MALTA – When you’ve had the type of dirt track racing career that Mike Mahaney has had, you don’t expect to stumble upon many “firsts” that haven’t already been achieved.

But Mahaney reached another milestone Friday night, and didn’t even realize it.

Mahaney recorded the first DIRTcar 358 Series victory of his career Friday night to kick off Malta Massive Weekend at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The win in the 50-lap feature was worth $5,700, thanks to Bart Contracting, which put up $5,000 to win, added a $500 bonus if the winner was an Albany-Saratoga regular, and also paid out $200 bonuses to heat race winners (Mahaney won the first heat).

While Felix Roy set a torrid pace from his pole-position, Mahaney had to work his way up from fifth. On lap 15, he got by David Marcucilli in traffic for third and then began to challenge Matt Williamson for second on lap 19, as the top three were already in heavy traffic.

Roy began to have trouble with lapped cars, enabling Williamson and Mahaney to close up on his back bumper, but Williamson was having his own problems with slower cars. When Williamson had to get out of the throttle when he nearly ran into Tyler Meeks, Mahaney took advantage of that bobble to take over on second on lap 32.

Mahaney then moved to the extreme outside, got up a full head of steam and rocketed by Roy coming out of the fourth turn, nearly touching the wall, to get the lead two laps later.

Just when it looked like the feature was going to be all-green, two yellow flags came out in the final dozen laps, but each time, Mahaney was able to get the jump on Roy on the restarts.

Mahaney came away with his second Malta Massive championship belt (he won the big block modified Super DIRTcar Series race in 2021). Roy finished second, while Williamson, who was looking for his second straight Malta Massive Weekend 358 Series win, settled for third.

“This car has been great all year,” said Mahaney after his win. “W got the championship at Airborne last night and to get this win is phenomenal. This is my second Malta Massive belt, but I didn’t realize I hadn’t won a 358 series race.

“With the first long green flag run, I had no idea how far ahead he (Roy) was,” he added. “I was just trying to get by Matt. But then we reeled Felix in and made it a three-car battle. This was fun.”

“When the track slicked up, the car was less good than in the beginning,” said Roy. “With the lapped cars, I really didn’t know where to go. I just stayed on the bottom because I thought that was faster.”

Also picking up the $200 Bart Contracting bonuses for winning heat races were Roy, Matt DeLorenzo, Williamson and Andrew Buff.

The Crane brothers made their own lasting memory in the 35-lap DIRTcar Sportsman Championship race, as Chris Crane Jr. came away with his third win of the season, while his younger brother Connor finished second, giving the brothers their first one-two finish of their careers.

Derrick McGrew Jr. drew the pole and led lap one, but bounced through a hole that was developing in the first turn on lap two, giving the lead to Connor Crane, who had started third.

Chris Crane Jr., who had started sixth, was up to third after eight laps and on lap 12, went around the outside of Cody McPherson, who has 22 DIRTcar sportsman wins under his belt this season, in the second turn to take over the No. 2 position on lap 22.

Them it was just a matter of time before he got to his younger brother. Sticking to the outside lane, Chris Crane Jr. went around Connor coming out of the second turn on lap 20 and easily pulled away, as the feature went all green. Connor Crane and McPherson completed the podium.

“This is bittersweet, because I had to pass my brother to get the win,” said Chris Crane Jr. in victory lane after the win, which paid $2,000 to the winner. “I’m shocked. When I got by him, I gave him a lot of room. We’ve always talked about wanting to finish 1-2 and to do it here, it’s amazing.”

“It was a five-hour tow for us to get here, but hats off to those guys. They were great,” said McPherson. “For just my second time here, I thought I was good. I was just hoping for a yellow.”

Bart Contracting also awarded $100 bonuses to the sportsman heat winners. Those bonuses went to Chris Crane Jr., McGrew Jr., Connor Crane, McPherson and Dylan Madsen.

Jason Meltz took advantage of a late restart to come away with his second win of the season in the 20-lap street stock feature, which paid $350 to win, courtesy of Hillsdale Repair.

It looked like PJ Cram Jr. had this one wrapped up until DJ Mabb and Adam Osbourne slammed together coming out of the fourth turn just after the leaders had taken the white flag.

Meltz, who had started on the outside pole and gave up the lead to Cram on lap five, got a good jump on the restart and regained the lead with a half a lap to go. Cram crossed the finish line second, with Matt Mosher outrunning track champion Chris Stalker for third.

Jon Sheppard chalked up his first win of the year in the 15-lap four-cylinder feature, easily pulling away from Kyle Lanfear and David Frame. Lanfear, who had the first single-cam car across the finish line, completed an outstanding season, winning 10 of 11 races in his division to earn the single-cam championship. Frame, who had three wins during the season, won the dual-cam championship.

DIRTCAR 358 SERIES: MIKE MAHANEY, Felix Roy, Matt Williamson, Matt DeLorenzo, Marc Johnson, Andrew Buff, Alex Payne, David Marcucilli, Lance Willix, Chris Curtis, Justin Stone, Amy Holland, Peter Britten, Robert Bublak, Ronnie Johnson, Darren Smith, Brandon Carvey, Noah Walker, Shaun Shaw, Walter Hammond Jr., Michael Trautschold, Walt Hammond, Ryan Bartlett, Jeffrey Reis, Steve Lewis Jr., Billy Dunn, Ryan Dolbear, Tyler Meeks, David Schilling, C.J. Castelletti.

DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONSHIP: CHRIS CRANE JR., Connor Crane, Cody McPherson, Derrick McGrew Jr., Emmett Waldron, Dylan Madsen, Tim Hartman Jr., Chris Jakubiak, Zach Sobotka, Zach Buff, Pat Jones, Mike Fowler, Cody Manitta, Taylor Wason, Gavin Eisele, Nicholas Root, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Bryce Breault, Nick Brundige, Craig Wholey, Jon Miller, Dylan Grogan, Taylor LaPlante, Mike Coffey Jr., Jessica Power, Ryan Barrett, Matt Gebo, Savannah Laflair, Tyler Stevenson, Brendan Gibbons.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: JASON MELTZ, P.J. Cram Jr., Matt Mosher, Chris Stalker, Jason Samrov, Mark Burch, Al Relyea, Adam Tranka, Dan Madigan, David Streibel Jr., Fred Shippee, Jeff Meltz, Damien Ward, Dave Streibel, Dan Buell, Ray Pierre, Jason Barrett, Josh Hemming, Lou Gancarz, Tim McFarland, Zach Delaney, Adam Osbourne, DJ Mabb, Justin Taylor.

GREG’S TOWING FOUR-CYLINDERS: JON SHEPPARD, Kyle Lanfear (first single-cam finisher), David Frame, Adam Montville, Ken Hollenbeck, Kerrie Hollenbeck, Micah Grant, Tom Hill, Ryan Keyes, Ben Ladd, Chris Danylieko, Jeremiah Paro, Greg Zindler, Brittany Ladd, Lucas Condon.