7.6.12 Albany Saratoga Speedway Results
Malta, NY – The action on the track was insane for the Abele Tractor and Jumpin’ Jacks Pro Speed sponsored night. During the 35 lap modified feature event many cars were fast and position swapping was constant, but Jeff Trombley was the best of the evening and picked up his first victory for the 2012 race season.
The early part of the event was caution plagued but on the 11th circuit Trombley, who started the event from the outside of the fifth row, took the race lead from Erik Nelson. And fortunately for Trombley the second place runner, Stewart Friesen, had Kenny Tremont all over him, so that gave Trombley some space of his own until the later laps. Eventually Friesen set his sights on Trombley but Trombley wasn’t giving up anything. On the 33rd lap Trombley bobbled the 21J a little bit and Friesen made a last-ditch effort but the night belonged to Trombley.
“I want to thank all of the guys that work on the car and John Grant for giving me a good motor and to Stewart Friesen for racing me so clean at the end,” said Trombley. “It was pretty tight racing and it was a lot of fun.”
The race was packed with action as many came from the back of the field. Friesen from 14th, Tremont from 18th and Brett Hearn entered the pits on two occasions during the event to eventually land a top five run. Friesen, Tremont, Donnie Corellis and Hearn rounded out the top five.
Tom Proctor took the lead right off the drop of the green flag in the Sportsman feature. Proctor briefly lost the lead to Nick Anatriello a few times during the 25-lap event but Proctor, who was fast all evening, held on for the win. Proctor had victory lane ceremonies but was later disqualified during post-race inspection.
The win was awarded to Mike Jeske who also ran a great race. Jeske was fast all night and was up to second when he was penalized two spots for jumping. Jeske took his punishment and worked his way back, picking up two more spots in the last three laps of the event.
Nick Anatriello, Anthony Marro, Jack Speshock, and Chris Murray rounded out the top five.
Rob Langevin led the entire distance in the Pro Stock feature event to secure his fourth win this season.
“We lucked out tonight, starting on the pole in the heat race,” said Langevin, the current high point man in the Pro Stock division. “It’s real tough to pass at this place, we are having a great time this year and we had some luck tonight. The car was awesome — the car was unbelievable.”
Since the division was only racing for show-up points they used Friday night for some research and development. “We tried some new stuff for this week, we wanted to try some things out,” said Langevin. “We did a lot of changes and they are working.”
A great race was happening behind Langevin for the rights to the runner up position between Walt Brownell and Bill Smith. Chad Jeseo was coming on strong for the last 10 circuits, going from 5th to 3rd during the last five times around the oval.
Smith, Jeseo, Brownell and Dean Charbonneau rounded out the top-five.
Ken Conroy jumped out into the race lead at the start of the 20-lap Street Stock feature event but his lead didn’t last long, as two-time feature event winner Randy Miller was quickly coming up through the pack. Miller took the race lead from Conroy on the eighth time around the oval and never looked back, having a sizable lead when the checkered flag fell.
“They came out and graded the track for us right before the feature came out — I appreciate that Lyle — thank you,” said Miller during post-race ceremonies. “The track was super smooth and I guess I just had the setup right for tonight because I had all kinds of bite coming off the corner and I just drove around the outside of him [Ken Conroy].”
Conroy, Rowdy Burch, Yule Cook and Paul Mulrain rounded out the top five.
