MALTA, NY – If you like rooting for underdogs, you would have loved Friday night’s 100-lap King of Dirt Sportsman Series 602 Northeast Crate Nationals at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Brian Calabrese of Johnstown, driving a 10-year-old Bicknell chassis and wearing an all-black logo-less firesuit that looked just as old, pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, winning the 100-lap feature and taking home the top prize of $2,500.

Calabrese, who started on the outside pole, dropped back at the beginning of the race, was back in the top three at the halfway point and then worked the bottom to perfection to get past leader Connor Cleveland coming out of the fourth turn on lap 92. He then had to negotiate two lapped cars in the closing laps to hold off Robert Bublak Jr. to get the biggest victory of his career.

The win was Calabrese’s first career win at Albany-Saratoga, and one of the few times he’s ever been in victory lane.

After winning a pair of rookie sportsman races at Fonda Speedway in 2016, Calabrese moved up the regular sportsman division and got his only win on Aug. 20, when race winner John McAuliffe was disqualified for refusing to have his motor checked.

That same year, Calabrese also won one sportsman feature at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park.

“This is unbelievable,” said Calabrese in victory lane after his win. “I didn’t even expect to make the show.”

The car that took Calabrese to the victory is a 2008 Bicknell with an eight-bolt International rear end.

“I didn’t expect the rear end to last 100 laps,” he admitted after the race.

For a long time, the story of the Northeast Crate Nationals was a battle between 2018 Albany-Saratoga Speedway track champion Tim Hartman Jr. and Connor Cleveland, who went into the final race of the KOD Sportsman Series as the points leader.

After Cleveland, who started third by virtue of the redraw, worked his way by polesitter David Schilling on lap 16, Hartman Jt., who had started ninth, got by Schilling for the No. 2 spot on lap 18.

The two kept the crowd entertained with a great side-by-side battle, twice swapping the lead on laps 31 and 32, but at the midway point of the race, Cleveland was still in front.

Hartman Jr., who preferred to run the top, finally moved into the lead on lap 77, as the two leaders made contact coming out of the second turn and Hartman Jr., was able to complete the pass.

But on lap 88, Hartman Jr. jumped the berm in the second turn, giving the lead back to Cleveland and allowing Calabrese to take over the runner-up spot.

Sticking to the inside, Calabrese quickly closed on Cleveland and had the lead on lap 92. Even though he had problems clearing the lapped cars of Rob Maxon and Marty Kelly III on the closing laps, he was able to hold off Bublak, who took over the No. 2 spot on lap 97.

“I thought if the race stayed green, I could get [Cleveland],” said Calabrese. “I didn’t have anything for Hartman, but when I was following Connor, I was catching him. This is a dream. We keep bringing this old Bicknell out and it keeps working for us.”

Cleveland finished third to wrap up the series championship, but was still somewhat disappointed.

“I thought when Tim went off the bank, I had it,” he said. “I figured I had a good enough lead to stay ahead of whoever was second. But the top went away at the end. I couldn’t do anything up there.”

Hartman Jr. and Chad Edwards completed the top five.

The 40-lap Tom Clothier Trucking Suicide Prevention Awareness small block feature was just as entertaining.

Bobby Varin started on the pole in the Palmer Services 76 in the heads-up starting lineup, , with 2016 track champion Marc Johnson on the outside of the front row and Jessey Mueller right behind Varin.

And right from the drop of the green flag, the three were racing like it was the last lap of the race.

After Mueller won a three-lap war with Johnson for second place, Varin and Mueller got a little separation on the field, and began swapping the lead lap after lap. The leaders got into lapped traffic in lap 19, and Mueller then used a restart to get the lead on lap 21.

Varin continued to keep pressure on Mueller, but on lap 25, Varin made a slight bobble in the second turn, allowing Mueller to get some breathing room.

Mueller then pulled out to a full straightaway lead and came away with his second win of the season, which paid $2,500 and also included a $300 bonus for beating Ronnie Johnson, who had won the Suicide Prevention Awareness race for two years straight.

Varin was a distance second, with Marc Johnson third, Ronnie Johnson fourth and Ken Tremont Jr. fifth.

“I’ve got to tell you, the most fun wasn’t taking the checkered flag,” said Mueller. “The most fun of the race was the battle with Bobby. I didn’t put him in the wall, and he didn’t do it to me.”

But there were many times in the feature that those two were just inches away from that exact fate.

Derrick McGrew Jr., the 11-year-old phenom, picked up his second win of the season in dramatic fashion in the limited sportsman feature. McGrew Jr. was running second to Scott Bennett coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap when something broke in Bennett’s car. McGrew Jr., already committed to the outside, bounced off the wall, went over the front end of Bennett’s car as they approached the flagstand and crossed the finish line with his two front wheels of the ground. Bennett was second, with Travis Billington third.

The four cylinders were also in action, with Jason Lang taking the checkered flag. Robert Garney had the first single-cam car across the finish line.

KING OF DIRT SPORTSMAN SERIES NORTHEAST CRATE NATIONALS (100 laps): Brian Calabrese, Robert Bublak Jr., Connor Cleveland, Tim Hartman Jr., Chad Edwards, Dave Constantino, Jeremy Pitts, Chris Johnson, Kevin Chaffee, Paolo Pascarella, Mike Coffey Jr., David Schilling, Derek Bornt, Joey Scarborough, Andrew Buff, Scott Duell, Rob Maxon, Adam Pierson, Joe Williams, Justin Severance, Ricky Quick, Stephen Kneer, Marty Kelly III, Michael Sabia, Mike Ostrander, Pat Jones, Justin Buff, John St. Germain Jr.

SMALL BLOCK MODIFIEDS (40 laps): Jessey Mueller, Bobby Varin, Marc Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Ken Tremont Jr., Jimmy Cottrell, Rocky Warner, Hector Stratton, Matt DeLorenzo, Jason Herrington, Matt Pupello, Olden Dwyer, Matt Depew, Don Ronca, Randy Green, CG Morey, Jackie Brown Jr., Jack Lehner, Nick Lussier, Lou Torres, Travis Bruno, Alissa Cody, Don Bellen, Neil Stratton, Demetrios Drellos, Rich Ronca, Ray Hoard, Todd Morey, Frank Hoard III.

LIMITED SPORTSMAN: Derrick McGrew Jr., Scott Bennett, Travis Billington, David Boisclair, Jason Miller, Jason Baker, Bryan Moore, Thomas VanVorst Sr., Dave Labarge, James Hinman, Emily Quinn, Jerard LeClair, Dylan Bokus, Kevin McCoy, Mike Perodi.