RPW Exclusive: Kenny Tremont Beat The Competition, & Mother Nature, Saturday Night At Lebanon Valley

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – It was a race against the competition and a race against Mother Nature on Saturday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway. In the end, Kenny Tremont outdid them all and came away with his second win of the 2019 season on the high banks.

A caution for 2018 Rookie of the Year Josh Marcus one lap shy of halfway was just what Tremont needed. Chad Jeseo was at the point with Mike King alongside. Rob Pitcher was third and Tremont sat inside the second row for the restart.

That was all he needed. By turn two, Tremont had made quick work of Pitcher and King and was chasing down the 34 of Jeseo. As lap 16 clicked off on the lap counter, the S&S Asphalt #115 powered to the top spot. With no other challenges to speak of, Tremont went on to collect his second win of the 2019 season.

Normally, at this point, victory lane would take place. However, as Tremont’s machine rolled off the scales, the skies began to lightly mist. Officials had one feature to go, the 4-cylinder main event, so they decided to forgo the ceremonies, attempting to get the last race in.

It didn’t happen.

Mother Nature unloaded a torrential rain on the speedway, sending everyone scrambling for cover. The final race was postponed and Tremont’s victory lane never took place, but the driver of the 115 was extremely happy with his car in the feature.

He was glad that track conditions were almost the complete opposite of what the competitors had seen in each of the first five weeks of this season.

“We’re very happy with tonight,” Tremont said as the rain continued to fall. “The last three weeks for us haven’t really been up to what we would have liked…like a seventh, a 15th and an eighth or something like that. We haven’t been that spectacular, but I think they finally got a chance to really prep the track tonight and it was good for everyone. Lap times were up and it was a really nice track tonight.”

Even though Tremont won on opening night, his season hasn’t produced the type of results he and his team were hoping for. Two weeks ago, a crash in his heat race destroyed the chassis of his primary car. His crew thrashed to get a brand new piece put together and it only took those two weeks to get things straightened out, apparently.

“You’d like to think this good run was because we finally got the new car figured out,” he said. “You really can’t, though. The first week, we ran away and ran good. Then the second week you think we had it figured out and we ran seventh or eighth and you think what the hell happened. You can never allow yourself to say, yeah, we have this figured out, but my guys are working hard every day to make this car as fast as possible. At this point though, we have to take it week by week.”

In the end, Tremont took the win but one of the big surprises of the night was Chad Jeseo who led the first 14 laps and brought the Steve Hough #34J home seventh.

Jeseo was in the top five for almost the entire race, only falling out after the final caution when Eddie Marshall and Mike King came together in turn three, sending the #55 of King hard into the outside wall and doing serious damage to the car.

“I’m okay,” King said. “I’m banged up, but I’m in better shape than the car is. Eddie just moved up a bit and didn’t have me clear.”

As the rain was falling, the Kingfish crew and other teams were working to get the 55 in the trailer, putting in a whole new front end and trying to secure the rear to put the car back on wheels.

Rob Pitcher, who has returned to doing his own engines for the 2019 season, had a solid run on Saturday to bring the #17 home in the runner-up spot Andy Bachetti, keeping his string of consistent runs going, coming on late to finish in third. Kyle Armstrong and Wayne Jelley rounded out the top five.

In the first four weeks of action in the 358-Modified division, however, Bachetti was unstoppable in his #17 Jim Winchell-owned machine. Then, troubles sidelined the car last week which let Brett Haas grab the win.

This week, it was back to the status quo as Bachetti drove his way from a deep starting position to take the lead from Jason Herrington on a late race restart and went on to capture his fourth win in the class in five starts.

“I was definitely a great race track tonight,” Bachetti said. “Everyone’s stepping their game up and it’s tough to come from the back when the track’s like this.”

Track conditions surely played into his hands as he was able to make several passes to get to the front, but Bachetti knows his success with this car is all about teamwork and was quick thank the people who got him to the win.

“I have to thank all of my guys along with Jimmy Winchell and Howard Jarvis who put this whole program together,” he said. “Mike Garrity and all of our sponsors. We couldn’t do it without them and this is just awesome to stand up here again. I wish this was last week.”

Second place finisher was really “Mr. Where Did He Come From,” Brett Haas. Haas started deep in the field as well (13th) and really wasn’t making any headway early on, but when the checkers flew, the #55 had worked his way to the runner-up spot.

“Andy was fast tonight again,” Haas said. “If we had one more caution, I think I might have tried pulling a quick one on him, but to follow up last week’s win with a second after how far back we started is definitely ‘second best.’ We would have liked to have been back in victory lane but this is good for us.”

Jason Herrington, Dillon Steuer and Steve Hough rounded out the top five. For Herrington, it was a great rebound from some early season troubles, so to get a top five and lead laps was huge.

