombardo took home he win with Flach bringing his mount home in the second spot. This was another solid run for the third-generation driver from Ravena, NY who took the checkers just last Saturday night. He was able to get by the likes of Kyle Armstrong, Matt Pupello, who was making his first start at the Valley of the season, and then Sheldon, but second was as high as he could get.

“It would have been pretty awesome if we could have gone back-to-back,” Flach said. “We just had a second place car tonight. Hat’s off to LJ and his guys. He drove a great race and obviously they had their set-up pretty good for tonight.”

Flach, who recently came off the Super DIRTcar Series to concentrate on work and family matters, is focusing on weekly racing at Lebanon and Albany-Saratoga on Friday nights, and it’s paying dividends.

“We were good but we just came up a little bit short tonight,” he said. “Second place is nothing to scoff at so we’ll try again next week and see if we can’t get it done then.”

Kyle Sheldon, who was running a special paint scheme in honor of his grandfather, Todd, on Saturday night, took his #629 home in the third position with King of the Track winner JR Heffner coming home in fourth and the newest Dirt Modified Hall Of Fame member, Kenny Tremont, bringing his #115 home fifth.

If there was a driver who needed a win in the Small Block division, you’d be hard pressed to find one any more hungry than Olden Dwyer. The driver from Pownal, VT took his #88 machine to victory lane after holding off a ferocious late race challenge from Andy Bachetti to take his third career victory in the division.

“I have to thank my guys because this one was all about their hard work,” Dwyer said. “We’ve had a real tough year and they just keep digging and digging. I have to thank everyone that has helped out on this deal from my crew, the Stacy’s, my father, it was a lot of fun tonight. A win really lifts everybody’s spirits.”

The battle for the win between Dwyer and Bachetti is one that both drivers surely loved. Bachetti has helped out Dwyer over the years to become a better driver, and Dwyer has helped out the Bachetti team on several big events. For these two to finish one-two, in such a hard race, without touching each other, shows the level of respect between them.

“It was cool to race against Andy, but I would have loved to seen anyone else on the inside other than him,” Dwyer said. “He’s a good friend and a tough competitor but he ran me clean. We dug hard tonight and Terry (Stacy) put a good car under me and I have to thank all my guys to help get the job done.”

For second place Bachetti, it was a good night, and while he’s not okay with finishing second, losing to his friend makes it less hard.

“We come up just a little bit short tonight, but it was good to see Olden and his team get a win,” Bachetti said. “It was good to come through as quickly as we did, and that’s thanks to Jim Winchell and his team. These guys put a lot into this deal and it paid off tonight.”

Bachetti made several dives to the bottom on the KCM Oil #88 machine, but never had enough to slip underneath for the lead.

“We were good tonight, and had some fun racing with Olden for the win,” he said. “If this was the old open Small Block class, we’d be having a lot more fun.”

Heffner and Tremont capped off their nights with another trip to the top five, finishing third and fourth respectively in this race, while Brian Peterson brought his #82 home in the fifth position.

The Sportsman feature was a battle to say the least for Rob Maxon to get to through the traffic and get to the lead. Once he got through traffic and took the top spot as the first caution came out near the one-quarter mark of the feature, it was smooth sailing for the driver of the #96 machine as he “unofficially” took home his second feature event win of the season.

The word ‘unofficial’ is because another competitor has made a protest on the engine in the #96 machine of Maxon. At press time, the team was still removing the engine, which was to be locked up in the Speedway’s clubhouse Saturday evening and reportedly will be taken to Hunt’s Machine for testing.

“This thing was absolutely awesome tonight,” Maxon said after his win. “Right off of the trailer we were quick. We’ve been fast all season but we’ve just had bad luck at times.”

While his nearest competitors has to battle with traffic to get to the top five, Maxon was able to run out front in clean air and make laps, which helped him pull out to a full straightaway lead at the finish.

“The track was great tonight,” he said. “We were a little nervous early with the way it was starting to break up but the officials did a hell of a job to get things fixed and make this a great surface. I also have to thank my crew and my family and my wife for this win. They all put in a hell of a lot of ours with these cars and this one is for them.”

John Virgilio, who drove from the 12th starting position after an accident in his heat race which bent up a lot of the front end components on his #14 machine, made his way to second at the finish, but needed a caution to see if he could get by Maxon.

“You never want to see that in the heat race and hope you have enough spare parts to get it back together,” Virgilio said. “My guys don’t quit, ever, so the drive from 12th was all them. All I had to do was steer this thing around the race track like it had never been in wreck as my crew made this car really good and I can’t ask for any more than that.”

Whitey Slavin came home third with Chris Lynch, a feature winner this season at Lebanon Valley, finishing fourth and Chris Curtis, who broke a rocker stud on the first lap of his heat race, rebounded to come home with a top five finish.

Again, the finish is unofficial until the test is complete. Stay tuned to Race Pro Weekly for news when the results are made official.
Chuck Towslee came back to race at Lebanon Valley a few weeks back in the Pro Stock Division, and on Saturday night, he made the most of it as he parked the Paul’s Landscape #08 in victory lane, after holding off a determined #322 of Jay Casey.

The Pro Stocks were also running for show-up points as there was a tour event elsewhere and a couple teams headed to that. That didn’t matter to the Vermont driver who recorded his first win of the 2018 season on the high banks.

“It was an awesome race for us, but all I would have done is bobble just once and I was done,” Towslee said. “Casey was there the whole time but we ran clean and were able to hold him off.”

Casey, from Canaan, CT, made several attempts to get the top spot away from Towslee, but just never was able to make the pass for the win. This was a win that Chuck and his entire team, and family, needed.

