Friday July 18, 2025 Results
MALTA – One of the best seasons in Matt DeLorenzo’s racing career got even better Friday night.
DeLorenzo held off Jack Lehner in a wild finish to chalk up his third consecutive win in the 35-lap modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
DeLorenzo, who has cut back his racing schedule to once a week this year, is the first driver to win three modified features in a row at Malta since Marc Johnson in 2016. But there were two rainouts between Johnson’s first win and his second two.
The strange thing about DeLorenzo’s win Friday night was that it was nearly derailed by teammate Brian Gleason, driving the KJG Racing/BBL car that DeLorenzo has used in two of his six wins (five big block, one 358) this season.
DeLorenzo, who started seventh, caught leader Matt Depew on the 17th lap, got a huge run out of the fourth turn and looked ready to take the lead when Rich Ronca brought out a yellow.
After the restart, DeLorenzo took the lead coming out of the fourth turn and quickly opened up a comfortable lead over Jack Lehner, who had gotten by Depew for the No. 2 spot one lap after the restart.
When DeLorenzo caught the tail end of the field, he found his path blocked by Gleason and CG Morey. He cleared Morey easily, but then had his hands full with Gleason, which allowed Lehner to close right up on DeLorenzo’s rear bumper.
After taking the white flag, Lehner swooped to the top going through the first and second turns and pulled even with DeLorenzo going down the backstretch. Lehner seemed to be in a perfect position to pin DeLorenzo behind his teammate, who was sticking to the bottom, but going into the fourth turn, Lehner got a little too wide, giving DeLorenzo just enough room to squeeze by and get the win.
“I gave that one away,” said Lehner in his hauler after the race. “I watched Matt running beside Brian for five laps and he couldn‘t make a pass through the middle. I figured if he can’t do it, how am I going to do it, so I went to the top. And I gave it away.”
“When I got up to Brian, I thought he would see me and give me some room,” said DeLorenzo, who also earned a second straight $500 Madsen Overhead Doors Back-to-Back bonus.. “I guess he didn’t see me. The bottom was latched down enough that I could keep the car straight, but I didn’t have enough coming off to get by Brian.”
Kolby Schroder got up for third, while Depew finished fourth and Peter Britten finished fifth, after starting 11th.
Lehner also earned a $200 bonus for winning the Four States Enterprises modified Dash for Cash.
Mike Benson drove to his first career win in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Benson, who started third, only needed two laps to get into the lead and had to survive two late restarts to get the victory. Nick Brundige, who ran in second place for much of the race, had to settle for the runner-up spot, with Chris Jakubiak completing the podium.
Rich Crane notched his first win of the season in the 25-lap pro stock feature. Crane took the lead away from Brandon Emigh on lap nine of the feature, which went all green, and left Emigh and Jason Casey to battle for second. Casey would eventually finish in the No. 2 spot, while Pete Stefanski got up for third.
PJ Cram Jr. came away with his sixth win of the season in the 20-lap street stock, which paid $500 to win through sponsorship from Ghent Wood Products. Cram started deep in the field but was up to second after just nine laps and following a restart on lap 14, he took the lead away from Chris Murray coming out of the second turn, Josh Hemming got around Murray for the runner-up spot with three laps to go, while Murray, Matt Mosher and Shane Wetherington completed the top five.
Bodie Marks recorded his second win of 2025 in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, collecting $300 Bonus Bucks from Ron Mensing’s Native Pride program. The 13-year-old Marks, whose other win came on May 2, easily outran Lucas Duncan and Dan Seguin to get the win.
The Empire Super Sprints made their only appearance of the season at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday, with Jordan Poirier coming away with an impressive win. Poirier started on the pole and led all 25 laps, but he had his hands full with Paulie Colagiovanni for most of the way.
Jeff Trombley, a former modified driver at Albany-Saratoga, brought out the first caution on the feature when he jumped the cushion in the third turn while running third.
Two laps after the restart, Colagiovanni tried a crossover move on Poirier in the second turn, but couldn’t make it stick.
After Chad Miller brought out another yellow on lap 19 when the motor in his car turned into a fireball, Danny Varin used the next restart to take the No. 2 spot away from Colagiovanni.
But on lap 20, Varin banged the bern in the fourth turn and had to back off just enough to allow Colagiovanni to get by, but by that time, Poirier was long gone.
“I knew he would go to the top,” said Poirier of Colagiovanni, who had started fourth. “I was cheating the cushion a little bit early on, but then I went up there and the car was really, really good on the cushion.”
Dylan Swiernik came from his 11th starting position to finish third, with Jason Barney fourth and Shawn Donath fifth.
NEXT GENERATION ROOFING MODIFIEDS: MATT DELORENZO, Jack Lehner, Kolby Schroder, Matt Depew, Peter Britten, Mike Mahaney, Ronnie Johnson, Marc Johnson, Derek Bornt, Neil Stratton, Felix Roy, David Schilling, Brendan Darrah, Don Ronca, Adam Pierson, Andrew Buff, Jessey Mueller, Justin Stone, Jack Speshock, Josh Masterson, James Meehan, CG Morey, Brian Gleason, Tommy D’Angelo, Rich Ronca, Brandon Daley.
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: MIKE BENSON, Nick Brundige, Chris Jakubiak, Cody Ochs, Zach Buff, Dylan Madsen, Derrick McGrew Jr., Michael Ballestero, Craig Wholey, Scott Towslee, Dan Grignon, Elliot Lussier, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Connor Crane, Chad Gregory, Jon Miller, Joey Scarborough, Chris Crane Jr., Dave Baranowski, Rocco Constantino, Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald, Nick Lussier, Tim Hartman Jr., Alex Bell, Bryce Breault, Jeff Washburn, Scott Bennett Jr., Dakota Green, Drew Cormie.
SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: RICH CRANE, Jason Casey, Pete Stefanski, Brandon Emigh, Beau Ballard (subbing for Chris Stalker), Jimmy Duncan, Jaxson Ryan, Shane Henderson, Kim Duell, Chucky Dumblewski, Kyle Hoard, Jordan Modiano, Jay Casey, Pete Vila, Phil Difiglio, Caden Dumblewski.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: BODIE MARKS, Lucas Duncan, Dan Seguin, Steve Burch, Sloan Cherko, Jordan Hill, Cordell Younger, Nick Arnold, James Galarneau, Alex Smith, Dan Odell, Mike Baker, Kirsten Swartz, Jarron Maguire, John Santolin, Yule Cook, Matt Humes, Devon Palmer, Zach Mecca, Zach Delaney, Adam Tranka, Dave Zelker, Sarah Arnold.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Josh Hemming, Chris Murray, Matt Mosher, Shane Wetherington, Mike Duggan, Andrew Fitzgerald, Dana Van Veghten, Derek Van Veghten, Jake Middleton, Mitchell Tucker-Seguin, Damian Ward, Tim McFarland, Mark Burch.
A-VERDI EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS: JORDAN POIRIER, Paulie Colagiovanni, Dylan Swiernik, Jason Barney, Shawn Donath, Dalton Rombaugh, Joe Trenca, Matt Tanner, Kyle Smith, Jordan Thomas, Spencer Burley, Jeff Trombley, Danny Varin, Lacey Hanson, Dale Gosselin, Parker Evans, David Franek, Chase Moran, Tyler Chartrand, Logan Crisafulli, Floyd Billington, Chuck Hebing, Travis Billington, Chad Miller.
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