Britten Pads His Albany-Saratoga Point Lead With Victory Friday

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – MALTA, NY – Friday night was a great night for Modified point leader Peter Britten at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway as he was able to grab his first win of the 2017 season.

With a full field of Modifieds taking the green, it was Jimmy Cottrell and Elmo Reckner on the front row with Reckner getting out to the lead. Jessey Mueller would take over the top spot from the Wendy’s #17 on lap eight.

Meanwhile, Britten, who started in eighth, was starting to quietly make his way to the front as a battle was brewing between defending champ Marc Johnson, Kenny Tremont and Brett Hearn. Johnson was working his way to the front as he was doing everything he could to get to the top spot.

While Mueller was running the extreme high line, he went over the cushion between turns one and two which opened the door for Britten to power his way on the low side and into the lead. He never looked back and went on to score his first victory of the year, giving him a little breathing room in the points chase.

Britten said he needed to break out his new car because his regular machine, the Romano #97, was getting a little beat up.

“We were consistent, but just not performing up to our ability,” Britten said after the race. “The win could not have come at a better time. I’m so happy right now. This is a great feeling.”

Modified heat winners were Britten, Ronnie Johnson and Marc Johnson.

The make-up Sportsman feature from June 23rd was won by David Schilling followed by Brian Pessolano, Pat Jones, Rocky Warner and Chris Ronca. The second feature saw Tim Hartman Jr. came from 12th starting spot to claim a very impressive first win of the year at Malta.

“It’s been a very frustrating year,” Hartman said. “We’ve been running Glen Ridge on Sunday’s and have been able to experiment with different things and it has helped us turn things around.”

Hartman was a very thrilled and relieved driver after capturing the victory.

In the Pro Stock feature, Dan Older brought the field of cars to the green. It didn’t take cousin Luke Horning long to take over the point. It looked as if he was going on to take home the checkered when a lap car spun in front of him. That caused the 2H to check up, giving Chuck Dumblewski the opening he needed to take the lead and go on to claim the checkered flag in a very exciting race.

Horning came across the line a close second followed by Jay Corbin, Older and Norm Loubier.

The Limited Sportsman feature winner was James Meehan while Randy Miller claimed another victory in the Street Stocks

Making a stop at the ‘Great Race Place’ was the Mohawk Valley Vintage Cars and it was Daryl Hulburt getting the Modified class win and Don Grecco taking home the Sportsman.

It was great to see the the fine machines of yesteryear and was an awesome night of racing being with my racing monsters as always.

Here’s to great times and left turns! Everybody, be safe and see you at the track!

Friday, August 258, 2017 – Malta, NY – Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Peter Britten, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Jessey Mueller, 4) Ken Tremont Jr, 5) Brett Hearn, 6) Keith Flach, 7) Neil Stratton, 8) Brian Gleason, 9) Jeremy Wilder, 10) Don Ronca, 11) Matt Delorenzo, 12) C.G. Morey, 13) Ronnie Johnson, 14) Matt Depew, 15) Elmo Reckner, 16) Demetrios Drellos, 17) Jimmy Cottrell, 18) Ricky Davis, 19) Rich Ronca, 20) Bodie Bellinger, 21) Don Mattison, 22) Erik Nelson, 23) Cass Bennett, 24) Ray Hoard, 25) Jim Nagle, DNS) Bobby Hackel IV

06-23 Sportsman Results Mr. Dirt Track USA Qualifier (25 Laps) – 1) David Schilling, 2) Brian Pessalano, 3) Pat Jones, 4) Rocky Warner, 5) Christopher Ronca, 6) Jon Miller, 7) Andrew Buff, 8) Tim Hartman Jr, 9) Dave Baranowski, 10) Mike Ostrander, 11) Scott Duell, 12) Connor Cleveland, 13) Ken Conroy, 14) Chris Johnson, 15) Joe Orlando, 16) Jack Lehner, 17) Nick Fretto, 18) Robert Bublak, 19) Jeremy Pitts, 20) Adam McAuliffe, 21) Mike Coffey, 22) Fred Proctor, 23) Daryl Nutting, 24) Nick Lussier, 25) Hunter Bates, 26) Jamike Sowle, 27) Dave Constantino, 28) Jim Osgood, 29) Elliott Lussier, 30) Jesse Edwards, DNS) Josh Neal, DNS) Jack Speshock, DNS) Floyd Billington, DNS) Brian Calabrese, DNS) Dan Santabarbara

08-25 UNOFFICIAL Sportsman Results STR Series (25 Laps) – 1) Tim Hartman Jr, 2) Jeremy Pitts, 3) Connor Cleveland, 4) Hunter Bates, 5) Pat Jones, 6) Dave Constantino, 7) Josh Sunn, 8) Fred Proctor, 9) Rocky Warner, 10) Brian Pessalano, 11) Adam McAuliffe, 12) Chris Johnson, 13) Jack Lehner, 14) Jason Gray, 15) Robert Bublak, 16) David Schilling, 17) Nick Fretto, 18) Adam Pierson, 19) Mike Ostrander, 20) Joe Orlando, 21) Mike Coffey, 22) Ken Conroy, 23) Dave Baranowski, 24) Jon Miller, 25) Jesse Edwards, 26) Elliott Lussier, 27) Jamike Sowle, 28) Scott Duell, DNS) Reggie Bonner, DNS) Andrew Buff, DNS) Zach Daurio, DNS) Chad Edwards, DNS) Tony Farone, DNS) Nick Lussier, DNS) Daryl Nutting, DNS) Jim Osgood, DNS) Christopher Ronca

Limited Sportsman Results (20 Laps) – 1) James Meehan, 2) Mike Parodi, 3) Mike Block, 4) Rob Lanfear, 5) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 6) Derek Bornt, 7) Justin Buff, 8) Stephen Kneer, 9) Anthony Alger, 10) Jerard LeClair, 11) Ryan Heath, 12) Mike Fisher, 13) Paolo Pascarella, 14) Scott Flanders, 15) Scott Bennett Jr, 16) Jason Miller, 17) Bruce Loomis, 18) Jeff Jenkins, 19) Matt Rich, 20) Jim Mattison, 21) Colin Clow, 22) John Stowell, 23) Don Greco, 24) Steve Burch, 25) Ron George Jr, 26) Gary Derocher, 27) Matt Westcott, DNS) Bryan Jones

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) Chuck Dumblewski, 2) Luke Horning, 3) Jason Corbin, 4) Dan Older, 5) Norm Loubier, 6) Dave Depaulo, 7) Devon Camenga, 8) Kenny Martin, 9) Jeff Washburn, 10) Kim Duell, 11) Bill Smith, 12) Ernie Greenier, 13) Darrell Older, 14) Josh Coonradt, 15) Nick Arnold, 16) Yates Lansing, 17) Ron Delease Jr. 18) Matt Roberts, 19) Mike Baker, 20) Byron Wescott, 21) Brandon Emigh, 22) Dean Charbonneau, 23) Dan Madigan 24) Josh Rozelle, 25) Brandon Gray, 26) Ed Thompson

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Randy Miller, 2) Chase Aussicker, 3) Joey Wilson, 4) Al Relyea, 5) Mark Burch, 6) John Filarecki, 7) Jim Duncan, 8) Damon Anderson, 9) Scott Lawrence, 10) Rob VanAernam, 11) Fred Harris, 12) Erwin Smith, 13) Kevin Leto Jr, 14) John Hayes, 15) Eric Esterby, 16) Pete Vila, 17) Matt Mosher, DNS) Jody Thew