Andy Bachetti Motorsports

Saturday night brought dry weather and fierce racing as the Modified class had their final night of regular points.  Brett Hearn entered the night with a nine-point lead over Ronnie Johnson.  A podium would get him the title no matter what, but it didn’t turn out to be necessary.

Paul Gilardi started on pole and led early in a start-and-stop feature.  L.J. Lombardo’s night ended almost immediately with mechanical issues.  Mike King didn’t fare much better as a cut tire put in the pits.  He would retire shortly afterwards.

The man with the fastest car early on was Eddie Marshall.  It took only three laps for him to get up to second from sixth.  He then proceeded to stalk Gilardi for the next few laps before snatching the advantage on Lap 9.

Giving chase to Marshall was Kenny Tremont Jr., who followed Marshall past Gilardi into second on Lap 10.  Further back, Hearn was quickly making his way up the order with Johnson right behind him.

Ultimately, the title was decided when Johnson cut a right rear tire on Lap 13, bringing out a yellow.  Johnson would get a new tire and continue, but his title chances were over.  He would finish 11th.

The second half of the race saw a four-car pack break away from the field.  Marshall, Keith Flach, Tremont and Hearn pulled away to settle things among themselves.  Marshall seemed to have the pace for victory, but lapped traffic slowed his pace and allowed Flach to run him down.

On the final lap, Marshall was balked by slower traffic.  In addition, Bobby Hackel, IV blew a right rear tire.  That was enough for Flach to get alongside and out-drag Marshall to the line for the win.

“Our car was pretty good tonight,” Flach said afterwards.  “We were able to maneuver in traffic a little bit better…than we have in the last couple of weeks.  You’re better off being the second guy in lapped traffic towards the end than the leader.  Ended up panning out that the outside was open and got a decent run [off of Turn 4].”

Marshall was three-hundredths of a second back in second.  Tremont was third, while Hearn’s fourth-place was enough to take the championship.  Kolby Schroder was fifth.

Saturday night was officially the last night of regular points for the Modifieds.  DIRTcar has a rule that states that track point championships for the Modified and Pro Stock classes must be complete by Labor Day at the latest.  Races for touring series are considered to be appearance points only.  As a result, the only way that Hearn could technically lose the championship at this point is the highly unlikely scenario where he doesn’t show up for Mr. DIRT Track U.S.A. Saturday night and doesn’t delegate a substitute.

In the Small Block Modifieds, attrition was the name of the game.  23 cars started the race, but only 13 finished.

Brandon Lane led the field to green and showed great pace early on.  It didn’t take long for the incidents to start, though.  On the first lap, Timothy Davis spun in Turn 1 and was hit by Kenny Aanonsen Jr. to bring out the first caution.  Both drivers were ok, but done for the night.

Lane’s chances to win ended when he was involved in a Lap 2 crash in Turn 2 along with Brian Sandstedt, Jason Herrington, Frank Harper and Alan Houghtaling.  Sandstedt and Houghtaling were out on the spot, while Herrington’s team had to make substantial bodywork repairs.  That included one crewmember stomping on the interior bodywork to get it out of the air.

Lane would make repairs and eventually finish 11th.  The crash gave the lead to 16-year old Dillon Steuer, who showed a lot of pace Saturday night.

Points leader Tremont started way back in 17th, but used the cautions to put himself right into contention.  It only took seven laps for Tremont to get all the way to second.

Meanwhile, the trouble continued.  Brett Haas had a mechanical failure and fell off the pace directly in front of J.R. Heffner.  Heffner had nowhere to go and ran into Haas, spinning both cars out.  Both drivers were ok, but done for the night.

On the restart, another crash broke out in Turn 2 involving Kim LaVoy, Flach (driving in place of Olden Dwyer), Matt Humes and Nikki Ouellette.  LaVoy was done for the evening, while the others were able to continue following minor repairs.

Finally, in the scariest incident of the night, Lorne Browe flipped his No. 14 out of third-place in Turn 2.  Everyone walked away from these incidents.

The second half of the race was caution-free, allowing Steuer and Tremont to settle things among themselves.  Steuer was strong, but got loose late.  Tremont was able to capitalize on Steuer going too high in Turn 2 to take the lead with five laps to go.  From there, Tremont held to take his fifth win of the year.

Steuer finished second, but was quite disappointed with the result.  ANDY BACHETTI was third, followed by the damaged car of Jason Herrington.  Ricky Davis was fifth.

Benjamin Moore Paints/AmeriPride Lines Modified Feature Results (30 laps):

1) Keith Flach

2) Eddie Marshall

3) Kenny Tremont Jr.

4) Brett Hearn

5) Kolby Schroder

13) ANDY BACHETTI

Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps):

1) Kenny Tremont Jr.

2) Dillon Steuer

3) ANDY BACHETTI

4) Jason Herrington

5) Ricky Davis