Modified driver Marc Johnson was fast from the moment he stepped onto Albany Saratoga Speedway soil on Friday.  Johnson won his qualifying event after a solid battle with Matt Delorenzo and that same duo would entertain the crowd again during the 35 lap Modified feature event ― with Johnson owning both events when the checkered flag waved.

At the start of the event it was all Mike Perrotte.  The veteran driver showed the field around until shortly before the halfway mark when Marc Johnson, who started the event from the fourth row, continued his dominance and stole the race lead from Perrotte.  And wherever Johnson went, Delorenzo continued to follow with the top three ―Johnson, Delorenzo and Brett Hearn putting on a fantastic show as they dealt with heavy bouts of lapped traffic.

Johnson secured his first win of the 2013 race season.  Delorenzo, Hearn, Perrotte and Jeremy Wilder rounded out the top five.

The 25 lap Sowle Tractor Trailer Repair sponsored Sportsman feature event was paying $1,100 to the race winner so many were anxious to get to the front of the field when the green flag was let go. Leo Sousie took the lead from the start but it wouldn’t last long before Frank Hoard III took command.  Hoard dominated and ran the high side of the 4/10 mile oval.  With five laps to go, the top-five were tight and they were starting to come upon some heavy lap traffic when the caution came out tightening everything up.  On the restart Mike Tholin was all over Eric Mack for the runner-up slot ― and then he set his sights on the race leader.  With one lap remaining Tholin took over the lead.

“Awesome ― I can’t believe I did it on the last lap ― I’ve never done that before, that is awesome, awesome, great car,” said a very excited Tholin during post-race ceremonies.

Hoard held on for second place while Scott Duell, Eric Mack and Jon Miller all had impressive runs to round out the top five.

Connor Cleveland was back in victory lane when the 15 lap Novice Sportsman concluded. Cleveland started eighth on the field and wasted little time getting to the front ― securing the race lead from Shannon Donnelly on the third circuit.  It was Cleveland’s second win in the newly formed division.  Last week’s novice victor, Jack Bublak followed with Jesse Edwards, Doug Hancock and Chris Murray rounding out the top five.

Jeff Washburn had hopes of breaking Pro Stock driver Rob Yetman’s win streak in the 25 lap feature event.  Washburn jumped out into the lead but it wasn’t long before Kenny Martin was showing the way around.  Martin had a ½ straightaway lead for a good portion of the event and he easily landed in victory lane.  It was Martin’s first win at the Malta oval.

Yetman, who was involved in an earlier incident try running Martin down but ran out of time and had to settle for second place.  Great runs by Dan Older, Cale Kneer and Dave DePaulo for top five honors.

Last season Randy Miller liked that victory lane feeling so it was time to revisit.  Miller pretty much owned the 20 lap Street Stock feature event and went on to start his 2013 season win list.  An impressive run by Nathan Dahoda for the second position while Justin Smith, Ken Conroy and David Shippee were having fun dicing back in forth for top five runs.

Todd Goldstein came from his 14^th starting position to the race lead by lap 4 of the 4 Cylinder feature event.

Things ―   Rain was expected to hit at about 10:00 p.m. so management was quick to get things going on Friday night… Prior to the start of the racing action the AS management team honored Kenny Tremont for his success, last week’s Modified feature win was Tremont’s 300th career win.  Announcer Dan Martin did a rundown of Tremont’s stats which are extremely impressive; 58 wins and 12 point championships [67 wins at Devils Bowl] and let’s not forget Tremont’s success at AS’s sister speedway, Lebanon Valley, where he is the winningest driver with 119 big block and 10 small block wins plus 13 championship titles…  Brandon Emigh missed out on a qualifying position in his Pro Stock heat event due to a left front flat tire… Shea Montgomery was a newbee at the speedway in the Sportsman division.  Montgomery easily qualified during his qualifying event…   nice run by modified rookie Brian Gleason, he owned his qualifying until the later stages after a good battle with Marc Johnson who went on to pick up the victory…  at 7:50 p.m. management said the rain was on the way sooner than expected… the sportsman consolation events had the ‘win it and you’re in it’ theme so several drivers didn’t make the main event…  at 8:00 all events but the features were in the record books…  only one caution event throughout all of that racing, impressive…  unfortunately that caution was for Jack Swinton who hit the wall pretty hard and broke something in the rear of his automobile…  the Sportsman division was the first to get to run their feature event… early into the modified feature event Ronnie Johnson took a horrible ride down the backstretch with a violent series of barrel rolls in his Palmer’s Service automobile.  Johnson got out of the car after the incident but was put into the ambulance as a precaution.  Race promoter Lyle DeVore reported on Saturday that Johnson was doing ok but his car was not… [praying for rain for Johnson on Saturday since he will be quite sore]…  management got all racing completed without a drop of rain…  management apologies go to Marc Johnson, Connor Cleveland, first AS career winner Kenny Martin, Randy Miller and Todd Goldstein for not being able to celebrate their victories with announcer Mike Warren since the program was rushed along…

