In the 358-Modified main, it was another driver, Andy Bachetti, who led from start-to-finish as he took the Jim Winchell-owned #17 to victory lane in the season opening event for the division.
Bachetti used the luck of the draw to get the pole in the first heat race of the night, which he won handily, and with a heads-up start, had the pole in the feature event and never looked back.
“Jimmy and his whole gang put this car together and it’s a pretty good hot rod right now,” Bachetti said. “We’ll now see what we can do from the back with this thing but I can’t say enough about his crew and my guys. Everything is really gelling for us right now.”
For the first time in a number of years, Bachetti will be running the Small Block Modifieds regularly at the Valley. Putting the deal together with Winchell over the off-season has allowed the Massachusetts driver to run both classes each week and not sacrifice anything for his Big Block effort.
“This could be a lot of fun this year,” he said. “My hats off to this group, though. Without Jimmy and his gang I wouldn’t be driving this Small Block, so I’m really happy for that.”
Second place finisher in the event, Brett Haas, was all smiles after the feature was complete. The Haas team has debuted brand new Bicknell car after years behind the wheel of Teo Pro Cars. The change in manufacturers paid dividends Saturday with the runner-up finish for the second-generation driver.
“I’m extremely happy with a second place finish to start the year,”Haas said. “This is definitely a confidence booster for us with this new Bicknell this year and so far I have absolutely no complaints about it.”
With the addition of weekly drivers like Bachetti, Haas knows the competition will be tough if he hopes to get his first victory since 2014.
“This is actually going to be a really tough class this year with the caliber of drivers we have running it full-time,” he said. “Congratulations to Andy. I’m glad he’s in the class…granted it was a tough class in years past, but it’s going to be even that much tougher with Andy in it.”
No matter what, though, Haas is happy to say the least.
“My guys have put in a lot of time and effort to bring our program to where it is,” he said. “We’ve got some amazing marketing partners behind us this year, so to get a podium finish in the first race of the year, I’m happy and hope we can carry this momentum through the year.”
Third place finisher Jason Herrington was also very happy with his opening night run for 2018. The “Flyin’ Farmer” is looking for big things this season. Saturday night, on the slippery race track, he was ecstatic to come away with third.
“Man that track was slick, but I’m so glad we were able to have a good finish like we did tonight,” he said. “Kenny (Tremont) showed me a nose a couple times and I was like, oh no, and it made me get back up on the wheel to make sure I hit my marks. As slick as it was tonight, I missed my marks a few times but just made sure I got back into my rhythm. I can’t be happier right now with how tonight finished up for us.”
Tremont came home fourth and Frank Harper brought the Paul Wehnau Snap-On #25 home fifth so it was a good night for the tool man.
RESULTS:
- ANDY BACHETTI
- Brett Haas
- Jason Herrington
- Kenny Tremont
- Paul Wehnau