RJ Finds A Way To Win Friday At Albany-Saratoga

Story By: MATT KEITH / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – It was “Law Enforcement Night” at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night but it was Ronnie Johnson who was the sheriff in town as he motored from his eighth place starting spot to pick up his 22nd career track win in the 35-lap Modified feature.

Taking the lead for good from Kenny Tremont on lap 19, Johnson went virtually unchallenged for the remainder of the race. “I had to take the top lane from Kenny–that was the only way I thought I could beat him. Kenny runs this track real well,” said Johnson in victory lane.

Tremont would settle for second with Peter Britten working his way from 15th to third in the final running order. Jessey Mueller and defending track champion Marc Johnson rounded out the top five

It was a tough night for last week’s feature winner Brett Hearn as he was collected in a lap 6 crash in turn 2. Hearn’s night would end on the hook with front end damage.

Adam McAuliffe held off a late race challenge from JaMike Sowle and last week’s winner Rocky Warner to pick up the $1,000 Sowle Trailer Repair Series (STR) Sportsman series win. The victory was the first career Sportsman win for McAuliffe at “The Great Race Place.”

Robbie Speed became the first repeat winner of the season at Albany-Saratoga, driving from 14th to first in the 25-lap Pro Stock feature. Last week Warner picked up the win for his mom on Mother’s Day and this week celebrated his wedding anniversary in victory lane.

Jacob Volpi held off all challengers to pick up his first career win in the Limited Sportsman class. Randy Miller drove from last to first to win the 20-lap Street Stock feature. P.J. Bleau was the Dual Cam winner in the 4-Cylinder division and Steve Ryan was the Single Cam winner.

Friday night, May 26, Albany-Saratoga will celebrate the Memorial Day weekend with the Patriot Sprint Tour making their first appearance of the season. All weekly divisions will be in action with heat races only for the Modifieds and Sprints. All other divisions will run features only.

Pit gates will open on Friday at 4 p.m. and the grandstand gate will open at 5 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults and $2 for children 11 and under.

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results – 1) P.J. Bleau, 2) Steve Ryan, 3) Ben Grant, 4) Jason Lang, 5) Derek Quintero, 6) Josh Wood, 7) Jared Powell, 8) Colby Shepler, 9) David Frame, DNS) Chris Andrew