RPW Column: LJ Lombardo Wins On “Boomie Night” At Lebanon Valley; Mechanical Issues Keep JR Heffner From Victory Lane
RPW CColumn By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – First it was Olden Dwyer. Then, Mark Flach. After that, JR Heffner.
However, when the 30-lap Modified feature was over Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway, the final leader was LJ Lombardo and he parked his PMC in victory lane for the first time in the 2021 season.
Lombardo took advantage of misfortune that fell upon Heffner, who had a rear end fail while leading, and looked to be pulling away. Once LJ was able to grab the top spot, he never looked back and made his way to victory lane.
“Man, this car is friggin’ fast,” Lombardo said. “You have to take advantage of starting up front and we had a mediocre car opening night but everyone on this team busted their buts to get this thing where it is now. Hopefully we can keep this rolling now and not look back.”
Did Lombardo feel like he had a car that could compete with the leader Heffner once he got to the runner-up spot?
“I really think we had a good enough car to catch him and hopefully pass him,” he said. “Once I got to second, I knew we had a car that could win. I just really didn’t want to burn up my stuff too early trying to get by JR so I figured I would conserve for a little while.”
Then, troubles fell upon Heffner near the midpoint of the event. From that point on, it was game on for Lombardo.
“One I got the lead, I realized it was time to hammer down and not look back,” he said. “We did a lot of homework to get this new PMC Race car to where it is. Tonight, all the pieces seemed to come together.”
While Lombardo was celebrating in victory lane, Heffner was sitting in the pit area, wondering ‘what if.’
“I think we had a very good car tonight,” Heffner said. “We had a rear end let go, and it only had one race on it. It’s a shame because this Bicknell chassis felt really good.”
Heffner took the lead from Mark Flach on lap six in a power move through turns one and two and looked to be on his way to an early season victory. Could he sense there was trouble brewing?
“There was absolutely no warning that the rear end was going to let go,” he said. “The jack shaft in the rear failed. It’s s shame too because I think we were on our way to the win.”
Even though he didn’t finish the main event, Heffner and the #74 team have to be excited for what could still be during the 2021 season, seeing how well their piece ran on Saturday night.
“Yea, we can take a lot of positives out of tonight,” he said. We’ve spent too long running like crap so tonight was a big shot in the arm for all of us. Hopefully we can get to victory lane very soon.”
Marc Johnson drove his Scott Hamlin-owned #3j to second when the 30 laps were done. Ultimately, however, he thinks it was a bit too late.
“I think we just ran out of laps,” Johnson said. “This car was good all night long. I think if we had been able to have another restart, we might have been able to fight hard with LJ for the win. However, we’ll take another top five and keep the momentum rolling.”
Olden Dwyer completed the podium on Saturday evening. Yes, he started on the pole, but he fell back to the latter part of the top five as the race started to unfold. Then, the Pownal, VT driver worked his way back up. He was able to get as high as second in the main before crossing the line third at the finish.
“It felt so good to have a decent finish tonight,” Dwyer said. “I really wish I could have stayed in second. Marc (Johnson) was damn fast.”
Though it’s not a win, Saturday’s third place finish felt huge for this team.
“Overall, we’re real happy with tonight,” he said. “As as we’ve struggled all season, so far, a top three works for me.”
Eddie Marshall and point leader Andy Bachetti completed the top five.
A front row starting spot doesn’t always mean a trip to victory lane, but in Jason Herrington’s case, it did as the veteran driver and former Sportsman track champion used his good starting spot to his advantage.
It was by no means a cakewalk but Herrington had the power he needed and the car underneath him to visit victory lane for the first time this season, taking the Small Block Modified main event in fine fashion.
However, with three laps left to go, the caution flew and that put Joey Coppola and opening night winner, Andy Bachetti, on his back bumper.
What was going through Herrington’s mind?
“Who’s behind me,” Herrington said with a laugh.
