Talk about having a good day — Modified driver Brett Hearn had it all going on Tuesday afternoon during the Super DIRTcar Series event at Albany Saratoga Speedway. He was promoting his annual ‘Big Show 5’ — the race teams were streaming through the gates of the Route 9 oval in good numbers, the sun was shining brightly, and the fans came at a steady pace through the front gates. Fast forward to several hours later and Hearn was picking up the $9,711 paycheck for taking the win in the 100-lap tour event.

Hearn started eighth in the 31 car field and the speedway’s winningest driver wasted little time getting to the front of the field. After the halfway mark Hearn took positions from Billy Decker and Dave Planck for second place ownership. On lap 69 he took the lead from Gary Tomkins and went on for his first-ever Big Show win.

“I don’t think we could ask for a better racetrack, a better show,” said Hearn. “There was some heavy duty racing. I struggled, then I would go a little bit and I finally got to the point where I could start running my own laps.”

Hearn had trouble with his race shield during the event but it was all forgotten after winning one of the few events Hearn didn’t already have on his racing resume.

This was an impressive tour run by Watertown’s Billy Dunn, who started the event from back in the 14^th starting position. On lap 81 Dunn took over the second place position and, in search of his first DIRTcar Series win, Dunn wanted to run down Hearn’s Madsen Overhead Doors sponsored mount.

“I just lacked a little bit for Brett at the end,” said Dunn during post race ceremonies. “He’s got a gazillion laps here and was way more consistent than I was. I was out searching around trying to find a line to catch him but as I was doing that he was pulling away from me.”

Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker and Dale Planck rounded out the top five. All three were swapping it back and forth for the race distance. Tomkins was happy to be back on the Malta clay.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been here,” said Tomkins who owned the first half of the title event. “I was really impressed by the turnout of people, the turnout of cars and it was a fun night. I love racing this race track. We had a good night we just lost a little bit in the end.”

Last year’s race winner, Bobby Varin, made it to seventh place when the checkered flag dropped on the evening.

The Pro Stock division was also competing in a DIRTcar Series event and the first to cross the finish line in the 35-lap race was Byron Wescott. Wescott’s Lazzaro’s Auto Body sponsored mount led the entire distance to take his first career win at Albany Saratoga Speedway.

“I guess you couldn’t write it any better,” said a very jubilant Wescott. “I entered this class and it’s not as easy as it looks. We struggled a lot in the beginning but we’ve been making little steps.”

Dan Older [Wescott’s brother-in-law] was with him for the entire distance and crossed the line in second place. Chuck Towslee, Kenny Martin and Pete Broderson rounded out the top five.

From the back of the pack came track regular Rob Yetman, who started 25^th and finished 10^th and Dean Charbonneau who started 28^th and finished ninth.

Things… Folks piled into the Route 9 oval for the Brett Hearn Big Show 5 promotion… 43 Modifieds and 27 Pro Stocks made the trip… Buzz was heavy regarding Stewart Friesen electing to drive the Tom Cullen owned automobile that he normally drives at Utica Rome on Sunday nights instead of a Jake Spraker owned car which is his normal ride on Friday nights… Hector Stratton was behind the wheel of his familiar #87 for the first time this season… the 50/50 [$3,020.00] from last year’s Big Show was never claimed so that became the second place prize for this year’s drawing… The top prize was $4,636.00… Billy Decker was the fastest during time trials with a time of 15.725 seconds… Ronnie Johnson pulled his rig out of the pits prior to the start of the qualifying events due to motor issues… JMMB sponsored the Modified qualifying events which paid $500 to the race winners… The Morris Ford Dash for the Cash was made up of top point runners in Albany Saratoga Speedway stats and in DIRTcar point stats… Delorenzo, Tremont, M. Johnson, Britten, Friesen, Sheppard, Hearn, D. Johnson, and Phelps were joined by Jeremy Wilder [fan favorite pick] and Bobby Varin [last year’s race winner]. Wilder and D. Johnson failed to make the call for the Dash… Excellent job by Hearn and his Big Show team…

Modified Feature, Presented by Recovery Sports Grill, Results (100 Laps) —1) BRETT HEARN, 2) Billy Dunn, 3) Gary Tomkins, 4) Billy Decker, 5) Dale Planck, 6) Marc Johnson, 7) Bobby Varin, 8) Justin Haers , 9) Matt Sheppard, 10) Jimmy Phelps 11) Matt DeLorenzo, 12) Larry Wight, 13) Rich Scagliotta, 14) Jim Davis, 15) Kenny Tremont, 16) Mike Mahaney, 17) Stewart Friesen, 18) Elmo Reckner, 19) Tim Currier, 20) Pete Britten , 21) Keith Flach, 22) Dave Rauscher, 23) Bob Savoie, 24) Jimmy Cottrell, 25) Billy VanInwegen , 26) Andy Bachetti, 27) Danny Johnson , 28) Mark Kislowski, 29) Mike Perrotte, 30) Josh Hohenforst, 31) Dan Vauter

Did Not Qualify: Jeff Rockefeller, JaMike Sowle, Rocky Warner, Mike Kolka, C. G. Morey, Jeremy Wilder, Neil Stratton, Hector Stratton, Rob Pitcher, Brian Gleason, Kyle Sheldon, Ronnie Johnson

Modified Heats (8 laps, 5 qualify 3 redraw) – 1) Billy Decker, 2) Stewart Friesen, 3) Justin Haers, 4) Larry Wight

Morris Ford Dash for Cash (12 laps) — 1) MATT SHEPPARD, 2) Kenny Tremont, 3) Matt Delorenzo, 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Stewart Friesen, 6) Marc Johnson, 7) Bobby Varin, 8) Peter Britten 9) Jimmy Phelps DNS: Danny Johnson, Jeremy Wilder

Modified Consolation #1 (10 laps) — Jimmy Davis

Modified Consolation #2 (10 laps) — Jimmy Phelps

Pro Stock Feature Results (35 Laps) — 1) BYRON WESCOTT, 2) Dan Older, 3) Chuck Towslee, 4) Ken Martin, 5) Pete Broderson, 6) P. J. Peters, 7) Cale Kneer, 8) Jocelyn Roy, 9) Dean Charbonneau, 10) Rob Yetman, 11) Walt Brownell, 12) Ghislain Valade, 13) Dave Bissonnette, 14) Luke Horning, 15) Alain Brochu, 16) Gus Hollner, 17) Dennis Joslin, 18) Stephane Lebrun, 19) Rock Aubin, 20) Mark Lalondec, 21) Ed Thompson, 22) Kim Duell, 23) Dave Emigh, 24) Chuck Dumblonski, 25) Brandon Emigh, 26) Allen Peters, 27) Jocelyn Chicoine, 28) Nick Stone

Pro Stock Qualifying Events (8 laps, all qualify, 4 redraw) — 1) Dave Bissonnette, 2) Walt Brownell, 3) Dan Older