MALTA – Until Friday night, Josh Masterson was having the kind of season that he would just as soon forget.

But now, he has a night he’ll remember forever.

The driver out of Bristol, Vt., who is in just his second season competing in a big block modified, drove the race of his life to chalk up his first career victory in the 35-lap feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Just how big of an upset was it? Until Friday night, Masterson had finished in the top five just once in his previous 14 starts this season.

Masterson, who started fourth, took the lead away from Matt Depew on lap seven, but relinquished the top spot to Brian Calabrese on lap nine.

But he kept hounding Calabrese and then got a big break on lap 25, when Jack Lehner rolled to a stop on the front straightaway with mechanical problems.

Following the restart, Masterson and Calabrese ran side-by-side for a number of laps, and even made contact in the second turn on lap 30. But on lap 33, Calabrese, who was also making a bid for his first big block win, drifted too high in the second turn, leaving an opening for Masterson to dart through, and two laps later, he had his first career big block victory.

“I felt like, on the long runs, I was gaining on Brian,” said Masterson after the race. “I wasn’t really sure if I wanted a caution or not. When he picked the top for the restart, I knew he was going to have some trouble, because it was rough up there. That put things in my favor, I found a good line and it paid off.”

CG Morey, who had started on the outside pole, got around Calabrese on the last lap and finished second, the best finish of his career, while Marc Johnson crossed the finish line third, after Calabrese and David Schilling got together on the final lap in the fourth turn, spinning both cars out.

Completing the top five were Jack Speshock and Demetrios Drellos, who had borrowed Allan Hammond’s car for the night.

“This had been one of our goals this year,” said Masterson. “We only race this car once a week, but we’ve been getting better and better.”

Sharing top billing on the card was a 35-lap limited sportsman feature, which paid $3,000 to win through sponsorship from JCO Plumbing & Heating.

Everyone expected this to be a big night for 13-year-old Bodie Marks, who had already recorded three wins this year and is leading the points race by a large margin.

Although Marks started 16^th, he was up to fifth after a dozen laps, used a restart on lap 18 to take second place away from Lucas Duncan and the next time, rocketed by Mike Block Sr. to move into the lead.

With Marks cruising on the front end, Camron Hotaling, who had started eighth and Jordan Hill, who had started 12^th, were making late runs through the field, looking for top five finishes. Hotaling finally moved into second with six laps left, but Marks still had a comfortable lead.

But everything changed on the final lap. With the leaders charging into the fourth turn, a slower car driven by Derrik Emigh spun right in front of Marks. His right front made heavy contact with the Emigh car, and Marks struggled to keep the car straight. When Hotaling went to the top to avoid the incident, Hill dove through the middle and came out in the lead, but because the caution had already come out, the field was realigned as it had been on the last completed lap, with Marks in front, Hotaling second and Hill third.

Track officials called for a green-white-checkers finish. On the restart, Hill drifted too high in the second turn and went over the bank on the backstretch, ending her bid for the win. As Marks and Hotaling went into the fourth turn, Marks hit the inside barrier in the fourth turn and ricocheted off, allowing Hotaling to take the lead and he led the final lap to walk out with $3,000 on his first-ever visit to Albany-Saratoga.

Marks hung on for second, with Corky Warner, who had started seventh and ran with the lead group all night, third.

Tim Hartman Jr. charged from his 14^th starting position to record his fourth win of the season in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Chris Jakubiak, who had started fifth, took the lead away from pole-sitter Drew Cormie on lap nine. Hartman Jr. kept working his way forward, and on lap 17, went around Daryl Nutting and Cormie to go from fourth to second in one corner.

By that time, Jakubiak had a full straightaway lead, and looked like he was going to get an easy win, but Elliot Lussier brought out a caution on lap 24, when he made contact with Cormie and ended up spinning in the fourth turn.

Jakubiak got a great launch on the restart, but then slid too high in the second turn. Hartman Jr. pulled even going down the backstretch, ducked under Jakubiak in the third turn, slid up to block Jakubiak’s line coming out of the fourth turn and beat Jakubiak to the finish line by a bumper.

