~ By Tom Boggie

Malta Massive Weekend always produces great racing, and last weekend’s edition was no different. But the biggest surprise of the weekend came Saturday night.

Prior to the 100-lap Super DIRTcar Series race, promoter Lyle DeVore and DIRTcar Northeast Director Dean Reynolds made a major announcement to the fans.

First, DeVore took the microphone. “I just want to touch base with everyone and kind of squelch the rumors about the race track,” he said. “We took this track over in 2012 and have really, really made progress, with racers especially, and with our sponsors. Joe Skotnicki (the manager of Race Promotion Monthly) told me that Albany-Saratoga is one of the top tracks in the country when it comes to average weekly attendance for racers, and I want to give a shoutout to all the drivers in the pits for helping us achieve that number. We’ve enjoyed this journey, Marcy, Mia and I, and we’re not looking back, we’re looking forward.”

Then he handed the microphone to Reynolds, who said, “Albany-Saratoga will be back in 2026, starting with a DIRTcar Series race on April 17. We loved kicking off the season here this year and Malta Massive Weekend will be back on Sept. 25-26. We had 280 cars in the pits here this weekend, and we want to have more next year.”

So there it is. A 61^st anniversary season for the Great Race Place, again sanctioned by DIRTcar and once again under the capable and sometimes courageous leadership of DeVore.

But in the famous words of legendary football coach Lee Corso, who was a fixture on ESPN’s “College Football Gameday” until retiring this year, “Not so fast, my friend.”

There could be a number of exigent circumstances, including DeVore’s health and the thought processes of track owner Howie Commander, who has been known to keep his cards close to the vest before making major decisions, that could come into play long before April 17.

But as of right now, there will be a 61^st season at the historic track on Route 9 in Malta.

FRIESEN UPDATE

When I was walking though the pits Saturday night, I heard someone calling my name and turned to see Jay Castimore coming my way. Jay and I have been friends for decades, beginning with his days as Brett Hearn’s tire man, to his stint as general manager at Fonda Speedway under Ralph Compani to his present position as Stewart Friesen’s tire man.

Castimore was at Albany-Saratoga on Saturday working with Alex Yankowski, and Castimore told me that Yankowski will be driving Friesen’s No. 44 Halmar-sponsored modified at Super DIRT Week, and possibly beyond. He also gave me an update on Friesen’s recovery, asking me to keep it off the record.

I agreed, but on Saturday, I saw an interview Friesen did at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was competing, so I figured that made the information public knowledge.

The biggest problem that Friesen is dealing with right now is what he calls “weird nerve pain in my right foot. I’m not out of the dark yet.” The nerve damage was the result of the tibia-fibula fractures he suffered in his violent wreck at Drummondville, in which he also fractured his pelvis.

Stewart Friesen the truck owner had to be pleased Saturday when Kaden Honeycutt, who has taken the seat in the Halmar/Friesen Racing Toyota, finished seventh at New Hampshire to advance to the round of eight in the playoffs.

The HFR team also had their backup truck at New Hampshire, with Whelen asphalt modified driver Mike Chtistopher Jr. making his debut, finishing 13^th.

It’s good to see Friesen back at the track and making good progress in his recovery.

MORE MADNESS

Here’s some of the strange and weird things that happened during the two-day Malta Massive Weekend.

Alex Payne skipped the Friday portion of the Weekend, opting to compete at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, where he won the Cal Lane Memorial and the top prize of $5,220. He showed up at Albany-Saratoga for the Super DIRTcar race and was fast right off the bat, winning his heat, but he had a bad redraw, starting 11^th.

Because of attrition and a rash of flat tires, it looked like Payne was going to come away with a top-five finish, but on the final lap, his right rear tire exploded between the third and fourth turns and because Matt Sheppard had already taken the checkered flag to win the top prize of $10,000, Payne could only watch as the rest of the field passed him as he sat against the inside barrier in turn four. He was credited with a 24^th-place finish.

The Huttig team was still looking for answers on Saturday after Mike Mahaney’s car burst into flames early in the DIRTcar 358 Series race on Friday night. A ball of flame emerged from the rear of the car, and as Mahaney brought the car to a stop in the first turn, the fire appeared to be on top of the fuel cell.

“We really haven’t had time to look at it yet,” said car owner George Huttig on Saturday. “The cap was on, the hoses were intact, there wasn’t even any bubbled paint on the fuel cell. We don’t know what caused it.”