“We had a good run tonight,” Herrington said. “We would have liked to put it in the winner circle but picked up a vibration on lap 18 and held on to finish third for the night. This is way better than a few weeks ago. We’ll get her tuned up for next week.”

In the Pro Stock feature, it was a battle of attrition once again, as several early race cautions made for some confusion.

Through all of the issues, by the lap two caution, Tom O’Connor and Rob Yetman were able to be the first two cars in line. According to track officials, the 52 of O’Conner was the control car.

On the subsequent restarts, Yetman fired early and the starts were called back.

While the field wasn’t immediately reset, officials docked the #7 two positions on the next caution. Yetman and his team were not happy with the call, however.

This was a positive for Jason Meltz who was given the lead. He never looked back and was able to take home his first victory of the 2019 season.

“This is great for us because we’ve been struggling to start the season here,” Meltz said. “The last few weeks we’ve gotten things pointed in the right direction. Tonight, we sure caught some breaks. Steven (Larochelle) had trouble early. He was going to be tough and I don’t know what the call was with Rob, but I’m not going to complain.”

Meltz was able to bring home the victory with Jason Casey rebounding from a tough early start of the evening to come home in second. Nick Arnold had a great run to finish third with Jay Casey in the 322 coming home fourth and Rob Yetman completing the top five.

Ed Hatch and Jeff Kreutzinger took the two Pure Stock wins and, as mentioned early, the 4-cylinders were rained out.

News & Notes…

Peter Britten knows he has some work to do to get his brand new Troyer Race Car up to speed. The car made it’s debut on Friday at Albany-Saratoga with mixed results.

While he did come home with a 12th place finish, he wasn’t happy with the night. He knows there’s work to be done.

“This is a very humbling sport,” Britten said. “Last week we won here (at Lebanon Valley), and last night we struggled. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. Last night we were the bug.”

Saturday didn’t start so hot for the Troyer #21a team. Having to start shotgun on the field due to his good runs the last three weeks, Peter had trouble getting his car to handle in the first five laps of the heat.

On the fifth lap, LJ Lombardo began to spin in turns three and four, and Peter had no where to go, hitting the 35 and spinning out. The front axle and suspension parts were damaged in the contact but Peter completed the race.

Britten had to start he feature from the last starting position and just never really made any noise in the 30-lap main. He did get to 11th at the finish, which was a major win for the team on the night, but rest assured, last week’s winner wanted more.

Olden Dwyer looked like he had a great night going after his heat race. He was able to finish third in the eight-lap event, but going over the scales noticed that his engine’s oil temperature was going up which was weird.

When he returned to his pit area, the car was leaking water everywhere. Something had gone through the nose of the Dwyer’s State Line Beer & Wine #88 and through the radiator.

That, effectively, ended his possible great evening. He took his Small Block car out for a few laps in the feature.

Last week, Paul Gilardi pulled in during the Modified feature with a vibration in his #87x. After spending countless hours in the shop this week to diagnose the problem, the team elected to change engines as they didn’t want to take a chance if it was an issue with their primary.

Unfortunately, the vibration was still there during the early night warm-ups on Saturday. The driver felt like it was in the driveline area. After the session was complete, Gilardi’s crew went to work to change the transmission in their HigFab Chassis.

Fellow competitor Mike King loaned them his spare transmission, hoping that was the issue, so Gilardi could continue the night. It wasn’t the problem, as the 87x slowed on the fourth lap of his heat race, while leading.

Gilardi and his team went to work changing anything that it could possibly be. While they were searching, they noticed that the fuel pressure was fluxuating. They changed to a new fuel pump and that didn’t correct the issue, so the team called it a night before the feature.

Great job by Chad Jeseo and young Josh Marcus for winning their respective heat races. Jeseo is driving a Teo Pro Car out of the Steve Hough stables and was able to lead several laps in the feature, coming home with a solid seventh place finish.

Marcus, a second year driver out of the Slingshot ranks, rebounded nicely on Saturday winning the heat race after putting his Alex Thomson-owned #91m in the turn one wall hard in his heat one week ago.

JR Heffner, who struggled in his heat race and failed to qualify, made a rear torsion bar suspension change in his DKM Cyclone machine. He started the feature in 20th and was only able to advance six spots by the time the feature was over. He finished 14th.

Jason Herrington had a good night at the Valley of Speed, two weeks after his tough wreck in turn three. The accident severely damaged the team’s primary car. So what do you do? You go get the next best thing…a ‘new’ racecar…well, almost new.

“This is old faithful,” Herrington said with a laugh. “This is actually the car we walled a while back. We fixed it and had to get it out to put it into service.”

While Jason was sore after the accident, he was very thankful for how well the PMC race car held up and how well it was built.

“I actually called Pete (Chuckta) on Sunday and thanked him for building such a safe car,” he said. “I don’t have the best seat in there or may of the safety things others have, but Pete built a very safe car and it kept me safe.”

