Friday August 30, 2024 Results
MALTA – Think of Friday night’s NAPA Modifieds feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway as a boxing match.
Marc Johnson came out swinging in the final round, but Peter Britten had already piled up enough points on the judges’ scorecards to walk off with the championship.
Johnson drove to his fourth win of the season in the 35-lap modified feature, which paid $3,000 to win, but he had to settle for second in the battle for the track championship. Britten went into the night with a 42-point lead, and only needed to start the feature to lock up his second modified title (the first came in 2017) at the historic Malta track.
The race didn’t come down to a battle between Johnson and Britten, who finished ninth, however. The real battle was between Johnson, Ronnie Johnson and Demetrios Drellos.
Four cautions in the first 10 laps prevented the drivers from building up any momentum, but they did help drivers like Marc Johnson, who started 14th, and Drellos, who started 15th, to pick up a lot of spots. When Neil Stratton brought out a yellow on lap 10, Marc Johnson had already made his way to fourth, and Drellos wasn’t far behind.
They were both running behind Ronnie Johnson, who had started eighth, and on the restart on lap 10, Ronnie Johnson, still looking for his first modified win of the season, snatched the lead away from Matt Depew.
On the next circuit, Marc Johnson got under the No. 667 of Depew coming out of the second turn to take over the No. 2 spot.
The field bunched up again after a caution on lap 13, and Drellos moved into third on the restart. By that time, Marc Johnson had entered his comfort zone on the inside, while Ronnie Johnson and Drellos were running the top.
Drellos ran into Ronnie Johnson’s rear bumper coming out of the second turn on lap 16, and when Ronnie Johnson got out of the gas to keep his car in line, Marc Johnson dove by on the inside to get the lead.
And that was just the beginning of a wild battle for second between Drellos and Ronnie Johnson. Drellos gave Johnson another tap coming out of the second turn on lap 18, but the next time around, Drellos dropped off the racing surface going down the backstretch and lost some ground. It took Drellos a couple of laps to get back to Johnson’s rear bumper again, and on lap 27, Drellos went even deeper into the second turn and appeared to finally move into the No. 2 spot.
But before the lap was completed, Todd Ryan blew his motor coming out of the fourth turn, bringing out another caution and putting Ronnie Johnson back into second.
But Drellos wasn’t about to give up. With Marc Johnson maintaining his lead, Ronnie Johnson and Drellos resumed their battle for second, and on lap 30, Drellos again banged off Johnson’s rear bumper
On lap 33, Drellos tried a slide job in the second turn and nearly hit Johnson. But Drellos last-ditch effort ended in disaster, as he went completely off the racing surface in the second turn on the last lap, ending his bid for a top-three finish.
That created a Johnson and Johnson finish, with Marc coming away with his fourth win of the season and Ronnie recording his best modified finish of 2024.
Lost in all the chaos was an incredible run by Jeremy Pitts, who finished third. Matt DeLorenzo crossed the finish line fourth, while Jack Lehner was fifth.
“I was good anywhere tonight,” said Marc Johnson of his ability to run either the top or the bottom. “The track was going away and I was comfortable down there, so I figured I’d just park in on the bottom.”
“This had been a good, consistent year for us,” said Britten of his championship run. “Marc had exceptional speed and it was a fun battle with him all year.”
Josh Masterson won the $200 Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash bonus.
Tyler Rapp broke out of what has been a very frustrating slump by winning the 25-lap sportsman feature, which paid $1,000 to win through sponsorship from Greenacres Landscaping. Rapp, who hadn’t even finished in the top five this season, came off the pole and led 23 of the 25 laps in the feature, which was slowed for just one caution.
Rapp didn’t walk off with the win, however. Scott Duell, who started on the outside pole, also knew he had a heck of a shot at his first win of the year and wasn’t going to give up without a real fight. Building momentum on the outside, Duell had the lead by inches as the two leaders completed lap 19, but two laps later, Rapp was again in front and that’s where he stayed, with Duell second and Chris Crane Jr. third.
“I saw him (Duell) peeking on the outside,” said Rapp. “I just said, I have to do what I have to do. I was hooked up on the bottom and that’s what it took tonight.”
Tim Hartman Jr. had already locked up his fifth sportsman championship the previous week.
