Matt Rich The Only Winner Friday Night At Albany-Saratoga; Double Mod Features This Week

Story By: JO ANN DAVIES / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – Trying to beat the odds of predicted bad weather, Albany-Saratoga Speedway opened the gates for the first regular Friday night of racing for the 2018 season. Everything was in place and ready to go with the intent to move the night’s program along as quickly as possible.

The odds were not in the track’s favor, as it turned out, as Mother Nature had a different agenda and it’s not possible to win against Mother Nature. The predicted storm became a reality at approximately 8:05 p.m. with the lightening, heavy rain and high winds forcing track management to abandon the remainder of the night’s program.

The first feature of the night, the Limited Sportsman class, was on the track and stopped due to a red flag situation. Matt Rich had led every lap from the drop of the green flag and was leading when the no. 00 of Lou Torres took a wild ride down the backstretch, rolling over four times, before coming to a rest in the turn three area. Torres emerged from his battered car and was able to walk away under his own power.

It was during the cleanup for the Torres crash that the predicted weather arrived and the remainder of the program was canceled. Since more than half of the feature event had been completed, Rich was declared the winner. He was followed by the no. 88 of second place finisher Michael Wagner Fitzgerald with no. 42 Justin Buff, no. 30x Travis Billington and no. 8js John Stowell to complete the top five.

Rich had jumped out to an early lead and was chased by Billington in the first few laps. Fitzgerald and Buff were having strong runs at the front of the 28-car field. A lap 9 caution for the spun no. 39 of Dylan Bokus set the stage for a revived battle among the top five contenders that was cut short.

Since all heats had been concluded the event was considered complete and rain checks will not be honored for the grandstand or pits.

This Friday night, May 11, the Modifieds will run their rained out feature plus their regular feature. All other weekly divisions plus 4-Cylinders will run a regular program for “Hoosier Mama” night in honor of Mother’s Day weekend.

Grandstand gates will open at 5 p.m. and an adult admission will remain at $11. Management will be announcing shortly the dates for each of the rained out features from the May 4 program.

Race Results – May 4, 2018

LIMITED SPORTSMAN
Heat #1: Matt Rich, Mike Parodi, Scott Flanders, Bryan Jones Jr., Jerard LeClair, Jim Mattison, Bob Schmidt, Dylan Bokus, Thomas VanVorst, Lou Torres, Amanda Earl DNS: Steve Burch
Heat #2: Travis Billington, Scott Bennett, John Stowell, Stephen Kneer, EJ McAuliffe, William August, Gary VanAlstyne, Lenny billings, James Hinman, Paolo Pascarella, Derrick McGrew Jr., Jason Miller
Heat #3: Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Justin buss, Gary DeRocher, Josh Rozelle, Brent Warren, Jason Baker, Emily Quinn, David Boisclair, Ryan Heath, Jeff Washburn DNS: Larry Niemac, Jeff Jenkins
Feature Finish: 1) Matt Rich 2) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald 3) Justin Buff 4) Travis Billington 5) John Stowell 6) Stephen Kneer 7) Scott Bennett 8) Gary Derocher 9) EJ McAuliffe 10) Bryan Jones Jr 11) Scott Flanders 12) Josh Rozelle 13) Brent Warren 14) Jason Miller 15) Ryan Heath 16) William August 17) Emily Quinn 18) Derrick McGrew Jr 19) Thomas VanVorst 20) David Boisclair 21) Lou Torres 22) Dylan Bokus 23) Lenny Billings 24) James Hinman 25) Paolo Pascarella 26) Bob Schmidt 27) Jason Baker 28) Jerard LeClair DNS: Mike Parodi, Jim Mattison, Gary VanAlstyne, Jeff Washburn, Amanda Earl, Jeff Jenkins, Steve Burch

SPORTSMAN
Heat #1: Jake Scarborough, Dave Constantino, Jeremy Pitts, Fred Proctor, Jason Gray, Jon Miller, Nick Lussier, Robert Bublak, Jesse Edwards, Derek Bornt, Eliot Lussier
Heat #2: Jim Osgood, Andrew Buff, Chris Johnson, Connor Cleveland, Adam Pierson, Nick Fretto, Pat Jones, Josh Neal, Ken Conroy, Dave Baranowski Jr., Mike Ostrander
Heat #3: Daryl Nutting, Tyler Thompson, Scott Duell, Joey Scarborough, Mike Coffey Jr., Tim Hartman, Chad Edwards, Jack Speshock, Adam McAuliffe, Floyd Billington, Jason Reome

PRO STOCKS
Heat #1: Josh Coonradt, Brandon Gray, Chris Wemple, Nick Arnold, Darrell Older, Doug Sheely, Dave DePaulo, Mike Baker, Scott Towslee
Heat #2: Luke Horning, Jason Corbin, Kenny Martin, Byron Wescott, Walt Brownell, Nick Stone, Ernie Greenier, Matt Roberts
Heat #3: Chuck Dumblewski, Kim Duell, Dean Charbonneau, Brandon Emigh, Norm Loubier, Dan Older, Jimmy Eaton, Peter Porter

MODIFIEDS
Heat #1: Jessey Mueller, Max McLaughlin, Matt DeLorenzo, Bodie Bellinger, Marc Johnson, Rich Scagliotta, Neil Stratton, Jim Nagle, Bobby Hackel IV, Jackie Brown, Don Ronca
Heat #2: Ronnie Johnson, Peter Britten, Brett Hearn, Jimmy Cottrell, CG Morey, Jack Lehner, Jason Herrington, Kris Vernold, Matt Pupello, Rich Ronca, Matt Depew
Heat #3: Elmo Reckner, Kenny Tremont, Jr., Demetrios Drellos, Willy Decker, Keith Flach, Brian Gleason, Jeremy Wilder, Jeff Rockefeller, Don Mattison, Justin Barber