Malta, NY – The 2015 season officially kicked off at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday evening and it had a little bit of everything. Opening night saw a lightning strike, a flying squirrel sail into victory lane, the Franklin Flyer fly, a first time winner and three defending track champions struggle. A capacity crowd witnessed the kick off to the 50th Anniversary season which was run under challenging, spring time track conditions.

More than 130 drivers made their way into the track for opening night with feature wins going to Larry Wight (DIRTcar Modified), Rocky Warner (Sportsman), Byron Wescott (DIRTcar Pro Stock), Anthony Alger (Limited Sportsman), Matt Mosher (Street Stocks) and Kenny Stager (Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinders).

Defending DIRTcar Modified Track Champion Brett Hearn and Larry Wight led the 32 car starting field down to the green with Wight taking the early lead over Hearn, Keith Flach, Ronnie Johnson and Billy Decker. The first of numerous cautions slowed the field on lap one when Ray Hoard got sideways exiting turn four and in the process scrambled the field. In the end Canadian invader Chris Raabe and Jesse Mueller were collected. Both drivers would continue.

When racing resumed Wight, Hearn and Johnson set the pace before the pace was slowed on lap six for a spun Rich Scagliotta. The top three remained the same on the restart with Decker and Marc Johnson moving into the top five. Justin Barber made heavy contact with the front stretch wall on lap seven, bringing out the third caution period. Wight held the lead on the restart with Decker moving to second over Hearn, Ronnie Johnson and Perrotte.

Brett Wright spun in turn two on lap eight, forcing another caution period. When racing resumed Wight held the lead over Decker, Hearn, Ronnie Johnson and Marc Johnson. Decker’s good run came to an end on lap 12 when he hit a rut in turn one the wrong way and was sent into a series of violent flips. Decker walked away uninjured.

Wight resumed his pace following the restart with Hearn, Ronnie Johnson, Kenny Tremont, Jr, and Marc Johnson following. Bobby Hackel IV brought out the yellow flag on lap 15 when he came to a stop just off the topside of the backstretch. The restart saw the top five stay the same except for Hearn and Johnson who swapped positions.

For Hearn it was an omen of what was to come a lap later. Hearn pulled the Madsen Motorsports ride to the infield on lap 16, ending his evening. At the half way point Wight held the lead with a hard charging Ronnie Johnson following. The remainder of the top five consisted of Tremont, Marc Johnson and Peter Britten.

By lap 18 Johnson was all over Lightning Larry’s rear deck lid and on lap 22 powered past for the lead. One lap later though Wight moved back past Johnson and began to pull away. The duo raced through heavy traffic but Johnson could not catch Wight.

In the end Wight held on for his first career feature win at the Great Race Place over Johnson, Tremont, Marc Johnson and Britten. Heat races for the 32 car field were claimed by Hearn, Wight and Decker.

The Flying Squirrel, Rocky Warner picked up the win in the 25 lap Sportsman feature event. The win was the Johnstown, New York driver’s third career divisional win at the track. His two previous wins came in 2012 and last season.

Jack Gentile and Jake Scarborough led the field to the green with Warner taking the lead out of turn two. Following a lap three restart, Warner would start to feel pressure from second place runner Derrick McGrew. It would be the Warner and McGrew show until Hunter Bates moved past McGrew late in the event for second. At the finish Warner was followed by Bates, McGrew, John Scarborough and Robert Bublak, Jr.

A total of 34 drivers entered the event with heat races being won by Gentile, Jake Scarborough, Warner and Bates. Chris Murray picked up the consolation event.

Byron Wescott won the 25 lap DIRTcar Pro Stock feature event. The win was Wescott’s third career feature win since debuting in the division in 2013. Luke Horning and Kim Duell led the field to the green with Duell taking the early lead. Duell led until giving way to Walt Brownell on lap two. Robbie Speed took advantage of a restart to take over the lead on lap six and continued to lead until giving way to a very fast Wescott on lap 16. At the finish it was Wescott over Bernie Companion, Kenny Martin, Cale Kneer and Daniel Sanchez. Heat races for the 22 car DIRTcar Pro Stock field were claimed by Horning and Duell.

Anthony Alger was victorious in the 15 lap Limited Sportsman feature event. Andrew Buff and Alger led the field to the green with Buff taking early control. Buff held the lead until pulling pit side during a lap number nine caution period. This gave the lead to Alger who led the remainder of the event to pick up the win over Chris Ronca, Ben Brownell, Pat Jones and Chris Curtis. Heat races for the 22 car field were won by Buff and Alger.

Matt Mosher won the 20 lap Street Stock feature event. Defending track champion Bill Duprey led the majority of the event in dominant fashion. A restart set up by Mark Burch hitting the turn four wall gave then second place runner Mosher one last shot at Duprey. Mosher took advantage of the opportunity and took the lead on the restart. Once out front Mosher pulled away for the win. Duprey held on for second with Hunter Sanchez third, Dave Stickles fourth and Frank Monroe fifth.

