Tremont finds his way to victory lane

MALTA - Most drivers would be content with a string of top-five finishes at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. But when a driver like Ken Tremont Jr. isn't winning, it can become a source of frustration.

Tremont, who's finished out of the top-five in a regular Friday night feature just once since June 16, finally made his way back to victory lane Friday during an event sponsored by Want Ad Digest, notching his second win of the year in the 35-lap 358 modified feature at the historic Malta track.

Tremont's only other win came in the 100-lapper on opening day on April 21, and in the meantime, he's been a consistent top-five runner. But for one of the winningest drivers in the history of the track, winning is all that counts. Friday night's victory was the 43rd of Tremont's career at Albany-Saratoga, moving him past C.D. Coville (42 wins) and into third place on the track's all-time win list.

“We have been struggling,” Tremont admitted after the race. “We have been running good, but different things have been happening to us to take us out of contention.” Nothing went wrong Friday night for Tremont, who started 15th. Jack Johnson and Matt DeLorenzo kept the capacity crowd entertained with some outstanding racing during the middle portion of the feature, but Tremont was flying and took the lead away from DeLorenzo on lap 24 on his way to victory.

The only major incident in the feature occurred on the first lap, when a jingle in the fourth turn put Todd Stone upside down and collected Brett Hearn, who had to go to the rear of the field, creating yet another dynamic charge by the Jersey Jet.

When Tremont hit the finish line, DeLorenzo was second and Hearn had charged all the way back to third. The Johnson family occupied the next two spots, with Jumpin' Jack fourth and his son, Ronnie in fifth. Completing the top 10 were Keith Flach, Craig Hanson, Mike Ronca, Robert King and Jeff Trombley.

Joe Budka adopted a new attitude and a new paint scheme and wound up in victory lane for the fourth time this season.

Now the self-proclaimed “black sheep” of Albany-Saratoga Speedway, right down to his new colors, Budka, who started ninth, never got out front until lap 17 of the 25-lap feature. But even with a late caution, Budka still was over a second and a half ahead of defending track champion Tim Hartman at the finish. Chris Johnson, who led the first 16 laps of the feature, crossed the stripe third, his best finish of the season. Dustin Delaney was fourth, with Chris Busta fifth.

Rob Langevin held off Cale Kneer to come away with his sixth win of the season in the 25-lap pro-street stock feature. Dean Charbonneau looked strong in the first half of the feature, sitting out in front for 15 laps, but he couldn't hold off Langevin and Kneer, who had started 15th and 16th in the 19-car field.

Curtis Condon drove to his third win of the year in the 20-lap limited feature, but had his hands full, turning back a strong challenge from Pete DeFiglio. Condon, who started eighth, only needed five laps to get to the front, but DeFiglio also made a quick charge, and battled Condon for the final 13 laps of the feature.

Condon held on, hitting the finish line just 0.221 seconds ahead of DeFiglio, with Kevin VanChance right on the rear bumper of the top two cars.

John Baldwin picked up his first win of the season in the mini-stock feature, overpowering the field in his four-cylinder ride. Chris McCarthy was second, and had the first six-cylinder across the finish line.

MODIFIEDS: KEN TREMONT JR., Matt DeLorenzo, Brett Hearn, Jack Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Keith Flach, Craig Hanson, Mike Ronca, Robert King, Jeff Trombley, Rick Davis, Don Ronca, Marc Johnson, Jim Becker, Frank Hoard Sr., Todd Ryan, Josh Pieniazek, John Proctor, John Lutes Jr., Vince Quenneville Jr., Elmo Reckner, Ron Proctor, Don Ackner, Mike Perrotte, Jimmy Cottrell, Jim Davis, Todd Stone.

SPORTSMAN: JOE BUDKA, Tim Hartman, Chris Johnson, Dustin Delaney, Chris Busta, Whitey Slavin, Rich Ronca, Neal Erickson, Joe Santoro, Jack Gentile, Scott Duell, Kyle Sheldon, Stan Lemiesz, Randy Delaney, Dick Bisson, Robert Perry, Andy Boniewski, Brian Holbritter, Skip Shippee, Adam Tranka, David Peek, Mike Tholin, Ken Anatriello, Matt Depew.

SPORTSMAN B MAIN: SKIP SHIPPEE, Robert Perry, Kyle Sheldon, Andy Boniewski, Brian Holbritter, Randy Delaney, Alex Sommer, Nick Anatriello, Cass Bennett, Mike Pinke, Tyler Curtis, John Calcagni Jr., Colleen Salisbury, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Dave Baranowski.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: ROB LANGEVIN, Cale Kneer, Dean Charbonneau, Vince Santoro, Lori Cary, Jimmy Eaton, Kim Duell, Dan Madigan, Bob Schmidt, Bernie Companion, Bill Smith IV, Matt Anatriello, Gene Wetherington, Tom O'Connor, Darrel Carl, Charlie Towslee, Jeremy Pitts, Greg McGill, Russ Miller.

LIMITEDS: CURTIS CONDON, Pete DeFiglio, Kevin VanChance, Dan Petronis, John Filarecki, Jim Monroe, T.J. Pierce, D.J. Brundige, Tom Conroy, Nick Lussier, Mike Wilber, Steve Holcomb, John Morris Jr., Jeff Monroe, Paul Mulrain, Jim Monroe Jr., Mike Ostrander, Mark Burch, Rich Holmes, Tommy Primeau, Rich Burke, Ben Ladd, Dave Emigh, Dan Older.

LIMITED B MAIN: JEFF MONROE, Mark Burch, Paul Mulrain, Mike Wilber, Ben Ladd, Steve Holcomb, Amanda Clemens, Dan Uber, Tony Condon, Robert Bublak, Rob Purdy, Tom Glogowski, Bull Burlingame, Brian Ashline, Ben Durie, Brandon Emigh, Charlie Koenig, Ken Conroy, Steve Burch, John Russo.

MINI-STOCKS: JOHN BALDWIN (4), Chris McCarthy (6), Brett Osgood (4), Ken Hollenbeck (4), Jim Daniels (4), Phil DeFiglio (6), Andy Hickok (4), Tim Anagnos (6), Mike Cranston (4), Kevin Lukasik (6), Chris Greene (4), Charlie Stoddard (4), Justin Ramsey (4), Shane Marks (4), Ted Fitzgerald (4), Renee Noradki (6), Dan Lorenc (6), Mike Duclos (6), Travis Tromans (4), Pete Willis (6), Jason Dickson (4), Blake Williams (6), James Roner (6).