ANDY BACHETTI & RYAN LARKIN GET CAREER FIRSTS AT LEBANON VALLEY

August 17, 2002, West Lebanon, NY- Andy Bachetti, from Great Barrington, scored the victory in the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley. Second generation driver, Ryan Larkin captured his first career sportsman victory in their 20-lap feature. Rob Yetman was the winner of the 20-lap Pro Stock main event. Lebanon Valley hosted its first ever spectator racing and Todd Goldstein took top honors in the event. The great folks at Saxton Signs were responsible for bringing us this action-packed night of racing.

There was trouble on the very first lap of the 30-lap modified feature. Matt Quinn and Kenny Tremont made contact going down the back straightaway, but both continued without any visible damage. Andy Bachetti brought his Coors Light # 21 into the lead on the very first lap and set a torrid pace. Bachetti was so quick on the lead that he caught the back of the field by lap six. The A. Colarusso & Son #74 of J.R. Heffner was in the runner-up position and trying to keep pace with the leader. Denny Soltis had another strong run going in the Albreada Waste #22 until he retired suddenly on lap nine. With a third of the race now completed Kenny Tremont Jr. was only up to tenth while Brett Hearn had only gotten up to eleventh. Rich Ricci Jr’s Fall Fittings #55 was biting by the bad luck bug again. He had moved into fifth until motor woes sidelined him on lap 14.

The second of four caution flags in the race came on lap 18 as Sparky Lowe made heavy contact with the turn two wall. Tremont moved from eighth to sixth on the ensuing restart. The caution flag flew for Matt Quinn on lap 25 as his right rear tire went flat. Problems for the Gable Motorsports #1 Budweiser car of Hearn on lap 26 as he suddenly slowed coming off turn four. It appears that an ignition problem caused the car to stop and the crew could not fix the problem, which relegated Hearn to 18th in the finishing order. Hearn trailed the Emerick Associates # 115 of Tremont by only three points going into Saturday night’s race. This gave Tremont a chance to make his lead quite a bit larger, but Tremont uncharacteristically was only able to get up to sixth by the end of the race.

Bachetti was clearly the class of the field on this night. At times he held almost a full straightaway lead over Heffner. Bachetti has had a fast car every week, but mechanical problems had prevented a victory to this point. That all changed Saturday night as Bachetti made it to victory lane for the first time ever in a big block modified at Lebanon Valley. Heffner ended some poor luck of his own to finish second, with Dave Leckonby an impressive third. Donnie Corellis returned after a one week hiatus to recorded a fourth place finish and last week’s winner Eddie Marshall rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap sportsman feature had a little trouble getting in the first lap Saturday night. Three caution periods were necessary before lap one appeared on the lap counter. Jay Haviland and John Hotchkiss were both send to the rear for violating the changing lane policy and Jeff Carr was sent to the rear for spinning Roy Bridge. All this happened with zero laps completed! The call was made on the third restart to go single file. Ryan Larkin now found himself the leader of the race. Frank Harper held off and early bid from Art Collins to maintain third on lap three. Bobby Knipe cracked the top five for the first time on lap six.

Collins was finally able to get by Harper for third at the halfway point of the race. The caution came out again on lap eleven as Bridge found himself spun once again. This time Mike Keeler was sent to the pits for the evening for his role in the incident. Larkin had a potent car and was able to fend off every challenge to get his first career sportsman victory. Lebanon Valley modified legend; Dickie Larkin was in victory lane to present the checkered flag to his son. As some might not know Ryan is hearing impaired and his father conducted the interview in a very jubilant victory lane with his son. Ed Harkins finished second followed by Collins, Knipe and K.C. Goewey.

Dan Blackburn led the first lap of the 20-lap Pro Stock feature. He lost the lead to Adam Haas on the very next lap. The battle for fourth between Jim Langenback and Robbie Speed went side by side for several laps. Danny Sanchez made his way by both driver and into fourth on lap five; he then made a move into third on the same lap. The first caution period of the race came on lap six for Bobby Duzlak. While under the yellow flag Sanchez’s car appeared to suddenly stop. That left Langenback with no where to go and the two cars got hooked together. Both would continue in the race, but now from the back of the field. Rob Yetman moved into the lead on the restart.

Langenback got turned around on lap ten relegating him to the back once again. The motor gremlins have caught Robbie Speed and don’t appear to want to let go. His sixth motor of the season went up in smoke on lap eleven. Problems for the Blackburn boys on lap 15. Al Blackburn made contact with Haas sending Haas into the turn one wall. Dan Blackburn could not avoid Haas and suffered heavy damage as well. It ended a great top five run for all three drivers. Yetman still maintained the lead but now he had Tom Brandt and Paul LaRochelle right behind him. Brandt slipped in turn two on the restart, which allowed LaRochelle to get by for second. After suffering heavy damage to his racer last week, Yetman and his crew were rewarded with a trip to victory lane this week. LaRochelle finished second with Brandt third and Duzlak fourth. After all his problems Langenback was still able to record a top five finish.

