RPW Column: Troubles In Heat For Bachetti At Lebanon; Pitcher Likes New Car; Tremont’s Gaining
Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Mother Nature may have postponed the Modified feature Saturday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, but there was still plenty to go over from the evening.
Current Modified point leader Andy Bachetti started his night out just like any other at the Valley. He was contenting for a qualifying spot late in his heat race after starting deep on the grid. However, that’s when things took a turn for the Sheffield, MA driver who was battling with fellow Bay State racer Brett Haas.
“One of the yokes on our driveshaft broke,” Bachetti said. “I’m very grateful that it broke when I was off-throttle, entering the corner or it could have been much worse. Luckily, we didn’t spin the motor too high on RPM’s so we might not have any damage to it.”
Even though he was fighting for a handicapped spot in the heat, Bachetti wasn’t happy with his car. In fact, Haas made a move around the #4 machine which forced him to get back up on the wheel just to get into the top five.
“Brett kind of surprised me when he made his move,” he said. “I wasn’t very good for some reason. The track just threw me a curve.”
Once the driveline broke, Bachetti was pushed into the pits and the team went to work preparing the backup car. They got out in middle-of-the-evening warm-ups and Andy was surprised at how well it was.
“That car was actually better than our primary, I thought,” he said. “I was actually shocked. We were better by about two-tenths and I think we would have been good in the feature.”
The feature field would have been following pole sitter Rob Pitcher to the green flag. They’ll do that this Saturday, though, as the Valley will run double features for the Modifieds.
Pitcher was debuting a brand-new Bicknell Chassis last week and was extremely happy with how the car performed on the night.
“Yes, I absolutely love it,” Pitcher said. “I think we would have been good in the feature. Now I’ll see if I can get it done this Saturday.”
Pitcher has been a mainstay in the Teo Pro Car camp for several seasons. In fact, he started this season in one of the new Elite cars from Teo. However, things just haven’t gone the way the Chatham, NY driver was hoping so a change was made.
What seems to be the difference between the two cars?
“The Bicknell just makes sense,” he said. “It’s like 40 pounds lighter and if you put it together the way the book says, and then put it on the scales, it’s right where they say it’ll be. I was on the phone with Randy (Williamson from BRP) all week. He always got back to me.”
Was the Teo just not what Pitcher wanted?
”Honestly, my new Teo this year was great when we ran in Florida,” he said. “That was before I got into the wreck with Peter Britten in the Short Track Super Series race. It’s never been the same since that hit.”
Does he see any similarities between the two chassis brands?
“My setup in the Bicknell isn’t far off from what I had in the Teo,” he said. “The Bicknell is just smooth and easy to driver where the Teo was rough. I felt like my Teo last year was okay but it was a real handful to drive. The Bicknell is just easy and they have a number for everything. There’s no guesswork.”
One driver trying to figure his new Bicknell out, though, is multi-time Lebanon Valley Modified champion Kenny Tremont. Tremont is working this season to figure out the new design Bicknell chassis and is gaining on it with each lap on the track.
“This car isn’t 100% yet, but we’re gaining on it, “Tremont said. “It’s not necessarily a coils versus bars thing for us. A torsion bar car could have had the same issues we’re dealing with. I think this is something we’ll figure out pretty quickly. We’re not bailing out.”
Being a champion with hundreds of victories, it’s safe to say Tremont understands how to get a car to go around the race track. Sometimes, it just takes a little longer to understand.
“Our cars are good right now, but it’s just taking some time,” he said. “These cars are a little more finicky than I can remember. We will get it but it’s just taking longer than I’d like.”
Surprisingly, one driver not in the pit area on Saturday was the most recent Modified winner Ryan Darcy.
After picking up his first career Big Block win in the 2021 edition of the JC Flach Memorial, Darcy’s #21 was no where to be found on Saturday night, but sometimes, business comes first.
“We had a dump truck that had an issue on Saturday afternoon way up near Saratoga,” Darcy said. “By the time we got the truck back together, and got it home, we were too late to try and rush things together to make it.”
Darcy’s still on cloud nine after his win on June 12th. However, in thinking back to that night, there are some things he’d do a little different.
“It would have been nice if we were able to slow down a bit once the race was over,” he said. “I wish I could have enjoyed that ten minutes or so we had in victory lane just a little bit more. It was awesome, but there was so much going on.”
