Saratoga Springs, NY – The 2014 racing season at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway officially came to a close on Saturday evening with the annual awards banquet. The event was held at the beautiful Saratoga/Wilton Elks Lodge located a stone’s throw from the Saratoga Springs city line. For the first time in memory, the event was a sell out with every driver who had earned a season ending award in attendance. The banquet was emceed by track announcers Dan Martin and Mike Warren.

The festivities started at 7 p.m. with a word from track promoter Lyle DeVore before a delicious buffet dinner was served.

“I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming out here tonight,” DeVore said. “To have this amount of racers and crew members show up is a pretty remarkable thing. I would like to thank all of the officials, all of our staff and the people who are working during the week that are in and out that nobody knows about.”

DeVore would continue. “Last year at this time we were excited about the fact that the lease for the Albany-Saratoga Speedway was going to continue and it looked like it was going to go for quite a few years. Fast forward to November and after several months of negotiations the track was sold.”

After a huge round of applause for 2014 New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame inductee and now track owner Howard Commander, DeVore went further.

“Howard Commander solidified racing at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway for the future. Thank you very much Howard. The 50th year of auto racing at Albany-Saratoga Speedway will take place this year. We have put together a lot of different marketing and promotional items on our schedule. This is going to be a yearlong promotion. We are also doing special events for each and every class.”

Danny Martin kicked off the awards portion of the program with a statement that many of us felt in our hearts and thankfully were wrong about.

“I walked out of the gate in 2011 after they turned the microphones off and it was like my pulse dropped,” Martin said. “We knew if it closed it would never reopen.”

The first awards to be handed out were the Newcomer of the Year Award winners for the DIRTcar Pro Stock and Don Don’s Delight’s Street Stock divisions. Picking up the awards were Robbie Speed (DIRTcar Pro Stocks) and Jason Meltz (Don Don’s Delights Street Stocks).

Next, Mike Warren took to the podium to introduce the second through tenth place points finishers in each of the four week weekly divisions.

In the Don Don’s Delights Street Stock division the second through tenth place finishers were – Randy Miller, Jason Meltz, Scott Lawrence, Damon Anderson, Josh Coonradt, Paul Braymer, Frank Monroe, Matt Mosher and Jody Thew.

The DIRTcar Pro Stock division was next to be honored with point’s finishers two through ten. Those drivers included Byron Wescott, Kenny Martin, Jr., Kim Duell, Dan Older, Sr., Bill Smith, Robbie Speed, Brandon Emigh, Dave DePaulo, and Danny Wood.

Following a picture of the DIRTcar Pro Stock competitors, the Sportsman division top point finishers were introduced. The top points finishers were – Cody Bleau, Hunter Bates, Derrick McGrew, Jack Speshock, Scott Duell, Jake Scarborough, Jon Miller, Connor Cleveland and Dave Baranowski, Jr.

The final division to be called up was the track’s headliners, the Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modifieds. Finishing second through ten were Peter Britten, Marc Johnson, Kenny Tremont, Jr., Ronnie Johnson, Mark Kislowski, Keith Flach, Matt Delorenzo, Don Ronca and Elmo Reckner.

The Limited Sportsman division does not crown a track champion or even keep points, however four drivers were honored for graduating to the Sportsman division. Once a driver reaches three feature wins they have to move up. The 2014 graduates were Colin Bokus (June), Pete Jeske (July), David Emigh (August) and Rob Maxon (August).

In 2013 the Spirit Award debuted at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway. It goes to a person who embraces the racing world as a whole and goes the extra mile to promote racing. The 2014 recipient was Shannon Donnelly. Among other things, Shannon volunteered for the kids program and her sponsor (Burt’s Tree Service) helped the track when a massive storm raged through the area on a Thursday afternoon, bringing down large trees.

The next awards to be presented were the Malta Memorable Moments Awards. These awards went to a driver who did something that sent everyone home talking about it. The Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified Award winner was Peter Britten after a hard battle with Brett Hearn. In the Sportsman division, the winner was Joey Scarborough who out-battled Timothy Davis for a down to the line feature event win.

In the Limited Sportsman division, Donnelly picked up the award for her first career feature win on August 29th. It was her 16th season of trying. The DIRTcar Pro Stock division would see the award go to Kim Duell who triumphed over Byron Wescott for a win on August 22nd.

The next award to be presented was certainly a special one. Marcy Mangino, DeVore’s fiancé, was presented with a special award for going the extra mile at the Speedway. On August 22nd a big storm hit the track just before the gates were set to open. With all hands on deck, she got behind the wheel of a packer truck for the first time. She is a mainstay at the track and can be found doing whatever is needed on race day.

Long time track employee Ron Mensing was next up on stage to present the top five points finishers in the Featherfoot Warrior Series for the Sportsman division. The top five points finishers included – Jeremy Pitts ($1,000), Connor Cleveland ($500), Cody Bleau ($250), Nick Lussier ($150) and Joey Scarborough ($100).

The final awards winners of the evening went to the 2014 Track Champions.

Brett Hearn was crowned the Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified Track Champion for the third consecutive season. The title was the New Jersey superstar’s seventh at the speedway.

“This year at Albany-Saratoga Speedway was a fantastic year,” Hearn said. “We had a very consistent year. I have to thank Madsen Motorsports with the help of Kevin Cross and my teammates. I have a great crew. We have some great race cars ready for 2015.”

Jeremy Pitts made a clean sweep in the Sportsman division. He picked up the Featherfoot Warrior Series title earlier in the evening and then was crowned Track Champion for the second consecutive season.

“I want to thank all of my sponsors and everyone who made it possible,” Pitts said. “I have to thank Tom Conroy who put that thing on rails all year long.”

The back to back title theme continued into the DIRTcar Pro Stock division where Rob Yetman was crowned Track Champion.

“It was definitely the hardest championship to get,” Yetman said. “To get one is hard but this one was tough. We dug in and it was great to finish this.”

With five feature wins under his belt, Bill Duprey repeated as Track Champion in the Don Don’s Delight’s Street Stock division.

“It was a rough go but we managed to get to victory lane a few times and get the championship,” Duprey said. “We will be back to go for a three peat.”

The Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinder division crowned two Track Champions. Picking up the Single Cam title was Dave LaBarge while Steve Ryan won the Dual Cam title.

“It was a good year, with good competition,” LaBarge said. “It was tough out there. Thank you to those who helped all year.”

Ryan was equally as appreciative, “I want to thank my crew, it was a good season.”

The gates of the Albany-Saratoga Speedway will open for the first time in 2015 on Sunday afternoon April 12th for a practice session. The 50th season of auto racing at the Great Race Place will take the green on Friday evening April 17th. For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.