RPW Exclusive: Young Ricky Davis Shocks The Lebanon Valley Crowd With King Of Dirt 358-Modified Win Saturday

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – It was a career night for young Ricky Davis as the Vermont campaigner lived out his dream by winning a 358-Modified feature at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, and boy did he choose a big one to win.

Davis led all 30 laps to take home the King Of Dirt 358-Modified 2018 Finale Saturday night.

The driver from the Green Mountain state drew the number one starting position after the heat races and held off all competitors to take the victory. He had to endure several cautions throughout the feature which put another young racer, Allison Ricci, either to his inside or on his back bumper for restarts. However, he was perfect for each one and scored the win.

“This is just unreal right now,” Davis said “We’ve been working so hard this year with the help of Brian Burns and Dave Prime (two of his marketing partners). This is the first year we’ve had sponsors and they’ve put a lot of money in the car and for it to pay off with a win at the end of the season is really a good deal as we work into next year.”

To say that this was the biggest win of Davis’ career would be an understatement. He’s had some victories in the Limited Sportsman division, but nothing to this magnitude. He, along with his family and crew, know what this win means.

“You always look ahead and hope that a victory is possible,” he said. “However, when I pulled the pole during the redraw, we knew a win was in sight and I’m just so happy to be here right now.”

Even with getting such a huge win, Davis knows just how he got to victory lane.

“We really appreciate all the help and support we’ve had over the years to get us to this position,” he said. “First, I need to thank Gary and Bonnie Waters because we wouldn’t be here without them and the Flach family. We are in the position we are because of them and this year we’ve gotten a lot faster. I think if you watch from the beginning to the end of the year, you’ll see that the money Dave Prime (Mac Tools) and Brian Burns (Burns & Son Towing) has helped us.”

Second place finisher on the night was Allison Ricci. Ricci, who made her first start of the season this year on the high banks, came away with her career-best King Of Dirt 358-Modified Series finish on Saturday night. Her car came on real late in the feature event but just ran out of time to mount a serious charge to the winner.

“I was catching him and man, I was in a groove,” Ricci said. “But I was off just a little bit with my line in turns one and two near the end, it shoved the nose and it cost me a lot.”

After starting right alongside Davis on the initial start, Ricci had several opportunities to get by the race leader but never was able to mount a bid for the top spot.

“We just got this Billy the Kid motor and it’s amazing,” she said. “I can’t thank everyone who’s helped me get here for letting me do this. This was a blast tonight.”

Even though this was her first race at the Valley this season, Ricci has had several events on her schedule but Mother Nature had other plans.

“Every time I’ve wanted to come here, it rained, and when it didn’t I had to go to Middletown,” she said with a laugh. “This track is just so difficult to figure out but to come here and finish second tonight and have the best run of my career here is just great.”

Third place finisher in the feature was the 2RJ of Ronnie Johnson and the veteran tried his best throughout the feature but just didn’t have enough to break into the top two. With Ricci’s issues late in the race, Johnson worked his way close to her and showed her the nose of his car, but that was as close as he could get.

“This was a nice way to end our season here at Lebanon Valley,” Johnson said. “Allison did a good job when we were running together and really surprised me. She’s a heck of a racecar driver.”

Johnson made his return to the high banks as a full-time racer this season and finished second in Big Block Modified points to Brett Hearn. Getting acclimated to the track again is what helped the second-generation driver become stronger as the season began to wind down.

“We ran here all year and about halfway through the season I started to get comfortable,” he said. “Tonight was the first time out with this 358-Modified here. We ran it last night at Albany-Saratoga and won with it. Now with a top three tonight as well, it proved to me that we’ve got a good race car.”

With his good runs to finish off 2018 at the Valley of Speed, Johnson is already looking ahead to next season.

“It’s just been fun to race here this year,” he said. “I’m looking forward to coming back in 2019 and maybe we can have some more fun.”

Finish eighth on the night was Bobby Varin, but that finish was good enough to help him lock up the 2018 King of Dirt Small Block Modified Series title. Varin started the season off strong, winning the Series opener at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway, and finished things off with the championship this season.

“This Palmer Service Center, Teo Pro Car is just fantastic,” Varin said. “We had a good year and ran very well. We won the championship at Fonda, but to win these things, it’s not just a great driver. It’s not just a great car. It’s not just a great engine package like we have. It takes a total team effort and this team is just phenomenal. These guys put their heart and soul into this program. They really care about what their doing, caring about each and every position on the race track and that’s what it takes. It takes a team to win championships so hat’s off to this crew.”

Lost in the commotion of the King of Dirt event was the fact that sixth place finisher Kenny Tremont ‘officially’ locked up yet another 358-Modifed track title at Lebanon Valley. Tremont was very consistent this season again with several top five runs and many trips to victory lane.

“This just goes to show the hard work and dedication by this crew,” he said. “I’ve said it before, I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive it and I just feel bad if I don’t do as well as I should for as hard as they work. I’ve been real lucky to have these guys and these sponsors and it’s just a dream position for any driver.”

In Sportsman competition, John Virgilio moved his way by leader Ted Teal before the halfway point of the 20-lap feature and went on to capture his second victory of the 2018 season on the high banks.

