MALTA – Kolby Schroder chalked up the first win of his career, and Demetrios Drellos displayed all the daring moves that carried him to the track championship in 2023 as Albany-Saratoga Speedway kicked off the month of May with double modified features Friday night.

Schroder’s victory came in the completion of the feature that was rained out after two laps the previous week. Schroder regained his front-row position on Friday night and dominated the next 33 laps, only having a problem when he made hard contact with Todd Ryan, who was trying to stay on the lead lap, coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap.

Schroder, who became a regular in the Friday night field at Albany-Saratoga last season, made hard contact with Ryan as they came out of the fourth turn on the final lap, but the contact didn’t prevent Schroder from taking the checkered flag ahead of Brian Calabrese, who had his best finish ever in a modified at Malta.

“I was just riding around out there,” said Schroder in victory lane. “The car was real good. I didn’t know how close anyone was behind me, so I didn’t want to play around with the lapped cars. I didn’t want to give anyone an opportunity to get around me.”

Jack Lehner crossed the finish line third, with Justin Stone fourth and defending track champion Peter Britten fifth.

In the second 35-lap feature, Jeremy Pitts started third and took the lead away from Robert Bublak Jr on lap 12. By that time, Drellos, who started sixth, was making a charge and took the No. 3 spot away from Ryan McCartney with a crossover move in the second turn on lap 16.

Three laps later, Drellos worked his way around Rich Ronca to take over second, and he quickly closed ground on Pitts, who had caught the tail end of the field.

Two restarts followed and each time, Drellos gave Pitts his best shot. On the first restart, on lap 25, Drellos tried a crossover move in the fourth turn, but couldn’t make it stick.

After Mike Mahaney brought out another caution on lap 27, Drellos tried a ”slider” on Pitts in the second turn on the restart, but Drellos wound up going off the backstretch and lost two spots. But a third yellow flag flew before that lap was completed, and Drellos was able to restart in the No. 2 position.

Then, on lap 29, Drellos pulled even with Pitts in the first turn, leaned on him as they went through the second turn and grabbed the lead for good going down the backstretch.

The break in momentum resuled in Pitts dropping back to fourth, finishing behind Drellos, David Schilling and Ronnie Johnson, who had started at the rear of the field Friday night after being in a first-lap incident in the original feature.

Pitts was one of the first people to greet Drellos in victory hand, congratulating him on the victory. “I’m not mad at him,” Pitts said with a smile.

“He got off the top and I did lean on him,” Drellos said. “I didn’t want to lean on him enough to push him off the track, just enough so I had a lane.”

There were two other first-time winners on Friday night’s card, as Donovan Lussier picked up his first win ever in the 25-lap sportsman feature, and 13-year-old rookie Bodie Marks won the 20-lap limited sportsman feature.

Lussier, who has been racing at Albany-Saratoga while waiting for his home tracks in Quebec to open, started fifth and outran Chris Jakubiak in the sportsman feature. Tim Hartman Jr., who started 15^th, completed the podium.

Craig Wholey won the Four States Enterprises Sportsman Dash for Cash and took home a $200 bonus.

Marks used a restart on lap five to snatch the lead in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature and easily drove to his first career win. Jordan Hill crossed the finish line second, but was dropped to seventh in the final order of finish for jumping the final restart of the race. That elevated David Zelker to the No.2 spot, while James Galarneau finished third.

Pete Stefanski, who recorded his first career pro stock win the previous week, only needed seven days to get win No. 2, as he outran Chris Stalker in the 25-lap pro stock feature, which paid $1,060 to win through sponsorship from Twister chassis.

Stefanski was running third on lap 8 when Rich Crane took out leader Beau Ballard n the second turn. When both Ballard and Crane went to the rear, Stefanski, who started 12^th, inherited the lead and that’s where he stayed. Chris Stalker crossed the finish line second and Kim Duell charged from 13^th to finish third.

PJ Cram Jr. won the 20-lap street stock feature, which paid $500 to win through sponsorship from Croteau’s Service Center, which is also the primary sponsor on Cram’s car.

Mark Burch, who was looking for his second straight win, started near the tail end of the 19-car field, but quickly worked his way to the front and was in the lead following a restart on lap four.

