Johnson back in victory lane


MALTA - Jumpin’ Jack is back

After spending most of the season doing the chasing, veteran Jack Johnson found out what it’s like to be the lead dog again when he recorded his first victory of the season Friday night in the 358 modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Johnson is the winningest driver in the history of the historic Malta speedplant, as his win Friday night was the 83rd of his illustrious career. But for most of the season, he’s been one of the support dogs on the team, following the leader.

Three times this season, he’s finished second - twice to Brett Hearn and once to his son, Ronnie, and on Aug. 6 in the CVRA.com 100, Johnson was battling Hearn for the lead with nine laps to go when the two cars came together and Johnson was knocked out of the race with a broken spindle.

But on Friday night, conditions were perfect for Johnson to finally get his elusive first win. On a humid night with rain all around the region, the track was heavy, just the way Johnson likes it, and he didn’t waste any time.
“We’ve been dilly-dallying the last couple of weeks,” said Johnson after the win. “We wanted to get right up front, and make everyone chase us for a change.”

It also helped that there were only two cautions in the 35-lap feature, as Hearn is a master of using restarts to pick up positions.

Ron Proctor, behind the wheel of a new car purchased by owner Ron White, grabbed the lead on lap four and set the early pace, but Johnson, who had started 14th, was on the move early. By lap nine, he was already in the top five, and then started picking off cars one by one.

First, it was A.J. Romano, then Don Scarborough, then Mike Ronca for second. The move around Ronca came on lap 13, and now only Proctor stood between Johnson and the lead.

That pass only took two more laps, as Jumpin’ Jack pushed the Witz Roofing small block out on the point on lap 16. That left everyone else to battle for second. Proctor and Scarborough kept the fans entertained with a good skirmish for the No. 2 position, and Hearn, who started16th, joined the battle on lap 28.

Hearn finally took over the No. 2 position on lap 32, but Johnson had everything in control, and finished with a 1.552 second margin of victory.

Proctor finished third, his best performance of the season and only the second time in 2004 that he’s broken into the top five. Matt DeLorenzo made a late charge to get up for fourth, with Scarborough fifth. A notable absence was Ken Tremont Jr., who is still recovering from a concussion suffered in a wreck at Lebanon Valley the previous week.

Defending track champion Tim Hartman finally broke out of his slump and drove to his second win of the season in the20-lap Line-X Modified feature. Hartman’s only other win this season came on May 14.

Using the seventh starting spot to his advantage, Hartman rocketed to the front and grabbed the lead on lap five. He momentarily lost the lead to Joe Budka on lap eight, but regained the top spot the next time around and then slowly pulled away from Budka to notch the 19th sportsman win of his career at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Budka came across the finish line second, his best run of the season, with rookie Mike Tholin third. Erik Mack finished fourth, with Jack Gentile fifth. Both Tholin and Gentile made impressive runs, after qualifying through the B main

The Amsoil pro-street stocks ran an extra five laps in their feature, but it didn’t make a difference to Butchie Irwin, who wound up in victory lane for the seventh time this season. Irwin, who started 10th in the 23-car field, had the lead on lap 10 and pulled away for a convincing victory.

Joe Mottoshiski, who became a regular at Albany-Saratoga a month ago after purchasing a Chevy spec engine, was a distant second, but nonetheless, it was still his best career finish at the Malta track. He was followed by Brian Holbritter, Joe Santoro and Cale Kneer.

Chris Busta, who has been the center of controversy this season, finally put all the distractions behind him and walked away with his seventh win of the season in the Rentway Limiteds feature. He was followed by Byron Wescott, Curtis Condon, Jim Monroe and Kevin Van Chance.

The Pro-Built Mini-Stock features were won by Rick Mrzyglod (six-cylinder) and John Baldwin (four-cylinders). Mrzyglod’s win was also his seventh of the season.

Big blocks will return to Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night for Twin 20s. The big blocks will be racing against the CVRA 358s, with $1,000 going to the winner of each feature. All other divisions will be in action, with racing starting at 7 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: JACK JOHNSON, Brett Hearn, Ron Proctor, Matt DeLorenzo, Don Scarborough, Ronnie Johnson, Mike Ronca, Mike Perrotte, A.J. Romano, Jack Cottrell, Randy Hotaling, Don Ackner, Gene Munger, Todd Ryan, Frank Hoard Sr., Paul Cirincione, J.R. Heffner, Scott Noel, Don Ronca, Lucas Baker.

LINE-X MODIFIEDS: TIM HARTMAN, Joe Budka, Mike Tholin, Erik Mack, Jack Gentile, Dan Bublak, Rich Ronca, Stan Lemiesz, Neal Erickson, Keith Flach, Dick Bisson, Ken Anatriello, Jimmy Cottrell, Tony Ballestero, Rick Davis, Jim Proctor, Derrick McGrew, David Peek, Tim Clemons, Mike Ballestero.

AMSOIL PRO-STREET STOCKS: BUTCHIE IRWIN, Joe Mottoshiski, Brian Holbritter, Joe Santoro, Cale Kneer, Dean Charbonneau, Robert Langevin, Bernie Companion, Jimmy Eaton, Ed Frank, Scott Duell, Adam Tranka, Steve Burega, Rob Muscanell, Matt Anatriello, Vince Santoro, Don Piper, Jeremy Pitts, Lori Cary, Henry Tanner, William Smith IV, Chris Maxon, Bob Schmidt.

RENTWAY LIMITEDS: CHRIS BUSTA, Byron Westcott, Curtis Condon, Jim Monroe, Kevin Van Chance, Mike Pfau, William Duprey, Jim Monroe Jr., John Filarecki, Tom Conroy, Mark Burch, Adam Stoddard, Bill Burlingame, Brian Ashline, Grant Rice, Bob Smith, Rich Holmes, John Morris Jr., Jeff Monroe.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (SIX-CYLINDER): RICK MRZYGLOD, Art Howe, Brian Myers Jr., Tom Brunell, Tim Glowowski, Amanda Clemens, Emerson Ostrander, Dan Petronis, Ray Galusha, Joe Naccarato, Jeremy Brownell, Randy Mann, Shea Montgomery, Elmer Montville Jr., Dan Uber.

PRO-BUILT MINI STOCKS (FOUR-CYLINDER): JOHN BALDWIN, Chris Cary Jr., Matt Corbiel, Matt Depew, John Willis, Randy Senecal, Gene Unser Jr., Kevin Connors, Travis Tromans, Mike Cranston, Brett Osgood, Lewis Kusalonski, Jamie McCarthy, Joe Baker.