WEST LEBANON, N.Y. — Much to the delight of the modest but highly partisan crowd, Andy Bachetti, who won last fall’s $25,000 Mr. Dirt Track USA Super DIRTcar Series event at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, looked to have Sunday night’s King of Spring DIRTcar Series event firmly in hand as well.
He and early leader L.J. Lombardo, another Valley regular, overpowered the invaders early on and seemed to have a one-two finish firmly in hand.
But then disaster struck Bachetti, as his transmission gave out as the field circled after a lap 69 yellow and he pulled up at the flagstand to await a tow, in the process passing command of the 100-lap event back to Lombardo, who then sailed easily to the $13,500 triumph.
Another Lebanon Valley regular, Marc Johnson, was third ahead of DIRTcar kingpins Billy Decker and Mat Williamson, with Valley heroes Kyle Armstrong, Eddie Marshall and Bobby Hackel III leading a second five that also included Series regulars Jack Lehner and Anthony Perrego.
“I didn’t dare think about anything else except hitting my marks for the last 26 laps,” declared the elated winner. “I won a few big races with our Sportsman car but this is our first big win in the big blocks, though we’ve won a few regular Saturday night shows here. We all work our asses off to keep the car competitive and it’s nice to be rewarded for all that.”
Australian expatriate Peter Britten pulled the pole on the redraw and led the field to green with Lombardo alongside. Britten got a big start off the high banks, as Lebanon Valley rules put the odd numbered cars on the favored outside lane, and led convincingly through the teens, by which time he kept getting higher and higher and Lombardo started challenging on the bottom. Finally, on lap 18, Lombardo got all the way by. Brett Haas and Bachetti, who started eighth, soon followed as Britten was obviously struggling and soon dropped out.
The race’s first caution came on lap 26, when both Haas and Tim Sears Jr slowed on the frontstretch, putting Bachetti alongside the leader for the restart with Johnson and Matt Sheppard right behind them. Bachetti, the big winner on the high banked half-mile this season and the defending point champion, got the lead on the restart as expected and many thought he was home free.
Lap 37 saw Sunday night’s Weedsport winner, Stewart Friesen, pull up with a flat, with Williamson used the restart to his advantage and shooting down Sheppard and Decker to move to fourth. They then ran in that order through the yellow that saw Bachetti’s demise but on the restart, longtime Valley star Decker blew back by Williamson to cement his position on the podium.
One final caution on lap 93 for a right rear flat on Sheppard’s mount brought a single file restart and by then, everyone was in freight train formation just riding it out and stayed that way to the checkers.
“I felt like on a short run LJ could get away from me a little but eventually we’d start closing on him only to have another yellow,” tipped Johnson. “But after a horrible night last night at Weedsport, it’s a blessing to come home and run good. I kept trying to get a run on him but he had a really good car.”
Decker was pleased as well, saying “we needed a good run. It’s my best series finish this year for my new owner and the car was close, just a little loose. I backed up a little there on the start but I managed to get’em back before it was over. That’s encouraging!”
In the companion Pro Stock feature, division kingpin Chad Jeseo won easily over Zach Sorrentino and Nick Hilt Jr.
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 35L-LJ Lombardo[2]; 2. 9-Marc Johnson[10]; 3. 91-Billy Decker[6]; 4. 88-Mat Williamson[12]; 5. 11A-Kyle Armstrong[7]; 6. 98M-Eddie Marshall[9]; 7. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[15]; 8. 2L-Jack Lehner[14]; 9. 4P-Anthony Perrego[11]; 10. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[18]; 11. 99-Kolby Schroder[24]; 12. 55H-Brett Haas[4]; 13. 17Z-Dillon Steuer[16]; 14. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 15. 2A-Mike Gular[26]; 16. 8H-Max McLaughlin[25]; 17. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[20]; 18. 12S-Darren Smith[27]; 19. 44-Stewart Friesen[13]; 20. 4-Andy Bachetti[8]; 21. 60-Brian Berger[17]; 22. 74-JR Heffner[23]; 23. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[21]; 24. 21A-Peter Britten[1]; 25. 14-CG Morey[29]; 26. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr[19]; 27. 37-Paul St Sauveur[28]; 28. 55-Mike King[30]; 29. 42-Kyle Sheldon[3]; 30. 215P-Adam Pierson[22]