Hearn Motors To Victory At Albany-Saratoga

Story By: MATT KEITH / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – With reserved tickets to “The Big Show 9” going on sale on Monday, Brett Hearn put on a show of his own Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in the 35-lap Modified feature on “Hoosier Mama” Night, thus securing himself a spot in the “Outlaw 200” at Fulton Speedway later this year.

It was Matt Depew and Bobby Hackel IV on the front row taking Kenny Marshall’s green flag with Hearn firing from position number 12. The Jersey Jet showed that he was quick early on, moving to seventh on the first lap.

By lap nine Hearn had moved to third and on lap 22 he ducked low on then leader Jeremy Wilder. From there Hearn pulled away for his first win of the season and 129th career win at “The Great Race Place.” Hearn’s victory was also the 895th of his storied career.

Rocky Warner secured his first win of the season in the Sowle Trailer Repair (STR) 25-lap Sportsman feature. Warner took the green from the 15th starting spot and had worked his way to seventh by lap 6. Warner took the race lead on a lap 13 restart and never looked back.

Defending Pro Stock track champion Robbie Speed worked his way from a ninth place starting position and took the lead for the first time on lap 17. From there he held off all challengers to win the 25-lap Pro Stock feature.

It was David Emigh and Jay Fitzgerald taking the initial green flag, but Walt Brownell was quickly out in front from his fifth place starting spot. Nick Stone would work the high side of the speedway, taking the lead from Brownell on lap 10 and again on lap 14, before surrendering the lead to Speed.

Brownell would settle for second, Kenny Martin third, Jason Meltz fourth, and Jeff Washburn fifth. A frightening flip by Billy Smith on lap 4 as he clipped the inside tire barrier coming out of turn two, causing him to barrel roll at least three times before coming to rest. Smith walked to the ambulance under his own power.

Al Relyea went wire to wire to pick up his first career win in the 20-lap Street Stock feature.

Derek Bornt led the entire 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature until the final turn when contact with a lap car allowed Rob Lanfear to scoot by for the win.

Albany-Saratoga will return to action on Friday night May 19 at 7 p.m. on “Law Enforcement Night.” All divisions will be in action, including the third race of the Sowle Trailer Sales (STR) Sportsman series.

Pit gates will open at 4 p.m. and the grandstand gate will open at 5 p.m.

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

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

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

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) Robbie Speed, 2) Walt Brownell, 3) Kenny Martin, 4) Jason Meltz, 5) Jeff Washburn, 6) Todd Hoffman, 7) Dave Depaulo, 8) Ernie Greenier, 9) Nick Stone, 10) Chris Wemple, 11) Chuck Dumblewski, 12) Yates Lansing, 13) Norm Loubier, 14) Dan Older, 15) Darryl Older, 16) Brandon Gray, 17) Josh Rozelle, 18) Nick Arnold, 19) Luke Horning, 20) David Emigh, 21) Kyle Hoard, 22) Brandon Emigh, 23) Ivan Joslin, 24) Kim Duell, 25) Ed Thompson, 26) Josh Coonradt, 27) Bill Smith, 28) Jay Fitzgerald

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Al Relyea, 2) Curt Condon, 3) Paul Mulrain, 4) David Cook, 5) John Filarecki, 6) Frank Monroe, 7) Joshua Reome, 8) Damon Anderson, 9) Dave Stickles, 10) Joey Wilson, 11) John Hayes, 12) Jim Duncan, 13) Pete Vila, 14) Rob VanAernam, 15) Chase Aussicker, 16) Jake Currier, 17) Daniel Joubert, 18) Fred Harris, 19) Randy Miller, 20) Scott Lawrence, 21) Mark Burch, DNS) Kevin Leto Jr, DNS) David Pelis