Malta, NY – After troubles on opening night, New Jersey’s Brett Hearn has hit his stride at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway. The Jersey Jet picked up Friday night’s 35 lap Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified feature event win, his second in a row at the Great Race Place. The win raises Hearn’s all-time best feature win total to 118 at the fast four tenth of a mile oval.

Other feature winners during the evening were Dave Baranowski, Jr. (Sportsman), Kim Duell (Featherfoot Warrior Series DIRTcar Pro Stock), Mike Coffey (Limited Sportsman), Randy Miller (Street Stock) and Todd Goldstein (Greg’s Towing & Repair Four Cylinders).

Alex Bell and Kris Vernold led the field down to the start of the Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified 35 lap feature event with Bell taking the early advantage. A five car tangle in turns three and four would slow the field before a lap could be completed. Those involved in the incident were Rob Pitcher, Ray Hoard, John Lutes, Jr., Don Ronca and Jesse Mueller. Pitcher suffered the most damage.

When racing resumed Vernold took the lead with Matt Delorenzo, Bell, Neil Stratton and Elmo Reckner following. As the field completed lap five, Delorenzo was all over Vernold for the race lead. Reckner moved past Stratton for the fourth position on lap six with the second generation driver from Vermont falling back to fifth.

Delorenzo took the BBL Companies machine to the lead on a lap seven restart, however a spun Don Ronca brought out the caution flag, negating the Fonda Speedway promoter’s pass for the lead.  On the restart Delorenzo would take the lead with Reckner moving to second, Vernold falling to third, Hearn debuting in the top five in fourth and Bell completing the top five.

By the one third mark of the event Peter Britten was on the move. After starting from the 12th position, Britten moved into the fifth position on lap nine and then fourth past Vernold on lap 11. Hearn meanwhile was running down the leaders. After having already forced Vernold to fourth, Hearn tracked down and passed Reckner for second with Britten following into third. At the same time Marc Johnson moved into the top five.

As the race reached lap 20, Hearn was all over Delorenzo for the lead. He moved the Madsen Overhead Door’s machine into the lead at the end of lap 20. Britten followed Hearn into second with Delorenzo dropping to third, Reckner fourth and Johnson fifth.

Britten stayed with Hearn and by lap 24 was challenging him for the lead. Hearn quickly responded once clear of traffic and opened up a five car length advantage. Johnson moved past Reckner for the fourth position on lap 28 and set his sights on the leaders.

The fourth and final caution period of the event waved on lap 29 for a spun Brett Wright. The restart saw Hearn lead but Britten was all over him. With Hearn using the top side and Britten down low, Britten was able to grab the lead for a short time coming off turn two however Hearn powered back and immediately pulled away.

In the end Hearn cruised to his second consecutive Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified feature event win over Britten, Delorenzo, Johnson and 28th place starter Kenny Tremont, Jr. A total of 28 drivers entered the event with heat races being won by Vernold, Rich Ronca and Bobby Hackel, IV.

Dave Baranowski, Jr. picked up the win in the 25 lap Sportsman feature event. The win was the second generation driver’s first career win at the Great Race Place. Baranowski became the 132nd Sportsman division feature winner at the track.

Mike Burdo and Brandon Pitcher led the field to the green with Burdo taking the early lead. After an opening lap jingle involving Nick Lussier and Mike Ostrander, Burdo controlled the event with Pitcher and Alissa Cody following. Baranowski moved to third on lap five and then second on a lap seven restart. By lap nine Baranowski had caught Burdo and moved alongside the veteran pilot of the number 97B.

The duo ran side by side until Baranowski took control on lap 15. Connor Cleveland and Jeremy Pitts made late race charges but ran out of time as Baranowski picked up the win. Cleveland finished second with Pitts third, Burdo fourth and Colin Bokus fifth. Heat races for the 30 car field were won by Burdo, Cleveland and Bokus.

Kim Duell picked up the first round of the DIRTcar Pro Stock Featherfoot Warrior Series. The win moved Duell’s career total to 18 at the track and ties him with Lori Langevin for sixth on the all-time feature winners list.

Amsterdam’s Chuck Dumblewski was the first to lead the 25 lap event. Dumblewski led the first 17 laps before giving way to Duell on lap 18. Once out front Duell held off challenges from Rob Yetman and Dumblewski to bring home his first win of the season. Yetman and Dumblewski finished second and third respectfully with Dave DePaulo crossing the line fourth and Brandon Emigh fifth. Heat races for the 19 car field were won by Dumblewski and Cale Kneer.

Mike Coffey picked up the 15 lap Limited Sportsman feature event win. The win was the second in a row for the true division rookie. Zach Daurio led the first three laps before giving way to Coffey. In the end Coffey picked up the win over Daurio, Ken Conroy, Andrew Buff and Travis Billington. Heat races for the 23 car field were claimed by Daurio and Coffey.

