MALTA – To say that Mike Mahaney and car owner George Hutting were well-prepared for the 2020 racing season would be an understatement.

With the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the season by two months, the Mahaney/Hutting team had extra time to get ready for their ultimate goal … to win the modified point championship at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

They accomplished that Friday night on Champions Night at the historic Malta speedway, as Mahaney used a 10th-place finish to lock up his first title. The championship was also the first for Huttig, who began racing at Albany-Saratoga in 1986, with Mike Perrotte behind the wheel of his modified.

“We started getting prepared for this at the end of last year,” said Mahaney Friday night, referring to the rash of engine problems that plagued the team in 2019. “This (winning the championship) is what we wanted to do this year. I wish I had had a shot at more wins, but we were finishing well every week, and the handicapping made it so tough to get another one.”

Mahaney, who finished with a 14-point margin of victory over defending champion Marc Johnson in the final point rally, won the first feature of the season, lost the point lead when Stewart Friesen win two of the next three races, and then regained the lead for good on July 24 with a fifth-place finish while Friesen was competing in the NASCAR Gander RV Truck series.

In 11 races, Mahaney had 10 top-10 finishes, including six top-fives. The only time he didn’t finish in the top 10 was June 26, when he finished 11th.

“This is my first championship on Hoosiers,” said Mahaney. “There was a lot of transition, a lot of changes made this year. My crew worked their tails off, and I’m really proud of them.”

Also earning titles Friday were Tim Hartman Jr. in the sportsman division, and Luke Horning in the pro-stock class.

Hartman Jr. recorded his third win of the season in the Parillo Services-sponsored ride to go out in style, finishing with a huge 79-point advantage over defending champion Connor Cleveland. Oddly enough, Hartman Jr. wasn’t even going to race at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in 2020, but when it looked like there would be no other Friday night options, Hartman decided to return to the track he knew best.

Friday night’s win was the 27th of Hartman Jr.’s career at Albany-Saratoga, moving him into sole possession of second place on the all-time win list in that division. Until Friday, he had shared the spot with his father, Tim Sr., who won three championships during his racing days at Albany-Saratoga.

Hartman Jr. had one of the most exciting wins of the season, as he beat Brian Calabrese to the checkered flag by inches (electronic scoring put it at .050 seconds) on June 26.

Horning knew exactly where he had to finish Friday night, as he and defending champion Josh Coonradt went into the final points race of the season tied for the lead. And did they put on a show. They swapped the lead on a couple of occasions during the second half of the 30-lap feature, but Horning then used a restart with three to go to get the lead for good, finishing .0514 seconds ahead of Coonradt.

In the final tally, Horning beat Coonradt by four points to secure his first championship at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Besides winning four features, Horning also had four second-place finishes in his West End Towing & Repair-sponsored pro stock. The only time he failed to finish in the top five was Aug. 28, when he got caught up in a wreck with two laps to go and wound up 14th.