Friday August 16, 2024 Results
MALTA – Demetrios Drellos picked a perfect night to break out of his slump at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Drellos, the defending modified champion at the historic Malta track, shook off over two months of frustration by recording his second win of the season in Friday night’s 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature.
The cherry on the sundae was that he walked off with $4,000, through the generosity of sponsors John Ray & Sons and Dean’s Electrical.
Drellos hadn’t been to victory lane at Malta since May 31 and since that night, he’d recorded just two other top-five finishes.
“We just needed to get our feet under ourselves again, and this is really going to help, especially with the extra money,” he said in victory lane.
Jack Speshock had the fastest car on the track early, charging from his fifth starting position to grab the lead on the second lap. He was so fast that he caught the tail end of the field by lap 10, which put him in a tough position.
Speshock was sticking to the bottom, which left the top open for Jessey Mueller, and anyone who’s ever watched a race at Albany-Saratoga knows that Mueller thrives in the outside groove.
Mueller, who had started seventh, began to inch closer to Speshock and then got a huge run coming out of the second turn on lap 24 to take the top spot away from Speshock.
The first caution of the race came out on lap 27 when Robert Bublak Jr. spun into the infield, and by that time, Drellos, who had started eighth, had worked his way up to third.
Mueller got the jump on Speshock on that restart, but one lap later, the yellow was out again after Mike Mahaney and Scott Huber both spun in the first turn, after first making contact coming out of four.
As he had done on the previous restart, Mueller took the inside, fired coming out of four and tried to drift high going into one to block Speshock. But his launch wasn’t as good as it had been on the previous restart, leaving the bottom wide open for Drellos, who took advantage of the situation to get the lead, and that’s where he stayed.
“I was on the bottom the whole race,” said Drellos. “I hit my marks on that one lap and that’s all I needed.”
“I didn’t need that second caution,” sad Mueller, who was bidding for his third win of the season. “It took me a little longer to get wound up, and by that time, he was by me.”
Points leader Peter Britten made another of his patented charges, coming from his 15th starting position to finish third. He was followed by Jack Lehner and Marc Johnson, who started 27th.
Thirteen-year-old Connor Crane put his name into the Albany-Saratoga Speedway record book by coming away with his first career win in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Crane started fourth, snatched the lead away from Chad Gregory on lap four and then worked lapped traffic like an old veteran to get the victory, holding off a late charge from Tim Hartman Jr., who had started 16th.
“I never thought I’d get a win this year, not with so many good guys here,” said Crane after his win.
Brendan Gibbons won the sportsman dash for cash and picked up a $200 bonus from Four States Enterprises.
Rob Yetman is no stranger to the Albany-Saratoga record book, and now, he’s back on top of the all-time pro stock win list after posting his third win of the year in the 25-lap feature. He now has 31 career wins, breaking a tie with Kim Duell for the No. 1 position.
Yetman started sixth, but didn’t get the lead until lap 16 because of a rash of yellow flags that prevented the drivers from establishing any rhythm. In all, there were eight cautions in the 25-lap event.
Beau Ballard got up for second, while Pete Stefanski, still looking for his first win at Albany-Saratoga, settled for third. He led 10 laps before Yetman got the jump on him on lap 16.
Nick Brundige picked up his fourth win of the season in the wild 20-lap limited sportsman feature, which paid $500 to win in memory of Gary Van Alstyne, who passed away earlier on Friday.
Brundige had started 27th and wasn’t even in contention until a late yellow came out of lap 19. Brundige, who was fourth at the time, went right to the top of the restart, and quickly moved up two spots. When leader Matthew Gebo slid up coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap, Brundige ducked to the inside and beat Gebo to the finish line by two-tenths of a second. Steve Burch, who was looking for his second straight win, got up for third.
The street stocks took part in the Ghent Wood Products Street Stock Shootout, which ended up paying a whopping $1,100 to win. Ghent Woods Products put up $500 to win, and both Hotte’s Upholstery and The Gas Dortor each added $300 to the winner’s purse.