It didn’t matter in the end because the #1 was on rails and the former Sportsman track champion drove his way to victory lane.
“The car was awesome tonight,” he said. “It was good last week and we got rained out after warm-ups and we didn’t touch it.”
Herrington knew from the first time he put the gas pedal down on Saturday that his car was just as fast.
“It was good in the heat race and the feature,” he said. “My crew guys told me, don’t worry, we got it handled. Just drive it.”
Track conditions and being the first feature of the night seemed to play into Herrington’s hands on Saturday.
“The track was awesome,” he said. “A little slick in the corners but a ton of bite coming off and it let the car turn pretty well going in.”
Bachetti ended up finding his way to second with Coppola, Ray Hall Jr. and Brian Sandstedt completing the top five. Sandstead had a great run on Saturday, charging up to the runner-up spot for a bit before having to settle for fifth at the finish.
“Big Bad Chad,” Chad Jeseo, is now two-for-two in Pro Stock competition on the high banks.
Jeseo took the lead from Nick Hilt in turns one and two with just a handful of laps remaining and went on to take his second victory of the 2021 season.
“We had to start deep tonight,” Jeseo said. “Nicky Hilt had a good car tonight and it looked like he got a little bit loose and we were able to capitalize. All in all, it was a good night for the 25 team.”
In the closing circuits, though, he almost gave it away getting high in turns one and two going really high and getting into the loose stuff, scrubbing off a whole bunch of speed. He regained his composure and got the job done, however.
“You’re right on the edge with these things,” he said. “Nicky got loose in the center of one and two and I got a little high coming off of that same corner. You have to be right up on the wall here and there’s no room for error and we got away with one tonight.”
Hilt came home with a solid second place finish. Tommy Dean fought hard all night long and brought his #413 home in the third spot. Zach Seyerlein was fourth and Scott Towslee, who came from the rear of the field after a late race jingle in turns three and four, drove his way back through to a top five finish.
Hunter Sanchez drove away and hid in the 20-lap Boomer’s Pure Stock Clash, defeating two of the division’s top runners, Jeff Meltz Sr. and John Devine in the process. Chris Stalker and Janai St. Pierre completed the top five in that event.
Stalker took one of the Pure Stock victories before the rain drops fell last week. Meltz Sr. and Devine took two of the victories on Saturday with Sanchez taking the third.
Brandon Ely (Dual Cam) and Victor Duncan (Single Cam) were victorious in Four-Cylinder feature action.
Special recognition needs to be given to Margaret Bedell and her brother, Brian Bedell, and the folks from Boomer’s Performance. Saturday was the 35th consecutive season they sponsored a night at the speedway and they wanted to do something special for the racers.
Well, several special somethings.
The Bedell’s posted $212 to the winner’s of each Modified heat race in honor of Jack Johnson. The Modified feature cup was in memory of Mark Fleury who won the very first Boomer’s night Modified main event back in 1987.
The Pro Stock trophy that went home with Chad Jeseo was named in honor of Jimmy Langenback who did the same.
In the Pure Stock Clash, the Bedell’s put up several lap sponsors in memory of several people who were big parts of the Valley over the years. In addition to the extra money they put on every lap for racers, the first circuit was in memory of Russ Blake, who was head of the track’s Board of Directors at one time.
Lap five was for Faye Kanopka who was a long-time ticket seller at the track. Lap 10 was in memory of Bob James of Bobco Video and lap 20 was in honor of Brian and Margaret’s brother, Robert “Boomer” Bedell, who started Boomer’s back in 1986.
A great job by the entire Bedell family to keep all of these individuals memories alive while, at the same time, helping out the racers who put on the show each week.
