RPW Column: Being Quick In Practice Saturday At Lebanon Valley Pays Off For Bachetti & Tremont

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – It was another day of practice for race teams at the Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday. However, for the Modified drivers in attendance, there was a little bit of a twist.

Those that were at the Valley on Saturday had the chance to time trial their way to the front row for next weekend’s season opener at the West Lebanon oval. Promoter Howard Commander, General Manager Lyle DeVore and track officials made the decision to have a fastest time contest. The two drivers who were the fastest would start in the first two positions next week.

This was great news for two veteran campaigners, Andy Bachetti & Kenny Tremont, who both set fast laps and to capture the honors.

For Bachetti, setting the quickest lap was good, but he was more concerned with having a good race car for the opener and the entire season.

“Our car is pretty good so far,” Bachetti said. “We were good right from the start and didn’t make too many changes.”

The Sheffield, MA driver was the 2020 Modified Champion at the Speedway and used his notes from last year as a jumping off point on Saturday.

“We started with what we knew from last year,” he said. “We made a few changes from that and the car really got better.”

Now with grabbing the pole position for the Valley’s lid-lifter, does Bachetti feel he has a car that can run away and hide next week?

“You never know,” Bachetti said with a laugh. “That’s the goal but there are a lot of great cars that will be here. Starting up front isn’t an easy win here. There will be a lot of stiff competition but our team will be up to the challenge.”

Saturday’s track conditions proved to be quite different than teams will normally see on a Saturday night. With the sun beating down on the surface, it became very greasy and hard.

Is Bachetti hoping it will stay that way?

“I hope it stays slick next week,” he said. “This car worked well today on this type of track and I hope we can put today’s work to good use.”

Kenny Tremont was second quickest on Saturday and will roll off from the inside front row next week. Tremont, who recently announced his split from long-time sponsor S&S Asphalt Paving and has taken back control of his Big Block program, was quickly up to speed on Saturday.

Unfortunately, Tremont’s Valley car was the piece he used on Saturday.

“This is the car we ran last year at Albany-Saratoga,” Tremont said. “It’s a good car and I’m comfortable in it so we’ll see what happens but our Valley piece just isn’t quite ready year.”

The car, which was unlettered on Saturday, really seemed to be set up for the slick surface as well. It will be a good battle next Saturday to see which of the two most recent Big Block Modified champions will have the lead heading into turn one when the season kicks off.

Tremont’s focus may have been on his own racing efforts, but right along side was his son Montgomery’s first foray into 358-Modified racing at the Valley. The younger Tremont got faster with each lap he made on Saturday and dad was very happy.

“Montgomery’s really doing a great job out there today,” he said. “He’s got some ideas he wants in his car, some of which I don’t necessarily agree on, but this is his deal and I just want him to get comfortable. I’m pleased with how he’s done today.”

One driver who probably isn’t too happy was JR Heffner. Heffner was quick in the first season of practice until his car came up lame with a lap or two remaining. The culprit was a blown engine.

The team loaded up and left the speedway before the practice day was over.

Former Modified Rookie of the Year and multi-time Sportsman Champ Jeff Watson was in attendance with his new 2021 car on Saturday. Trying some suspension ideas he’s never run before, Watson showed speed early and gained on his car’s handling as the session went on.

However, Watson knows his team still has work to do.

“We were good today but definitely had some homework,” Watson said. “I need to get this thing better through the corners. We’re just lacking some speed in the turns.”

Watson knows he’s got the team to get things done to get his #22 PMC to the front.

“Between my dad and my guys, we’ll figure this out,” he said. “We’ve never had this type of rear suspension so we went with what Pete Chuckta (PMC Race Cars) told us to start at. We’re good, but we need to be better.”

The Massachusetts native only ran a handful of times last year due to work and other commitments. What are his plans for this season?

“We’re racing this season, or most of it, at the Valley,” he said. “We’ll hit some shows at Albany-Saratoga and Fonda and hopefully by the end of the season, we’ll find our way to Charlotte.”

There’s another event that’s on Watson’s bucket list he’d like to enter.

“We may try to hit another show here and there like the Vermont 200 at Devil’s Bowl,” he said. “I’ve wanted to run that race ever since they started it.”

Another Sportsman competitor who was at the track on Saturday was Chris Lynch. When asked just before the he went on the race track for the final session how his car was, the Connecticut racer had a very interesting response.

“If I had room for the kitchen sink inside this thing, it’d be in there,” Lynch said with a huge grin. “We just threw everything except the sink at this car.”

Then, the #74 took to the track for the final laps of the day. Was he happy?

“I nearly scared myself straight so I parked it,” he said. “The car hated the changes we made and I nearly rolled it over. I decided to pull in and we’ll go back to what we know.”

So now Lynch and his team have to go to work to get their car ready for opening night.

“We had to try some things today,” he said. “That’s what practice is for. If I hadn’t made the wrong decision with the panhard bar, we would have been better but we’re very good for not having much time on track.”