Hearn beats his old team owner

MALTA - Here’s a good lesson to follow. Don’t rile up Brett Hearn when he’s trying to get one up on his old boss.
After being penalized on lap 26 for jumping an earlier restart, Hearn drove with even more determination and won Friday night’s 35-lap 358 modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The win was the second of the season for Hearn in the Vinny Salerno-owned small block, and came at the expense of Stewart Friesen, who replaced Hearn behind the wheel of the Madsen Motorsports ride. Hearn and Brian Madsen had been one of the dominant teams at the Malta track before parting company during the offseason.

The controversy in Friday night’s feature began on a restart on lap 18, when officials judged that Hearn jumped the restart. Hearn, who was sixth before the restart, then moved the Salerno small block up to second, behind Friesen, on lap 20, and when the caution flew on lap 26, when Matt DeLorenzo spun out, Hearn was penalized two spots, and put back to fourth.

“I really thought they took the race away from me with that penalty,” said Hearn later. “At every track I compete at, the race is restarted when the leader fires, and I’m sure that (Friesen) fired before I did.”

Regardless of Hearn’s opinion, he was put back to fourth, but that placement didn’t last long. Hearn was right back up to second by lap 28, and then charged around Friesen to get the lead on lap 31.

Friesen, in his first full season at Albany-Saratoga, hung right with Hearn, trying to put the Madsen Motorsports car back in the lead. With two laps to go, Friesen tried to make his move around the outside coming down the front straightaway, but Hearn blocked the move, and got his second win of the season. Hearn had to come a long way to get the win, as he started 16th in the field.

Friesen, still looking for his first career win, had to settle for second, with Jack Cottrell third, Don Scarborough fourth and Mike Ballestero fifth, easily his best run of the season.

Although the racing surface contained 200 loads of new clay, which had been trucked in earlier in the week, Hearn said after the race that the track held up well. “I kept searching all feature long for the fast way around the speedway,” Hearn said. “I have to give Bruce (promoter Bruce Richards) a lot of credit, as the track was good, considering all the clay he laid down.”

Completing the top 10 in the 358 modified feature were DeLorenzo, A.J. Romano, Jack Johnson, Todd Ryan and Don Ronca.

Jack Swinton drove to his first career victory in the 20-lap Line-X Modified feature. Swinton and Tony Ballestero swapped the lead on a number of occasions early in the race, but Swinton finally got the lead for good on a restart on lap 15. When Ballestero started heaving mechanical problems the next time around, Jeff Sukup was opportunistic and grabbed the No. 2 position, giving the finish an improbable look, with both Swinton and Sukup having their best career finishes.

Derrick McGrew brought the John Kollar small block across the finish line third, with Tim Hartman fourth and Ricky Davis fifth.

Butchie Irwin continued to dominate the Amsoil pro-street stock division, driving to his fourth victory in six weeks. Despite starting 10th, Irwin had the lead after nine laps and finished over a half-second ahead of Joe Santoro, one of only two others drivers to win a feature in the division this season. Cale Kneer finished third, with Bobby Santos III fourth and Vince Santoro fifth.

Another first-time winner emerged in the Rentway Limited feature, as Tom Pierce picked up his first career victory in the 15-lap main, beating Richard Burke to the finish line by more than a full second. John Morris Jr. was third, Chris Busta was fourth and Mike Pfau finished fifth.

The Pro-Built Mini-Stock features were won by Tom Brunnell (six-cylinder) and Chris Cary Jr. (Four-cylinder). Cary’s win was his second of the week, as he also took the checkered flag the previous Sunday at Devil’s Bowl.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway will be back in action Friday night with its popular Kids Night promotion, which features stuck car rides for kids. Racing will begin at 7 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: BRETT HEARN, Stewart Friesen, Jack Cottrell, Don Scarborough, Mike Ballestero, Matt DeLorenzo, A.J. Romano, Jack Johnson, Todd Ryan, Don Ronca, Mike Perrotte, Frank Hoard Sr., Ken Tremont Jr., Ronnie Johnson, Paul Cirincione, Gene Munger, Mike Ronca, Scott Noel, Don Ackner, Randy Hotaling, Ron Proctor.

LINE-X MODIFIEDS: JACK SWINTON, Jeff Sukup, Derrick McGrew, Tim Hartman, Ricky Davis, Erik Mack, Jimmy Cottrell, Tim Clemons, Fred Proctor Jr., Joe Budka, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Chris Garrity, Ken Anatriello, Rich Ronca, Stan Lemiesz, Keith Flach, Jim Proctor, Tony Ballestero, Mike Tholin, David Towns.

AMSOIL PRO-STREET STOCKS: BUTCHIE IRWIN, Joe Santoro, Cale Kneer, Bobby Santos III, Vince Santoro, Jimmy Eaton, Scott Duell, William Smith IV, Adam Tranka, Bob Schmidt, Walt Brownell Jr., Bernie Companion, Chris Maxon, Steve Burega, Matt Anatriello, Rob Muscanell, Lori Cary, Brian Holbritter, Robery Langevin, Dean Charbonneau.

RENTWAY LIMITEDS: TOM PIERCE, Richard Burke, John Morris Jr., Chris Busta, Mike Pfau, Tom Conroy, Mike Ostrander, Ed Sears, Byron Westcott, Brian Ashline, Jim Monroe, Rich Holmes, Kevin Van Chance, John Filarecki, Tim Ippoliti, Mike Minick, Jim Monroe Jr., Jeff Monroe, Johnathan Coon.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (SIX CYLINDER): TOM BRUNNELL, Rich Mrzyglod, Elmer Montville, Bryan Myers Jr., Randy Mann, Art Howe, Amanda Clemens, Dan Uber, Dan Petronis, Joe Naccarato, Ray Galusha, Emerson Ostrander, Jeremy Brownell, Shea Montgomery, Brett Osgood.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (FOUR-CYLINDER): CHRIS CARY JR., Jamie McCarthy, Kevin Connors, Randy Senecal, Gene Unser Jr., John Baldwin, Mike Cranston, Bill Ryan, Lewis Kusalonski, Joe Baker, David LaBarge.