That money went to Jimmy Duncan, who bounced back from an early pit stop to get the victory. On the first lap of the feature, there was a multi-car incident in the fourth turn, with a fire breaking out in the engine compartment of Tim McFarland’s car. Duncan was involved in that mishap, and went to the pits with a flat right front tire.
It only took Duncan nine laps to get back up to second, and he took over the lead the next time around, when Dan Madigan pushed up in turn four, allowing Duncan to go by on the bottom.
Chris Stalker and P.J. Cram Jr. followed Duncan across the finish line.
Josh Rheome recorded his first win of the year in the four-cylinder feature, but the big story of the night was Kyle Lanfear’s winning streak coming to an end. Lanfear, who was a perfect 6-for-6 in the single-cam division, was battling Rheome for the lead when he climbed the wall coming out of the fourth turn and ended up on his roof near the flag stand. Ben Ladd, who finished fourth overall, was the winner of the single-cam division.
NAPA MODIFIEDS: DEMETRIOS DRELLOS, Jessey Mueller, Peter Britten, Jack Lehner, Marc Johnson, Jack Speshock, Matt DeLorenzo, Neil Stratton, David Schilling, Jeremy Pitts, Kolby Schroder, Ryan McCartney, Brian Calabrese, Mike Mahaney, Justin Stone, Josh Masterson, Brendan Darrah, Derek Bornt, Rich Ronca, Eric Mack, Chris Bisson, Ryan Stortini, Tommy D’Angelo, Scott Huber, Robert Bublak Jr., Ronnie Johnson, Todd Morey, Todd Ryan, Brandon Daley, Matt Depew, Ed Kitchell.
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: CONNOR CRANE, Tim Hartman Jr., Mike Coffey Jr., Jon Miller, Scott Bennett, Taylor Wason, Mike Benson, Travis Witbeck, Chad Gregory, Chris Jakubiak, Craig Wholey, Dan Grignon, Dave Baranowski Jr., Bryce Breault, Pat Jones, Taylor LaPlante, Dylan Madsen, Chris Crane Jr., Cody Ochs, Dylan Grogan, Zach Buff, Fire Swamp, Tyler Rapp, Brendan Gibbons, Scott Duell, Elliot Lussier, Jeff Washburn, Daryl Nutting.
SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: ROB YETMAN, Beau Ballard, Pete Stefanski, Rich Crane, Kim Duell, Jason Casey, Shane Henderson, Andy Graves, Brandon Emigh, Caden Dumblewski, Kyle Hoard, Phil Defiglio, Mike Achzet, Slater Baker, Chucky Dumblewski, Ken Griffen, Jaxson Ryan, Mike Baker, Jordan Modiano, Chuck McSpirit.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: NICK BRUNDIGE, Matthew Gebo, Steve Burch, Lucas Duncan, Nick Arnold, Nick Auspelmyer, Tanner Coon, John Santolin, Mike Block, Chase Zimmer, Mike Baker, Jordan Hill, James Galarneau, Cordell Younger, Colton Emigh, Dan Seguin, Dan Odell, David Zelker, Dakota Geen, Craig Coons, Walter Cook, Blake Patrick, Sloan Cherko, Owen Lewis, Damon Anderson, Sara Arnold, Ben Balzer, John Cole Jr., Alex Smith, Dana Palumbo, Dennis Wischman.
CORNELL AUTO PARTS/GHENT WOOD PRODUCTS STREET STOCK SHOOTOUT: JIMMY DUNCAN, Chris Stalker, P.J. Cram Jr., Dan Madigan, Al Relyea, Matt Mosher, Damian Ward, John Filarecki, Dana Van Veghten, Josh Hemming, Dan Buell, Derek Van Veghten, Adam Osbourne, Mark Lester, Ray Pierre Jr., Tim McFarland.
GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: JOHN RHEOME, Josh Ramsey, Len St. Andrews, Ben Ladd (first single-cam finisher), Brittany Ladd, Tim Hill, Jeremiah Paro, Chris Danylieko, David Frame, Adam Montville, John Mason, Ashlynn Ramsey, Kyle Lanfear, Justin Ramsey, Dylan MacLeod.
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