RPW Column: LJ & Andy Double Up, Again, At Lebanon Valley; Lombardo & Bachetti Take Modified Features Saturday
Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – The last time Lebanon Valley Speedway had double features for the Modifieds on June 26th, LJ Lombardo and Andy Bachetti were victorious.
It was déjà vu all over again on Saturday evening as Lombardo took the heldover feature and Bachetti captured the nightcap.
For Lombardo, it was win number three on the season, and for Bachetti, it was a milestone accomplishment.
In addition to the Modified win on Saturday, Bachetti captured the first-ever Peanut Special 358-Modified feature, an event honoring the memory of Hall of Fame Crew Chief and Owner Peanut Pierce. With those two victories, Bachetti surpassed the 200-win plateau in his career.
In the first Modified feature of the evening, the name of the game early on was carnage, as there were several caution flags which severely hindered the chances of many key drivers. In fact, the race was marred by a double-digit multi-car pileup on the backstretch which included the likes of JR Heffner, Brett Haas, Bachetti, Wayne Jelley and Olden Dwyer, among others.
With two laps to go, it was all on the line as leader Kyle Armstrong and second place Lombardo came off turn two, Each split the lapped car of Paul Gilardi with Lombardo making a power move on the inside to take the lead and went on to score the victory.
“This thing really came in at the end,” Lombardo said. “I really didn’t need that red flag. We were really getting the ball rolling. Kyle had a fast car and he was beating me in turns one and two and I was better in three and four. Lap traffic is tricky here, especially on a track where everyone’s trying to go to the bottom and I beat him into one.”
Armstrong had to settle for second at the finish with Kolby Schroder, who came from the rear after early race suspension issues, coming in third. Kenny Tremont and Marc Johnson completed the top five.
In feature number two, Lombardo’s hopes for the double weren’t meant to be as he was only able to get his #35 to spot 12 at the finish. That main event came down to a restart with just four laps remaining.
Leader Brian Berger had taken the top spot from Mike King just before halfway and was setting sail. However, the caution flew on lap 26 and bunched up the field, putting Andy Bachetti right on the back bumper of Berger’s 60 for the double file restart.
The “Wild Child” made quick work of second-place Eddie Marshall on the restart and then cracked the throttle to cross over Berger when he drove in deep through turns three and four. Bachetti took the top spot as the 27th circuit clicked off on the lap counter and held on the rest of the way to score his fourth win of the season and, as stated, 201st of his career.
“That’s the way I like to win races right there, coming from the back.” Bachetti said. “We had to pull the backup car out after the first feature and this one’s pretty good too.”
Saturday was a Legends night at the speedway as three giants in the sport who have passed away over the last year or so were honored, Mark Fleury, Russ Blake and Peanut Pierce. The Modified feature was in honor of Fleury who was known as the “Wild Thing” and a big influence on Bachetti as a younger driver.
“Mark was an awesome racer here and was a big inspiration for the colors on my cars throughout a lot of my career,” he said. “I use to sit up in the Orange section with my father and Butch Jelley’s dad and watch a lot of racing here. It’s a real honor to be standing here after winning this race for Mark.”
Berger’s shot at the victory came up just one spot short as the Phaze3 Racing #60 crossed the line second with Brett Haas charging to third, even after a complete 360-degree spin during the feature. Haas only lost a few positions but charged back to the front for a hard-fought third at the finish.
Eddie Marshall came home fourth with Kyle Sheldon securing a very solid top five finish for the Alex Thomson-owned team.
The Peanut Special 358-Modified Memorial was a heads-up start with show-up points on the line in the extra-distance extra payday event. Peanut’s son, Chad, and the entire Pierce family worked extremely hard to put up extra bonuses for several spots throughout the field and even the heat races.
As Peanut’s grandson, Carter, threw the green flag on the field, it was Bachetti who started on the pole and went out to the lead.
The box score will say that Bachetti led all 30 tours around the Valley of Speed, but he had to fend off a determined Jason Herrington to score the win. Herrington threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Green #4 car, but Bachetti held on to take home the milestone win #200 of his career.
“Jason was really good,” Bachetti said. “I had a good starting spot and I just held him off. I was blocking more than racing but I have to thank everyone involved in this car. They’ve been working to make this thing good every week and keep it consistent and it shows.”
The fact that this race was in honor of Peanut was not lost on Bachetti, even with it being a landmark win for him. He knew what Pierce meant to Lebanon Valley.
“I really have to thank the Pierce family for tonight,” he said. “Peanut was a pretty special guy. To me, he wasn’t a man of many words but he was just a nice guy and would do anything to help anyone. This is an awesome race to win and Peanut’s someone we all miss.”
Herrington did everything he could to get the main event win but came up just shy. He did bring the “Big Red One” home in the second position with Frank Harper, who drove a retro Mark Fleury “Wild Thing” paint scheme that Mark made some famous in the early 90’s home in third. Harper even renumbered his car 52 for the occasion.
Ryan Charland and Chris Curtis completed the top five at the finish.