Cram, who also started deep in the field, later took the No. 2 spot away from Chris Murray and when he and Burch were running in heavy traffic, Cram used the slower car driven by Derek Van Veghten as a pick and went around the outside of Burch in turn four on lap 19 to grab the lead for good. Burch had to settle for second, while Al Relyea finished third after starting dead last.

The four-cylinders were in action for the first time in 2025, with Josh Ramsey getting the win. Ben Ladd finished fourth overall and was the first single-cam car across the finish line

NEXT GENERATION ROOFING MODIFIEDS (CARRIED OVER FROM APRIL 25): KOLBY SCHRODER, Brian Calabrese, Jack Lehner, Justin Stone, Peter Britten, Mike Mahaney, Marc Johnson, Jessey Mueller, Neil Stratton, Felix Roy, Ronnie Johnson, David Schilling, Tyler Jashembowski, CG Morey, Jack Speshock, Todd Ryan, Kris Vernold, Josh Masterson, Mike Engwer, Matt DeLorenzo, Don Ronca, Adam Pierson, Tommy D’Angelo, Demetrios Drellos, Allan Hammond, Brendan Darrah, Ryan McCartney, Tim Sears Jr., Chris Bisson, James Meehan, Rich Ronca, Jeremy Pitts.

NEXT GENERATION ROOFING MODIFIEDS (REGULAR FEATURE): DEMETRIOS DRELLOS, David Schilling, Ronnie Johnson, Jeremy Pitts, Ryan McCartney, Felix Roy, Kolby Schroder, Jessey Mueller, Justin Stone, Neil Stratton, Jack Lehner, Peter Britten, Rich Ronca, Ryan Godown, Mike Mahaney, Robert Bublak Jr., Brian Calabrese, Adam Pierson, Marc Johnson, Don Ronca, Josh Masterson, Allan Hammond, Todd Ryan, Tyler Jashembowski, Tommy D’Angelo, Jack Speshock, Derek Bornt, Mike Engwer, Kris Vernold, CG Morey.

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: DONOVAN LUSSIER, Chris Jakubiak, Tim Hartman Jr., Taylor Wason, Derrick McGrew Jr., Bryce Breault, Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald, Connor Crane, Craig Wholey, Zach Buff, Michael Ballestero, Dylan Madsen, Pat Jones, Jeff Washburn, Dave Baranowski, Joey Scarborough, Elliot Lussier, Nick Lussier, Tyler Rapp, Nick Brundige, Tanner Coon, Mike Benson, Chris Crane Jr., Cody Ochs, John Miller, Daryl Nutting, Chad Gregory, Scott Bennett Jr.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: PETE STEFANSKI, Chris Stalker, Kim Duell, Shane Henderson, Brandon Emigh, Jason Casey, Caden Dumblewski, Dean Charonneau, Jordan Modiano, Beau Ballard, Rich Crane, Chucky Dumblewski, Mike Baker, Joe Wilson, Pete Vila, Jay Casey, Kyle Hoard, Chris Wemple, Jim Duncan.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: BODIE MARKS, Dave Zelker, James Galarneau, Mike Baker, Kevin Groff, Craig Coons, Jordan Hill, Lucas Duncan, Steve Burch, Alex Smith, Mike Block Sr., Dan Odell, Dan Seguin, Sloan Cherko, George Palmer, Kirsten Swartz, Derrik Emigh, Colten Emigh, Bryan Gebo, Adam Tranka, Nick Arnold, Sarah Arnold.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Mark Burch, Al Relyea, Dave Cook, Chris Murray, Jeff Meltz, Andrew Fitzgerald, Matt Mosher, Dan Madigan, Damian Ward, Fred Shippee, Josh Filarecki, Derek Van Veghten, Tim McFarland, Dan Buell, Dana Van Veghten, Josh Hemming, Ray Pierre Jr., Zachary Delaney.

GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: JOSH RAMSEY, Josh Reome, David Frame, Ben Ladd (first single-cam finisher), Ashlynn Ramsey, Ryan Keays, Lucas Condon, David Labarge, Taylormarie Reome, Chris Danylieko, Lindell Condon, Adam Montville.