Randy Miller won the 20 lap Street Stock feature event. Chase Aussicker led the first six laps before giving way to Miller on lap 12. Once out front Miller pulled away to the win. Matt Mosher brought his blue number 91 home second with Jay Duncan third, Jim Monroe fourth and Fred Harris fifth. A total of 17 drivers entered the event.

Todd Goldstein won the 15 lap Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinder feature event. Goldstein took the lead from Robert Garney on lap one and led the rest of the way. Ken Stager finished second with Steve Ryan third, Brett Horlacher fourth and Dave LaBarge fifth. A total of 12 drivers entered the event.

The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action this Friday night, May 15th with NYSSCA Night. All divisions, including the Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinders will be in action. The Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified division will compete in a King of the Catskills Modified qualifier. Racing is set to begin at 7pm with pit gates opening at 4pm and grandstand gates opening at 5pm. For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.

Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Peter Britten, 3) Matt Delorenzo, 4) Marc Johnson, 5) Ken Tremont Jr, 6)  Elmo Reckner, 7) Mark Kislowski, 8) Keith Flach, 9) Kris Vernold, 10) Matt Depew, 11) Scott Duell, 12) Alex Bell, 13) Neil Stratton, 14) Ronnie Johnson, 15) Brett Wright, 16) John Lutes Jr., 17) Brian Whittemore, 18) Dylan Scribner, 19) Jimmy Cottrell, 20) Brian Gleason, 21) Don Ronca, 22) Mike Perrotte 23) Justin Barber, 24) Rich Ronca, 25) Ray Hoard, 26) Bobby Hackel IV, 27) Jesse Mueller, 28) Rob Pitcher

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) Dave Baranowski Jr, 2) Connor Cleveland, 3) Jeremy Pitts, 4) Mike Burdo, 5) Colin Bokus, 6) Nick Anatriello, 7) Brandon
Pitcher, 8) John Proctor, 9) Nick Lussier, 10) Jack Swinton, 11) Derrick McGrew, 12) Hunter Bates, 13) Johnny Scarborough, 14) Alissa Cody, 15) Ricky Davis,
16) Jack Bublak, 17) Jack Speshock, 18) Robert Bublak, 19) Jason Gray, 20) Chris Lynch, 21) Adam Gage, 22) Jack Gentile, 23) Rob Maxon, 24) Jake Scarborough, 25) Mike Ostrander, 26) Joey Scarborough, 27) Elliott Lussier, 28) Chris Murray, 29) Jon Miller, 30) Chris Johnson

Limited Sportsman Results (15 Laps) – 1) Mike Coffey, 2) Zach Daurio, 3) Ken Conroy, 4) Andrew Buff, 5) Travis Billington, 6) Rob Lanfear, 7) Scott Flanders, 8) Christopher Ronca, 9) Emily Quinn, 10) Mark Rabideau, 11) Reggie Bonner, 12) Gary Derocher, 13) Anthony Savoca, 14) Scott Bennett Jr, 15) Diana Huyck, 16) Nick Fretto, 17) George Dorvee, 18) Anthony Alger, 19) Matt Atwood, 20) Ben Brownell, 21) John Stowell, DNS) Pat Jones,  DNS) Matt Westcott

Pro Stock Featherfoot Series Results (25 Laps) – 1) Kim Duell, 2) Rob Yetman, 3) Chuck Dumblewski, 4) Dave Depaulo, 5) Brandon Emigh, 6) Dan Older, 7)
Ken Martin, 8) Robbie Speed, 9) Cale Kneer, 10) Byron Wescott, 11) Bernie Companion, 12) Daniel Sanchez, 13) Scott Lawrence, 14) Brian Keough, 15) Jeff
Washburn, 16) Bill Smith, 17) Mark Burch, 18) Kevin Loomis, 19) Norm Loubier

Street Stock Results (20 Laps) – 1) Randy Miller, 2) Matt Mosher, 3) Jay Duncan Sub for Nathan Dahoda, 4) Jim Monroe, 5) Fred Harris, 6) Mike Arnold, 7) Bill Duprey, 8) Jordan Kasper, 9) Hunter Sanchez, 10) Chase Aussicker, 11) Damon Anderson, 12) Josh Coonradt, 13) Jason Meltz, 14) John Hayes, 15) Daniel Lyle, 16) Frank Monroe, 17) Jake Currier

4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) Todd Goldstein, 2) Ken Stager, 3) Steve Ryan, 4) Brett Horlacher, 5) Dave LaBarge, 6) Wayne Russell Jr, 7) Mike Parodi, 8) Robert Garney, 9) Ben Grant, 10) Steve Jones, 11) Dylan LaPort, DNS) Dan Older

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) Brett Horlacher, 2) Dave LaBarge, 3) Wayne Russell Jr, 4) Mike Parodi, 5) Robert Garney, 6) Steve Jones, 7) Dylan LaPort,
DNS) Dan Older

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results – 1) Todd Goldstein, 2) Ken Stager, 3) Steve Ryan, 4) Ben Grant