Bits: Both Dave Baranowski and Chris Johnson were pushed off the track by a tow vehicle after smoking heavily during the hot lap session prior to the night’s activities. Johnson failed to make the call for his qualifying event… different format for the Pro Stocks due to the Super DIRTcar Series Pro Stock event at Autodrome Granby… those in attendance only received show-up points and they drew for a spot in their qualifying events… Dustin Delaney was back in action at the speedway after sitting out for a few weeks due to a racing injury at another speedway… after a several year absence Tony Ballestero was back behind the wheel of one of the Barber automobiles… Josh Coonradt was missing from action, Coonradt was holding a second place spot in the Pro Stock point standings going into last week. As Coonradt sat in victory lane last week he had a fire under his hood, so that may have something to do with his absence? … Jimmy Cottrell had a rough night, he failed to qualify in his qualifying event and entered the pits during the consolation event. Cottrell’s weekend would get better since he was scheduled to get married to past 4 cylinder racer Erin Older on Saturday… the only modified within the 16 second time in the hot lap session prior to the features was Ronnie Johnson. Hearn, Trombley, Delaney and Reckner were the top five fastest… a former racer at AS, Jeff Assman won the one-on-one spectator races… great run by Erik Nelson in the early stages of the Modified feature. Nelson joined the AS ranks after the season was underway this year. Nelson ended up 18th… Matt Delorenzo came from 29th in the Modified finale to finish 6th. He failed to make the field by way of his qualifying event and had to use his top-five in points status to gain admittance…
Abele Tractor and Equipment, Jumpin Jack’s Pro Speed Modified (35 Laps) – 1. Jeff Trombley, 2. Stewart Friesen, 3. Ken Tremont Jr, 4. Donnie Corellis, 5. Brett Hearn, 6. Matt Delorenzo, 7. Mark Kislowski, 8. Elmo Reckner, 9. Hector Stratton, 10. Neil Stratton, 11. Jamike Sowle, 12. Bodie Bellinger, 13. Don Ronca, 14. Chris Busta, 15. Matt Depew, 16. J.C. Flach, 17. Keith Flach, 18. Erik Nelson, 19. C.G. Morey, 20. Justin Barber, 21. Rich Ronca, 22. Dustin Delaney, 23. Brian Whittemore, 24. Bob Savoie, 25. Al McCoy, 26. Marc Johnson, 27. Mike Perrotte, 28. Ronnie Johnson, 29. Don Mattison, 30. John Lutes Jr, DNS. Tony Ballestero, DNS. Jimmy Cottrell, DNS. Chris Johnson
Budget Sportsman A-Feature (25 Laps) – 1. Mike Jeske, 2. Nick Anatriello, 3. Anthony Marro, 4. Jack Speshock, 5. Chris Murray, 6. Frank Hoard III, 7. Bobby Hackel IV, 8. Derrick McGrew, 9. Jon Miller, 10. Joey Budka, 11. Tim Hartman Jr, 12. Jack Gentile, 13. Andy Durie, 14. Joe Orlando, 15. Floyd Billington, 16. Mike Tholin, 17. Jeremy Pitts, 18. Mark Hughes, 19. Butch Wilcox, 20. Dan Boni, 21. Jerry Campbell, 22. Fred Proctor, 23. Adam McAuliffe, 24. Dan Santabarbara, 25. Scott Duell, 26. Mike Ostrander, 27. Nick Hotaling, 28. Stan Lemiesz, 29. Brian Gleason, DQ. Tom Proctor
Budget Sportsman B-Feature #1 (15 Laps) – 1. Dan Santabarbara, 2. Butch Wilcox, 3. Luke Klob, 4. Scott Duso, 5. Greg Catlin, 6. Paul Dunham, 7. Ryan Darcy, 8. Kenny Aanonsen Jr, 9. Shannon Donnelly, 10. Brad LaFountain, DNS. D.J. Brundige
Budget Sportsman B-Feature #2 (15 Laps) – 1. Joey Budka, 2. Floyd Billington, 3. Brett Wright, 4. Jack Swinton, 5. Mike Burdo, 6. Chuck Dickinson, 7. Mike Duclos, 8. Leo Sousie, DNS. Dave Baranowski Jr, DNS. Jeff Donnelly, DNS. Brian Gleason
Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1. Rob Langevin, 2. Bill Smith, 3. Chad Jeseo, 4. Walt Brownell, 5. Dean Charbonneau, 6. Dan Older, 7. Dave Emigh, 8. Jeff Washburn, 9. Sheldon Martin, 10. Brandon Emigh, 11. Bernie Companion, 12. Joe Santoro, 13. Kevin VanChance, 14. Mark Lindblade, DNS. Ken Martin
Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1. Randy Miller, 2. Ken Conroy, 3. Rowdy Burch, 4. Yule Cook, 5. Paul Mulrain, 6. Jody Thew, 7. Mitchell Sequin, 8. Matt Mosher, 9. Luke McIsaac, 10. Jay Severson, 11. John Hayes, 12. David Shippee, 13. Josh Coonradt, 14. Rob Clark, 15. Jason Barrett, DNS. David King, DNS. J.T. Ronner