“With everything that has transpired in the last year or so, this means everything to all of us involved with the Towslee Racing team,” he said. “I have to thank Joe Lazzaro for getting the Pro Stock division back under control because if he didn’t do what he did last year, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing right now.”

Towslee was forced to sit out the rest of the season after being disqualified and suspended. He has since teamed up with one of his former sponsors, Paul Halsteadt, and the two have been getting better week after week.

“Paul’s been amazing for this program,” he said. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have something we could race, and win with. Thanks to all the crew and all the sponsors who support this team. It all came together very well tonight.”

Casey came home second followed by Rick Dempsey, Ed Bishop and Jon Routhier. The top six, including Jason Casey’s #324, were nose-to-tail at the finish. It was a great race once again, for the Pro Stocks.

Clifford Booth and Dom Denue were victorious in the two Pure Stock races.

News & Notes…
Ronnie Johnson was running his back-up #2RJ on Saturday so he was able to keep his regular car in good condition for the up-coming points races.

Pro Stock competitor Tommy Dean was doing the same, using the show-up point night to test out his team’s new machine and shake it down as he gets ready to run the Hondo Classic at Fonda on Wendesday.

Dave DePaulo was at the Valley for his second week in a row and brought his #21 Pro Stock home in the 16th position after dropping out late.

Mark Pullen was a driver who made his first attempt at the Valley on Sautrday night in the 358-Modified division. The veteran lost a right front brake caliper in hot laps but was able to replace it in time for his heat race. He was an early retiree from the feature, however.

Denny Soltis is running his Teo Pro Car, and has for the last few weeks, with different configuration on his rear suspension. The long-time campaigner from Connecticut is trying to find the next hot set-up in racing.

Dillon Steuer was back for his second run with the Big Block.

Kyle Sheldon was driving the 629 in tribute to his grandfather, Todd. It was Sheldon oil night at the Speedway and 2018 is the company’s 30th Anniversary

Jeff Meltz Jr has stepped away from racing at the Valley and has decided to take his car to race at other tracks.

Brett Haas lost it while leading his 358-Modified heat when his car broke free and spun. Chad Pierce had nowhere to go and made heavy contact with the #55

Pierce’s machine had severe front end damage but his crew worked diligently and was able to get the car ready for the feature.

However, the driver from Eagle Bridge, NY was the first out as a broken magneto rotor sidelined him.

Lorne Browe, who made his return to racing at the Valley just last week in the 358-Modified division, had a very early night as he broke the flywheel bolts off the engine during his heat race.

Saturday JULY 28, 2018 – West Lebanon, NY – Modified Results (30 Laps) -1) L.J Lombardo, 2) Keith Flach, 3) Kyle Sheldon, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Kenny Tremont Jr, 6) Andy Bachetti, 7) Kyle Armstrong, 8) Ronnie Johnson, 9) Kolby Schroder, 10) Wayne Jelley, 11) Mike King, 12) John Ruchel, 13) Dillon Steuer, 14) Paul Gilardi, 15) Josh Marcus, 16) Eddie Marshall, 17) Denny Soltis, 18) Brian Berger, 19) Steve Hough, 20) Olden Dwyer, 21) Chad Jeseo, 22) Mike Keeler,

Small Block Modified Results (24 Laps) -1) Olden Dwyer, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) J.R. Heffner, 4) Ken Tremont Jr, 5) Brian Peterson, 6) Ricky Davis, 7) Dillon Steuer, 8) Brett Haas, 9) Frank Hoard III, 10) Timothy Davis, 11) Frank Harper, 12) Brandon Pitcher, 13) Brian Sandstedt, 14) Ryan Charland, 15) Steve Hough, 16) Matt Humes, 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Harold Robitalle, 19) Chad Pierce, 20) Brandon Lane, 21) Jason Herrington, 22) Lorne Browe, 23) Mark Pullen,

Unofficial Sportsman Results (20 Laps) -1) Rob Maxon, 2) John Virgilio, 3) Whitey Slavin, 4) Chris Lynch, 5) Chris Curtis, 6) Pete Carlotto, 7) Michael Sabia, 8) Cody Ochs, 9) Nikki Ouellette, 10) Vinnie Visconti, 11) Ted Teal, 12) Scott, McCoy, 13) Matt Burke, 14) Harold Robitaille, 15) Karl Barnes, 16) Zach Louster, 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Joe Canubucci, 19) Joseph Cappoloa, 20) Amanda Earl, 21) Mike Gramolini, 22) Jim Osgood,

Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) -1) Chuck Towslee, 2) Jay Casey, 3) Rick Dempsey, 4) Ed Bishop, 5) Jon Routhier, 6) Jason Casey, 7) Jason Meltz, 8) Frank Twing, 9) Tom O’Connor, 10) Nick Arnold, 11) Joe LaFlamme, 12) Dave Stickles, 13) Rick Spencer, 14) Don Collins, 15) Rick Duzlak, 16) Dave Depaulo, 17) Nick Reilly, 18) Doug Olds, 19) Tom Dean, 20) Nick Hilt, 21) Steven LaRochelle, 22) Brian Keough, 23) Jay Casey,

Pure Stock #1 Results (12 Laps) -1) Clifford Booth, 2) Evan Denue, 3) Tom Murphy JR., 4) Rob Partridge, 5) Kerri Vandenburg, 6) Dennis O’Connor, 7) Don Kennedy, 8) Scott Morris, 9) Shawn Perez,

Pure Stock #3 Results (12 Laps) -1) Dom Denue, 2) John Devine, 3) Ed Hatch, 4) Jeff Kreutzinger, 5) Chad Arsenault, 6) Jeff Meltz, 7) Al Relyea, 8) Zach Seyerlein, 9) Zach Sorrentino, 10) Brian Walsh,