The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action this Friday night, April 24th with all divisions in action. The DIRTcar Pro Stock division will compete in a $600 to win event and the Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinder’s will also be on the card. Racing is set to begin at 7 pm with pit gates opening at 4 pm and grandstand gates opening at 5 pm. For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.

50th Anniversary Season Opener Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Larry Wight, 2) Ronnie Johnson, 3) Ken Tremont Jr, 4) Marc Johnson, 5) Peter Britten, 6) Keith Flach, 7) Chris Raabe, 8) Brian Gleason, 9) John Lutes Jr., 10) Matt Delorenzo, 11) Hector Stratton, 12) Jimmy Cottrell, 13) Rob Pitcher, 14) Scott Duell, 15) Jesse Mueller, 16) Mike Perrotte 17) Neil Stratton, 18) Brett Hearn, 19) Bobby Hackel IV, 20) Billy Decker, 21) Matt Depew, 22) Don Ronca, 23) Brett Wright, 24) Elmo Reckner, 25) Rich Ronca, 26) Justin Barber, 27) Rich Scagliotta, 28) Ray Hoard, DNS) Alex Bell, DNS) Pep Corradi, DNS) Mark Kislowski, DNS) Dylan Scribner

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) Rocky Warner, 2) Hunter Bates, 3) Derrick McGrew, 4) Johnny Scarborough, 5) Robert Bublak, 6) Jush Sunn, 7) Jack Speshock, 8) Jack Swinton, 9) Chad Miller, 10) Joey Scarborough, 11) Chris Johnson, 12) Jack Gentile, 13) Nick Anatriello, 14) Chris Murray, 15) Colin Bokus, 16) Dave Baranowski Jr, 17) Olden Dwyer, 18) Connor Cleveland, 19) Jake Scarborough, 20) Rob Maxon, 21) Mike Ostrander, 22) Jon Miller, 23) Jack Bublak, 24) Jeremy Pitts, 25) Elliott Lussier, 26) Nick Lussier, 27) John Proctor, 28) Cody Bleau, DNS) Mike Burdo, DNS) Alissa Cody, DNS) Ricky Davis, DNS) Adam Gage, DNS) Pete Jeske, DNS) Brandon Pitcher

Limited Sportsman Results (15 Laps) – 1) Anthony Alger, 2) Christopher Ronca, 3) Ben Brownell, 4) Pat Jones, 5) Chris Curtis, 6) Anthony Savoca, 7) John Stowell, 8) Bob Schmidt, 9) Gary Derocher, 10) Travis Billington, 11) Tim Heady, 12) Nick Fretto, 13) Reggie Bonner, 14) Rob Lanfear, 15) Scott Flanders, 16) Mark Rabideau, 17) Andrew Buff, 18) Mike Coffey, 19) Zach Daurio, 20) John Linblade, 21) Scott Bennett Jr, DNS) Ken Conroy

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) UNOFFICIAL – 1) Byron Wescott, 2) Bernie Companion, 3) Ken Martin, 4) Kim Duell, 5) Cale Kneer, 6) Ed Thompson, 7) Daniel Sanchez, 8) Dan Older, 9) Dave Depaulo, 10) Chuck Dumblewski, 11) Robbie Speed, 12) Bill Smith, 13) Scott Lawrence, 14) Norm Loubier, 15) Rob Yetman, 16) Brandon Emigh, 17) Nick Stone, 18) Walt Brownell, 19) Luke Horning, 20) Jeff Washburn, 21) Brian Keough, DNS) Kevin Loomis

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Matt Mosher, 2) Bill Duprey, 3) Hunter Sanchez, 4) Dave Stickles, 5) Frank Monroe, 6) Nathan Dahoda, 7) Mark Burch, 8) Fred Harris, 9) John Hayes, 10) Jordan Kasper, 11) Josh Coonradt, 12) Jason Meltz, 13) Randy Miller, 14) Damon Anderson, DNS) Chase Aussicker

4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) Ken Stager, 2) Steve Ryan, 3) Josh Cane, 4) Dave LaBarge, 5) Mike Parodi, 6) Ben Grant, 7) T.J. Marlitt, 8) Dan Older, 9) Todd Goldstein, 10) Brett Horlacher, DNS) Robert Garney, DNS) Steve Jones

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) Dave LaBarge, 2) Mike Parodi, 3) Dan Older, 4) Brett Horlacher, DNS) Robert Garney, DNS) Steve Jones

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results – 1) Ken Stager, 2) Steve Ryan, 3) Josh Cane, 4) Ben Grant, 5) T.J. Marlitt, 6) Todd Goldstein