Tremont ends Hearn's streak of wins 

MALTA - It looks like Ken Tremont Jr. is reclaiming some of his old territory.

Tremont, who won six straight 358 modified point championships at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in the 1990s, showed his old form Friday night, winning the CVRA.com 100 at the Malta track.

Tremont and Brett Hearn gave the fans a show that they'll be talking about for a long time, running side-by-side around the speedway, refusing to give an inch. But when Hearn's motor let go with 12 laps left, Tremont had his second victory of the season and the 39th win of his career at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

“It doesn't matter if they're 100 laps or 30 laps, winning always feel good,” said Tremont, whose last extra distance victory at Albany-Saratoga came in 1999, when he won a 99-lap race on Aug. 27. “We've been struggling, but no one got down. We just kept working at it.”

Until his motor let go, Hearn was the story of the night. He came into the 100-lapper on a three-race winning streak, and was the defending champion of the CVRA.com 100. When he drew the outside pole for the feature, promoter Bruce Richards was worried about the quality of his show, and came up with an idea.

Throwing in $300 of his own and taking up a collection from the fans, Richards quickly raised $800 and when driver introductions were done on the track before the 100-lapper, he offered Hearn the bonus money if he would start scratch on the field.

Hearn quickly pocketed the $800, pulled the Delaney Construction small block out of line, and went to the 25th starting position.

Bobby Varin, back behind the wheel of the Jake Spraker big block for the big block/small block challenge, quickly went to the front and began setting a torrid pace. But all eyes were on Hearn.

Stuck back in the cheap seats, Hearn had to be particularly careful early in the race, and managed to avoid three early incidents that took place in front of him. Once the field got sorted out a little bit, he moved to the top and started flying.

By the 10th lap, he had broken into the top 10, and was in the top five by lap 20. Tremont, who had started third, was shuffled back early, and by lap 20, had fallen to seventh.

Hearn kept charging, and by lap 40, only Varin and Ronnie Johnson, who was strong all night in the JRP Construction car, were in front of him. Hearn finally worked his way past Johnson on lap 42 and three laps later, completed his run from the rear and took the lead for the first time.

At the midway point of the race, Tremont was still seventh, and didn't appear to be a factor in the race. But as the race went on, the track started to come to Tremont, who was one of the few cars that was fast on the bottom. With Hearn having some problems in traffic, once running right into the rear of Mike Ronca, Tremont was able to close the gap and by lap 67, was right on Hearn's rear bumper.

The crowd roared when Tremont got the lead for the first time on lap 70, but that made Hearn drive even harder. Stalking from the outside, Hearn kept building momentum, and stuck his nose back in front on lap 83. But the next time around, Tremont was back in front, and on lap 86, it was Hearn again.

But the fans were denied a nail-biting finish when Hearn's motor let go going into the first turn on lap 88. That allowed Tremont to coast to victory over Matt Delorenzo, who was five seconds back at the finish.

“The fans got a great race, and I still didn't win, so everyone has to be happy,” said Hearn with a smile before leaving the speedway.

Ronnie Johnson finished third and Varin was fourth, extending his lead in the DIRT big block point standings. A.J. Romano was fifth, his fourth consecutive top-five finish.

Completing the top 10 were Jimmy Davis, Mike Perrotte, Keith Flach, Mike Ronca and Tim Clemons.

Derrick McGrew drove to his second straight win in the 20-lap sportsman feature. Rookie Chris Busta, who had lost what looked like a sure win the previous week because of a flat tire, started third and set the pace for the first half of the feature, but McGrew got the lead on lap 11 and pushed the Mike Parillo-owned car right to victory lane. Busta had to settle for second, with Randy Hotaling third, Rick Davis fourth and Rich Ronca fifth.

Defending track champion Butch Irwin broke the Lazzaro Motorsports stranglehold on the pro-street stock division, picking up his second win of the season, and first since opening day on April 29. Irwin had started eighth, right between the Lazzaro team of Joe Santoro and Scott Duell, but Irwin, who has finished second to either Santoro or Duell four times, had the hammer down right from the drop of the green flag, and only needed nine laps to get to the front.

Santoro and Duell, who had combined to win nine of the 10 features since Irwin's opening-night win, never got untracked. Lori Cary finished second, matching her best finish of the season, while Jimmy Eaton was third. Duell finished fourth and Steve Burega was fifth.

At the conclusion of the race, the feature winner did a Polish victory lap for former pro-street stock driver Ed Frank, who lost his battle with cancer earlier in the day.

Rich Burke drove to his first career win in the Rentway Limited feature, holding off a persistent challenge from Tom Conroy, and Kevin Lukasik (six-cylinder) and Roger Newkirk (four-cylinder) won the Pro-Built mini-stock features. Newkirk's win was also the first of his career.

CVRA.COM 100: KEN TREMONT JR., Matt Delorenzo, Ronnie Johnson, Bobby Varin, A.J. Romano, Jimmy Davis, Mike Perrotte, Keith Flach, Mike Ronca, Tim Clemons, Don Ronca, Frank Hoard Sr., Paul Cirincione, Eric Mack, Marc Johnson, Brett Hearn, Don Ackner, Ron Proctor, Jack Cottrell, Bob Savoie, John Proctor, Jack Johnson, Don Mattison, Mike Kulzer, Donnie Corellis.

SPORTSMAN: DERRICK MCGREW, Chris Busta, Randy Hotaling, Rick Davis, Rich Ronca, Dustin Delaney, Joe Budka, Jack Gentile, Tony Ballestero, David Peek, Bill Cody, Neal Erickson, Stan Lemiesz, Jimmy Cottrell, Dan Bublak, Tim Hartman, Matt Depew, Brian Holbritter, Ken Anatriello, Dick Bisson, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Chris Johnson, Mike Tholin, Mike Ballestero, Adam Tranka.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: BUTCH IRWIN, Lori Cary, Jimmy Eaton, Scott Duell, Steve Burega, Rob Langevin, Joe Santoro, Vince Santoro, Mark Dresher, Cale Kneer, Tom O'Connor, Chris Maxon, Dean Charbonneau, Matt Anatrielo, Bernie Companion.

RENTWAY LIMITEDS: RICH BURKE, Tom Conroy, Kevin VanChance, Mike Pfau, Jim Monroe, John Morris Jr., Byron Wescott, John Filarecki, Mike Scorzelli, Mike Minick, Paul Mulrain, Mike Ostrander, Curtis Condon, Dan Petronis, Tracy Ash, Dave Emigh, Bob Smith, Mark Emigh, Rich Holmes, Mark Burch, Tony Condon, Charlie Koenig, Amanda Clemens, Steve Williams, George Welch. DQ: Jim Monroe, Jim Monroe Jr.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS (SIX-CYLINDER): KEVIN LUKASIK, Dan Uber, Chris McCarthy, Amy Benacquista, Lewis Kusalonis, Ray Galusha, Jeremy Brownell, Randy Manhey.

PRO-BUILT MINI-STICKS (FOUR-CYLINDER): ROGER NEWKIRK, Kevin Connors, Brian Emigh, Matt Corbiel, Mike Cranston, Travis Tromans, Trevor Gavin, Tim Sayers, Joe Baker, Ben Durie, John Baldwin, Pete Willis, Brett Osgood, Ryan Pechtel, Jason Dickson.