It was the night of the substitute driver at Lebanon Valley as Jeff Watson filled in for Kolby Schroder in the Steve Auto Repair #99 while Jon Routhier came out of “retirement” to steer the Richie Crane #711 for the night.

Watson started second in the second heat and was running third with two to go when the #99 began to show signs of smoke. The Massachusetts driver completed the race, finishing fourth, but was severely off the pace at the finish.

“We’re done for the night,” Watson said after the heat. “I think it broke a piston or something, but it was fun to be back in a Modified. I got the call about 1pm today to see if I’d sub for Kolby, who is sick, and I jumped at it. I can’t thank the team enough for the chance.”

Routhier took over the 711 ride for the night as Crane had a family wedding to attend to in Virginia. It was an early night for the Cannan, CT driver who was involved in the first accident of the evening and pulled his car pitside.

In that first Pro Stock accident was Chad Jeseo. Jeseo went to see the EMT’s after the accident for an injury to his right arm. The driveshaft came out of the #25 machine and hit the former track champion inside the machine. He was okay but a little banged up.

God bless the Casey Racing Team. In the first Pro Stock heat race, both Jason & his father, Jay, were in the event. With one lap remaining, the leader, Gary Silkey, looped his #75, causing a multi-car accident took place in turn two, which severely damaged both vehicles.

Jason’s #324 had left rear body damage along with two flat tires at opposite ends of his car…the left rear and right front. As the team started to work on the car, Jay’s #322 came in with more body damage to the right side and a right front flat tire.

The team went to work and thrashed to get both cars back on track. Thanks to the hard work from other teams as well, both made it back on track without losing a lap.

With the threat of rain coming, track management decided to forgo 358-Modified and Big Block Modified hot laps during the middle of the night so they could hurry the features along. The first of the evening, the 358-Modified main, got Rodney Rescott’s green flag at 7:15pm.

With Plattsburgh Airborne Speedway raining out early on Saturday, RPW’s very own Mike Warren made his way to the Valley and filled in for co-announcer John Stanley.

While Warren handles several duties with RPW, he is also the co-announcer at Albany-Saratoga Speedway and the Race Night Public Relations Reporter at Airborne.

Modified Results (30 Laps) -1) Kenny Tremont Jr, 2) Rob Pitcher, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Kyle Armstrong, 5) Wayne Jelley, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Chad Jeseo, 8) Matt Pupello, 9) L.J Lombardo, 10) Kyle Sheldon, 11) Peter Britten, 12) Marc Johnson, 13) Ronnie Johnson, 14) J.R. Heffner, 15) Keith Flach, 16) Brian Berger, 17) John Ruchel, 18) Ricky Davis, 19) Mike King, 20) Steve Hough, 21) Denny Soltis, 22) Josh Marcus, 23) Olden Dwyer, 24) Kolby Schroder, 25) Paul Gilardi,

Small Block Modified Results (24 Laps) -1) Andy Bachetti, 2) Brett Haas, 3) Jason Herrington, 4) Dillon Steuer, 5) Steve Hough, 6) Chris Curtis, 7) Frank Hoard III, 8) Timothy Davis, 9) Olden Dwyer, 10) Frank Harper, 11) Matt Humes, 12) Ricky Davis, 13) Ray Hall Jr, 14) Brian Sandstedt, 15) J.R. Heffner, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) Alan Houghtaling, 18) Brandon Lane, 19) Brandon Pitcher, 20) Nathan Johnson, 21) Bryan McGuire,

Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) -1) Jason Meltz, 2) Jason Casey, 3) Nick Arnold, 4) Jay Casey, 5) Rob Yetman, 6) Rick Duzlak, 7) Johnny Rivers, 8) Phil Arnold, 9) Adam Schneider, 10) Tom O’Connor, 11) Nick Hilt, 12) Nick Reilly, 13) Steven LaRochelle, 14) Don Collins, 15) Chad Jeseo, 16) Tom Dean, 17) Rick Dempsey, 18) Rich Crane, 19) Gary Silkey,

Pure Stock #1 Results (10 Laps) -1) Ed Hatch, 2) Rob Partridge, 3) Jeff Meltz, 4) Ray Hall Sr., 5) Mike Eichstedt, 6) Keri Vandenburg, 7) Rocco Procopio, 8) Craig Coons, 9) Shawn Perez, 10) Jesse Murphy, 11) Jethro Rossman,

Pure Stock #2 Results (10 Laps) -1) Jeff Kreutzinger, 2) Don Kennedy, 3) Clifford Booth, 4) Zach Seyerlein, 5) Chris Murphy, 6) Scott Morris, 7) Janai St. Pierre, 8) Ryan Brown, 9) Wayne Mahar, 10) Brian Walsh, 11) John Denue,

4 Cylinder Single Cam Feature Results (15 Laps)-RAINED OUT

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Feature Results (15 Laps)-RAINED OUT