MALTA – If “Saturday night’s alright for fightin” (remember that 1973 song by Elton John?), then why isn’t Friday night alright for a Super DIRT Series race?

In 2022, it will be.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway promoter Lyle DeVore has announced that his 2022 Super DIRT Series race will be held on Friday, June 24. Although planning for the race is still in the preliminary stages, DeVore said that the race will be 71 laps in length.

Why Friday night?

“When we were running Brett Hearn’s Big Show races, they were always on a Tuesday or a Wednesday night and although we had some great shows, we always felt something was lacking,” said DeVore. “Those races were always held during the week of high school exams, and we think that might have had an effect on our crowd. By running on Friday, I’m sure we can ramp things up and have a tremendous crowd.

“We’re going to call this one the Friday Night Fever 71. I’m just getting tired of running the same, old 100-lappers every year, so we’re going to try something different this time. I think by changing things up, we can create more excitement for our race.”

The 2021 Super DIRT Series race at the historic Malta track was won by Mike Mahaney, who walked off with a total of $13,000, thanks to last-minute additions to the purse by a couple of Albany-Saratoga Speedway’s corporate partners.

“I’m not sure what we’ll pay to win in 2022,” said DeVore. “I’ve got over six months to work on that. But I know we can make this show special. Over the years, we’ve developed personal relationships with all of our corporate partners. Now, they’re also our friends and almost like members of our extended family. They all love racing, and they want to help us put on the best show possible.”

It’s believed that the June 24 event will be the first time Albany-Saratoga Speedway has hosted a Super DIRT Series race on a Friday night since Tommy Corellis won the track’s very first Schaefer Qualifier in 1978.

DeVore said that some of the track’s support classes will also be competing on June 24, but he’s still ironing out details for the entire card. Updates will be posted on the track’s web site, Facebook page and on Twitter as they become available.