Flach Rewards Team For Hard Work; Wins Friday At Albany-Saratoga

Story By: MATT KEITH / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – Bobby Hackel’s misfortune was Keith Flach’s fortune on Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Hackel, who lead from the initial green, slipped up and jumped the cushion in turn two with three laps to go. “The Ravena Rocket” Flach dove underneath him and motored away to his third career win at “The Great Race Place and first since 2013 in the 35-lap Modified feature.

Peter Britten’s 14th place finish, coupled with Flach’s victory, has moved Flach to within one point of Britten for the lead in the Modified division championship battle.

Demetrios Drellos held on for second while Ronnie Johnson came from the back to third after being involved in a first lap melee and going pit side. Hackel would have to settle for second and Kenny Tremont, also involved in the first lap skirmish, rounded out the top five.

Connor Cleveland picked up his second Sportsman win of the season in the 25-lap feature holding off Adam McAuliffe. Early race leader Nick Lussier, who led until lap 15 when Cleveland passed him on the top side of the speedway, settled for third. Mike Ostrander and David Schilling rounded out the top five.

Josh Pieniazek led the entire way in the 25-lap CRSA Sprint car feature holding off the late race charges of Kyle Smith. Mike Kiser was third with Billy Van Inwegen fourth and Jeff Trombley fifth.

In a wild Pro Stock feature, Kenny Martin and Kim Duell came across the finish line virtually even. Timing and scoring showed Martin just ahead by .003 sec. Video replay showed them virtually even. Per DIRTcar rules, it was up to the position of the transponder on each car to show the winner.

After inspection Duell was declared the winner, picking up his second win in a row and third of the season. Martin would have to settle for second. Early race leader Jeff Washburn was third after getting passed by Martin with three to go. Dave DePaulo was fourth and Chucky Dumblewski completed the top five.

Paolo Pascarella finally shook off some bad luck and captured his first career Limited Sportsman feature in the makeup feature from June 23. Derek Bornt finished in second with Rob Lanfear in third. Steve Burch and Travis Billington rounded out the top five.

In the nightcap of the Limited Sportsman division, it was Scott Bennett holding off the challenge of Derek Bornt to pick up his first win of the season. Bornt was second with James Meehan, Gary Derocher and Jacob Volpi rounding out the top five.

Five was the magic number for “the Wheel man” Randy Miller as he drove to his fifth win of the season in the “Meltz Lumber Street Stock Special” Miller took the lead on lap eight and was never seriously challenged in the 20-lap affair, taking home the $500 first prize.

Next up, Albany-Saratoga will be right back in action on Tuesday, August 15, for the Brett Deyo promoted Short Track Super Series “Stampede at the Toga.” A 50-lap feature for the Modified division along with a 30-lap “King of the Dirt” Sportsman Series event will fill out the card.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. Front gates open at 6 p.m. Admission for this special event will be $20 for adults and $5 for children 11 and under.

“The Great Race Place will be right back in action three nights later on Friday, August 18, with “Autograph Night” as well as the “Featherfoot Warrior” Pro Stock series. All other divisions will be in action. The 4-Cylinder division will race double features as they make up a rain out from June 23.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. Front gates open at 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $3 for children 11 and under for this regular show.

Malta Mud Bits- A wild flip occurred by former Albany-Saratoga Sportsman competitor Andy Durie on the front stretch on lap 9 of the CRSA Sprint feature. Fortunately, Durie was not hurt… 19-year-old Dalton Sargeant was on hand Friday night at Albany-Saratoga. The Boca Raton, Florida driver, a competitor on the ARCA Series, was driving Kenny Martin’s backup Pro Stock. Sargeant was trying to gain a bit of Dirt experience having never raced on a dirt surface. He is preparing for two upcoming events in the ARCA series that will be run on dirt. Sargeant currently sits second in the ARCA point standings…With rain all around the Capital District promoter Lyle DeVore moved the program along at a steady pace. All racing was done by 10 p.m.

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

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

06-23 Limited Sportsman Results (20 Laps) – 1) Paolo Pascarella, 2) Derek Bornt, 3) Rob Lanfear, 4) Steve Burch, 5) Mike Parodi, 6) James Meehan, 7) Scott Bennett Jr, 8) Gary Derocher, 9) Jacob Volpi, 10) Bryan Jones, 11) Stephen Kneer, 12) Jerard LeClair, 13) E.J. McAuliffe, 14) Jason Miller, 15) Colin Clow, 16) Jim Mattison, 17) Don Greco, 18) John Stowell, 19) Justin Buff, 20) Bob Schmidt, DNS) Ryan Heath, DNS) Chance Martindale, DNS) Craig Seely

08-11 Limited Sportsman Results (20 Laps) – 1) Scott Bennett Jr, 2) Derek Bornt, 3) James Meehan, 4) Gary Derocher, 5) Jacob Volpi, 6) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 7) John Stowell, 8) Travis Billington, 9) Mike Parodi, 10) William August, 11) Steve Burch, 12) E.J. McAuliffe, 13) Jeff Jenkins, 14) Ron George Jr, 15) Stephen Kneer, 16) Matt Rich, 17) Paolo Pascarella, 18) Mike Block, 19) Don Greco, 20) Jerard LeClair, 21) Scott Flanders, 22) Bryan Jones, 23) Lou Torres, 24) Justin Buff, 25) Jim Mattison, 26) Colin Clow, 27) Rob Lanfear, 28) Jason Miller, 29) Bobby Gage, 30) Bob Schmidt, DNS) Mike Fisher

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

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Randy Miller, 2) Al Relyea, 3) Jim Duncan, 4) Chase Aussicker, 5) Damon Anderson, 6) Mark Burch, 7) Scott Lawrence, 8) Fred Harris, 9) Matt Mosher, 10) Yule Cook, 11) Kevin Leto Jr, 12) John Hayes, 13) Pete Vila, 14) Hunter Sanchez, 15) Joey Wilson, DNS) Frank Monroe, DNS) Rob VanAernam