Another retro paint scheme was done in the Sportsman feature event as defending champion John Virgilio ran a throwback Russ Blake #29 scheme to commemorate Blake’s passing. Virgilio will run the scheme and number the rest of the season, but on this night, he came home fourth with the car after overcoming early-night driveline issues.
This race was nailed down by someone very close to the Pierce family, Chris Lynch. Lynch drove his #74 to the inside of leader Karl Barnes heading through turns three and four on the eighth lap and went on to take his third win of 2021 in the event honoring the memory of the “Silver Fox.”
“I just don’t want to jinx this right now,” Lynch said. “This has been a dream come true for me, but honestly, this night means a little more to me.”
Because of his friendship with Chad Pierce, Lynch was asked to do something special during the night, in addition to possibly getting the victory.
“Chad asked me to come and play my rendition of the National Anthem on my guitar here tonight,” he said. “It just makes you think. Chad came racing here with his dad, Peanut. I come here racing with my dad along with my step dad and when all is said and done, it’s not about how many checkered flags you have. It’s about how many memories we make and the time we spent together. There’s a lot more to this like friends and family. They’re what matter most.”
The 2021 season has been a career year so far for the second-generation driver. Three victories by the midway point of the season has him sitting solidly second in points.
Could this get any better for Lynch?
“I’m totally elated right now,” he said. “To say we’ve won three races in the same year, and two-in-a-row, is crazy. I’d only won four up to this season. It’s quite unbelievable.”
Kevin Ward came home in the runner-up position with Walter Hammond third. Virgilio came home fourth in the Russ Blake throwback #29 and Walter Hammond Jr. was fifth.
How ‘bout that Dave Stickles? Stickles drove the race of his life in the first Pro Stock feature on the evening, held over from a week ago, and collected his first career win in the division.
Stickles had a tough go about three races ago, destroying his racecar. He was lucky enough to purchase a former Jay Casey machine to get back to the track in time for the Bubba Tanner Pro Stock Classic and Saturday night, he put it all together to get the popular victory.
“I really didn’t think this was going to happen,” Stickles said. “I thought when I moved up from the Pure Stocks, the wins were over. This is such a tough class and let me tell you, this is not possible without the help of a lot of people.”
That was made even more special after last weekend out on the road.”
“I wrecked this car Sunday at Glen Ridge and my crew busted their butts all week long,” he said. “This thing was darn near perfect and this is for them.”
Stickles was also quick to thank a lot of other people who helped him get to victory lane Saturday.
“I have to thank a lot of my fellow racers,” he said. “Jason Meltz supplies me with a lot of different parts. Chad Jeseo helps with advice and setup on this thing. Clearly, it works and thank you to the Caseys. This was a last-minute thing to get this car. We dropped my motor in and it’s fast. It’s just a great car.”
Jeseo was quickly closing on Stickles at the finish but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Steven Larochelle came home third with Tommy Dean and Nick Hilt rounding out the top five.
In the second feature, Larochelle had to work hard to get his first victory of the 2021 and he was able to do so.
The second-generation pilot took full advantage of Tommy Dean moving leader Shawn Perez up the hill as the field exited turn four on lap seven. Larochelle turned down under both of them and by the time the field exited turn two, the 178 was in the top spot.
However, it wasn’t that simple the rest of the way as Jeseo made it interesting. “Big Bad Chad” worked to the inside of the leader through turns three and four as Larochelle slipped up half a groove. This gave the fans a flat-foot drag race to the line but it was Larochelle taking the win by the narrowest of margins.
“This things been on rails for weeks but I just have not been able to catch any luck,” Larochelle said. “It just seems like every little thing’s been going wrong, going wrong, going wrong but I had a good feeling about tonight. I had a really good feeling about the first feature but we could only get to third. However, I am really happy to stand in victory lane in this one.”
It’s been a few years since Steven’s been in victory lane, but his last one came on the same date as Saturday, July 10th. Apparently, his feeling was correct.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “My last win came with my old car which we ran for years and years and years. Over the winter we decided to build this car and it’s been fine-tuning and dialing in the setup. Now, I think we finally got it.”
Jeseo scored his second “second place” of the night in the nightcap with Meltz, Dean and Hilt filling out the rest of the top five.
Scott Kilmer, Jeff Meltz Jr. and Kolby Kokosa were the winners in the three Pure Stock races on the evening.
