RPW Exclusive: Ronnie Johnson Brings Home Another Victory At Albany-Saratoga Friday Night

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – MALTA, NY – It was the 2Rj all the way Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway as Ronnie Johnson took advantage of his sixth starting spot and went on to capture his third win of the 2018 racing season.

With a packed house and Mother Nature finally letting us race, everybody had thoughts on their minds; lets go racing. The fans certainly didn’t go home disappointed.

The King of Dirt Series made their way into town for their Pro Stocks Series event and the fans got their money’s worth as those racers certainly put on one of the best shows of the year. But, more about that shortly. Let’s get to the main event of the evening…the Modified feature.

Ronnie Johnson took over the lead on lap seven and looked to be well in command early in the race. However, week after week, the car quietly making his march to the front, Marc Johnson, was coming from his 10th starting position and coming in a hurry.

One of the young guns in the field, Bodie Bellinger, was looking to also put up a fight for the top spot as he was riding getting to second and brough Marc Johnson along with him.

While all this was going on, RJ, the Duanesburg, NY-native, was pulling away from the rest of the field.

With 15 laps to go it was RJ, Bellinger, Marc Johnson, Keith Flach and Jessey Mueller, who was utilizing the low side to make passes, picking off cars lap after lap late in the race, along with veteran Kenny Tremont.

A late race caution came out and gave hope to the rest of the field that they could give the high-flying 2RJ a run for his money. Bellinger gave him that challenge as he put a slide job on RJ, but it didn’t work as Mickle Automotive Teo came right back and got the lead back from the 18. Marc Johnson would also get close to Ronnie but he stayed on the high side and was not giving up the lead.

The car on the move late in the going, however, was Mueller, who was feeding on the bottom and gave Ronnie a challenge in the final laps. The #19 DKM machine came on too late, though, as time ran out. Jessey had to settle second to the son of the great Jack Johnson as he went on to claim his third victory of the year, putting him eighth overall on the all-time win list, passing legendary Dave Lape.

“When your in the lead sometimes its difficult to judge on how fast to go,” Johnson said after his win. “You don’t want to over judge the berm. I saw the cars get under me but just kept it going on top and hoped for the best.”

The rest of the top five running order at the end of the 35-laps was Mueller in second followed by Tremont who came from deep in the field, Marc Johnson and Bellinger.

The King of Dirt Pro Stocks had the ‘homeboys’ setting fast time of the night as Josh Coonradt, Kenny Martin and Kim Duell would also claim heat race victories, but it was the feature that was one heck of a show.

Coonradt would grab the lead early in the event and looked to be in command in the early stages of the race. That was until Rich Crane said not so fast, showing his nose under the 00x car in a battle for the number one spot.

Meanwhile, Chuck Dumblewski was marching to the front, getting to the top five and looking for more. He was making moves that proved to everyone he had a car to beat, taking it three-wide heading into turn three to grab the third spot.

After a caution on lap 18, second-place runner Crane looped it on the restart after getting tagged from behind, ending his bid for the victory.

The car now running third was the #324 of Jason Casey was know looking to snatch the victory away from Coonradt. It quickly became a fie-car battle fo the lead as Brandon Emigh and Jimmy Eaton joined Coonrady, Dumblewski and Casey up front.

The cream of the crop was rising to the top as Casey would get around Dumblewski and leader Coonradt, and the invader went on to claim the hard-fought battle, capturing the KOD Pro Stock Series win.

Dumblewski got to second at the finish with Emigh third. Coonradt backslid to fourth with Kim Duell coming home in fifth.

The Sportsman feature event winner was Darryl Nutting and he was followed by Connor Cleveland, Joey Scarborough, Tim Hartman Jr and Jason Gray. The Limited Sportsman event was won by Paolo Pascarella.

The Street Stock feature came down to a battle between the two hottest guys in the class all season, Randy Miller and Al Relyea. However, it was once again “Miller Time” as Randy claiming yet another win, coming from deep in the pack.

It was great being back to the ‘Great Race Place’ where the action was just outstanding. The 50/50 was $2,200. Next on the calendar at track will be the Short Track Super Series’ Stampede at Toga on Tuesday night. You don’t want to miss it.

Well folks, the point championships are heating up and you don’t want to miss the final stretch of races to see who comes out on top. God bless our troops, and I’ll see you all at the races.