Sheldon Oil Services/Bulldog Concrete Maynard Forrette Memorial Results (30 laps):
- L.J. Lombardo
- Keith Flach
- Kyle Sheldon
- J.R. Heffner
- Kenny Tremont Jr.
- ANDY BACHETTI
Small Block Modified Results (24 laps):
- Olden Dwyer
- Andy Bachetti
- J.R. Heffner
- Kenny Tremont Jr.
- Brian Peterson
Saturday night saw Sheldon Oil Services and Bulldog Concrete sponsor Lebanon Valley Speedway’s annual race in honor of the late Maynard Forrette, a longtime competitor on the high banks. An extra $1000 was on the line in the Modified class for the evening.
Since the Super DIRTcar Series was racing Saturday night at Weedsport Speedway and the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series raced at Autodrome Drummondville, only appearance points were on offer in the Modified and Pro Stock classes. Despite that, there was still plenty of action on offer.
L.J. Lombardo designated his girlfriend Mikey Albreada as the person to draw in his stead for heat assignment and position. When asked why, Lombardo noted that he has terrible luck in those sorts of situations, claiming “If there was one to 100 in there, I’d draw 101.”
Designating Albreada to do the draw worked out just fine as she drew the Heat No. 1 pole for Lombardo. A victory there gave him the pole for the feature. When the green came out, Lombardo was able to open up a small gap on Kyle Sheldon.
Last week’s winner Keith Flach scored the fifth starting spot via the heads-up start and quickly moved up to third as the field settled in. On lap 8, the first caution flew when Josh Marcus spun in turn 4.
On the restart, Flach was able to get past Sheldon (running a special scheme in honor of his grandfather Todd) for second. Once past, he joined up with Lombardo in order to run away from the pack.
Further back, it was rather tough to gain spots. J.R. Heffner and Kenny Tremont Jr. and points leader Ronnie Johnson attempted to move forward, but it was slow going.
Mechanical issues for Eddie Marshall brought out a yellow with 11 laps to go. The remainder of the race saw a five-way battle up front. Despite that, no one could keep Lombardo from taking the Maynard Forrette Memorial and the $3,000 winner’s check. That said, it was far from easy.
“I had a bad vibration [start around] Lap 15 that scared me a bit,” Lombardo said in the pits. “But, I can’t really complain. At that point, [my team] gave me the best car they possibly could and I just had to drive it.”
When asked how he was going to celebrate, Lombardo indicated that his team was going to party hard. That said, they also designated a sober driver to get them back to Danbury, Conn. safely.
Flach ended up second, followed by Sheldon. Heffner was fourth, while Tremont was fifth.
In the Small Block Modified race, Olden Dwyer started on pole and led early. At the end of the first lap, Chad Pierce had a mechanical failure on the frontstretch and stacked up the field. Harold Robitaille spun to bring out the yellow while trying to avoid.
The man on the move was Andy Bachetti. Starting 13th, Bachetti quickly moved into the top five. By Lap 6, Bachetti was already up to third and still charging. Despite the charge, Dwyer was able to open up a big gap on the field.
Bachetti was able to take second from Brian Peterson on Lap 13 and immediately set out to catch Dwyer. With superior pace, Bachetti ran down Dwyer in the closing laps.
With a couple of laps to go, Bachetti attempted a three-wide move for the lead (while passing the lapped car of Matt Humes) in Turn 1. That didn’t work out, so Bachetti regrouped. On the final lap, Bachetti attempted a massive slide job on Dwyer, but came up short as Dwyer took his first win of the year. Bachetti was second, followed by Heffner, Tremont and Peterson.
STORY FROM: Lebanon Valley Speedway News