Mahaney, the 2025 modified champion at Malta, had a frustrating weekend. Because of the fire in his car on Friday night, he only completed four laps and finished 30^th. Then, on Saturday, he failed to qualify through his heat, won the first last chance qualifier and started 21^st in the 26-car field. He then gave it his best shot and finished 10^th overall, so the weekend wasn’t a total disaster. He and Williamson, who finished eighth, shared the Hard Charger Award, improving by 11 positions.

Saturday night’s Super DIRTcar Series race marked the first time that a Malta regular didn’t finish in the top five of the big race of Malta Massive Weekend. Peter Britten was the top-finishing Malta regular, crossing the finish line sixth.

Sheppard’s win Saturday night was his fifth career victory at Malta. His first came in 2007, when he was behind the wheel of the Randy Ross-owned No. 44. He also won “The Stampede at Toga” Short Track Super Series race in 2017, “The Tribute” to Jack Johnson and C.D. Coville in 2018 and the Super DIRTcar Series race in 2022.

“We had speed all night,” said Sheppard after his latest win last Saturday. “We’ve had a string of bad luck here with the Series and it was kind pf nice having a night where everything went the right way.”

Sheppard will be teaming up with the Dave Camara Racing team to campaign a Camara Slate-sponsored 358, carrying Sheppard’s familiar 9S number, in some of the big fall shows, including this Friday’s Victoria at Utica-Rome Speedway.

There’s something about Malta Massive Weekend that brings the best out of Anthony Perrego. His strong runs in the fall races began in 2019, when he won the “Come N’ Get It” race, which paid $5,400 to win. That race was supposed to be the season-opener, but was rained out four times before being put on the Malta Massive Weekend card.

Perrego then won the OktoberFAST race in 2020, earning $7,500, and was fifth in the Fall Foliage 40 for 358s in 2021.

He finished fifth in the 358 race and third in the Super DIRTcar Series race in 2022, but only completed in the SDS race in 2023, finishing 23^rd.

He bounced back with a fourth in the SDS race last year and finished third, behind Sheppard and Jimmy Phelps, last Saturday.

The only blemishes on his fall record at Malta were a 23^rd in the SDS race in 2024 and a 16^th in the 358 race last Friday night.

Phelps, who has developed a love-hate relationship with Albany-Saratoga over the years, caught Perrego coming out of the fourth turn on the last lap on Saturday and finished second by inches, which gave him a guaranteed starting spot for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Oswego next month.

“It’s good to have one of those (a guaranteed starting spot) in your pocket,” he said of the guaranteed starting spot.

Phelps chalked up his first win at Malta in 2015 in the Hearn-promoted “Big Show 7”, and also won the 358 race during Malta Massive Weekend in 2022.

Only two drivers were able to finish in the top 10 in both the 358 and big block races last weekend. Williamson finished second in the 358 feature and eighth in the SDS race, while Matt DeLorenzo finished seventh in both races.

Marc Johnson, who recorded the first DIRTcar 358 Series win of his career on Friday night, had a comfortable two-second lead until a caution came out on lap 47 of the 50-lapper. Williamson just didn’t have enough to catch Johnson and snatch the win away.

“He’s one of my best friends and I didn’t want to wreck him,” said Williamson with a smile after the race.

Felix Roy, who finished 13^th in the SDS race last Saturday after starting third, leads the Northeast with 85 overall modified starts this season. Sheppard and Britten are tied for second with 73, Jack Lehner and Williamson have 72 each, Yankowski has 71 and Mahaney has 70. And there’s still a lot of racing to go.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Congratulations to Joey Scarborough, who wrapped up his first sportsman/modified championship at Devil’s Bowl Speedway last Saturday on Champions’ Night by finishing fifth in the feature. That gave him a 52-point advantage over Josh Sunn and put Scarborough’s name in the record books at the Bowl next to his father, Don, who was the modified champion in 1998.

The family-first theme at the Bowl continued last Saturday. Two weeks ago, all three members of the Quenneville family won their features, and last Saturday, Katrina Leclaire picked up her first limited sportsman win of the season, joining her husband Josh and mother Bobbi Hults on the list of winners during the 2025 season.

Last Friday, Travis Billington, who usually competes in the sportsman division at Malta, recorded his first official Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) feature win at The Flat Track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The sprint car feature was divided into three segments, with Billington winning the first leg by .007 seconds over Matt Hoyt. Billington’s father Floyd was also at NHMS, finishing third in the second segment.

I figured Demetrios Drellos would be at Malta with his big block last Saturday, but I was wrong. He hauled his super late model to Clinton County Speedway in Pennsylvania, where he finished 10^th in the Dirt Super Late Model Fall Clash.

With Albany-Saratoga now closed for the season, this will be the final 4^th Turn column of 2025. If Lyle is back next year, I’ll be back. If not, it’s been a good run.