Modified: 1) L.J Lombardo* 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Olden Dwyer, 4) Eddie Marshall, 5) Andy Bachetti* 6) Mark Flach, 7) Kyle Sheldon, 8) Matt Williamson 9) Rob Pitcher, 10) Brett Haas, 11) Ricky Davis 12) Kolby Schroder, 13) Bobby Hackel IV 14) Wayne Jelley, 15) Kenny Tremont Jr, 16) Mike King, 17) Jackie Brown JR. 18) Kyle Armstrong, 19) Timothy Davis 20) Dan Humes 21) Josh Marcus, 22) J.R. Heffner, 23) Denny Soltis 24) Chase Dowling 25) John Ruchel 26) Paul Gilardi, 27) Brian Berger, 28) Dave Mcfeeters 29) Ryan Darcy
358-Modified: 1) Jason Herrington, 2) Andy Bachetti* 3) Joey Coppola 4) Ray Hall Jr, 5) Brian Sandstedt, 6) Ryan Charland, 7) Alan Houghtaling, 8) Adam Gaige 9) Brandon Lane, 10) Bryan McGuire 11) Kim Lavoy 12) Ryan Larkin 13) Brian Petrerson 14) Frank Harper, 15) Montgomery Tremont 16) Mike Sabia 17) Olden Dwyer, 18) John Lutes JR. 19) Bob Hackel
Pro Stock: 1) Chad Jeseo,** 2) Nick Hilt, 3) Tom Dean, 4) Zach Seyerlein, 5) Scott Towslee, 6) Jason Meltz, 7) Tony Markou 8) Dave Stickles, 9) Doug Olds 10) Steven LaRochelle, 11) Tom O’Connor 12) Johnny Rivers, 13) Shawn Perez, 14) Brian Keough 15) Jay Fitgerald
Boomer’s Pure Stock Clash: 1) Hunter Sanchez 2) Jeff Meltz SR.* 3) John Devine* 4) Chris Stalker** 5) Janai St. Pierre, 6) Clifford Booth, 7) Brian Walsh, 8) Jethro Rossman, 9) Ryan Brown, 10) Chris Brown, 11) Franklin Smith, 12) Katarina Foster 13) Rob Partridge* 14) Zach Sorrentino, 15) Keri Vandenburg, 16) Scott Morris, 17) Jim Dellea, 18) Mike Dianda 19) Dave Striebel JR. 20) Wayne Mahar 21) Scott Kilmer,
Pure Stock #1 (May 8th): 1) Chris Stalker** 2) Clifford Booth, 3) John Devine** 4) Don Kennedy, 5) Franklin Smith, 6) Jethro Rossman, 7) Craig Coons, 8) Keri Vandenburg, 9) Chris Brown, 10) Dave Striebel JR. 11) Scott Kilmer,
Pure Stock #1 (May 15th): 1) Jeff Meltz SR.** 2) Scott Morris, 3) Brian Walsh, 4) Zach Sorrentino, 5) Ryan Brown, 6) Mike Dianda 7) Dave Striebel JR. 8) Craig Coons, 9) Colby Kokosa
Pure Stock #2: 1) John Devine** 2) Clifford Booth, 3) Chris Stalker** 4) Janai St. Pierre, 5) Keri Vandenburg, 6) Franklin Smith, 7) Wayne Mahar 8) Rocco Procopio, 9) Shawn Perez,
Pure Stock #3: 1) Hunter Sanchez* 2) Jim Dellea, 3) Jethro Rossman, 4) Katarina Foster 5) Chris Brown, 6) Rob Partridge* 7) Scott Kilmer, 8) Don Kennedy,
Four-Cylinder Single Cam: 1) Victor Duncan* 2) Joe Wolfe 3) Bradley Batho, 4) Althea Roy 5) Chris Bierce, 6) Matt Narzynski, 7) Jacob Mcdonald 8) Joey Batho, 9) Tim Meltz 10) Luke Williams, 11) Gary Malloy SR.,
Four-Cylinder Dual Cam: 1) Brandon Ely* 2) Doug Howe 3) Jim Williams 4) Mike Duncan, 5) Lucas Ballard, 6) Steve Burbank, 7) John Wright, 8) Shawn Briggs 9) Jim Guertin,s
