Malta, NY – Albany-Saratoga Speedway waved the green flag on their 2014 racing season Friday night, and when the final checkered flag waved over the DIRTcar Modified feature event, a name that is quickly becoming very familiar in the DIRTcar Modified world sat in victory lane.

Marc Johnson of Guilderland NY put his plain white number 3J Troyer chassis machine in victory lane after a thrilling battle with defending track champion Brett Hearn. In other action teenager Brett Wright won the 25 lap Sportsman feature event while Rob Yetman was the DIRTcar Pro Stock winner. David Emigh won the Limited Sportsman feature event while Randy Miller and Dave LaBarge won the Street Stock and Four Cylinder feature events.

Floyd Billington and JaMike Sowle brought the DIRTcar Modified field to the green flag with Sowle controlling the early lead. Sowle would hold the lead for nine laps before giving way to a fast Billington. While Sowle and Billington were battling for the lead, the remainder of the top five would see a familiar face break into its ranks. Brett Hearn started the 35 lap feature event from the ninth position and by lap five was hounding fifth place runner Keith Flach. Hearn would take the position from Flach on lap seven.

A total of five caution flags slowed the event. The first occurred on lap 13 when Bodie Bellinger and Jeremy Wilder came together in turn two. Billington would lead on the restart with Johnson moving into second. The second caution period would occur on lap 15 when five cars came together between turns one and two. Of those five, two of them – Jeff Trombley and Mike Perrotte, would be helped pit side.

Johnson would drive the Big Mann Painting/Quality of Life machine deep into turn number one on the restart, which allowed him to power to the lead. Hearn meanwhile had moved to third and was hounding Billington for second. On lap 26 the New Jersey super star would take over second, relegating Billington to third. Justin Boehler would bring out the third caution on lap number 29 when he slowed in turn two and came to a stop on the backstretch.

Johnson, Hearn and Billington would run one-two-three on the restart however Kenny Tremont, Jr. would spin in turn one bringing out the next-to-last caution period. Johnson again would lead on the restart, however Hearn was all over his rear end. Johnson bobbled just a little bit in turn one on lap 31 which allowed Hearn to get alongside. Hearn won the race to the flag stand to complete lap 32.

Jeff Rockefeller then came to a stop in turn three on lap 32 to bring out the final caution period. While under the caution, Johnson was moved back to the lead because of the rule that half of the field must complete the lap before it will be counted as official. Since half of the field did not complete the lap it was not counted, and Hearn’s pass was negated.

Johnson would lead on the restart with a determined Hearn all over him. The duo would battle down to the checkers, but in the end Johnson would not be denied. He would take the win by .12 seconds over Hearn, Billington, Peter Britten and Matt Delorenzo. A total of 32 drivers entered the season opener with the heat races being won by Billington, Sowle and Johnson. No consolation events were held.

“That was awesome,” Johnson said after career win number four at the Great Race Place. “It was awesome racing Brett (Hearn) like that. He schooled me in some places and I learned on that restart.” Note: Billington would later be disqualified from the official finish.

The Sportsman event would see Dave Baranowski and Peter Carlotto lead the field to the green with Baranowski taking the early lead. Baranowski would only lead the first two laps as Vermont’s John Scarborough would take over. Scarborough would control much of the race until he gave way to a hard charging Brett Wright on lap 12.

After numerous caution periods Scarborough found himself challenging Wright for the lead as the laps wound down. On a lap 23 restart Scarborough looked to go under Wright heading into turn one, but couldn’t make it stick and spun himself out. The spin collected defending track champion Jeremy Pitts, Cody Bleau and Mike Tholin. This would move Rocky Warner into the second position, however, as the field circled under the caution flag his left rear tire went down, forcing the Flying Squirrel to the pit area.

Wright, who started 21st on the field, would lead the rest of the way for the win over Connor Cleveland, Jon Miller, Carlotto and Jack Speshock. Heat races for the 30 car field were won by Carlotto, Baranowski and Scarborough.

“My dad was working hard in the shop and put a lot of hours in,” Wright said. “He set the car up really well.”

In the DIRTcar Pro Stock event Rob Yetman was pretty much the dominant force. Yetman shared the front row with Kevin VanChance and would lead lap number one. After a lap one jingle, Yetman would control the field on the restart with Walt Brownell and Dan Older following. Older would spin on lap four setting up a restart.

Yetman would lead on the restart with Byron Wescott and Brownell following. In the end no one had anything for Yetman who would score his 17^th career feature win. With the win Yetman now sits all alone in sixth on the all-time feature winners list. Yetman was followed across the line by Brownell, Wescott, Jeff Washburn and Ed Thompson. Heat races for the 18 car field were won by VanChance and Yetman.

“Starting up front helped,” Yetman said of his front row starting position. “I wasn’t sure how far I got away, I saw Byron (Wescott) alongside of me. It was a good race.”

Ricky Davis and Chris Ronca led the Limited Sportsman feature event to the green with Ronca taking the early lead over Davis and Ron Casey. The driver on the move was former DIRTcar Pro Stock competitor David Emigh. Emigh, who started fifth would take third from Casey on lap three and then second from Davis on lap five.  Emigh would catch Ronca by lap eight, setting up a late race battle for the lead.

The duo raced side by side with Emigh taking control by lap ten. Emigh would lead the final two laps to bring home the win over Ronca, Casey, Davis and Zach Daurio. Heat races for the 17 car field were won by Davis and Colin Bokus.

