Racing Around: Britten rallies for victory at Albany-Saratoga

However, the combination of a caution-free modified feature, lapped traffic and Peter Britten hooked up and charging in the high line proved to be unfavorable for Drellos.

With Drellos pinned down in lapped traffic, Britten, who started 15th, chased down the leader, making the pass for the lead with two laps to go to claim his first modified feature win of the season Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Joining Britten with feature wins Friday night were Tim Hartman Jr. (602 Sportsman), Rob Yetman (Pro Stock), Tanner Coon (Limited Sportsman), PJ Cram Jr. (Street Stock) and Brock “Bam Bam” Pinkerous led from green-to-checkers for the added RUSH Late Model victory.

Rich Ronca and James Meehan brought the field of 24 modifieds to the green, with Ronca getting the early advantage. Drellos took over the point on the third lap and, with a clear track, pulled away for a straightaway lead.

By lap 13 he caught the back of the field and began picking his way through the lapped traffic.

Britten found bite on the high side of the speedway, and the lack of cautions, built momentum to move from his 15th starting spot into the top five midway point.

Drellos’ lead shrank as he struggled with the lapped traffic, allowing Robert Bublak Jr., Meehan, Brian Calabrese and Britten to pull into contention.

With 10 laps to go, Britten slipped past Bublak for the runner-up spot and used some three-wide moves to quickly close in on Drellos.

Britten took the lead with two laps to go as Drellos finally broke free of the lapped traffic, switched to the high side but ran out of time as Britten crossed under the checkers for the victory.

Drellos came home second ahead of Bublak, Jack Lehner and Matt DeLorenzo in the top five, while Marc Johnson, Calabrese, Meehan, Adam Pierson and Ronca completed the second five.

After failing to qualify for the opening-night feature, Hartman recovered to collect his first win of the season and 37th of his career at Malta. Craig Wholey placed second with Zach Buff third, Brendon Gibbons fourth and Jim Nagle fifth.

Engine trouble sidelined Yetman from the opening-night feature, however the veteran driver made the most of his front row starting spot and survived the caution-marred feature to collect his 29th career Pro Stock feature win at Albany-Saratoga. Jason Casey followed him under the checkers with Kim Duell third, Jordan Modiano fourth and Rich Crane fifth.

Coon held off Chad Gregory for the Limited Sportsman feature, while PJ Cram Jr. drove to his second straight Street Stock feature win.

Pinkerous used his experience as a former sportsman diver and victor at Albany-Saratoga to dominate the RUSH Crate Late Model feature win over Drellos, Rob Pitcher, Derrick McGrew Jr. and Todd Dunham.

Fultonville’s A.J. Miller was also entered for the RUSH Late Model competition, but slid high in turn three during warm-ups, hitting the wall and rolling his ride. Miller was uninjured in the crashd but extensive damage to the car ended his night.

ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY

Friday

NAPA MODIFIEDS: PETER BRITTEN, Demetrios Drellos, Robert Bublak Jr., Jack Lehner, Matt DeLorenzo, Marc Johnson, Brian Calabrese, James Meehan, Adam Pierson, Rich Ronca, Jessey Mueller, Jeremy Pitts, Erik Mack, Matt Depew, Ronnie Johnson, Brett Hearn, Don Ronca, Mike Mahaney, Keith Flach, Jack Speshock, CG Morey, Josh Masterson, David Schilling, Garrett Poland, Kolby Schroder, Justin Stone, Chris Bisson, Ryan McCartney.

IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., Craig Wholey, Zach Buff, Brendon Gibbons, Jim Nagle, Travis Witbeck, Tony Farone, Derrick McGrew Jr., Dave Baranowski Jt., Chris Crane Jr., Daryl Nutting, Mike Coffey Jr., Cody Ochs, Dylan Madsen, Joey Scarborough, Chris Jakubiak, Jon Miller, Floyd Billington, Taylor Wason, Dylan Grogan, Elliot Lussier, Taylor LaPlante, Mike Benson, Mike Ballestero, Bryce Breault, Jimmy Van Zandt, Dan Grignon, Scott Duell.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: ROB YETMAN, Jason Casey, Kim Duell, Jordan Modiano, Rich Crane, Luke Horning, Beau Ballard, Shane Henderson, Jay Corbin, Jay Casey, Slater Baker, Kyle Hoard, Pete Stefanski, Brandon Emigh, Caden Dumblewski, Phil Defiglio, Mike Baker, Chucky Dumblewski, Jaxson Ryan, Pete Vila, Dom Denue.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: TANNER COON, Chad Gregory, Nick Auspelmyer, Mike Block, Steve Burch, Chase Zimmer, Timmy Wilmot, David Zelker, Nick Brundige, Mike Baker, Jordan Hill, Damian Anderson, Sloan Cherko, Lucas Duncan, Dakota Green, James Galarneau, Alex Smith, Sarah Arnold, Cordell Younger, Dan Seguin, Zach Mecca.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Jimmy Duncan, Dan Madigan, Jeff Meltz Sr., Chris Stalker, Josh Hemming, Jim McKiernan, John Filarecki, Matt Mosher, Al Relyea, Mike Duggan, Joey Wilson, Derek Van Veghten, Ray Pierre Jr.

RUSH LATE MODELS: BROCK PINKEROUS, Chad Homan, Demetrios Drellos, Rob Pitcher, Derrick McGrew Jr., Todd Dunham.

