4th Turn: July 10, 2025
~ By Tom Boggie
Back in the spring, when it seemed more logical to plan on building an ark than it did to try to run a dirt track race, I stopped in at Albany-Saratoga Speedway for a Tuesday night practice session to pick up some information, just in case there were more rainouts.
One of the drivers I talked to that night was Matt DeLorenzo. Matt and I go way back, and spent a lot of time on the phone during his stint as the promoter at Fonda Speedway. Because I know I’ll get honest answers from him, I reminded DeLorenzo that he was coming off a terrible season, going winless in the big block division.
“We weren’t that bad,” he said. “I finished fourth in points. For the equipment we had, I thought I did alright. We had an old car last year. Now, we’ve got fresh iron and a good motor.”
But until last Friday, that fresh iron (a new Bicknell chassis) and that good motor never really got together to prove themselves. DeLorenzo’s first two wins in 2025 came when he was behind the wheel of teammate Brian Gleason’s car, as the BBL/KJG racing team kept searching for the right combination of chassis and motor.
They definitely found it last Friday, winning the “60s Night” special to help commemorate the 60th season of racing at Albany-Saratoga.
The motor that was under the hood of DeLorenzo’s car had been rebuilt the previous week.
“When we ran here on the 13th, we lost oil pressure and needed some new parts and rod bearings,” he said. “My brother Mike (his crew chief) got it back in the car yesterday.”
DeLorenzo picked up a check for $6,060 for his win. When I asked him if that was his biggest payday at Malta, he thought for a moment and said, “I don’t think so. I won a CVRA vs. the World race here once.”
Indeed he did. That victory came on Aug. 26, 2009. But the winner’s share that night was $5,000, so the $6,060 easily surpassed that.
During his career at Albany-Saratoga, DeLorenzo has 27 modified wins. Twenty-six of them came on dirt, and he also won the Asphalt Assault in October 2009, when promoter Bruce Richards took off the clay in anticipation of switching to asphalt for the 2010 season.
Here’s a little known fact. Six of DeLorenzo’s wins have been in extra distance races. In fact, his first career win came in a 70-lapper on June 16, 2006. I remember that one well. That was “Double Trouble Friday.” Because the features had been rained out on June 2, and the entire racing card was washed out on June 9, Richards opted to run double-distance features on June 16, with double points and double payoffs in all the purses. Brett Hearn passed DeLorenzo for the lead on lap 41 of the modified feature, but 13 laps later, something broke in the rear suspension of Hearn’s car, giving the lead back to DeLorenzo.
DeLorenzo earned a total of $3,000 for the win that night.
Oh, by the way, the other winners on “Double Trouble Friday” were Tim Hartman (yes, he was only known as Tim Hartman then) in the sportsman division and Kim Duell, who recorded his first career pro stock win that night.
DeLorenzo’s other extra-distance wins at Malta came in 2008 (a 50-lapper on opening night), 2009 (the CVRA vs. The World 100-lapper and the 40-lap Asphalt Assault) and 2022 (a 43-lapper on John Grady Nostalgia Night).
Here’s another little -known DeLorenzo morsel. On July 3, 2006, DeLorenzo recorded his first career win at Devil’s Bowl in the 100-lap 4th of July Weekend Special. The fourth-place finisher that night was Todd Stone. In last Friday’s “60s Night” special, the third-place finisher was Stone’s son, Justin.
MORE FROM MALTA
Although the “60s Night” race drew in three outsiders (Anthony Perrego, Michael Trautschold and Billy Pauch Jr. in the Palmer’s Service Center-sponsored No. 76), a lot of regulars were absent from the holiday show. Robert Bublak was serving a one-week suspension for an incident in the pits the previous week, and Demetrios Drellos, who was racing his late model in West Virginia; Jessey Mueller, Todd Ryan, Kris Vernold and Jeremy Pitts were no-shows. Pitts reportedly has engine problems and may be out for a while.
Jack Lehner had his best run of the season last Friday, finishing second to DeLorenzo in the modified feature. He has three top-five finishes this season, but he is getting a little anxious to get his first win of the season.
“I think we’re getting better every year,” he said. “But racing here and on the Series, it’s tough to get wins.”
He also said he’s caught in a Catch-22 situation. “We have to work our asses off to make money to keep the cars going, and then we have to work our asses off at the track to race. If we could get corporate sponsors, we could just concentrate on the racing end. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got great local sponsors who do a lot for me. But it would be nice just to concentrate on racing.”
A caution of lap 37 probably helped DeLorenzo lock up the win. Before that, Justin Stone was flying around on the top and was quickly gaining ground, hoping to surprise DeLorenzo in traffic.
“He did that to me early in the race,” said Stone. “I opened the corner up and he filled it and went right by me. Running the top too hard probably contributed to Stone losing second place to Lehner with five laps to go.
“Jack had a 400 (right rear) and that probably was the difference,” said Stone. “I think I ran up there too long. Up on top, you have to be careful the tires don’t get too hot.”
After drawing the third starting spot, it looked like Pauch Jr. was going to be a contender for the $6,060 top prize. But on a restart on lap 22, Pauch Jr. and Chris Curtis made hard contact in the second turn, Pauch Jr. had to go to the rear and he pulled out on lap 37, after getting lapped by DeLorenzo.
Congratulations to Caden Dumblewski for picking up his first career win in the pro stock feature. He celebrated the win by doing donuts in the front straightaway and then doing a backflip off the roof of his car. Caden joined his father Chucky on the all-time Malta win list, as Chucky has a dozen career wins in the pro stocks.
By finishing second in the last two pro stock features, Duell has pulled to within 18 points of Pete Stefanski in the points race, even though Stefanski has four wins and Duell has none.
There were a couple of photo finishes last Friday. In the second pro stock heat, Jason Casey beat Jaxson Ryan to the finish line by .002 seconds and in the limited sportsman feature, Adam Tranka nosed out Bodie Marks for fourth place by .004.
Friday night’s card at Malta will include the fourth leg of the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Shootout Series. I wonder if Marc Johnson will bring his small block. He sat out the last race in the series.
AROUND THE TRACKS
It looked like Tim Hartman Jr. was on his way to a sweep on Friday night, as he won his sportsman heat race at Malta, after starting last, and later won the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash. But he was involved in a wreck on the second lap of the feature and finished 23rd. He did come back to record his third win of the year Saturday at Lebanon Valley.
Devil’s Bowl ran double features in every division last weekend, taking their racing card from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Veteran Dave Camara won one of the 358 modified features, while Felix Roy won the other. That was Roy’s first career win at the Bowl.
Roy came right back and finished third in Sunday’s DIRTcar 358 Series race at Weedsport. After experiencing engine problems (probably from running so many laps on Saturday/Sunday) in his own car during hot laps, Roy climbed behind the wheel of his brother Jeremy’s car for the feature. “The guys worked hard on the car to get it to fit my style because me and my brother drive differently,” Roy told DIRTcar Series PR director Mike Warren after the race.
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