5.29.15 Albany Saratoga Speedway Results
Malta, NY – In front of a large crowd, New Jersey’s Brett Hearn picked up his third win of the season in the Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified division at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night. The win stopped current points leader Kenny Tremont, Jr. from extending his win streak to three. The win was Hearn’s 119th at the Great Race Place and came nearly 21 years to the day of his first career win at the track.In other action Joey Scarborough (Featherfoot Warrior Series Sportsman), Byron Wescott (DIRTcar Pro Stock), David Schilling (Limited Sportsman), Randy Miller (Street Stock) and Steve Ryan (Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinders) also picked up feature wins.
Justin Barber and Rich Ronca led the field to the green with Ronca taking the early lead over Barber, Jimmy Cottrell, Bobby Hackel, IV and Brian Whittemore. Don Ronca moved past Whittemore on lap two and set his sights on Hackel in fourth. At the same time Cottrell took over second from Barber. By lap six Ronca was solidly in fourth and closing in on Barber for third. The second generation driver from Clifton Park took over the third position on lap nine and set his sights on the leading duo of younger brother Rich Ronca and Cottrell.
With Ronca slowly catching the leaders, Elmo Reckner moved into fifth forcing Hackel out of the top five. The Ballston Lake driver then passed Barber for the fourth position on lap 13. Keith Flach, who started 16th, was also on a charge. The Ravena driver took over fifth from Barber on lap 14.
The first of four caution periods slowed the event on lap 15 when Barber, Flach and Alex Bell tangled in between turns three and four. On the restart Rich Ronca paced the field with Cottrell, Don Ronca, Reckner and Marc Johnson following. Lap 17 the caution would wave two more times. First, Vermont’s Whittemore came to a stop in turn four and then on the restart Bell spun on the back stretch.
Since a lap had not been completed, the restart would be single file. When green flag conditions returned it was still Ronca, Cottrell and Ronca holding down the top three positions with Johnson now fourth and Reckner fifth. The pair of restarts allowed some of the drivers who started farther back in the handicapping to catch up.
Hearn took over the fifth position from Reckner on lap 18 while a lap later Johnson moved past Don Ronca for third. Hearn followed to fourth. Johnson then moved past Cottrell for second on lap 21 as 20th place starter Peter Britten moved into the top five. Hearn took over third from Cottrell on lap 23.
Scott Duell would bring out the final caution period of the event on lap 23 when his Lazzaro’s Auto Body number 14x came to a stop in turn four. Johnson took over the top spot on the restart with Rich Ronca, Hearn, Britten and Cottrell completing the top five. Hearn moved past Ronca for second on lap 25 and set his sights on Johnson. Britten took over the third position on lap 26 while Kenny Tremont, Jr. moved into fourth on the same lap.
Tremont seemed to get faster the longer the race remained under green. He took third from Britten on lap 28 and set his sights on the now heated battle for the lead between Johnson and Hearn. With five laps to go Hearn was all over Johnson. Johnson used the low lane and Hearn the top as the made their way around the four tenths of a mile oval. Johnson drifted up just a bit in turn four which allowed Hearn to get a run on the top side.
Hearn took the lead on lap 33 and immediately pulled away. Hearn picked up the win with Johnson settling for second, Tremont third, Britten fourth and Rich Ronca fifth. Heat races for the 30 car field were won by Cottrell, Barber and Hackel.
Joey Scarborough picked up the win in the 25 lap, $1,000 to win Featherfoot Warrior Series Sportsman event. The win was the second generation driver from Brandon, Vermont’s first of the season and fourth of his career.
Scarborough and Jack Gentile led the field to the green with Scarborough taking the early lead. The first caution of the event slowed the field on lap four when Jack Speshock made contact with the turn two tires, ending his evening. Scarborough again led on the restart with Gentile and Jon Miller in pursuit. The race would be slowed by a red flag on lap five due to Rob Maxon spinning and others, including John Proctor piling in. Proctor’s number 352 got upside down.
Scarborough and Gentile ran one-two on the restart with Jack Swinton now in third. Swinton found the top side to his liking and moved past Gentile for second on lap seven. A lap later he was alongside Scarborough for the lead. After a two lap battle Swinton dropped back a bit only to get back alongside Scarborough two laps later. Swinton and Scarborough traded the lead back and forth over the next two laps before a lap 16 caution for a spun Jeremy Pitts ended the battle.
On the restart Scarborough held the lead and after a brief battle pulled away from Swinton. In the end Scarborough brought home the win over Swinton, Connor Cleveland, Derrick McGrew and Miller. Heat races for the 27 car field were won by Swinton, Scarborough and Gentile.
Byron Wescott picked up the win in the 25 lap DIRTcar Pro Stock feature event. The win was the second of the season for Wescott who also won on opening night. Brandon Emigh finished second with Bill Smith third, Chuck Dumblewski fourth and Cale Kneer fifth. Heat races for the 24 car field were won by Jeff Washburn, Smith and Kneer.
