Tyler Dippel Becomes Youngest-Ever Lebanon Valley Modified Winner
Story By:PHIL ALLAWAY / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY MEDIA Photos By:DAVE DALESANDRO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
West Lebanon NY.- May 8, 2016-Despite being a busy 16-year old, Tyler Dippel still takes the time to have at it in a Big Block. Saturday night was the second in what Dippel says will be about five appearances at Lebanon Valley this year. He made the best of it.
Paul Gilardi started from pole and immediately came under attack from last week’s runner-up, Brian Berger. Berger tried to get underneath Gilardi, but could not do so before Mike Keeler hit the wall in turn 4, bringing out a yellow.
On the restart, Gilardi moved down low after the start-finish line to block Berger. However, that move allowed Andy Bachetti to blast past on the outside from third to take the lead and pull out into the distance.
Behind Bachetti, a number of drivers were on the charge. Dippel, who started 13th, quickly moved up to fifth by lap 3 with Kenny Tremont, Jr. close in tow. Brett Hearn’s charge was slower in nature, but still impressive.
Dippel took second position from Gilardi on lap 7 and took off after Bachetti. The two seemed to be evenly matched, but Bachetti’s advantage disappeared when an incident involving Kyle Sheldon, Mike King and Matt Pupello in turn 2 brought out another yellow.
On the restart, Bachetti and Dippel began to battle amongst themselves. Dippel initially tried the inside to get past, but was blocked. Dippel then used Bachetti’s lost momentum against him to sweep past on the outside of turn 2 to take the lead on lap 12.
From there, Dippel was able to expand his lead to nearly two seconds. However, the blistering pace meant lapped traffic. Dippel had a little trouble with lapped cars, allowing Bachetti and Tremont into the mix. However, Dippel was able to hold on to take his first career Big Block Modified win. At 16, he is the youngest driver ever to win a Big Block Modified feature at Lebanon Valley.
Afterwards, Dippel was elated.
“Oh man, [the car] was just so good,” Dippel said in the pits. “Every little gap that opened, I just pounced right on it. I had to go.
“[After] the restart, I was watching [Bachetti’s] line. I had a run on him and he thought I was running the bottom. I psyched him out so he blocked the bottom, then I went right by up top.”
Bachetti was right behind in second, while Tremont was third. Hearn made some late passes to finish fourth, while Berger was fifth.
In the Small Block Modifieds, Kim LaVoy, driving the re-numbered No. 5 this season in memory of former racer and crewmember Russell Reckner, started from the pole in the heads-up start and seemed quite strong early. Heat No. 2 winner Demetrios Drellos gave hasty chase.
Just after lap 2 was completed, Jason Herrington spun in turn 1, creating a stack-up situation that wrapped up Ricky Davis, Frank Harper and others. Herrington was able to continue and eventually finished eighth.
On the restart, LaVoy’s car seemed to hesitate. At the same time, Drellos got a heck of a restart and blasted past into the lead. J.R. Heffner, driving the No. 17 small block, followed past into second. From there, the Queensbury native pulled away from the field.
A caution on lap 15 due to Buddy Hencke stopping in turn 2 bunched up the field and gave Heffner another chance. However, when the green came back out, Drellos pulled away once again and took a very satisfying victory.
Heffner finished second, followed by Brett Haas in third. LaVoy finished a strong fourth while Elmo Reckner was fifth.
In Pro Stock, rookie Ryan Hosier started on pole, but quickly lost his advantage to the veteran Paul LaRochelle. Despite losing the lead early, Hosier kept the pressure up on Paul through much of the race. Paul’s son, Steven LaRochelle, was right there as well.
The only yellow of the feature came out on lap 9 when Rick Duzlak had a mechanical failure and coasted to a stop in turn 1. On the restart, Hosier tried to get the lead back from Paul LaRochelle, but was unable to do so. Eventually, Hosier got loose and fell into Steven LaRochelle’s clutches.
Steven LaRochelle tried to get past Hosier in the last couple of laps, but got out of shape and dropped back. Paul LaRochelle held off Hosier to take the victory.
Hosier was second, followed by Jay Corbin in third. Rob Yetman finished fourth, while Steven LaRochelle settled for fifth.