RAIN SHORTENS OPENING NIGHT AT FONDA SPEEDWAY

After getting the track race-ready, a series of light showers forced the cancellation of Saturday night’s season opener at Fonda Speedway.

Track officials worked the track surface between showers and were able to get the heat races in along with features for three of the five divisions in the Frank Trinkaus Memorial for the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series.

Chris Curtis, Jessica Friesen and Jack Lehner picked up the victories in the Modified qualifiers, while 6 DuMond, Chad Edwards and Jonny Feagles picked up the wins in the 602 Sportsman qualifiers and Jason Morrison won the Pro Stock heat race. Ryan Sweet and A.J. Greco claimed the Limited Sportsman heat-race victories. The 4-cylinder feature was on the track, but did not take the green before the cancellation of the race program.

Curtis Condon picked up the feature win in the MVVDMS Late Model division, while Joe Rando claimed the Mystique division feature win and Bryan Scofield won the Antique feature.

Fonda Speedway officials announced the rained-out Fonda Fair 4-cylinder feature will be added to Saturday’s race card featuring the prestigious Lou Lazzaro Memorial for big block modifieds.

Other make up dates from Saturday are for the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds on Dollar Night May 11, Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman on May 25, and the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman and Leatherstocking Pro Stocks on June 1.

FONDA SPEEDWAY

Glover Insurance Night

Saturday

MODIFIED HEAT RACE WINNERS

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. Chris Curtis; 2. Darwin Greene; 3. Bobby Hackel IV; 4. Jason Reome; 5. Tucker O’Connor; 6. JaMike Sowle; 7. Daniel Morgiewicz Jr.; 8. Roger Henion Jr.; 9. Demetrios Drellos.

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. Jessica Friesen; 2. Michael Maresca; 3. Stewart Friesen; 4. Rocky Warner; 5. Alex Yankowski; 6. Ronnie Johnson; 7. Brian Pessolano; 8. Cody Clark.

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. Jack Lehner; 2. Brian Calabrese; 3. Luciano (Pep) Corradi; 4. Ryan Odasz; 5. Craig Hanson; 6. Don Bellen; 7. Glenn Styres; 8. Dave Constantino.

602 CRATE SPORTSMAN HEAT RACE WINNERS

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. Clayton Dumond; 2. Brendan Gibbons; 3. Ricky Quick; 4. Blaine Klinger; 5. Tyler Bobar; 6. Dan Santabarbara; 7. Mike Kalkbrenner; 8. Anthony Falanga; 9. Nathan Peattie; 10. Gary Edwards III.

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. Chip Constantino; 2. Tyler Peet; 3. Dylan Madsen; 4. Josh Kane; 5. Tanner Warner; 6. Jeremy Tyrrell; 7. Mark Mortensen; 8. Bill Port. DNS: Kyle Dingman

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. Jonny Feagles; 2. Chad Edwards; 3. Stephen Gray; 4. Brett Mortensen; 5. Payton Talbot; 6. Jared LaBagh; 7. Butchie Irwin; 8. John Dumond; 9. Savannah Laflair.

PRO STOCK HEAT RACE WINNER

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. Jason Morrison; 2. Ken Gates; 3. Gary Silkey; 4. Devon Camenga; 5. Caden Dumblewski; 6. Shane Playford; 7. Luke Horning; 8. Ivan Joslin; 9. Nick Santuccione. DNS: Nick Stone

LIMITED SPORTSMAN HEAT RACE WINNERS

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. Ryan Sweet; 2. Adam Tranka; 3. Walter Cook; 4. Jim Mallia; 5. Timothy Wilmot; 6. Dylan Huston; 7. Bobby Rhinehardt; 8. Jeff Bobilin. DNS: Ben Balzer; Brandon Tyler.

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. AJ Greco; 2. Josh Coonradt; 3. Corky Warner; 4. Phil Arnold; 5. Steve Wagoner; 6. Josh Persse; 7. Joel Knudsen Jr.; 8. Rocco Constantino; 9. Kirsten Swartz. DQ’d: Lance Hill.

FONDA FAIR FOUR CYLINDER FEATURE – 12-LAPS – RAIN DELAYED – DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) LATE MODEL FEATURE FINISH – CURTIS CONDON, Frank Hoard, John Roese, Rob VanAernam, Will Reed, Camron Hotaling

MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) MYSTIQUE FEATURE FINISH – JOE RANDO, Peter Nowicki, George Palmer, Mark Anatriello, Harry Baldwin, Cory Briggs (DNS)

MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) ANYIQUE FEATURE FINISH – BRYAN SCOFIELD, Jimmy Fugel, John Wood, Don Briggs, John Orsini, Mike Wheeler, Jim Glass, Dan Haslun, Mike Gray, Speedy Niedeheimer

SHEPPARD 2-FOR-2 AT UTICA-ROME

Matt Sheppard made a late-race pass of Billy Decker to claim his second modified feature win of the season Friday night at Utica-Rome Speedway.

Decker held on for second ahead of Alex Yankowski, Michael Maresca, Rocky Warner, Stewart Friesen, Bobby Hackel IV, Justin Wright, Alan Barker and Jessica Friesen.

BACHETTI WINS LEBANON VALLEY OPENER

Andy Bachetti opened the defense of his 2023 modified track championship with a victory in modified feature win Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway.

Keith Flach finished second with Brian Berger, Marc Johnson and Kyle Armstrong rounding out the top five. Kyle Sheldon, Kolby Shroder, Eddie Marshall, JR Heffner and Ryan Darcy complete the top 10.