David Schilling won his first career Limited Sportsman feature event. The former asphalt Legends Car winner at the track took the lead after Ken Conroy was caught up in a spin by a lapped car on lap seven. Schilling brought home the win over Chris Curtis, Zach Dauro, Mike Coffey and Scott Flanders. Heat races for the 19 car field were won by Conroy and Schilling.
Randy Miller claimed his fourth Street Stock feature event win in a row in the divisions 20 lap feature event. Miller took the lead from Hunter Sanchez on lap 13 and never looked back. Sanchez finished second with Frank Monroe third, Jake Currier fourth and Phil Sherman fifth.
Steve Ryan won his third Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinder feature event. He picked up the win over Ken Stager and Ben Grant.
The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action this Friday night, June 5th with all divisions in action. The Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modifieds will compete in twin 25 lap feature events in celebration of the 50th season of racing at the Great Race Place. Racing is set to begin at 7pm with pit gates opening at 4pm and grandstand gates opening at 5pm. For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.
Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Ken Tremont Jr, 4) Peter Britten, 5) Rich Ronca, 6) Don Ronca, 7) Jimmy Cottrell, 8) Bobby Hackel IV, 9) Neil Stratton, 10) Ronnie Johnson, 11) Mark Kislowski, 12) Rob Pitcher, 13) Hector Stratton, 14) Matt Delorenzo, 15) Kris Vernold, 16) Keith Flach, 17) Alex Bell, 18) Rich Scagliotta, 19) Brett Wright, 20) Brian Whittemore, 21) Jessey Mueller, 22) Don Mattison, 23) Justin Barber, 24) Brian Gleason, 25) Scott Duell, 26) Mike Perrotte, 27) Elmo Reckner, 28) Dylan Scribner, DNS) Matt Depew, DNS) Ray Hoard, DNS) Mike Minick
Sportsman Featherfoot Series $1,000 TO WIN Results (25 Laps) – 1) Joey Scarborough, 2) Jack Swinton, 3) Connor Cleveland, 4) Derrick McGrew, 5) Jon Miller, 6) Tim Hartman Jr, 7) Robert Bublak, 8) Rocky Warner, 9) Nick Lussier, 10) Jack Gentile, 11) Chris Johnson, 12) Nick Anatriello, 13) Dave Constantino, 14) Jack Bublak, 15) Jeremy Pitts, 16) Johnny Scarborough, 17) Adam Gage, 18) Chris Murray, 19) Hunter Bates, 20) Brandon Pitcher, 21) Mike Burdo, 22) Rob Maxon, 23) Dave Baranowski Jr, 24) John Proctor, 25) Jack Speshock, DNS) Colin Bokus, DNS) Mike Ostrander
Limited Sportsman Results (15 Laps) – 1) David Schilling, 2) Chris Curtis, 3) Zach Daurio, 4) Mike Coffey, 5) Scott Flanders, 6) Mark Rabideau, 7) Anthony Savoca, 8) Reggie Bonner, 9) Tim Heady, 10) Bob Schmidt, 11) Diana Huyck, 12) John Stowell, 13) Rob Lanfear, 14) Ben Brownell, 15) Anthony Alger, 16) Pat Jones, 17) Ken Conroy, 18) Scott Bennett Jr, DNS) Christopher Ronca
Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) Byron Wescott, 2) Brandon Emigh, 3) Bill Smith, 4) Chuck Dumblewski, 5) Cale Kneer, 6) Daniel Sanchez, 7) Robbie Speed, 8) Walt Brownell, 9) Ken Martin, 10) Nick Stone, 11) Jeff Washburn, 12) Rob Yetman, 13) Steve Burch, 14) Kim Duell, 15) Pete Porter, 16) Bernie Companion, 17) Dave Depaulo, 18) Scott Lawrence, 19) Dan Older, 20) Ed Thompson, 21) Norm Loubier, 22) Dan Madigan, 23) Mark Burch, DNS) Kevin Loomis
Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Randy Miller, 2) Hunter Sanchez, 3) Frank Monroe, 4) Jake Currier, 5) Phil Sherman, 6) John Hayes, 7) Jordan Kasper, 8) Fred Harris, 9) Jim Cutler, 10) Josh Coonradt, 11) Mike Arnold, 12) Bill Duprey, 13) David Shippee, 14) Damon Anderson, 15) David Cook, 16) Nathan Dahoda, 17) Daniel Lyle
4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) Steve Ryan, 2) Ken Stager, 3) Ben Grant, 4) Robert Garney, 5) Dave LaBarge, 6) Mike Parodi, 7) Wayne Russell Jr, 8) Brett Horlacher, 9) Phil DeFiglio, DNS) Steve Jones
4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) Robert Garney, 2) Dave LaBarge, 3) Mike Parodi, 4) Wayne Russell Jr, 5) Brett Horlacher, DNS) Steve Jones
4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results – 1) Steve Ryan, 2) Ken Stager, 3) Ben Grant, 4) Phil DeFiglio