In Pure Stock, Jeff Meltz, Sr., Brian Walsh and Ray Hall, Sr. each won regular features. Jeff Meltz, Jr. won the 20-lap Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Clash. Finally, in the 4-Cylinder class, Kenny Stager won Dual-Cam and just nicked Single-Cam winner Brandon Ely at the line for the overall win.
Contractor Sales/Boomer’s Performance Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Tyler Dippel, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Brian Berger, 6) J.R. Heffner, 7) Kyle Armstrong, 8) Keith Flach, 9) Paul Gilardi, 10) Rob Pitcher, 11) Steve Hough, 12) Chad Jeseo, 13) Eddie Marshall, 14) Kolby Schroder, 15) Elmo Reckner, 16) Lorne Browe, 17) Kyle Sheldon, 18) Mark Chartrand, 19) Dave McFeeters, 20) Kyle Hoffman, 21) Matt Pupello, 22) Mike King, 23) Olden Dwyer, 24) Denny Soltis, 25) Mike Keeler
Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Demetrios Drellos, 2) J.R. Heffner, 3) Brett Haas, 4) Kim LaVoy, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Ray Hall, Jr., 7) Ryan Darcy, 8) Jason Herrington, 9) Brian Peterson, 10) Peter Carlotto, 11) Rob Pitcher, 12) Olden Dwyer, 13) Frank Hoard, III, 14) Steve Hough, 15) Brian Sandstedt, 16) Frank Harper, 17) Joey Scarborough, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Buddy Hencke, 20) Ricky Davis, 21) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 22) Jason Tompkins, 23) Kenny Aanonsen, Jr., 24) Chad Pierce
Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Paul LaRochelle, 2) Kyle Hosier, 3) Jay Corbin, 4) Rob Yetman, 5) Steven LaRochelle, 6) Chad Arsenault, 7) Jon Routhier, 8) Chuck Towslee, 9) Rick Dempsey, 10) Victor Hopkins, 11) Nick Hilt, 12) Rich Crane, 13) Ray Hall, Jr., 14) Joe LaFlamme, 15) Tom Dean, 16) Rick Duzlak. DNS: Matt Cross
Pure Stock Feature No. 1 (8 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 2) Dave Stickles, 3) Scott Morris, 4) Bill Deak, Sr., 5) Ed Hatch, 6) Dom Denue, 7) Harold Robitaille, 8) Gary Malloy, 9) Karen Verhagen, 10) Wuggie Burdick. DNS: James Cross
Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Brian Walsh, 2) Jeff Kreutziger, 3) John Devine, 4) Dan Cote, 5) Mark Dwyer, 6) Keri VanDenburg, 7) Zach Seyerlein, 8) Joe Cheneil, 9) Gary VanDenburg, 10) Nick Reilly
Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Ray Hall, Sr., 2) Jay Casey, 3) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 4) Al Relyea, 5) Larry Perez, 6) Jason Meltz, 7) Bill Deak, Jr., 8) Shawn Perez, 9) Chris Murphy, 10) Aaron Fachini, 11) Kevin Paul, 12) Gary O’Brien, 13) Tim Thompson. DNS: Clifford Booth, Mike Arnold
Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Clash Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 2) Ray Hall, Sr., 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 5) Al Relyea, 6) Jeff Kreutziger, 7) Dom Denue, 8) John Devine, 9) Dave Stickles, 10) Bill Deak, Sr., 11) Bill Deak, Jr., 12) Brian Walsh, 13) Ed Hatch, 14) Harold Robitaille, 15) Zach Seyerlein, 16) Dan Cote, 17) Mark Dwyer. DNS: Jay Casey, Scott Morris, Larry Perez, Keri VanDenburg
4-Cylinder Dual Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Kenny Stager, 2) Chris Vandeputte, 3) Ammo Wright, 4) Philipp Gomm, 5) Daniel Hoag, 6) Kelly Duncan, 7) Shawny Hazel, 8) Jim Guertin, 9) P.J. Bleau
4-Cylinder Single-Cam Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Brandon Ely, 2) Tim Meltz, 3) Jim Williams, 4) Jethro Rossman, 5) Luke Williams, 6) Stephen Cameron, Jr., 7) Bradley Batho, 8) Robert Martin, 9) James Street, 10) Emily Deming, 11) Nick McClendon, 12) Victor Duncan
