Albany-Saratoga Finally Has Their First Repeat Modified Winner Of 2018; Ronnie Johnson

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – MALTA, NY – On Friday night, the “Great Race Place,” the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, honored this great nation of ours, but it was Ronnie Johnson that honored his fans by giving them something to celebrate as he claimed the 35-lap Modified main event win.

This made him the first two-time winner at the speedway this season.

After a disappointing performance at the Big Show on Tuesday night, Johnson started in position 13 and worked his way towards the front, using both lines on the track. He was fast at both.

Brian Gleason and Elmo Reckner were having a battle of their own on who wanted the top spot and it would be the #3G that prevailed. Brett Hearn and Kenny Tremont were also making their way to the front as they also started mid-pack.

A driver who has yet to see victory lane is 2016 track champion Marc Johnson. On this night, Johnson was also on a charge to the front from his 10th starting position.

On a restart, Reckner powered into the lead as RJ moved into second and was quickly reeling in the leader. Lap 21 would see him drive underneath of the Wendy’s #17 machine and pull away bu. However, the caution would fly before the lap was completed.

Reckner was fast on the restart and not giving it up easily as it would take Ronnie some laps to gain the lead. Once he did, he was gone as the Duanesburg, NY driver went on to let off his own fireworks, taking the Mickle’s Automotive machine to victory lane.

With the win, Johnson inched a little closer to the “Jersey Jet” in the points race as Hearn came home in 3rd.

Marc Johnson came up short finishing second but has been looking stronger each week. It will only be a matter of time before he gets the W. Fourth was Tremont with Reckner putting in a good run for fifth.

The Sportsman feature saw former Pro Stock champion Nick Stone have a tough evening. Stone, who has been trying to get a handle on his Sportsman car this season, caught the berm in turn one and rolled his #27. He was ok but his car was badly damaged.

Winner of the event was Connor Cleveland, getting the long awaited victory. Andrew Buff, Jeremy Pitt, Tim Hartman and David Constantino rounded out the top five.

The Pro Stock race was plagued with many cautions, and even had the second place runner at one time get put to the rear for spinning the leader. It truly was an action-packed race.

The guy who took his car high and low and drove a smooth race was Kim Duell. Duell, for the second time in 2018, drive to victory for the popular win. He was followed by Rob Yetman with Chuck Dumblewski coming home third. Next was Josh Coonradt who went to the rear and drove up to fourth with Brandon Emigh coming home fifth. The top 5 put on one heck of a race for sure.

The Limited Sportsman saw Ryan Heath take the early lead only to give it up to David Boisclair. Boisclair held off the rest of the pack and went on to get the victory. Justin Buff was second with Derrick McGrew Jr. third. McGrew had his best run of the season at the Malta oval as the young rookie have his best starting spot to date as well, rolling off from third. For sure, all eyes were on him to see how he would handle the race. Congratulation on a super run.

The Native Pride Street Stock feature was won by 2017 Track Champion Al Relyea who picked up his first feature win of the year.

Notes: Jeremy Wilder will no longer be running Malta every week due to the fact he feels he does not have the car to be competitive at the track. He has decided to focus on the Fonda Speedway with the Adirondack Motorsports #24 team.

Defending track champion in the Modified division, Peter Britten, wasn’t at the track on Friday. His normal weekly ride, The Andy’s #97, took a bad ride in turn three with Ryan Godown behind the wheel at the Big Show and was severely damaged. Not sure if that may have been the reason, but rumblings have been circulating that Britten split with the team after last Friday night’s action. We are working on confirming this story.

After 100 laps on the track for the Big Show X, the track was in great shape with hardly any dust. Shout out to Lyle DeVore and crew for a great job.

As always it was a great night at the races with family and friends. 50/50 was once again a nice catch at $1,432. Being 4th of July weekend coming up, we were treated to a super fireworks display. The speedway also paid tribute to solders who lost their lives in battle and to the families who were given the Gold Star in honor of them.

Thank you to all who have sacrificed to protect us and let us live our lives free. Also, to the Patriot Guard Riders who guide our fallen when they returned home to make sure it is a peaceful journey to their resting grounds.

I would like to wish you all a happy and safe Holiday. Prayers to our service men and women and til then keep on racing “see you all at the races.”

Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Ronnie Johnson, 2) Marc Johnson, 3) Brett Hearn, 4) Ken Tremont Jr, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Neil Stratton, 7) Keith Flach, 8) Brian Gleason, 9) Demetrios Drellos, 10) Matt Depew, 11) Rich Ronca, 12) Bobby Hackel IV, 13) Bodie Bellinger, 14) Jessey Mueller, 15) Jack Lehner, 16) Matt Delorenzo, 17) Jackie Brown JR, 18) Hector Stratton, 19) C.G. Morey, 20) Jim Nagle, 21) Justin Barber, 22) Matt Pupello, 23) Don Ronca, 24) Kris Vernold

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) Connor Cleveland, 2) Andrew Buff, 3) Jeremy Pitts, 4) Tim Hartman Jr, 5) Dave Constantino, 6) Chad Edwards, 7) Jack Speshock, 8) Daryl Nutting, 9) Scott Duell, 10) Joey Scarborough, 11) Adam Pierson, 12) Jon Miller, 13) Jason Gray, 14) Mike Ostrander, 15) Josh Neal, 16) Pat Jones, 17) Jim Osgood, 18) Robert Bublak, 19) Nick Lussier, 20) Elliott Lussier, 21) Floyd Billington, 22) Adam McAuliffe, 23) Derek Bornt, 24) Mike Coffey, 25) Jason Reome, 26) Chris Johnson, 27) Nick Stone, 28) Dave Baranowski, 29) Fred Proctor, 30) Jake Scarborough, 31) Nick Fretto

Limited Sportsman Results (15 Laps) – 1) David Boisclair III, 2) Justin Buff, 3) Derek McGrewJR, 4) John Stowell, 5) Ryan Heath, 6) Paolo Pascarella, 7) Josh Rozzelle, 8) Scott Bennett Jr, 9) E.J. Mcauliffe, 10) Jim Mattison, 11) Ron George jr, 12) Stephen Kneer, 13) Thomas VanVorst, 14) Jason Miller, 15) Patrick Meehan, 16) Mike Parodi, 17) Steve Burch, 18) Jared Powell, 19) Lenny Billings, 20) Dylan Bokus, 21) Jeff Jenkins, 22) Emily Quinn, 23) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) Kim Duell, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Chuck Dumblewski, 4) Josh Coonradt, 5) Brandon Emigh, 6) Jason Corbin, 7) Nick Arnold, 8) Kenny Martin, 9) Ed Thompson, 10) Dave Depaulo, 11) Dan Madigan, 12) Norm Loubier, 13) Chris Wemple, 14) Matt Roberts, 15) Mike Baker, 16) Dean Charbonneau, 17) Dan Older, 18) Yates Lansing, 19) Jimmy Eaton, 20) Luke Horning, 21) Jeff LaPalme, 22) Scott Towslee, 23) Walt Brownell, 24) Byron Wescott, 25) Jason Meltz, 26) Darrell Older

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Al Relyea, 2) Damon Anderson, 3) Randy Miller, 4) Scott Lawrence, 5) David Cook, 6) John Filarecki, 7) John Hayes, 8) Mark Burch, 9) Jason Barrett, 10) Harold Chadderdon, 11) Dustin Stevenson, 12) Curt Condon, 13) Phil Arnold, 14) Zach Seyerlein, 15) Jim Duncan, 16) Pete Vila