Kyle Hoard drove to his second career win in the 25-lap pro stock feature, which paid $1,500 to win through sponsorship from JCO Plumbing and Heating. Beau Ballard, a Friday night regular at Albany-Saratoga for the first time in his career, finished sixth to secure his first-ever pro stock championship at Malta.
Rookie Colton Emigh held off Lucas Duncan to record his first career win in the 20-lap limited sportsman win. Emigh started on the pole in the action-packed feature, which never lacked for drama.
Jordan Hill, who started fourth, took the lead away from Emigh on the fourth lap and the two then ran side-by-side, with Emigh getting the lead back on lap 8 when he slid up in front of Hill in the second turn.
Nick Arnold, who had started seventh, moved into the No. 3 spot on lap 13 and soon was engaged in a side-by-side battle with Hill for second, which allowed Emigh to pull away and get some breathing room.
On lap 16, Hill hit the inside barrier in the fourth turn and bounced out into Arnold, bringing out a yellow. Lucas Duncan grabbed the No. 2 spot on the restart and ran door-to-door with Emigh for the final two laps, with Emigh hitting the finish line .281 seconds ahead of Duncan. Nick Arnold finished third.
P.J. Cram Jr. survived a couple of late restarts to chalk up his fifth win of the year in the 20-lap street stock feature, with Jimmy Duncan second and Chris Stalker third.
Adam Montville won the Randy Senecal Memorial four-cylinder feature, while Kyle Lanfear finished third overall and had the first single-cam car across the finish line. Each of the winners earned $250 bonuses from the Senecal family.
NAPA MODIFIEDS: MARC JOHNSON, Ronnie Johnson, Jeremy Pitts, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Lehner, David Schilling, Bran Calabrese, Anthony Perrego, Peter Bitten, Justin Stone, Kolby Schroder, Mike Mahaney, Josh Masterson, Matt Woodruff, Brenden Darrah, Don Ronca, Ryan Stortini, Demetrios Drellos, Tommy D’Angelo, Garrett Poland, Jack Speshock, Eric Mack, Robert Bublak Jr., Matt Depew, Ryan McCartney, Rich Ronca, Todd Ryan, CG Morey, Neil Stratton, James Meehan, Derek Bornt.
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TYLER RAPP, Scott Duell, Chris Crane Jr., Dylan Madsen, Brendan Gibbons, Chris Jakubiak, Bryce Breault, Zach Buff, Tim Hartman Jr., Dan Grignon, Jon Miller, Craig Wholey, Dylan Grogan, Mike Coffey Jr., Connor Crane, Taylor LaPlante, Dave Baranowski Jr., Pat Jones, Mike Benson, Daryl Nutting, Cody Ochs, Taylor Wason, Michael Ballestero, Elliot Lussier, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Nick Lussier, Drew Cormie, Scott Bennett.
SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: KYLE HOARD, Rob Yetman, Shane Henderson, Jordan Modiano, Slater Baker, Beau Ballard, Caden Dumblewski, Jason Casey, Kim Duell, Brandon Emigh, Rich Crane, Andy Graves, Chris Crane Sr., Pete Vila, Ken Griffen, Dean Charbonneau.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: COLTON EMIGH, Lucas Duncan, Nick Arnold, Dana Palumbo, Nick Brundige, Dan Seguin, Sloan Cherko, Nick Auspelmyer, James Galarneau, John Santolin, Walter Cook, Cordell Younger, Mike Parodi, David Zelker, Matthew Gebo, Chase Zimmer, Blake Patrick, Gus Kamburellis, Mike Baker, Jordan Hill, Alex Smith, Damon Anderson, Adam Tranka, Mike Block, Dakota Green, Steve Burch, Noah Carlo.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Jimmy Duncan, Chris Stalker, Mark Burch, Matt Mosher, Al Relyea, John Filarecki, Dan Madigan, Ray Pierre Sr., Dana Van Veghten, Derek Van Veghten, Josh Hemming, DJ Mabb, Justin Taylor, Chase Thompson, Tim McFarland, Damien Ward, Zach Delaney.
GREG TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: ADAM MONTVILLE, Josh Rheome, Kyle Lanfear (first single-cam finisher), David Frame, Josh Ramsey, Ashlynn Ramsey, Chris Danylieko, Ben Ladd.
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