MALTA – They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but sometimes, the old tricks are all you really need.

Don Ronca parlayed a front-row starting position, a slick racing surface and 35 consecutive green-flag laps into a wildly popular victory Friday night in the NAPA Modifieds feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The 65-year-old Ronca etched his name into the record books by becoming the oldest winner of a modified feature at Malta, which, if all the reports of the last two weeks are true, is closing in on the end of its historic run.

Ronca also became one of the few drivers to win features at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in five straight decades, as his first victory at Malta came in 1986.

Ronca, who won modified championships at Albany-Saratoga in 1989 and 1992 under the old Champlain Valley Racing Association banner, only needed one lap to take the lead away from pole-sitter Matt Depew and from there, rode the outside to his 14^th career modified victory. Friday night’s win also ended a long winless drought, as Ronca hadn’t been to victory lane since Sept 4. 2020, which, ironically, also came on a night when the modified feature went the distance without a yellow flag.

“This is really good for us,” said Ronca in victory lane after the win. “It’s been a lousy year for us. I couldn’t be happier.

“I didn’t know where anyone was,” he added. “I just kept going and going. I’ve been here before, when it seems like I would get a win, but something would happen.”

Not this time. Even when he caught the tail end of the field and had a little problem getting around a couple of slower cars, Scott Huber, who had taken the No. 2 spot away from Depew on lap 11, never closed the gap between the top two cars. And Ronca never caught up to a gaggle of other backmarkers, who were battling side-for-side for position, because that group of backmarkers was just as fast as Ronca was.

Ronca’s margin of victory was 2.849 seconds.

The only real drama came on the final lap, when Depew made one last surge and caught Huber at the finish line for the runner-up position. That was Depew’s best finish at Albany-Saratoga since a second behind Brett Hearn on July 28, 2017.

Ryan McCartney and Josh Masterson completed the top five. McCartney was one of the few drivers making a lot of passes, as he had started 14^th.

David Schilling won the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, which was worth $200.

Mike Mahaney started on the pole and led flag-to-flag to win the 25-lap DiCarlo’s Auto Body 358 Shootout, the third leg of the series. The race was slowed by three cautions, but each time, Mahaney was able to get the jump on Marc Johnson and came away with an easy win in the merry-go-round race, in which the top four cars quickly spaced out and followed each other around the track. Matt DeLorenzo finished third, with Ronnie Johnson fourth and Robert Bublak Jr. fifth.

The front row also proved to be the place to be in the 25-lap pro stock feature. Beau Ballard led all 25 of the caution-free laps to record his first career win at Malta and take home $1,000 through sponsorship by Ghent Wood Products. Rich Crane and Rob Yetman grabbed the other two podium positions.

“With this field of cars, winning is sweet,” said Ballard. “At 1:30 today, I wasn’t even sure I was going to come here. We’ve had a tough season.”

Cody Ochs and David Baranowski Jr. put on a great battle in the 25-lap sportsman feature, running side-by-side for many laps in the second half of the race until Ochs got a great launch coming out of the second turn on lap 23 to get the lead for good. Zach Buff, who was sitting right behind Ochs and Baranowski Jr. as they battled for the lead, switched to the high line for the last two laps and came away with second, with Pat Jones third, Barnowski Jr. fourth and Mike Coffey Jr. fifth.

Ochs earned $1,000 for the win through sponsorship from Emerich Associates. “I changed everything after the heat race,” he said in victory lane. “The car was not good.

Hopefully, this can turn our year around.”

Chad Gregory recorded his first win of the season in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, despite starting seventh. After a caution on lap two, David Zelker snatched the lead away from Matthew Gebo, while Dan Seguin was running second and Gregory was sitting third.

Gregory took over the No. 2 spot on lap eight and had three more restarts to take a shot at Zelker, but each time, Zelker maintained the lead.

But on the last lap, with Gregory running high and Zelker down low, Zelker went into the fourth turn a little too hot, and started to drift up. The two cars touched, and as Zelker gathered his car back in, Gregory rocketed to the finish line to get the win.

Jordan Hill had the best finish of her young career, grabbing the other podium spot.

Jimmy Duncan came from the tail end of the 17-car starting field to win the 20-lap street stock feature, his second win of the season. Mark “Rowdy” Burch led for a majority of the race, but Duncan worked his way to the front by running the inside and got underneath Burch coming out of turn four on lap 14 to take the lead for good. PJ Cram Jr. made a late charge to finish second, with Burch hanging on for third.

NAPA MODIFIEDS: DON RONCA, Matt Depew, Scott Huber, Ryan McCartney, Josh Masterson, James Meehan, David Schilling, Peter Britten, Brian Calabrese, Marc Johnson, CG Morey, Neil Stratton, Demetrios Drellos, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Speshock, Jack Lehner, Mike Mahaney, Kolby Schroder, Rich Ronca, Jessey Mueller, Brendan Darrah, Ronnie Johnson, Rich Scagliotta, Derek Bornt, Robert Bublak Jr., Justin Stone, Eric Mack, Tom D’Angelo, Todd Ryan, Garrett Poland.

DICARLO’S AUTO BODY 358 SHOOTOUT: MIKE MAHANEY, Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Ronnie Johnson, Robert Bublak Jr., Matt Woodruff, David Schilling, Garrett Poland, Bill August, Walt Hammond, CG Morey, Tanner Siemons, Andrew Buff, Joey Coppola, Chris Curtis, Walt Hammond, Ray Hall Jr., Jim Introne, Brandon Daley.

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: CODY OCHS, Zach Buff, Pat Jones, David Baranowski Jr., Mike Coffey Jr., Connor Crane, Mike Ballestero, Chris Crane Jr., Dylan Grogan, Tim Hartman Jr., Taylor Wason, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Jon Miller, Dylan Madsen, Dan Grignon, Joey Scarborough, Craig Wholey, Travis Witbeck, Chris Jakubiak, Taylor LaPlante, Tyler Rapp. Scott Duell, Bryce Breault, Drew Cormie, Mike Benson, Daryl Nutting, Scott Bennett, Brendon Gibbons.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: BEAU BALLARD, Rich Crane, Rob Yetman, Jason Casey, Shane Henderson, Kim Duell, Caden Dumblewski, Chucky Dumblewski, Kyle Hoard, Jay Casey, Brandon Emigh, Phil Difiglio, Mike Baker, Pete Vila, Slater Baker, Jordan Modiano.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: CHAD GREGORY, David Zelker, Jordan Hill, Nick Brundige, James Galarneau, Dan Seguin, Chase Zimmer, Mike Baker, Dakota Green, Tanner Coon, Nick Auspelmyer, Cordell Younger, Dan Odell, Nick Arnold, Matthew Gebo, Sloan Cherko, Alex Smith, Mike Arnold, Noah Carlo, Sara Arnold.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: JIMMY DUNCAN, PJ Cram Jr., Mark Burch, Chris Stalker, Dan Madigan, Al Relyea, Matt Mosher, Damian Ward, Josh Hemming, Jeff Meltz, John Filarecki, Jason Barrett, Ray Pierre Jr., Mike Duggan, Derek Van Veghten.