Friday September 5, 2025 Results
MALTA – It’s not often that a Marc Johnson victory at Albany-Saratoga Speedway has to share top billing, but it isn’t every day that the pro stocks are running for the biggest prize in the Northeast.
Johnson finally came away with his first win of the season in the 35-lap modified feature Friday night at the historic Malta track, while Pete Stefanski walked off with a check for $10,064 by winning the Upstate Chevy Dealers 60-lap Autism Acceptance feature, which was promoted by Albany-Saratoga driver Jordan Modiano.
The main theme at Albany-Saratoga this season has been unpredictable, side-by-side racing, and Friday night’s modified feature was no different. Rocky Warner, a Friday night regular at Albany-Saratoga when he was driving for Jake Spraker, made his first appearance in a number of years at Malta and looked like he was going to snatch a win from his old racing buddies.
Warner, who was at Malta to shake down a new car, drew the pole for the feature and led 34 laps. But he didn’t lead the important one. Before he even became a contender for the win, Johnson had to survive a wild battle with Jack Speshock, who was looking for his second straight win.
Johnson, who had started fifth, moved into the No. 2 spot on lap 18, but seven laps later, Speshock, who, like Warner, was running the top, took the No. 2 spot away from Johnson.
Hugging the inside, and even bouncing off the first turn barrier once (“I never do that,” exclaimed Johnson after the race), Johnson was back in the second spot on lap 31, but two laps later, he had to check up when he got behind the slower car of Brian Calabrese and it seemed like his shot at a win was over.
But he made one more big run on the last lap, and ducked under Warner coming out of the fourth turn, leading the final 300 yards to come away with his first win of the year.
Matt DeLorenzo, Speshock and David Schilling completed the top five.
Many of Malta’s top competitors, including 2025 modified champion Mike Mahaney, were absent Friday night, competing in a Super DIRTcar Series race at Can-Am Speedway.
“It was tough to get around on the bottom. You really had to de disciplined,” said Johnson in victory lane. “I messed up a couple of times. I thought I made a bad tire choice. I really didn’t think I had a chance.”
“I was good in (turns) one and two, but in three and four, I was missing a little bit on the entry,” said Warner. “I felt so good in one and two, but in three and four, I think it was a lack of set-up experience. I haven’t been here for three or four years.”
Stefanski has accomplished a lot on the DIRTcar circuit during his career, even getting named to the Top 50 Super Dirt Week drivers’ list, but he’s never pocketed as much money as he did Friday night.
With over $10,000 on the line, it was no surprise that cautions were prevalent during the feature, and played a big part in drivers getting to the front.
But that wasn’t true with Stefanski. He started fourth and was running with the lead group all night. But he didn’t seem to have enough to catch leader Chris Stalker, who had started in the pole.
Rich Crane, who had won the first Autism Acceptance race in 2023, started ninth and got to the front before Stefanski did. Crane used a pair of restarts to get by both Zach Daniels and Ivan Joslin, and pulled even with Stalker on lap 46.
Another yellow bunched the field again on lap 48, and when racing resumed, Stefanski took the No. 2 spot away from Crane coming out of the fourth turn on lap 50. The next time around, he had the lead for good, rocketing past Stalker, who was battling a flat left front tire.
Crane finished second, with Beau Ballard third, but Ballard was later disqualified and placed last in the running order. That moved Nick Stone (who started 21st) up to third and Kyle Hoard (who started 23rd) into fourth.
“This is awesome,” said Stefanski, who picked up his sixth win of 2025 at Albany-Saratoga. “Early on, I felt really loose and didn’t feel like I was going anywhere. But the car really came in with 10 to go, and it just took off.”
Tim Hartman Jr. had celebrated his sixth sportsman championship in the pits the previous week, after getting wrecked on the fourth lap of the feature, but he made up for it Friday night, roaring to his fifth win of 2025 and the 50th win of his career at Albany-Saratoga.
After drawing the No. 6 spot in the starting lineup, Hartman Jr. quickly made his way to the top three. Jeff Washburn, who had started fourth, took the lead away from Josh Coonradt on lap 10, with Hartman Jr. following in Washburn’s tire marks for second, and two laps later, Hartman Jr. switched lanes and ducked under Washburn to get the lead for good.
Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald had his best run of the season, finishing second, with Washburn third.
Hartman Jr. also won the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, pocketing a $200 bonus.
Adam Tranka drove to his second win of the season in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, which was marred by two cautions before the first lap was even completed.
James Galarneau came off the pole to set the pace, but Tranka, who had started 14th, was second after 10 laps, and another caution on lap 13 put him right next to Galarneau in the front row.
Two laps later, Tranka had the lead and went on to record his second win of the season.
Galarneau finished second, with teenager Bodie Marks finishing third. Marks clinched the limited sportsman championship by just starting the feature.
Chris Murray charged from his ninth starting position to win the 20-lap street stock feature. Murray got the lead on lap eight and then held off a late challenge from Tyler Irwin, driving the only truck-bodied vehicle in the division, to come away with his second win of the season. Dan Madigan finished third.
PJ Cram Jr. finished fifth overall, but had accumulated enough points to lock up the track championship before he even got on the track.
Adam Montville went from seventh to first on the first lap and recorded his eighth win of the season in the four-cylinder feature, lapping all but three other cars in the field and winning the track championship in the process. Ben Ladd finished sixth overall to win the single-cam division and lock up the track championship in that division.
NEXT GENERATION ROOFING MODIFIEDS: MARC JOHNSON, Rocky Warner, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Speshock, David Schilling, Jeremy Pitts, Brian Gleason, Neil Stratton, Rich Ronca, Josh Masterson, Brendan Darrah, Don Ronca, Walter J. Hammond, Derek Bornt, Joey Scarborough, Brian Calabrese, Brandon Daley, Ronnie Johnson.
UPSTATE CHEVY DEALERS AUTISM ACCEPTANCE PRO STOCKS: PETE STEFANSKI, Rich Crane, Nick Stone, Kyle Hoard, Jaxson Ryan, Scott Duell, Ivan Joslin, AJ Walters, Chris Stalker, Jay Casey, Devon Camenga, Eric Jean-Louis, Ian Bressett, Slater Baker, PJ Cram Jr., Chucky Dumblewski, Jordan Modiano, Jocelyn Roy, Caden Dumblewski, Jimmy Duncan, Shane Henderson, Tom Dean, Bastien Caron, Shane Playford, Luke Horning, Jason Morrison, Zack Daniels, Dean Charbonneau, Kim Duell, Brandon Emigh, Andy Graves, Beau Ballard (DQ).
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald, Jeff Washburn, Josh Coonradt, Nick Brundige, Chad Gregory, Michael Ballestero, Mike Benson, Daryl Nutting, Elliot Lussier, Derrick McGrew Jr., Scott Bennett Jr., Cody Ochs, Tanner Coon, Jon Miller, John Dumond, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Brent Bouplon, Blayden Arquette, Dave Constantino.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: ADAM TRANKA, James Galarneau, Bodie Marks, Alex Smith, Dan Seguin, Jordan Hill, Yule Cook, Mike Baker, Dan Odell, Lucas Duncan, Cordell Younger, Zach Delaney, Noah Carlo, Steve Burch, Braxton Martin, Nick Arnold, George Palmer. Dennis Wischman, Zach Mecca, Devon Palmer, Sarah Arnold, Dave Zelker, Will Palmer.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: CHRIS MURRAY, Tyler Irwin, Josh Hemming, Dan Madigan, PJ Cram Jr., Matt Mosher, Mark Burch, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jason Barrett, Shane Wetherington, Jake Middleton, Mitchell Tucker Seguin, Anthony King, Dave Cook, Mike Duggan, Tim McFarland, Kailey Jaycox.
GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: ADAM MONTVILLE, Josh Reome, Anthony Johnson, Ashlynn Ramsey, Chris Danylieko, Ben Ladd (first single-cam finisher), Lindell Condon, Josh Ramsey Jr., Brandon Lauzon, Jeremiah Paro, Josh Ramsey, Makenzie Esterby, Stephan Walters, David Frame, Daniel Joubert.
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