Dwyer Picks Up First Career Win

MALTA - It didn’t take Tim Dwyer long to figure out the easiest way to win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway - start up front and stay up front.

Dwyer picked the pole position and led flag-to-flag Friday night in the 30-lap modified feature to record his first career 358 modified victory at the Malta track.

Although Dwyer is a newcomer to Friday night racing at Malta, he used all 20 years of his experience as both a big block and a small block driver to slice through lapped traffic and finished with a comfortable lead over A.J. Romano.

Jerry Sampson, who owns Dwyer’s Bicknell car, decided during the winter to join the Champlain Valley Racing Association spec engine program, dropping a Pat Morrison small block with Brodix spec heads under the hood of his car, and the motor had plenty of power Friday night, as Dwyer was never seriously challenged.

“This is a good motor, and it’s about half the price of the other ones,” said Dwyer after the win. Dwyer won the sportsman track championship at Fonda Speedway last season, but is running a full schedule at Albany-Saratoga this year.

For the second week in a row, Romano’s Bicknell car was one of the fastest on the track. After starting 12th, Romano was already in the top three by lap nine, and then took the second spot away from Jack Cottrell, who had started fourth, on lap 15.

But by that time, Dwyer had a huge lead. Romano was able to keep the leader in sight because of the lapped cars, but once Dwyer had a clear race track in front of him, Romano had to settle for second, a distant 1.666 seconds behind.

Matt DeLorenzo put on another impressive show and came across the finish line third, his second straight top-three finish. Jack Johnson finished fourth, with Cottrell fifth.

The track was super-fast all night, with the top seven drivers all turning laps under the 18-second mark. Dwyer had the best lap of the night, stopping the clock in 17.465 early in the feature.

Completing the top 10 were Brett Hearn, defending track champion Ken Tremont Jr., Don Ackner, Gene Munger and Don Scarborough.

Defending track champion Tim Hartman picked up his first win on the season in the 20-lap Line-X Modified feature. Hartman started 10th, but took the lead away from Ricky Davis on the eighth lap.

Hartman then had his hands full with Derrick McGrew, driving the John Kollar-owned No. 10. McGrew, who had qualified through the B main and started 19th in the 20-car field, constantly pressured Hartman, and on lap 16, elbowed his way past Hartman to get the lead. But track officials decided that too much contact had been made, and put Hartman back in the lead the next time around.

Hartman held off McGrew during the final four laps, with Tony Ballestero third, Neal Erickson fourth and rookie Mike Tholin fifth. Tholin did another impressive job with his Jasper crate engine, as he started 14th in the feature.
Another defending track champion got back on track, as Butchie Irwin won the 20-lap Amsoil pro-street stock feature. Irwin had to cover a lot of ground, as he started 17th in the bulky 26-car field.

Vince Santoro led the first seven laps of the feature before giving way to Adam Tranka, but Irwin was already on the move. Irwin was third on lap 11, and was in the right place when Tranka and Brian Holbritter tangled while battling for the lead on lap 14. That gave the lead to Irwin, and he easily outran Joe Santoro to get the victory. Chris Maxon was third, with Jimmy Eaton fourth and Lori Cary fifth.

Chris Busta picked up his second victory in a row in the Rentway Limiteds feature and Jamie McCarthy (four-cylinder) and Rick Mrzyglod (six-cylinder) were victorious in the Pro-Built Mini-Stock features.
All divisions will be back in action Friday night, with racing starting at 7 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: TIM DWYER, A.J. Romano, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Johnson, Jack Cottrell, Brett Hearn, Ken Tremont Jr., Don Ackner, Gene Munger, Don Scarborough, Don Ronca, Frank Hoard Sr., Lucas Baker, Paul Cirincione, Stewart Friesen, Randy Hotaling, Todd Ryan, Mike Ballestero, Ron Proctor, Mike Perrotte, Mike Ronca.

LINE-X MODIFIEDS: TIM HARTMAN, Derrick McGrew, Tony Ballestero, Neal Erickson, Mike Tholin, Tim Clemons, Jimmy Cottrell, Jack Swinton, David Towns, Erik Mack, Jeff Sukup, Fred Proctor Jr., Mike Pinke, Stan Lemiesz, Ricky Davis, Dick Bisson, Rich Ronca, Dan Bublac, Keith Flach, Joe Budka.
LINE-X MODIFIED B MAIN: JIMMY COTTRELL, Dick Bisson, Joe Budka, Tim Clemons, Derrick McGrew, Stan Lemiesz, Paul Dunham Jr., Jim Proctor, Chris Garrity, Bill Cody, Ed Pieniazek, Ken Anatriello, Colleen Salisbury, Dan Papa, John Calcagni Jr., Cass Bennett, Bill Bokus.

AMSOIL PRO-STREET STOCKS: BUTCHIE IRWIN, Joe Santoro, Chris Maxon, Jimmy Eaton, Lori Cary, Robert Langevin, Edward Frank, William Smith IV, Steve Burega, Jeff Washburn, Rob Muscanell, Ed Thompson, Adam Tranka, Vince Santoro, Brian Holbritter, Bob Schmidt, Joe Lazzaro, Matt Anatriello, Walt Brownell Jr., Don Piper, Henry Tanner, Charlie Koenig. DQ: Bobby Gile, Cale Kneer.

RENTWAY LIMITEDS: CHRIS BUSTA, Byron Wescott, Kevin Van Chance, Jeff Monroe, John Morris Jr., Mike Pfau, Jim Monroe, Adam Stoddard, Bob Smith, Ed Sears, John Laviolette, Tom Pierce, John Filarecki, Richard Burke, Pat Cram, Jim Monroe Jr., Thomas Conroy, Dave Emigh, Brian Ashline, Jonathon Coon.
RENTWAY LIMITEDS B MAIN: DAVE EMIGH, Pat Cram, Mike Pfau, Thomas Conroy, Richard Burke, Tracy Champagne, Tim Ippoliti, Bill Burlingame, Keith Guilder, Tony Condon, Tim Brunelle, Tracy Ash.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (FOUR-CYLINDER): JAMIE MCCARTHY, Joseph Baker, Kevin Connors, Ben Durie, Matt Corbiel, John Baldwin, Heather Combs, Mike Cranston, Dave LaBarge, Bill Ryan, Lewis Kusalonski, Duane Bramer.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (SIX-CYLINDER): RICK MRZYGLOD, Elmer Montville, Jeremy Brownell, Amanda Clemens, Dan Uber, Thomas Brunelle, Matt Thomas, Emerson Ostrander, Brett Osgood, Randy Manhey, Dan Petronis, Ray Galusha, Brian Myers Jr., Ron Singley.