Next Saturday night Lebanon Valley Speedway will be hosting their 50th Anniversary celebration. Many drivers from throughout Lebanon Valley’s history will be on hand to meet the fans. This is truly an historic occasion that you will not want to miss. Check out the speedway’s web site for more information at www.lebanonvalley.com or call the speedway at (518) 794-9606.

8-17 SAXTON SIGN CORPORATION / SHELDON OIL SERVICES MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Andy Bachetti, 2) J.R. Heffner, 3) Dave Leckonby, 4) Donnie Corellis, 5) Eddie Marshall, 6) Kenny Tremont Jr, 7) Ernie Palmer Jr, 8) Rob Pitcher, 9) John Hewitt, 10) Mel Schruffer, 11) Mike King, 12) Hector Stratton, 13) John Alberti, 14) Guy Sheldon, 15) Steve Devine, 16) Dave Baranowski, 17) Brett Hearn, 18) Matt Quinn, 19) Sparky Lowe, 20) Maynard Forrette, 21) Rich Ricci Jr, 22) Denny Soltis, 23) Paul Gilardi, 24) Charlie Humes, 25) Hawley Smith, 26) Chris Moore, 27) Russ Reckner

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Ryan Larkin, 2) Ed Harkin, 3) Art Collins, 4) Bobby Knipe, 5) K.C. Goewey, 6) Lorne Browe, 7) Frank Harper, 8) Skip Travis, 9) Jeff Carr, 10) Will Galm, 11) Stan Lemiesz, 12) Roy Bridge, 13) Mike Mason, 14) Don Miller, 15) K. C. McCoy, 16) Walt McKay, 17) Jay Haviland, 18) Dan Humes, 19) John Hotchkiss, 20) Bill Bahrite, 21) Whitey Slavin, 22) Dave Tanguay, 23) Mike Keeler, 24) Earl Thitchener, 25) Jimmy Lord, 26) Jeff Watson, 27) Fred Pendergast

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Paul LaRochelle, 3) Tom Brandt, 4) Bob Duzlak Jr, 5) Jim Langenback, 6) Ed Bachand, 7) Frank Twing, 8) Victor Hopkins, 9) Jason DiBello, 10) Al Blackburn, 11) Adam Haas, 12) Rick Fosby, 13) Jeff Kelmel, 14) Brian Keough, 15) Dan Blackburn, 16) Don Ely, 17) Robbie Speed, 18) Danny Sanchez, 19) Chris Crews

ROOKIE "A" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Ralph Hotchkiss, 2) Jery Helms, 3) Mike Fachini, 4) Jim Cronk, 5) John Santolin, 6) Ben Britch, 7) Spencer Hughes, 8) Jim Keough, 9) Larry Megan

ROOKIE "B" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Kim LaVoy, 2) Bill Lobdell, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Fran Marchand, 5) Joe Mabb Jr, 6) Jerry Wright, 7) Bill Hammell, 8) Jim Hankle, 9) Jim Rhodes, 10) Chris Claus, 11) Henry Warner

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Brian Sandstedt, 2) Larry Ball, 3) Bob Burl, 4) Robert Gibson, 5) Mike Eichstedt, 6) Jason Casey, 7) John Chapman, 8) Rich Douglass, 9) Kory Sandstedt, 10) Jeff Wilbur, 11) Phil Moffit, 12) Don Coon, 13) John Fachini, 14) Poncho Hankey, 15) Jim Fachini, 16) Dave Houser, 17) John Rivers Jr

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Ron Hapeman, 3) Earl Soulier Jr, 4) Chris Streeter, 5) Ryan Coon, 6) Bruce Moffit, 7) Dave Atwater, 8) Dan Crosby, 9) Jeremy Pease, 10) Mike Grehl Jr, 11) Todd Pelkey, 12) Dave Shepard, 13) Mike Blanchard, 14) Marcus Tifft, 15) John Betz, 16) Steve Hatch

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Bob Palmer, 2) Jim Hankey, 3) Pete DeFiglio, 4) Peter Wiegand, 5) George Miles Jr, 6) D.T. Pickard, 7) Ronald Johnson, 8) Michael Davis, 9) Jay Martin, 10) Kevin Dolan, 11) Ronny Jacobsen, 12) Chris Hutnik, 13) Ron Tritschler, 14) Alan Hill, 15) Phil Wood, 16) Ed Hubbard,

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Rich Harkins, 2) Jim O'Neil, 3) Chrissy Hilt, 4) Michael Middleton, 5) Jeff Douglass, 6) Mark Huston, 7) Shannon McDermott, 8) Ryan Hover, 9) Nathan Chaves, 10) Michael Dianda, 11) Paul Handlowich, 12) John Hubbard, 13) Nick Hilt Jr, 14) John Denue, 15) Keith Barlow, 16) Pete Everett