Proctor ends drought

MALTA - It was hard to tell who was more relieved at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night - Ron Proctor for finally getting the monkey off his back, or Ken Tremont Jr. for finally getting Brett Hearn off his.

Proctor, who has suffered through one of the most miserable seasons of his racing career, finally held it all together Friday night, leading flag-to-flag to record his first win of the season in the 35-lap 358 modified feature on Championship Night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Tremont, who went into the final points race of the 2003 campaign with a one-point advantage over Hearn, finished second to wrestle the track championship away from Hearn. The championship was the eighth of Tremont’s career at the Malta track, but his first since 1999.

Ironically, Proctor has waited since 1999 to get back to victory lane. Although Friday night’s victory was his ninth career win at Albany-Saratoga, he hadn’t been to victory lane since June 4, 1999.

But there was no question about his dominance Friday night. After winning his heat, Proctor also turned the fastest lap during the feature, and even when Tremont had the advantage of a late restart to put some pressure on Proctor, the veteran kept the Ron White-owned small block on a perfect line, and came away with the popular win.

Tremont and Hearn started deep in the pack in the 35-lap feature, but Tremont didn’t have any problem getting to the front. The same wasn’t true for Hearn, however. While Tremont was slicing through the field, Hearn had more than his share of obstacles to overcome. The biggest obstacle proved to be Gene Munger, who suffered mechanical problems on lap 10 and ended up costing Hearn a couple of positions, as he had to slow to avoid Munger’s car.

The championship was especially satisfying to Tremont, who is now running his own small block program. His other small block championships came when he was driving for his cousin, Dennis.

When the checkered flag fell, Proctor had a 1.781 second margin of victory over Tremont, with Don Scarborough sitting third, Ronnie Johnson fourth and Mike Ronca fifth.

The best Hearn could do was sixth. He was followed by Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Johnson, Todd Ryan and Mike Ballestero.

Jimmy Cottrell picked up his first career win in the 20-lap sportsman feature, becoming the fourth straight driver in that division to notch his first career win. It’s been quite a summer for the son of modified driver Jack Cottrell, as he recorded a hole-in-one earlier in the summer, giving him a 2-0 advantage over his dad, who had neither a modified victory, nor a hole-in-one during the summer.

Tony Ballestero set the early pace in the sportsman feature, but Cottrell, who had started fourth, took the lead on lap nine and set sail for an easy victory. Ballestero finished second, his best run of the season, while Joe Budka got up for third. Erik Mack finished fourth while Derrick McGrew came from dead-last to finish fifth.

The track championship in the sportsman division went to Tim Hartman, who finished 10th. But Hartman had such a big lead going into Championship Night that he didn’t even need to start the feature to win the title.

Lori Cary drove to her fourth victory of the season in the 30-lap pro-street stock feature, and Butchie Irwin came away with his first track championship. Ironically, both Cary and Irwin use the CVRA Chevy spec engines under the hoods of their cars.

Irwin had been disqualified after winning the pro-street stock feature on Sept. 5, but during the week, CVRA officials reinstated the win, which put Irwin back in the lead in the points race, and a fourth-place finish in the 30-lapper on Friday night was all he needed to secure the title.

Henry Tanner and Joe Santoro started in the front row by virtue of the heads-up start, but on lap three, they came together, which put Cary in the lead. The incident also resulted in Tanner’s disqualification.

Irwin moved into second on lap eight, but three laps later, he and Cary came together, with Irwin suffering a flat tire. But Irwin ducked into the pits, put on a new tire, and came back to finish fourth to win the track championship during his first full season of racing at Albany-Saratoga.

Following Cary across the finish line were Carl Vladyka, Chris Maxon, Irwin and Steve Burega.

Dan Daniels held off Byron Westcott to win the hobby stock feature while Mike Tholin finished seventh to wrap up the track title in that division. The cruiser feature was won by Jamie McCarthy, and Tim Deffer won the enduro that ended the night’s racing.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will be back in action Friday night with a spectacular 50-lap Run What Ya Brung feature, which will pay $5,000 to win. The race is part of the three-race Run What Ya Brung Series between the CVRA and Lebanon Valley, and has attracted some of the top drivers in the Northeast, including Kenny Brightbill and Billy Pauch, who have said they will both be chasing the $20,000 bonus that will be given to the first driver who wins three races in the ongoing series.

All other CVRA divisions will also be running under Run What Ya Brung rules Friday night, with racing starting at 7 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: RON PROCTOR, Ken Tremont Jr., Don Scarborough, Ronnie Johnson, Mike Ronca, Brett Hearn, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Johnson, Todd Ryan, Mike Ballestero, Mike Perrotte, Don Ronca, Frank Hoard Sr., Ray Hoard, Don Mattison, Tom Proctor, Jack Cottrell, Gene Munger, Chuck Higley, Randy Hotaling.

SPORTSMAN: JIMMY COTTRELL, Tony Ballestero, Joe Budka, Erik Mack, Derrick McGrew, Ken Anatriello, Jack Swinton, Dan Bublac, Rich Ronca, Tim Hartman, Neal Erickson, David Peek, John Harrison, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Stan Lemiesz, Doug Sheely, Keith Flach, Brian McKenzie.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: LORI CARY, Carl Vladyka, Chris Maxon, Butchie Irwin, Steve Burega, Dean Charbonneau, Vince Santoro, Bob Schmidt, Brian Holbritter, Tom O’Connor, Adam Tranka, Matt Anatriello, William Smith IV, Fred Backes III, Jay Fitzgerald, Cale Kneer, Randy Brownell, Scott Duell, Charlie Koenig, Jimmy Eaton, Walt Brownell, Joe Santoro, Jim Groncki, Jamie Proctor. DQ: Henry Tanner.

HOBBY STOCKS: DAN DANIELS, Byron Westcott, John Coon, Jeff Monroe, Jim Monroe Jr., Curtis Condon, Mike Tholin, Adam Stoddard, John Filarecki, Thomas Pierce, Jim Monroe III, Billy Lussier, John Morris Jr., Kevin Sawyer, Bob Smith, Keith Guilder, Mike Carman. DQ: Chris Busta.

CRUISERS: Jamie McCarthy, Rich Mrzyglod, Kevin Connors, Bob Bublak Jr., Dan Uber, Joe Naccarato, Matt Corbiel, Gene Unser, Mitch Cranston, Matt Delucia, Jeremy Brownell, Brian Myers, Mike Minick, Jon Atwell, Harold Clothier, Matt Thomas, No. 28, Brittany Ladd, Butch Ryan.