MODIFIED FROM 7/03/2021 FEATURE RESULTS ( 30 LAPS) 1) L.J Lombardo*** 35 2) Kyle Armstrong, 11A 3) Kolby Schroder, 99 4) Kenny Tremont Jr, 115 5) Marc Johnson* 3J 6) Brett Haas, 55H 7) Andy Bachetti*** 4 8) Wayne Jelley, 45X 9) Kyle Sheldon, 42S 10) Ricky Davis 59 11) Brian Berger, 60 12) Dan Humes 0 13) Chase Dowling 9 14) Paul Gilardi, 87X 15) Mike King, 55K 16) Chris Curtis 35C 17) Olden Dwyer, 88JR 18) Bobby Hackel IV 97 19) Josh Marcus, 91M 20) J.R. Heffner, 74 21) Eddie Marshall, 98 22) Timothy Davis 7T 23) Ryan Darcy* 21 24) Kenny Aanonsen Jr 42A 25) John Ruchel 7 26) Karl Barnes 45B
MODIFIED FEATURE RESULTS ( 30 LAPS) 1) Andy Bachetti**** 4 2) Brian Berger, 60 3) Brett Haas, 55H 4) Eddie Marshall, 98 5) Kyle Sheldon, 42S 6) Marc Johnson* 3J 7) Kyle Armstrong, 11A 8) Wayne Jelley, 45X 9) Ryan Darcy* 21 10) Kenny Tremont Jr, 115 11) J.R. Heffner, 74 12) L.J Lombardo*** 35 13) Mike King, 55K 14) Ricky Davis 59 15) Kolby Schroder, 99 16) Paul Gilardi, 87X 17) John Ruchel 7 18) Chase Dowling 9 19) Timothy Davis 7T 20) Dan Humes 0 21) Chris Curtis 35C 22) Josh Marcus, 91M 23) Olden Dwyer, 88JR 24) Bobby Hackel IV 97 25) Kenny Aanonsen Jr 42A 26) Karl Barnes 45B
SMALL BLOCK MODIFIED FEATURE RESULTS (24 LAPS) 1) Andy Bachetti** 4 2) Jason Herrington, 1 3) Frank Harper, 52 4) Ryan Charland, 10C 5) Chris Curtis 35C 6) Brandon Lane, 33 7) John Lutes JR. 21L 8) Brian Petrerson 82 9) Montgomery Tremont 115 10) Brian Sandstedt, 12S 11) Sean Mandel 66P 11) Olden Dwyer* 88JR 12) Mark Pullen 30 13) Alan Houghtaling, 250 14) Kim Lavoy* 3 15) Joey Coppola 94 16) Ryan Larkin 39 17) Mike Sabia 7S 18) Ray Hall Jr, 72 19) Kevin Petrucci 24
SPORTSMAN FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Chris Lynch*** 74 2) Kevin Ward, 98 3) Walter J. Hammond 98H 4) John Virgilio** 14 5) Walter Hammond JR., 88 6) Jeff Watson, 22 7) Micheal Sabia 7S 8) Karl Barnes, 307 9) Matt Burke, 12 10) Jacob Perry, 21 11) John Stowell, 8JS 11) Jared Powell 18P 12) Robbie Knipe, 57K 13) Kevin Ames 43 14) Ryan Heath 6R 15) Shane Powell, 33S 16) Jeff Reis 21J 17) Dylan Gibbson 18G 18) Bill August 50 19) Bob Fachini 728 20) Greg Decamp 29 21) John Santolin 6 22) Dave Fachini 122 23) Pete Carlotto, 12C 24) Walter Cook 47 25) Robbie Colburn, 18 26) Rob Hallaback, 2H 27) Rob Maxon* 96 28) Alan Houghtaling 250 29) Whitey Slavin, 5
PRO STOCKS FROM 7/03/2021 FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Dave Stickles* 55 2) Chad Jeseo,** 25 3) Steven LaRochelle, 178 4) Tom Dean, 413 5) Nick Hilt** 17 6) Johnny Rivers* 14J 7) Doug Olds 73 8) Jason Meltz* 51 9) Jay Fitgerald* 56 10) Zach Seyerlein, 33 11) Tom O’Connor 52 11) Brian Keough 311 12) Luke Hull 66 13) Will Gates 83 14) Shawn Perez, O9 15) Rick Spencer 32
PRO STOCKS FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Steven LaRochelle* 178 2) Chad Jeseo,** 25 3) Jason Meltz* 51 4) Tom Dean, 413 5) Nick Hilt** 17 6) Zach Seyerlein, 33 7) Doug Olds 73 8) Jay Fitgerald* 56 9) Shawn Perez, O9 10) Dave Stickles* 55 11) Tom O’Connor 52 11) Brian Keough 311 12) Will Gates 83 13) Luke Hull 66 14) Johnny Rivers* 14J 15) Rick Spencer 32
PURE STOCK # 1 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Scott Kilmer** OO7 2) Clifford Booth, 17 3) Franklin Smith, 76 4) Mike Dianda 315 5) Jeff Meltz SR.**** 5X 6) Dennis O’ Connor SR. 152 7) Don Kennedy,* 89K 8) Peter Huntoon, 3 9) Scott Morris, 84
PURE STOCK # 2 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Jeff Meltz JR.* 15X 2) Rob Partridge*** 22 3) John Devine** 24 4) Jim Dellea, 77 5) Dave Striebel 273 6) Shawn Perez, O9 7) Katarina Foster 10 8) Chris Brown, OO9 9) Brian Walsh*** 43
PURE STOCK # 3 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Colby Kokosa* OOK 2) Dylan Fachini 35 3) Chris Stalker**** 177 4) Janai St. Pierre* 18 5) Ryan Brown* O10 6) Keri Vandenburg* 89 7) Ray Royals 6 8) Jethro Rossman, 48 9) Dave Striebel JR. 73
