RPW Column: Mark Flach’s Return To Racing Begins; Other Drivers Miss Action At Lebanon; News & Notes

RPW Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – He’s Back!!!

Mark Flach Jr.’s much-anticipated return to the driver’s seat began on Saturday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, behind the wheel of the Madsen Motorsports #22 Teo Pro Car.

The car Flach is racing is a machine that carried Brett Hearn to championships at the ‘Valley of Speed’ over the years.

Now Flach, who hasn’t raced competitively since severely injuring himself in a grinding flip at Land Of Legends Raceway in 2013, is behind the wheel and ready to get back at it.

From the first laps he took on the speedway, you could tell he hasn’t missed a beat. However, his car wasn’t quite the way the team had hoped.

“We had a bunch of carburetor issues all night,” Flach said. “It was fun to get back out there, but with the issues, we didn’t get the finish we wanted. We’ll get things fixed and be back next week.”

Flach brought his Teo Pro Car home in the 17th position.

Three drivers weren’t in action on Saturday night in the Modified field. LJ Lombardo had successful back surgery on Wednesday and is already up and moving around.

According to his girlfriend, Mikey Albreada, LJ’s more determined than ever to get back to the best he can be and get back to the driver’s seat. She stated, however, he’s not the best patient. He can’t stand to sit around. Here’s to a speedy recovery LJ.

Bobby Hackel did not make the trip to the Valley on Saturday with his Big Block PMC #97.

After engine troubles with his Albany-Saratoga car on Friday night, the team pulled their Lebanon Valley car out of the trailer and the fourth-generation driver went from 25th to 12th.

That being said, the team decided to forgo Saturday night to get some things in order.

“After a lot of consideration, we’ve pulled the plug on our Lebanon Valley program for now,” Hackel said. “We hurt another motor on Friday at Malta and had to use our back-up car. Sometimes, you just have to regroup.”

Hackel feels like his Sportsman program on Sunday’s at Devil’s Bowl hasn’t been getting the attention it’s needed.

“Our Crate car has been getting the short end of the stick,” he said. “It needs some love to try and keep the point battle alive at the Bowl. Don’t worry. We’ll be back and better than ever on Saturdays on the high banks.”

After a tumultuous 2020 season on track, Paul Gilardi has also pulled the plug on his season. However, this one is for the rest of the year.

After a grinding high-speed crash where another competitor clipped the 87x’s left front wheel and turned Gilardi hard into the turn three wall, the team’s HigFab Chassis was virtually destroyed.

Originally, the team thought it was only slight chassis damage in the right front corner and a bent radius rod. However, upon further review, the chassis was tweaked and the engine’s motor plate bent nearly 2-1/2” forward. That moved the engine within an inch of the radiator and broke the bell housing.

Gilardi also hit so hard that he was extremely sore in his neck and shoulders and bruised his left hand so much that his knuckles weren’t visible for days.

His team pushed forward and he ran the backup car the following week. However, bad luck struck again as a radiator cap blew off in his heat while running in a transfer spot and the engine sounded flat as he lined up for the main event. He decided to pull off.

Since that day, according to Gilardi, his season has been over and his car still sits in the trailer. A disappointing end to what the Pittsfield, MA driver had hoped would be a great season for he and his crew.

Denny Soltis made his second start of the season at the Valley. An off-season injury has left the veteran campaigner unable to work at 100% up until recently.

Last Saturday was his maiden voyage on the 2020 season and this passed Saturday he returned again, but finished 20th.

One cool thing (well to me, at least) is that four of the six feature event winners were from the Berkshire County Massachusetts. Andy Bachetti is from Sheffield, Brett Haas is from Pittsfield, Gary O’Brien is from Lee and Doug Olds is from Hinsdale. Just for reference, I am from Adams, MA myself.

Brian Sandstedt did not have the Saturday night he was hoping for. The 358-Modified racer from Canaan, NY had radiator problems all night in his #12 machine, starting in early night warm-ups.

Sandstedt only took a couple laps in his heat race and the same in the feature event, placing him 16th in the final rundown.

Another Small Block Modified driver, Ryan Darcy, returned to the Valley again on Saturday night after engine problems on opening night for the 358’s.

However, his luck this past Saturday wasn’t any better.

After breaking the crankshaft in the team’s primary engine, the crew worked hard to switch that engines heads to another short block they had. That engine combination didn’t work as the engine expired in warm-ups.

Whitey Slavin and Rob Maxon did not race their Sportsman cars at Lebanon Valley on Saturday night. This was the first event missed for Slavin while the second for Maxon after being disqualified on July 18th after contact with Joey Coppola.

Both drivers made their way to Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Sunday night, however, neither made the feature event field. Both ran in the B-Main with Maxon finishing sixth and Slavin ninth.

Nikki Ouellette has enjoyed a solid season so far in 2020. The Troy, NY transplant from Connecticut was second in points heading into Saturday night’s racing action.

Ouellette qualified solidly through her heat even though they stated they missed the set-up. The car was a lot better for the feature and Nikki came home with an 11th place finish.

Right now, John Virgilio has a stranglehold on the points lead in the Sportsman ranks. He leads Robby Knipe by 28. However, there’s only 32 points between Knipe in second and John Stowell in 11th. In fact, there’s only 10 markers between Ouellette in third and myself in ninth. How’s that for tight?

Former DIRT Legal Street Stock and IMCA campaigner Bob Fachini made his first start in quite some time in the Sportsman division at the Valley. Fachini bought a car from central New York this off-season and has been putting it together to compete.

Fachini brought the orange and white #728 home in the 15th position in his first run of the season.

Phil Arnold is enjoying a very competitive season in the Valley’s Pro Stock division aboard his grandfather Everett Kneer’s machine.

The car was campaigned last season by Arnold’s brother, Nick. However, with Nick picking up a ride with the Joe Lazzaro team at Albany-Saratoga on Friday’s, he couldn’t run two nights a week. That’s when Grandpa offered the car to Phil.

Phil’s been running his own #2 machine at Malta on Friday’s while racing the family car, also numbered 2, at Lebanon on Saturdays. This week, he came home with a solid seventh place finish and is now sits fourth in points, just 14 makers behind second place man Nick Hilt.

Chris Eastwood of Eastwood Detailing put together a special Pro Stock ‘Dash for Cash’ on Saturday night and Scott Towslee took the victory.

Eastwood is someone who just loves the sport of Auto Racing. Anyone who’s ever seen two tires on the back of a racecar in victory lane has seen his presence. Chris has rewarded several drivers, not just those that his business sponsors, for a job well done.

Saturday, he wanted to do something special for the Pro Stocks and that’s what took place. Eastwood is someone who’s doing his part to keep the Pro Stocks alive and giving the racers something to shoot for.