Friesen Takes Big Money In Season Opener At Albany-Saratoga

Story By: MATT KEITH / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – The weather may have been warm Friday night for the packed Albany-Saratoga house, but it was Friesen at the end of the 35-lap Modified feature — as in Stewart Friesen.

Friesen, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular, who has said he will call Albany-Saratoga home in 2017 when his schedule allows, took advantage of a heads-up fifth place start and quickly motored to the front, holding off the challenges of defending track champion Marc Johnson, and Brett Hearn to pick up the $3,000 payday.

“The car was great. The team worked hard over the winter. This was a great team effort. Man, this feels good,” said an elated Friesen in victory lane.

In the Sowle’s Trailer Repair STR Sportsman Series feature Adam Pierson and Cody Bleau put on a stirring side-by-side battle, exchanging the lead several times throughout the 25-lap affair. When the dust settled, it was Pierson standing in victory lane.

The Featherfoot Pro Stock Series race went to Kenny Martin in a thrilling 25-lap feature. For much of the race the top five raced under a blanket. The race turned out to be much like the television show “Survivor” as several contenders fell by the wayside. In the end, Martin was able to hold off all challengers for the win.

The Limited Sportsman 20-lap feature found a first-time winner in victory lane as Justin Severance came from the front row to pick up his first career win at “The Great Race Place” in an open wheel type car.

Scott Lawrence was the Street Stock feature winner with the 4-Cylinder division checkers going to Tyler Burch in the single cam and P. J. Bleau in the dual cam.

In a pre-race on-track ceremony Modified driver Ronnie Johnson was honored. Johnson captured the final feature of the 2016 season. That race was also the 1000th Modified feature ever held at the historic Malta oval. Johnson, whose legendary father Jack amassed 90 wins at the track, was humbled by the honor. “It’s a great honor. With the caliber of drivers who race here, just to get a win is big.”

Albany-Saratoga will return to action on Friday, May 5, with a qualifier for the Fulton “Outlaw 200” for the Modified division. The Empire Lightning Sprints will also be on the card, along with the Sowle’s Trailer Repair STR Sportsman Series and all divisions in action. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. with the front gates opening at 5 p.m.

For more information log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.

Season Opener Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Stewart Friesen, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Matt Delorenzo, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Peter Britten, 6) Brian Gleason, 7) Neil Stratton, 8) Rich Scagliotta, 9) Ronnie Johnson, 10) Don Ronca, 11) Bodie Bellinger, 12) C.G. Morey, 13) Elmo Reckner, 14) Ray Hoard, 15) Rich Ronca, 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Shaun Pangman, 18) Jessey Mueller, 19) Jimmy Cottrell, 20) Brett Hearn, 21) Kris Vernold, 22) Pep Corradi, 23) Travis Billington, 24) Floyd Billington, 25) Jeff Rockefeller, 26) Justin Barber, 27) Cass Bennett, 28) Brian Whittemore, 29) Ken Tremont Jr, 30) Jeremy Wilder, 31) Demetrios Drellos, 32) Rob Pitcher, 33) Bobby Hackel IV, 34) Matt Depew

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) Adam Pierson, 2) Connor Cleveland, 3) Cody Bleau, 4) Tim Hartman Jr, 5) Chris Johnson, 6) Rocky Warner, 7) Jeremy Pitts, 8) Dave Constantino, 9) Andrew Buff, 10) Pat Jones, 11) Jack Speshock, 12) Kevin Chaffee, 13) Jamike Sowle, 14) David Schilling, 15) Hunter Bates, 16) Daryl Nutting, 17) Jack Lehner, 18) Tony Farone, 19) Scott Duell, 20) Elliott Lussier, 21) Nick Anatriello, 22) Mike Coffey, 23) Brian Calabrese, 24) Jim Osgood, 25) Nick Lussier, 26) Jim Morgan, 27) Adam Gage, 28) Fred Proctor, 29) Dave Baranowski, 30) Adam McAuliffe, 31) Brian Pessalano, 32) Ken Conroy, 33) Joey Scarborough, DNS) Robert Bublak, DNS) Nick Fretto, DNS) Jon Miller, DNS) Josh Neal, DNS) Joe Orlando, DNS) Mike Ostrander, DNS) Christopher Ronca, DNS) Dan Santabarbara, DNS) Justin Smith

Limited Sportsman Results (15 Laps) – 1) Justin Severance, 2) Derek Bornt, 3) James Meehan, 4) Scott Bennett Jr, 5) John Stowell, 6) Jacob Volpi, 7) Stephen Kneer, 8) Mike Parodi, 9) Steve Burch, 10) John Lindblade, 11) Bryan Jones, 12) Jason Miller, 13) E.J. McAuliffe, 14) Bruce Loomis, 15) Bob Schmidt, 16) William August, 17) Wesley Sutcliff, 18) Don Greco, 19) Justin Buff, 20) Rob Lanfear, 21) Colin Clow, 22) Jim Mattison, 23) Jerard LeClair, 24) Lenny Billings, 25) Paolo Pascarella, 26) Ryan Heath, 27) Matt Rich, 28) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 29) Matt Atwood, 30) Mike Block, DQ) Gary Derocher

Pro Stock Featherfoot Series Results (25 Laps) – 1) Kenny Martin, 2) Brandon Emigh, 3) Bill Smith, 4) Todd Hoffman, 5) Ernie Greenier, 6) Jeff Washburn, 7) Dan Older, 8) Luke Horning, 9) Chris Wemple, 10) Dave Depaulo, 11) Robbie Speed, 12) Nick Arnold, 13) Josh Rozelle, 14) Devon Camenga, 15) Norm Loubier, 16) Kim Duell, 17) Nick Stone, 18) Walt Brownell, 19) Chuck Dumblewski, 20) Ivan Joslin, 21) Darryl Older, 22) Jay Fitzgerald, 23) Yates Lansing, 24) Matt Roberts, 25) Kyle Hoard, DNS) David Emigh

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Scott Lawrence, 2) Randy Miller, 3) Jim Duncan, 4) Frank Monroe, 5) John Filarecki, 6) Joshua Reome, 7) Jeff Meltz Sr, 8) Joey Wilson, 9) Damon Anderson, 10) Mark Burch, 11) David Cook, 12) Kevin Leto Jr, 13) Pete Vila, 14) John Hayes, 15) David Pelis, 16) Daniel Joubert, 17) Chase Aussicker, 18) Jake Currier, 19) Paul Mulrain, 20) Curt Condon, DNS) Al Relyea, DNS) Shawn Lancey

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) Tyler Burch, 2) Will Ryan, 3) Johnny Bruno, 4) Allana Jordan, 5) Robert Garney, 6) Dave LeBarge

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results- 1) P.J. Bleau, 2) Dave Mullineaux, 3) Jason Lang, 4) Jeff Piscitelli, 5) Chris Andrew, 6) Dave LeBarge, 7) David Frame, 8) Ben Grant, 9) Jared Powell, 10) Josh Wood