Virgilio, who entered the final night of racing at the Valley fifth in division points, knew all he could do was go out and win and that is exactly what he did. In turn, he was able to move up one spot in the final point standings.

“My guys bust their butts at the shop every week and they worked extra hard this week so we could come out on top,” Virgilio said. “Everyone that works hard in the shop and helps out at the track, I can’t thank them enough.”

The former Sportsman track champion did everything he could to get to the front early enough in the main event so he could try and hide from the rest of the field. The Turner Auto #14 was able to accomplish that mission and sit in victory lane when the evening was completed.

“We did the best we could tonight,” he said. “The engine felt really good. This wasn’t the best handling car I’ve ever had here. The track was a little funky with where the bite was and where the black was. You had to be really consistent and I got to run wherever I wanted. Nothing really felt fast so I was searching around, but this feels amazing to end the season on a high note.”

Virgilio was followed across the line by Rob Maxon, your defending and now two-time Sportsman track champion Whitey Slavin, invader Tim Hartman Jr. and pole sitter Ted Teal.

Slavin was able to come out on top in the four-car battle heading into the night as he held a one-point lead on Chris Curtis. Curtis ran into a myriad of problems and had to make a trip to pit road for a flat tire and body repairs and was only able to work his way back up to ninth at the finish.

Rob Maxon finished second on the night and was able to leap from fourth to second in the final standings.

The guy who lost the most on the night was Peter Carlotto, who went into the evening third in points, just 13 markers behind Slavin. Carlotto had a flat right rear tire early in the feature. The team came in and changed it, only to go back out and get another flat right rear with two laps.

He limped into the pit area and went a couple laps down while the team changed it and returned to the fray, but finished a disappointing 21st on the night and dropped to fifth in the final standings.

Dom Denue made a last lap, last corner inside pass on 2018 Pure Stock Champion “Big” Ed Hatch to win the 20-lap Meltz Lumber Pure Stock feature. Gary O’Brien and Jeff Kreutzinger took home the two Pure Stock events on the night while Devin Besze (Single Cam) and Kenny Stager (Dual Cam) took home the two 4-cylinder features.

Small Block Modified Results (King of Dirt Series) (24 Laps) -1) Ricky Davis, 2) Allison Ricci, 3) Ronnie Johnson, 4) Brett Haas, 5) Demitrios Drellos, 6) Ken Tremont Jr, 7) Jason Herrington, 8) Bobby Varin, 9) Marc Johnson, 10) Jessey Mueller, 11) L.J. Lombardo 12) Dillon Steuer, 13) Matt Pupello, 14) Wayne Jelley, 15) Ray Hall Jr.,16) Brandon Lane, 17) Don Ronca, 18) Steve Hough, 19) Olden Dwyer, 20) Alan Houghtaling, 21) Kory Sandstedt, 22) Brandon Pitcher, 23) J.R. Heffner, 24) Ryan Charland, 25) John Ferrier 26) Kenny Aanonson

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) -1) John Virgilio, 2) Rob Maxon, 3) Whitey Slavin, 4) Tim Hartman, 5) Ted Teal, 6) Cody Ochs, 7) Joseph Cappoloa, 8) Nikki Ouellette, 9) Chris Curtis, 10) Angelo Dicarlo, 11) Alan Houghtaling, 12) Scott, McCoy, 13) Matt Burke, 14) Harold Robitaille, 15) Chris Ronca, 16) Robbie Colburn, 17) Bryan Jones, 18) John Santolin, 19) Jordan Miller, 20) Vinnie Visconti, 21) Pete Carlotto, 22) Chris Lynch, 23) Mel Schufer, 24) Zach Louster, 25) Colin Clow, 26) Karl Barnes, 27) Joe Canubucci, 28) Lem Atkins,

Pure Stock #1 Results (10 Laps) – 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Scott Morris, 3) Evan Denue, 4) Rob Partridge, 5) Don Kennedy, 6) Dave Fachini, 7) Greg DeCamp, 8) Adam Schneider, 9) Phil Sherman, 10) Tim Meltz, 11) Karen Verhagen, 12) Wuggie Burdick, 13) Ryan Brown, 14) Marcus Hillard, 15) Al Relyea, 16) Joe Walcott,

Pure Stock #3 Results (12 Laps) -1) Jeff Kreutzinger, 2) Zach Seyerlein, 3) Dom Denue, 4) Jeff Meltz, 5) Ed Hatch, 6) Clifford Booth, 7) Zach Sorrentino, 8) Ray Hall Sr., 9) Brian Walsh, 10) Kerri Vandenburg, 11) Shawn Perez,

4 Cylinder Single Cam Feature Results (15 Laps)-1) Devin Besze, 2) Gary Malloy, 3) James Street, 4) Victor Duncan Jr., 5) Joey Batho, 6) Bradley Batho, 7) Jim Williams, 8) Jon Sheppard,

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Feature Results (15 Laps)-1) Kenny Stager, 2) Tomm Gomm, 3) Chris White, 4) Connor Hill, 5) Mike Duncan, 6) Jim Guertin, 7) John Wright, 8) Derek Quintro Sr,