MALTA – If it hadn’t been for wet weather in central New York, Stewart Friesen wouldn’t even have been racing at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night.

But he became the star attraction as the historic Malta track kicked off its 59th season of racing.

Friesen rocketed into the lead early, and then held off a late charge from Marc Johnson to win the 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature and walk out with the top prize of $3,000.

The victory was Friesen’s third opening-night win at Albany-Saratoga, matching victories in 2012 and 2017.

Getting an off-week from his normal NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule, Friesen was scheduled to compete in the annual memorial race for his late uncle Alex at Utica-Rome Speedway on Friday. But when Utica-Rome postponed the memorial race because of wet weather, Friesen decided to head to Malta.

Rain also caused a 30-minute delay at Albany-Saratoga, but Friesen was fast right out of the box. By winning the third modified heat race, he started third by virtue of the heads-up start and it only took him one lap to snatch the lead away from Johnson, who had started on the outside of the front row.

By lap 15, Friesen had caught the tail end of the field and already had a full straightaway lead over Johnson.

Friesen began slicing through lapped traffic and avoided disaster on lap 20, when the lapped car of Josh Masterton almost cut him off. But when Robert Bublak Jr. brought out the second caution on lap 27 when he bounced off the fourth turn wall, Friesen’s huge lead was reduced to nothing.

On the restart, Johnson moved to the inside of Friesen going into the third turn, and then saw a small opening ever lower on the track. Johnson dove for the inside, but couldn’t keep the car straight. The two leaders touched coming out of the fourth turn, with Friesen retaining his advantage.

Another yellow on lap 29, this one for Jeremy Pitts, gave Johnson one last shot at the lead. But as soon as the green dropped, Friesen moved to the top of the speedway, got some huge runs out of the second turn and pulled away from Johnson for his 23rd career win at Albany-Saratoga.

“I didn’t have a good restart,” said Friesen of the lap 27 incident with Johnson. “I was tight coming off two and left the door open for him.”

“I hit the water (on the inside of turn four),” explained Johnson of making contact with Friesen on the restart. “I thought I could get him.”

Peter Britten, who started eighth, finished third, with Jack Speshock fourth and Ronnie Johnson fifth. Speshock started 13th.

Defending track champion Demetrios Drellos had a rough opening night. He started 15th, brought out the first caution of the feature on lap six because of mechanical problems and finished last in the 28-car field.

Joey Scarborough started on the pole and led-flag-to-flag to win the 25-lap sportsman feature, which paid $1,000 to win through sponsorship from Crane’s Outdoor Power Equipment. Mike Coffey Jr. made a couple of runs at Scarborough, but had to settle for second, with Chris Jakubiak crossing the finish line third.

Brandon Emigh pulled off the biggest upset of the night, coming from a 21st starting position to win the 25-lap pro stock feature, which also paid $1,000 to win, courtesy of Crane Outdoor Power Equipment. Emigh used a restart on lap 17 to take the lead away from Chucky Dumblewski, who had been in front of the pack since lap six. Jay Corbin finished third while Luke Horning finished fourth, charging from the tail end of the field after bringing out a yellow on lap six.

P.J. Cram Jr. did a last-to-first charge to win the 20-lap street stock feature. Cram started third and had the lead after three laps, but brought out a caution on lap eight when he slowed with mechanical issues.

He ducked into the hot pit, corrected his problem and rejoined the field. He worked his way forward and regained the lead on lap 15. A late caution gave Jimmy Duncan a shot to take the lead, but Duncan wound up finishing a half-a-car length to Cram Jr.

Chase Zimmer picked up the top prize of $500, courtesy of Gray and Particia Van Alstyne by winning the 25-lap limited sportsman feature, and Kyle Lanfear, driving a single-cam car, drove to an impressive win in the four-cylinder division, David Frame finished second overall and had the first dual-cam car across the finish line.

NAPA MODIFIEDS: STEWART FRIESEN, Marc Johnson, Peter Britten, Jack Speshock, Ronnie Johnson, Jessey Mueller, Jack Lehner, Ryan McCartney, Brett Hearn, Adam Pierson, Mike Mahaney, Don Ronca, David Schilling, Keith Flach, Kolby Schroder, Brian Calabrese, Justin Stone, Jeremy Pitts, Matt DeLorenzo, Rob Pitcher, Rich Scagliotta, Garrett Poland, CG Morey, Josh Masterson, Robert Bublak Jr., Matt Depew, Neil Stratton, Demetrios Drellos.

IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: JOEY SCARBOROUGH, Mike Coffey Jr., Chris Jakubiak, Mike Ballestero, Dylan Madsen, Dan Grignon, Daryl Nutting, Chris Crane Jr., David Baranowski Jr., Cody Bleau, Jason Gray, Mike Parodi, Brendon Gibbons, Travis Witbeck, Scott Towslee, Dylan Grogan, Cody Ochs, Nick Lussier, Bryce Breault, Mike Benson, Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald, Elliot Lussier, Scott Duell, Taylor LaPlante, Jim Nagle, Taylor Wasson, Drew Cormie, Derrick McGrew Jr., Jeff Washburn.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: BRANDON EMIGH, Chucky Dumblewski, Jay Corbin, Luke Horning, Rich Crane, Shane Henderson, Jaxson Ryan, Beau Ballard, Kim Duell, Kyle Hoard, Jay Casey, Caden Dumblewski, Phil Difiglio, Mike Baker, Jay Fitzgerald, Slater Baker, Pete Vila, Dave Stickles, Jason Casey, Jimmy Eaton, Don Collins, Dom Denue, Shane Playford.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: CHASE ZIMMER, Nick Auspelmyer, Dakota Green, Nick Brundige, Gary English, James Galarneau, Chad Gregory, Lucas Duncan, David Zelker, Josh Bussino, Steve Butch, Cordell Younger, Dan Seguin, Alex Smith, Sara Arnold, John Santolin, Owen Lewis, Anthony Robitaille, Timmy Wilmot, Sloan Cherko, Jordan Hill, Tanner Coon, Mike Baker.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PATRICK CRAM JR, Jimmy Duncan, Chris Stalker, Al Relyea, Josh Hemming, Dan Madigan, Jeff Meltz, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jason Barrett, Chris Murray, John Filarecki, Jim McKiernan, Ray Pierre Jr., Derek Van Veghten, Dan Buell, Damien Ward.

GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: KYLE LANFEAR, David Frame (first dual-cam finisher), Josh Ramsey, Ben Ladd, Chris Duffney, Ashlynn Ramsey, Tom Hill, Brittany Ladd, Chris Danylieko, Lucas Condon, Daniel Joubert, Andrew Palmer, David LaBarge, Justin Ramsey, John Mason.