Connor Crane finished third, with Dave Baranowski fourth and Nutting fifth.

JCO Plumbing & Heating also put up $100 bonuses to the seventh and 11^th-place sportsman finishers, in honor of Chris Crane Jr.’s 17^th birthday. Picking up the bonuses were Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald and Mike Benson.

Pete Stefanski moved one step closer to winning his first track championship at Malta by coming away with his fifth win of 2025 in the 25-lap pro stock feature, which paid $1,060 to win through sponsorship from Crane’s Outdoor Power Equipment. Stefanski’s win was his first since June 30. Following him across the finish line were Jimmy Duncan, Shane Henderson, Chris Stalker and Kim Duell, who had won the previous two pro stock races to cut Stefanski’s point lead to four.

Stefanski also took home a $200 bonus for winning the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash.

PJ Cram Jr. and Adam Montville continued their domination in their respective divisions.

Cram came away with his ninth win of the year in the 20-lap street stock feature. He started last in the 16-car field and didn’t get the lead until lap 18, moving around Chris Murray. Murray crossed the finish line second, with Matt Mosher third.

Montville chalked up his sixth win of the season in the 15-lap four-cylinder feature, while Josh Reome held off Damian Ward for second. Ward had the first-single cam car across the finish line.

NEXT GENERATION ROOFING MODIFIEDS; JOSH MASTERSON, CG Morey, Marc Johnson, Jack Speshock, Demetrios Drellos, Matt DeLorenzo, Adam Pierson, Mike Mahaney, Jeremy Pitts, Justin Stone, Felix Roy, Ronnie Johnson, Peter Britten, Derek Bornt, Brendan Darrah, Brian Calabrese, David Schilling, Neil Stratton, Don Ronca, Rich Ronca, Jack Lehner, Matt Depew.

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., Chris Jakubiak, Connor Crane, Dave Baranowski, Daryl Nutting, Chris Crane Jr., Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald, Derrick McGrew Jr., Cody Ochs, Nick Brundige, Mike Benson, Zach Buff, Michael Ballestero, Tanner Coon, Chad Gregory, Nick Lussier, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Scott Bennett Jr., Dylan Madsen, Rocco Constantino, Elliot Lussier, EJ Gallup, Joey Scarborough, Dan Grignon, Jon Miller, Brent Bouplon, Jeff Washburn, Drew Cormie (DQ), Taylor Wason (DQ).

SARATOGA MASONRY PRO STOCKS: PETE STEFANSKI, Jimmy Duncan, Shane Henderson, Chris Stalker, Kim Duell, Jaxson Ryan, Kyle Hoard, Jason Casey, Caden Dumblewski, PJ Cram Jr., Jordan Modiano, Chris Wemple, Phil Difiglio, Pete Vila, Rich Crane, Brandon Emigh, Jay Casey.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN (35 LAPS, $3,000 TO WIN): CAMRON HOTALING, Bodie Marks, Corky Warner, Mike Block Sr., Nick Arnold, Lucas Duncan, Chris Darling, Adam Tranka, Alex Smith, Colby Kokosa, Dave Zelker, Cordell Younger, Jordan Hill, Kirsten Swartz, Belle Hogan, Matt Humes, Mike Baker, Dan Seguin, John Santolin, Dan Odell, Derrik Emigh, Katrina (Bean) Leclaire, Brandon Tyler, Gary English, Noah Carlo, Keith Pelkey, James Galarneau.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Chris Murray, Matt Mosher, Mark Burch, Dave Cook, Dan Madigan, Derek Van Veghten, Josh Hemming, Jake Middleton, John Filarecki, Dana Van Veghten, Tim McFarland, Shane Wetherington, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jason Barrett, Mike Duggan (DQ).

GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: ADAM MONTVILLE, Josh Reome, Damian Ward (first single-cam finisher), Ben Ladd, Chris Danylieko, Randy Tubbs, David Labarge, Lindell Condon, Daniel Joubert, Lucas Condon.