Paul Braymer and Randy Miller would bring the Street Stock field down to the green with Miller taking the early lead over Braymer and tenth place starter Nathan Dahoda. Braymer’s good run would come to an end on lap four when he slowed on the front stretch. Jody Thew had no place to go and slammed into the back of him. Both drivers were done for the evening.

Miller would lead on the restart with Dahoda moving into second. John Hayes would come to a stop on lap 13 bringing out the second and final caution period. Miller would lead on the restart however Dahoda was all over him. Dahoda would take the lead on lap 16 however a lap later Miller would take it back. Miller would lead the rest of the way to take the win over Dahoda, Frank Monroe, Bill Duprey and David Shippee.

Dave LaBarge would jump out to the early lead in the Four Cylinder division. He would open a large lead and look to be headed for an easy win. As the race progressed slower traffic became an issue which allowed the hard charging Todd Goldstein to close in. In the end LaBarge would bring home the win over Goldstein, Jeff Donnelly, Jr., Pete Vila and Keith Tesiero, Sr.

The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action this Friday night, April 25^th at 7pm. On the card will be the opening event in the Featherfoot Warrior Sportsman Series. The DIRTcar Modified, DIRTcar Pro Stock, Street Stock and Limited Sportsman divisions will also be on the card.

Official Feature Finishes – April 18^th, 2014

Friday, April 19 2013 – Malta, NY – Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Marc Johnson, 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Peter Britten, 4) Matt Delorenzo, 5) Jamike Sowle, 6) Mark Kislowski*, 7) Keith Flach, 8) Rich Scagliotta, 9) Jeremy Wilder, 10) Rich Ronca, 11) Matt Depew, 12) Don Ronca, 13) Elmo Reckner, 14) C.G. Morey, 15) Ken Tremont Jr, 16) Alex Bell, 17) Brian Gleason, 18) Neil Stratton, 19) John Lutes Jr., 20) Cass Bennett, 21) Hector Stratton, 22) Jeff Rockefeller 23) Jimmy Cottrell, 24) Bodie Bellinger, 25) Pep Corradi, 26) Justin Boehler, 27) Jeff Trombley, 28) Mike Perrotte 29) Ronnie Johnson, 30) Dylan Scribner DQ) Floyd Billington  *Jimmy Davis Substitute Driver

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) Brett Wright, 2) Connor Cleveland, 3) Jon Miller, 4) Pete Carlotto, 5) Jack Speshock, 6) Nick Anatriello, 7) Matt Hitchcock, 8) Joe Orlando, 9) Hunter Bates, 10) Dave Baranowski Jr, 11) Jake Scarborough, 12) Scott Duell, 13) Cody Bleau, 14) Rocky Warner, 15) Mike Burdo, 16) Chad Miller, 17) Johnny Scarborough, 18) Jeremy Pitts, 19) Mike Tholin, 20) Bert Film, 21) Robert Bublak, 22) Derek McGrew, 23) Matrtinsard, 24) Rick LaMont, 25) Timothy Davis, 26) Tony Farone, 27) Mike Ostrander, 28) Chris Murray, 29) Jack Gentile, 30) Joey Scarborough

Limited Sportsman Results (12 Laps) – 1) David Emigh, 2) Christopher Ronca, 3) Ron Casey, 4) Ricky Davis, 5) Zach Daurio, 6) Alissa Cody, 7) Anthony Alger, 8) Rob Maxon, 9) Emily Quinn, 10) Ben Brownell, 11) Colin Bokus, 12) Milo Campbell,13) Wally Potter, 14) Whitney Martel, 15) Scott Bennett, 16) Ken Conroy, DNS) John Linblade

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Walt Brownell, 3) Byron Wescott, 4) Jeff Washburn, 5) Ed Thompson, 6) Dan Older, 7) Ken Martin, 8) Brandon Emigh, 9) Robbie Speed, 10) Kevin VanChance, 11) Bill Smith, 12) Danny Wood, 13) Dave Depaulo, 14) Mike Bradley, 15) Kevin Loomis, 16) Dennis Joslin, 17) Kim Duell, DNS) Eli Gilbert

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Randy Miller, 2) Frank Monroe, 3) Bill Duprey, 4) David Shippee, 5) Dave Stickles, 6) Luke MacIsaac, 7) Matt Mosher, 8) Damon Anderson, 9) Jason Meltz, 10) John Hayes, 11) Tim Thompson, 12) Scott Lawrence, 13) Paul Braymer, 14) Jody Thew, 15) Mark Casey, 16) Fred Harris, DQ) Nathan Dahoda

4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) Steve Ryan, 2) Todd Goldstein, 3) Jeff Donnelly Jr, 4) Pete Vila, 5) Keith Tesiero, 6) Dave LaBarge, 7) Kasper Jordan, 8) Ken Stager, 9) Joe Tallman, 10) Chris Keller, 11) Brett Horlacher, 12) Dan Older

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) Jeff Donnelly Jr, 2) Keith Tesiero, 3) Dave LaBarge, 4) Kasper Jordan, 5) Joe Tallman, 6) Chris Keller, 7) Brett Horlacher, 8)Dan Older

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results- 1) Steve Ryan, 2) Todd Goldstein, 3) Pete Vila, 4) Ken    Stager