Friday April 26, 2025 Results
MALTA – Until Friday, Felix Roy had probably never even heard of Jason Herrington, but now, his name will forever be linked with that of “The Flying Farmer.”
Roy led flag-to-flag Friday night to win the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Series “Flying Farmer 31,” a memorial race for Herrington, to highlight the racing card at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Herrington, who raced small block modifieds at both Albany-Saratoga and Lebanon Valley Speedway throughout his career, passed away suddenly in March at the age of 52. His car was known as “The Big Red 1” and Roy was presented with a special “Big Red 1” trophy in victory lane by members of the Herrington family.
Rain cast the only damper on the night, as the modified, sportsman and four-cylinder features were all rained out when a quick moving storm blew into the Malta area.
Roy, who will be running a full Friday night schedule at Malta in a big block modified this season, also won the first heat race, started on the pole by virtue of the heads-up start and led every lap after Herrington’s daughter, Alexa, threw the green flag to begin the race.
Roy, a native of Napierville, Quebec, dominated the 31-lap feature, collecting all the bonus money and lap money along the way. When he got into traffic on lap 15, Tanner Siemons brought out the second caution of the feature, which put Roy back into clean air.
Roy picked up a $251 bonus from Meltz Lumber by leading at the halfway point of the race and Roy’s only scare of the race came on lap 29, when the lapped car of Jeffrey Reis, who was trying to get into the infield, made hard contact with Roy coming out of the fourth turn. But that incident didn’t prevent Roy from coming away with his first career victory at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
“Starting on the pole made it easier for me,” said Roy in victory lane. “I knew I had a good car. I got a scare from the lapped car. I thought he was going to put me in the infield.”
Chris Curtis, who started ninth, and Mike Coffey Jr. were locked in a battle for second when Coffey Jr. got too high in turn two on lap 22, allowing Curtis to grab the No. 2 spot and that’s where he finished.
Coffey Jr., who moved up from the sportsman ranks into a 358 modified, ran a very good third, with Tim Sears Jr. fourth and Marc Johnson, who started 15th, fifth.
The 358 heat race winners each received bonuses of $101, through sponsorship from Herrington Farms, Peckham Motorsports and Albany-Saratoga handicapper John Casterella. Those bonuses went to Roy, Coffey Jr., Robert Bublak Jr. and Andrew Buff.
The Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, also for the 358 modifieds, was won by Sears Jr., who beat Buff by a half-a-car length.
Roy wasn’t the only first-time winner at Albany-Saratoga on Friday night. Pete Stefanski, who hauls in from Western New York on the majority of Friday nights, chalked up his first career victory in the 25-lap pro stock feature.
Like Roy, Stefanski started on the outside pole and led every lap, but just when it looked like he was going to run away with the race, Kyle Hoard became a factor.
Hoard, who had started 15th, jumped into the outside groove midway through the feature and found a lot of bite. Following a restart in lap 12, he drove around the outside of Rich Crane in the second turn on lap 15 to move into third and three laps later, made the same move on Kim Duell to take over second. Hoard ran down Stefanski on the final lap, but Stefanski got a big run out of the fourth turn on the final lap to win by a .138-second margin.
“I don’t know if maybe I got too conservative for a while,” said Stefanski after the win. “When I heard him, I knew I had to pick it up. I’m glad to come out with a win.”
Duell finished third, followed by Brandon Emigh, who started 17th, and Chris Stalker.
Gary English charged from his eighth starting position to win the 20-lap limited sportsman feature. For a long time, it looked like rookie Bodie Marks, who made the move up to open-wheel cars this season after a very successful career in slingshots, was going to walk away with his first career win. Marks won his heat race and started on the pole, and once the feature started, no one was even close to him.
But restarts kept bunching the field and things changed dramatically on a restart on lap 14. James Galarneau, who had moved into second on a restart on the previous lap, pulled a crossover move on Marks in the second turn and had the lead going down the backstretch. In the short chute between turns three and four, the two leaders banged together, with Galarneau sailing off the outside of the fourth turn. Track officials put Marks at the rear of the field for making contact with the leader.
That mishap put Mike Block into the lead, but English lined up second and snatched the lead on the restart. The rest of the top five consisted of Craig Coons, Jordan Hill and Nick Arnold.
Mark Burch won the 20-lap street stock feature, which paid $500 to win through sponsorship from The Gas Doctor. Chris Murray started on the pole and led the first four laps, but was smoking from the drop of the green flag and pulled into the infield on lap five with a fire under his hood.
That gave the lead to Burch, who had already rocketed up from his 14th starting position, and Burch held off Jeff Meltz Sr. to get the win. Matt Mosher finished third, while Dan Madigan, who started 18th, got up for fourth.
DICARLO AUTO BODY 358 SERIES “FLYING FARMER 31”: FELIX ROY, Chris Curtis, Mike Coffey Jr., Tim Sears Jr., Marc Johnson, Bobby Hackel IV, Matt DeLorenzo, Mike Mahaney, Neil Stratton, Robert Bublak Jr., Walter J. Hammond, Ronnie Johnson, Andrew Buff, David Schilling, Garrett Poland, Brian Calabrese, James Fadden, John Kendall, Chase Zimmer, Jeffrey Reis, Walter Hammond Jr., Dale Gray, Angelo DiCarlo, Bill August, Joe Pravia, Ryan Heath, Peter Britten, Tanner Siemons, Tony Farone, Brandon Gibbons, Brandon Daley, Brian Whittemore.
SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: PETE STEFANSKI, Kyle Hoard, Kim Duell, Brandon Emigh, Chris Stalker, Rich Crane, Jimmy Duncan, Shane Henderson, Jason Casey, Jordan Modiano, Caden Dumblewski, Chucky Dumblewski, Jay Casey, Jaxson Ryan, Pete Vila, Joe Wilson, David Stickles, Chris Wemple, Phil DiFiglio, Dean Charbonneau, Beau Ballard, Slater Baker, Mike Baker.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: GARY ENGLISH, Mike Block Sr., Craig Coons, Jordan Hill, Nick Arnold, Mike Baker, Steve Burch, Kirsten Swartz, Dave Zelker, Dan Seguin, Kevin Groff, Dan Odell, Cordell Younger, Bodie Marks, Damon Anderson, George Palmer, Bryan Gebo, Colten Emigh, Noah Carlo, Devon Palmer, James Galarneau, Jimmy Duncan, Alex Smith, Ed Thompson, Braxton Martin, Sarah Arnold, Sloan Cherko, Lucas Duncan, Jeff Lehner.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: MARK BURCH, Jeff Meltz, Matt Mosher, Dan Madigan, PJ Cram Jr., Josh Hemming, Fred Shippee, Damian Ward, Andrew Fitzgerald, Josh Filarecki, Jason Barrett, Dan Buell, Dana Van Veghten, Mike Duggan, Dave Cook, Tim McFarland, Derek Van Veghten, Ray Pierre Jr., Chris Murray, Zach Delaney.
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