Modified Feature Results: (35 Laps) – 1) MARC JOHNSON 2) Matt Delorenzo, 3) Brett Hearn, 4) Mike Perrotte 5) Jeremy Wilder, 6) Peter Britten, 7) Keith Flach, 8) Stewart Friesen, 9) Ken Tremont Jr, 10) Matt Depew, 11) Bodie Bellinger, 12) Mark Kislowski, 13) Rich Scagliotta, 14) Jeff Trombley, 15) Jimmy Cottrell, 16) Brian Gleason, 17) Ray Hoard, 18) Kyle Sheldon, 19) Don Ronca, 20) Pep Corradi, 21) Tony Ballestero, 22) Floyd Billington, 23) Justin Barber, 24) Neil Stratton, 25) Rich Ronca, 26) Justin Boehler, 27) Ronnie Johnson, 28) John Proctor

Modified Heats: Marc Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Mark Kislowski

Sportsman Feature Results: (25 Laps) – 1) MIKE THOLIN, 2) Frank Hoard III, 3) Scott Duell, 4) Eric Mack, 5) Jon Miller, 6) Jeremy Pitts, 7) Brett Wright, 8) Jack Speshock, 9) Dave Baranowski Jr, 10) Andy Durie, 11) Jake Scarborough, 12) Cody Bleau, 13) Mark Hughes,  14) Robert Budlak, 15) Nick Lussier, 16) D.J. Brundige, 17) Mike Jeske, 18) Leo Sousie, 19) Jack Gentile, 20) Joe Orlando, 21) Mike Ostrander, 22) Shea Montgomery, 23) Dan Santabarbara, 24) Luke Klob, 25) Adam McAuliffe, 26) Paul Dunham, 27) Justin Comes, 28) Joey Scarborough, 29) Derek McGrew, DNQ) Nick Anatriello, DNQ) Dan Boni, DNQ) Mike Burdo, DNQ) Ron Casey, DNQ) Chuck Dickinson, DNQ) Jim Introne, DNQ) Stan Lemiesz, DNQ) Fred Mullberger, DNQ) Jim Osgood, DNQ) Fred Proctor, DNQ) Jack Swinton

Sportsman Heats:  Eric Mack, Leo Sousie, Mike Ostrander, Mike Jeske, Jon Miller

Sportsman Consi:  Cody Bleau, Robert Bublak. Jr.

Novice Sportsman Feature Results: ( Laps) – 1)CONNOR CLEVELAND, 2) Jack Bublak, 3) Jesse Edwards, 4) Doug Hancock, 5) Chris Murray, 6) Timothy Davis, 7) Ricky Davis, 8) D.J. Mabb, 9) John Linblade, 10) Shannon Donnelly, 11) Wally Potter, 12) Colin Bokus, 13) Bob Schmidt, DNS) Anthony Alger

Novice Sportsman Heats:  Chris Murray, Jesse Edwards

Pro Stock Feature Results: (25 Laps) – 1) KEN MARTIN, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Dan Older, 4) Cale Kneer, 5) Dave Depaulo, 6) Jeff Washburn, 7) Ed Thompson, 8) Brandon Emigh, 9) Dean Charbonneau, 10) Dave Emigh, 11) Byron Wescott, 12) Kim Duell, 13) Frank Monroe, 14) Walt Brownell

Prostock Heats:   Jeff Washburn, Byron Wescott

Street Stock Feature Results: (20 Laps) – 1) RANDY MILLER, 2) Nathan Dahoda, 3) Justin Smith, 4) Ken Conroy, 5) David Shippee, 6) Yule Cook, 7) Scott Lawrence, 8) Jody Thew, 9) Jim Cutler, 10) Damon Anderson, 11) Ben Newsome, 12) Kenny Towne, 13) Paul Braymer, 14) Josh Coonradt, DNS) Jason Barrett

4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) TODD GOLDSTEIN, 2) Phil Defiglio, 3) Steve Ryan, 4) Mark Lindblade, 5) Lance Robertson, 6) David Frame, 7) Pete Vila, 8) Dan Collins,

9) Christian Mulrain, 10) Joe Tallman, 11) Brett Horlacher, 12) Jeff Donnelly Jr, 13) Dan Older, DQ) Chris Vandeputte

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results (15 Laps) – 1) MARK LINDBLADE, 2) Lance Robertson, 3) Dan Collins, 4) Christian Mulrain, 5) Joe Tallman, 6) Brett Horlacher, 7) Jeff Donnelly Jr, 8) Dan Older

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results (15 Laps) – 1) TODD GOLDSTEIN, 2) Phil Defiglio, 3) Steve Ryan, 4) David Frame, 5) Pete Vila, DQ) Chris Vandeputte