7.10.12 Albany Saratoga Speedway Results
Malta, NY – Modified driver Bobby Varin isn’t usually big on patience but Varin was that and more running a torrid 100-lap battle with Brett Hearn to pick up the win in the DIRTcar Series event at Albany Saratoga Speedway. The event, which awarded Varin a $6,000 payday, was promoted by Hearn and presented by Ferris Mowers.
Hearn, who drew the pole position for the title event, took the race lead from Billy Dunn on lap nine. Two laps later Hearn had Varin, who was driving an Andy Romano owned automobile, all over his back bumper.
The duo kept the standing room only crowd’s attention as they weaved in and out of traffic for a good portion of the event. Varin eventually tired of looking at Hearn’s bumper and went by the winningest Albany Saratoga Speedway driver.
The win was Varin’s fifth career DIRTcar Series victory, his last series win coming back in October of 2003 at the Orange County Fair Speedway.
“I think our car was a little bit better,” said an elated Varin. “We could keep it a little bit tighter coming off the corner and he was getting a little bit loose on the longer runs. Slower traffic definitely played a role. It held him [Brett] up a little bit in picking and choosing a line and when to go.”
Hearn was forced to settle for second while Stewart Friesen, Billy Dunn and Vince Vitale rounded out the top five.
Third place finisher, Friesen, started 10th on in the field and had cracked the top five at the halfway point of the event. And shortly after Varin passed Hearn for the race lead, Friesen passed Dunn for third and started to focus on the bumper of Hearn’s Madsen Motorsports car.
Friesen, frequently referred to as ‘Mr. Freeze’ was all over Hearn when time ran out.
According to Friesen someone dropped oil on the bottom of the race track with 15 circuits remaining.
“When oil gets on a dirt track it gets wicked slick and then the rubber sticks to the oil,” explained Friesen. After that we were just about even with Brett and Bobby — before the oil went down we were a little bit better. We’ll take this.”
Billy Dunn and Vince Vitale rounded out the top five.
Chad Jeseo and Rob Langevin put on a show for the fans in the 25-lap Pro Stock feature event. Jeseo was in search of his second win this season while Langevin was seeking his fifth at the ‘Great Race Place.’ There was little room between the two for the distance of the event. Coming around the final turn headed to the checkered flag Langevin spun and race leader Jeseo continued on to victory lane.
“I’ve got to thank Langevin for running us as clean as he did,” said Jeseo during post race ceremonies. “On that last lap we both got in pretty hard in three — this really worked out for us.”
Jeseo thanked his crew, who only had two days to ready the car again from the weekend activities, for his success.
Bill Smith, Rob Yetman, Dan Older, Dean Charbonneau rounded out the top five.
Bits: Folks were lined up outside the Malta-based oval before noon to gain way into Brett Hearn’s Big Show 4… 34 Modified cars were present for the show… there was a standing room only situation before the action even began… DIRTcar brought their flagger, Dave Farney and announcer Shane Andrews with them… Jimmy Phelps, broke the track record with the time of 15.860 in the first group of time trails… group two found Brett Hearn the fastest with a lap time of 15.955… group three found Rich Scalati with a lap of 16.087… Peter Brittain ,15.991, owned the fourth group… Billy Decker was the winner of the last DIRTcar show at the Albany Saratoga Speedway… Jimmy Davis was behind the wheel of Erik Nelson’s automobile for the Big Show… Ron Hornaday did the opening ceremonies for the event and was driving the Team Goewey pace truck… a draw for the dash, some DIRTcar drivers, some A-S drivers and a fan favorite… Mike Perrotte won the fan vote… multi-time A-S point champion Kenny Tremont needed to use the B-Main to gain his 29th starting position in the feature event… some unique ideas brought to the Big Show 4 were the spotlighted entrances of the feature event drivers, the heat race signs that strolled past the grandstands keeping fans informed and the neat game type activity that set up how the dash was handled… great job by Hearn and his promoting crew and the DIRTcar folks…
The next Super DIRTcar Series event is set for Monday, July 23rd at Autodrome Granby.
Brett Hearn’s The BIG Show 4 Presented by Ferris Mowers Modified (35 Laps) – 1. Bobby Varin, 2. Brett Hearn, 3. Stewart Friesen, 4. Billy Dunn, 5. Vince Vitale, 6. Rob Bellinger, 7. Matt Shepard, 8. Billy Decker, 9. Jimmy Phelps, 10. Pete Britten, 11. Matt Delorenzo, 12. Elmo Reckner, 13. Justin Haers, 14. Marc Johnson, 15. Ronnie Johnson, 16. Ken Tremont Jr, 17. Billy Pauch Jr., 18. Rich Scagliotta, 19. Mark Kislowski, 20. Jeremy Wilder, 21. Bob McGannon, 22. Dave Rauscher, 23. Jimmy Cottrell, 24. Don Scarborough, 25. Tyler Siri, 26. Tommy Flannigan, 27. Tim Currier, 28. Jimmy Davis 29. Mike Perrotte 30. C.G. Morey, 31. Jessica Zemken, DNS. Dan Humes, DNS. Bobby Hentschel, DNS. Josh Hohenforst
Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1. Chad Jeseo, 2. Bill Smith, 3. Rob Yetman, 4. Dan Older, 5. Dean Charbonneau, 6. Brandon Emigh, 7. Ken Martin, 8. Bernie Companion, 9. Chip Smith, 10. Buddy Hencke, 11. Dave Emigh, 12. Rob Langevin, 13. Cassidy Wilson, 14. Luke Horning, 15. Milo Campbell, 16. Walt Brownell, 17. Ivan Joslin, DNS. Johnny Donnelly, DNS. Kevin VanChance