9.13.24 Albany Saratoga Speedway Results

MALTA – Peter Britten got a whole new perspective on racing Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Britten, who won the 2024 modified point championship by overcoming poor starting positions, drew the outside pole Friday night and led every lap but one to win the 43-lap NAPA Modifieds feature that highlighted the once-postponed John Grady Memorial Nostalgia Night.

Britten, who has finished every lap of every feature at Albany-Saratoga this season, walked off with $4,300 for the victory, just his second of the season.

“I forgot what the front of the field looked like,” joked Britten in victory lane after his win. “I was lucky with the redraw.”

After the green flag was thrown by Hall of Famer and 13-time Albany-Saratoga champion Ken Tremont Jr., pole-sitter C.G. Morey led the first lap, but Britten went around the top coming out of the second turn on lap two and moved out front for good.

With Britten setting a torrid pace, all of the attention went to the cars behind him.

Neil Stratton, who started fourth, took over the No. 2 spot on lap 11 and Jessey Mueller soon joined the race behind Britten.

Another caution on lap 16 bunched the field, but the top five drivers were all running the top, stringing out the field in follow-the-leader fashion.

Britten survived a scare on lap 28 when he bounced through the first and second turns. “I hit a hole up there pretty good,” he said. “I don’t know how I kept the shocks on it.”

But that bobble let Stratton close ground and as they came up on a group of slower cars, Stratton was making up ground quickly. Britten hit a gap in the lapping process on lap 32, which gave him a little breathing room, but another yellow came out on lap 34, when Robert Bublak Jr. stopped against the outside wall in the fourth turn.

Mueller got the jump on Stratton on the restart, taking over the No. 2 position coming out of the fourth turn, but the field bunched up again on a caution on lap 37, when Ryan McCartney suffered a flat left front tire, which came off the rim.

Mueller bobbled on the restart, drifting wide in the second turn, enabling Stratton to move back into second. But neither Stratton nor Mueller had a chance of catching Britten, who chalked up his second win of the season.

“We had a killer car tonight,” said Britten. “I real felt comfortable. I hope we come back as good next week (for the Malta Massive Weekend Super DIRTcar Series race).”

“It was a good race,” said Stratton, who earned $2,300 for his second runner-up performance of the year. “I wish we had stayed in lapped traffic a little more because I think I was catching Peter.”

Don Ronca won the $200 bonus in the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash.

Chris Crane Jr. drove to his second win of the season in the 25-lap sportsman feature, spoiling what had looked like a good night for Chris Jakubiak.

Jakubiak, who started sixth, moved into second after an early restart and then snatched the lead away from Pat Jones on lap five, just before another yellow flag flew.

Jakubiak, looking for his first win of the season, easily pulled away from the pack, leaving Jones and Crane Jr. to battle for second and Crane finally took the No. 2 spot away from Jones on lap 19.

By that time, Jakubiak was fighting what looked like a bad push and another restart on lap 23 proved to be his downfall. Crane jumped into the lead coming out of the second turn on the restart, and Zach Buff got around Jakubiak one lap later to finish second.

“The main reason I’m here (in victory lane) was I got by Pat when I did,” Crane Jr. said. “If I hadn’t gotten by Pat, I never would have gotten here.”

Rob Yetman, coming off his $10,000 payday in last week’s Autism Acceptance feature, came away with his second straight win and fifth overall in the 25-lap pro stock feature. Yetman started fourth and wasted little time getting to the front, taking the lead coming out of the fourth turn on the third lap. With a long green-flag run, Yetman was able to open a full straightaway lead over Jimmy Duncan with five laps to go and beat Duncan to the finish line by over five seconds. Jason Casey made a late charge to finish third.

Just one week after clinching his first track championship, Nick Brundige was back in victory lane after the 20-lap limited sportsman feature.

Dakota Green drew the pole and went out to the early lead, but Brundige, who started eighth, slowly worked his way to the front and when a restart on lap 14 wiped out Green’s lead, Brundige took over the No. 1 spot on the restart and easily pulled away from Green and Tanner Coon.

Brundige earned a $750 payday for the victory, his fifth of the season at Malta..

Veteran Al Relyea came away with his second win of the season in the 20-lap street stock feature, and he was also aided by a late caution.

Relyea, who started ninth, was sitting third, behind leader Mark Burch and Matt Mosher, on lap 16 when Mosher drifted high in the fourth turn, allowing Relyea to move into second.

When a caution flew with two laps to go, Relyea rocketed by Burch coming out of the second and then had to survive one more restart to get the victory.

Burch, who was looking for his second straight win, had to settle for second, and Mosher finished third.

The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds brought 38 cars to their annual stop at Albany-Saratoga and ran three features. Frank Hoard Jr. won the mystique/late model feature, Jimmy Fugel held off Doug Mathewson to win the antique feature and Randy Delaney won the modified/sportsman feature. John Trudeau had the first sportsman car across the finish line in that race.

NAPA MODIFIEDS: PETER BRITTEN, Neil Stratton, Jessey Mueller, Demetrios Drellos, Matt DeLorenzo, CG Morey, Jeremy Pitts, Darren Smith, Don Ronca, James Meehan, Rich Scagliotta, Marc Johnson, Michael Storms, Brenden Darrah, Rich Ronca, Garrett Poland, Ronnie Johnson, Ryan Stortini, Josh Masterson, Willy Decker, Craig Mitchell, Ryan McCartney, Robert Bublak Jr., John Kendall, Matt Depew, David Schilling, Derek Bornt, Kyle Armstrong, Brandon Daley.

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: CHRIS CRANE JR., Zach Buff, Chris Jakubiak, Craig Wholey, Mike Coffey Jr., Pat Jones, Mike Benson, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Tyler Rapp, Jon Miller, Dave Baranowski Jr., Josh LeClaire, Derrick McGrew Jr., Drew Cormie, Taylor LaPlante, Scott Bennett, Dylan Grogan, Dan Grignon, Elliot Lussier, Chad Gregory, Taylor Wason, Scott Duell, Nick Lussier, Tony Farone, Mike Jeske, Connor Crane Jr.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: ROB YETMAN, Jimmy Duncan, Jason Casey, Kyle Hoard, Jordan Modiano, Devon Camenga, Shane Henderson, Chucky Dumblewski, Beau Ballard, Kim Duell, Caden Dumblewski, Phil DeFiglio, Chris Wemple, Doug Sheely, Hugh Paige.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: NICK BRUNDIGE, Dakota Green, Tanner Coon, Lucas Duncan, Dan Seguin, Chase Zimmer, Mike Block, Steve Burch, Adam Tranka, Cordell Younger, Alex Smith, Brodie Marks, Chayton Young, Craig Coons, Wesley Sutliff, Damon Anderson, Colton Emigh, Dan Odell, Nick Arnold, Matthew Gebo, Kyle Swart, Noah Carlo.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: AL RELYEA, Mark Burch, Matt Mosher, PJ Cram Jr., Chris Stalker, Dan Madigan, Josh Hemming, Jeff Meltz, Justin Taylor, Mark Lester, Fred Shippee, Dana Van Veghten, John Filarecki, Lou Gancarz, Dan Buell, DJ Mabb, Jason Meltz, Jason Barrett, Zach Delaney, Tim McFarland.