Hearn dominates again 

MALTA - What do Brett Hearn and a popular soap opera have in common?

He’s in Another World, at least at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Displaying a dominance that hasn’t been seen since Steve Paine stopping making weekly withdrawals from Black Rock Speedway, Hearn charged from his 14th starting position to record his third win of the season Friday night in the 35-lap Bobcat of Saratoga modified feature at the historic Malta track.

Hearn is another zone at Albany-Saratoga, just as he was in 2002, when he tied the track record for single-season victories (12). In four starts at Albany-Saratoga this season, Hearn has three wins and a third in the Vinny Salerno-owned small block, and on Friday night, he was three-tenths of a second quicker than the field, resulting in his 64th career win at Malta.

And he’s not doing it with some high-dollar small block. The team runs one of the CVRA Brodix spec engines, and is on the same Goodyear track tires as everyone else.

So it must be the driver.

Wily veteran Frank Hoard Sr. and Todd Ryan came off the front row and kept the Open House crowd entertained while Hearn was charging from the middle of the pack. Hoard set the pace for the first four laps, but Ryan then took his turn on the point on lap five.

Mike Ronca, who had started third, took the No. 2 position away from Hoard on lap eight, but two laps later, he had his hands full with Matt DeLorenzo, who joined the top three on lap 10.

DeLorenzo, still looking for his first win at Albany-Saratoga, rocketed around Ryan for the lead on lap 14, but by that time, Hearn was already up to second. Hearn worked every inch of the speedway, looking for the easiest way to get around DeLorenzo, and finally decided to stick to the low groove, getting the lead on lap 22.

While Hearn started to pull away, the father-and-son combination of Jack and Ronnie Johnson kept the crowd on their feet with some incredible side-by-side racing. This time, father knew best, as Jumpin’ Jack finally got some breathing room with around five laps left.

The field was closed up twice because of cautions in the final five laps, but when the checkered flag fell, Hearn had a 1.107 second advantage over DeLorenzo, who finished second for the seventh time in his career at Albany-Saratoga.

Jack and Ronnie Johnson occupied the third and fourth spots, respectively, with Ken Tremont Jr., the only driver other than Hearn to have a win at Malta this season, fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Ronca, Bob Savoie, A.J. Romano, Mike Perrotte and Ryan.

Rich Ronca went from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat in a very short period of time in the 20-lap sportsman feature. Ronca, who had started fifth, battled with Jack Swinton lap after lap until finally getting the lead with two laps to go and hitting the checkered flag ahead of Mike Ballestero and Swinton. But in the postrace weigh-in, Ronca came up 10 pounds light, giving the win to Ballestero, who had grabbed the No. 2 spot away from Swinton on the white-flag lap.

Swinton got credit for second, with Tim Hartman third, Neal Erickson fourth and Ricky Davis fifth.

The Lazzaro Motorsports Team continued to dominate the pro-street stock division, with Hollywood Joe Santoro coming away with his first victory of the season. The Lazzaro team, which also includes Scott Duell, has won three of the four pro-street stock features this season.

Santoro started ninth, but only needed 10 laps to get to the front. Three different drivers took turns on the point until Santoro got the lead for good. Bernie Companion, who had led a lap before Santoro took over, stuck with the Lazzaro 00 for the second half of the race, but had to settle for his second straight runner-up finish, nearly a second and a half behind Santoro. Defending track champion Butchie Irwin was third while Duell, who had started last in the 23-car field, got up for fourth. Robert Langevin completed the top five.

Mike Minick drove to his first career victory in the Rentway Limited feature, stopping the three-race winning streak of Byron Wescott. Minick, who had set fast time during time trials, had the lead on lap two, but then gave up the top spot to Jeff Monroe on lap eight.

Minick kept haunting the leader and finally got the break he needed on the final lap, when Monroe got out of shape and fell all the way to fifth, allowing Minick to hit the finish line ahead of Jeff Monroe and John Filarecki.

Kevin Connors picked up his second win of the year in the Pro Built mini-stock four-division class, while Chris McCarthy came away with the win in the six-cylinder division.

Albany-Saratoga also held its first enduro of the season, with Tim Reed hauling in from Poultney, Vermont to walk off with the top prize.

BOBCAT OF SARATOGA MODIFIEDS: BRETT HEARN, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Ken Tremont Jr., Mike Ronca, Bob Savoie, A.J. Romano, Mike Perrotte, Todd Ryan, Don Ronca, Don Ackner, Ray Hoard, Tim Clemons, Gene Munger, Jack Cottrell, Derrick McGrew, Keith Flach, Paul Cirincione, Ken McGuire, Randy Hotaling, Tony Kowalchuk, Erik Mack, Marc Johnson, Frank Hoard Sr., Ron Proctor.

SPORTSMAN: MIKE BALLESTERO, Jack Swinton, Tim Hartman, Neal Erickson, Rick Davis, Johnny Lutes Jr., Joe Budka, Tony Ballestero, David Towns, Mike Tholin, Chris Busta, Jack Gentile, Jessica Zemken, Dan Bublak, Ken Anatriello, Dick Bisson, Stan Lemiesz, Jimmy Cottrell, David Peek. DQ: Rich Ronca

PRO STREET STOCKS: JOE SANTORO, Bernie Companion, Butchie Irwin, Scott Duell, Robert Langevin,. Lori Cary, Cale Kneer, Dean Charbonneau, Jimmy Eaton, Adam Tranka, Steve Burega, Dan Madigan, Vince Santoro, Mike Paquin, Mark Dresher, Dave Uline, Matt Anatriello, Brian Ashline, Don Piper, Chris Maxon, William Smith IV, Jeff Washburn, Bob Schmidt.

RENTWAY LIMITEDS: MIKE MINICK, Jeff Monroe, John Filarecki, Mike Pfau, Jim Monroe, Byron Wescott, Richard Burke, Kevin Van Chance, Jim Monroe Jr., Mark Burch, Dave Emigh, John Morris Jr., Bob Smith, Adam Stoddard, Nick Lussier, Mike Scorzelli, Curtis Condon, Tom Conroy, Elmer Montville.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (SIX-CYLINDER): CHRIS MCCARTHY, Lewis Kusalonski, Randy Mann, Jeremy Brownell, Randy Senecal, Amy Benequista, Dan Uber, Kevin Lukasik. DQ: Jamie McCarthy.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (FOUR CYLINDER): KEVIN CONNORS, Pete Willis, Mike Cranston, John Baldwin, Matt Corbiel, Ben Durie, Justin Ramsey, Ryan Pechtel, Chris Greene, Tyler Peetz, Joe Baker, Mark Emigh, Brett Osgood, Jason Dickson.