Johnson notches 89th career win at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA - The outcome of Friday night's 358-modified feature at Albany-Saratoga was a lot like a hockey game. Jack Johnson got the goal, and his son, Ronnie, got the assist.

Taking some advice on setups from his son, Jumpin' Jack dusted the field to notch his second win of the season, and the 89th of his career at the historic Malta track.

Johnson's only other win this season came on June 30, and even though he had four top-five finishes in the next six races, finishing good has never been good enough for Johnson, who is celebrating the 40th season of his racing career.

“We've struggled this season with this car, and it didn't feel too good in the heat race tonight,” said Johnson in victory lane after the popular win, which had the fans of the Witz Roofing-sponsored 12A on their feet during the final laps. “My son, Ronnie, has been trying different setups on his car, and we tried one tonight, and it worked.”

Johnson, who had started 12th, only needed 11 laps to take the lead away from Jimmy Cottrell, but the man Johnson had to worry about was point leader Brett Hearn, who was taking a shot at the Salisbury Chevrolet Big Dog bonus. When John Lutes Jr. brought the second caution of the night on lap 16, Hearn had already worked his way to second, and Johnson knew he had to turn up the wick to keep Hearn behind him.

From that point, Johnson displayed some of the moves that have made him the winningest driver in the history of Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and by the time Johnson hit the checkered flag, he had built up a two-second cushion and put a couple of lapped cars between himself and Hearn.

Hearn padded his point lead with the second-place finish. Matt DeLorenzo got up for third, with Vince Quenneville Jr. fourth and Ken Tremont Jr. fifth. Quenneville's run marked the first time he's hit the top-five since April 29.

In the sportsman division, the self-proclaimed black sheep may have said his last baa-baa at Malta after Friday night's sportsman feature.

Joe Budka, who showed up with a black paint scheme four weeks ago to draw attention to what he felt was his black sheep of the family status, and then went out and won back-to-back features as the black knight, put on a tremendous show with defending track champion Tim Hartman. The two ran side-by-side for the final 15 laps of the 25-lap feature, with Budka down low and Hartman sticking to the cushion. They swapped the lead on six different occasions, according to the official scoring sheets, and Budka had the lead with one to go. But Hartman kept his small block wound up on the top side and hit the finish line just before Budka, giving Hartman his third win of the season.

But the intensity that was seen on the track carried over into the pits, and race director Bruce Richards disqualified Budka, putting Dick Bisson second, Dustin Delaney third, Matt Depew fourth and Jack Gentile fifth. Lost in the great battle for the win was an impressive performance by Depew, who started 19th after qualifying through the B main.

Bernie Companion picked up his first win of the season in the pro-street stock feature, snapping Rob Langevin's five-race winning streak. Langevin moved into second on lap 14 of the 20-lap feature, but Companion did a great job holding off the challenge and getting the win, just the second of his career at Malta. Vince Santoro was third, followed by Kim Duell and Cale Kneer.

Curtis Condon continued his late summer hot streak, picking up his third win in the last four races in the limited division. Condon started 16th, but took the lead with six to go in the 20-lapper and forced Mike Ostrander to settle for second, as Condon made his way to victory lane for the fifth time this year. Dan Older hit the finish line third, with Bill Duprey fourth and Kevin VanChance fifth.

Brette Osgood lead a slew of four-cylinders across the finish line in the mini-stock feature. The first six-cylinder was in seventh place overall, driven by Dan Lorenc.

Double points will be on the line in all divisions when Albany-Saratoga Speedway holds its annual Championship Night on Friday, Sept. 8. The sportsmen will be running a 100-lap feature, and it will also be Hometown Heroes Night, with Armed Forces personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency services personnel admitted free of charge, along with a guest

MODIFIEDS: JACK JOHNSON, Brett Hearn, Matt DeLorenzo, Vince Quenneville Jr., Ken Tremont Jr., Ronnie Johnson, Jimmy Cottrell, Robert King, Ron Proctor, Marc Johnson, Don Ronca, Keith Flach, Frank Hoard Sr., Gene Munger, Todd Ryan, Elmo Reckner, Rick Davis, Don Ackner, Jim Becker, Todd Stone, Don Mattison, Mike Perrotte, John Lutes Jr., Mike Ronca, John Proctor, Craig Hanson.

SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN, Dick Bisson, Dustin Delaney, Matt Depew, Jack Gentile, Whitey Slavin, Scott Duell, Stan Lemiesz, George Foley, Tyler Curtis, Rich Ronca, Ken Anatriello, Kyle Sheldon, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Dan Carlton, Andy Boniewski, David Peek, Neal Erickson, Joe Santoro, Mike Tholin, Chris Johnson, Chris Busta. DQ: Joe Budka.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: BERNIE COMPANION, Rob Langevin, Vince Santoro, Kim Duell, Cale Kneer, Bob Schmidt, Dan Madigan, Dean Charbonneau, Carl Vladyka, Darrell Carl, Charlie Towslee, Greg McGill, Jon Bates, Matt Anatriello, Jake Losaw, Jimmy Eaton, Pete Braderson, Lori Cary, Dan Eastman, Gene Wetherington, Jeff Washburn, Bill Smith IV.

LIMITEDS:CURTIS CONDON, Mike Ostrander, Dan Older, Bill Duprey, Kevin VanChance, Jeff Monroe, Dan Petronis, John Morris Jr., Pete DeFiglio, Jim Monroe, John Filarecki, Nick Lussier, Brandon Emigh, Ken Conroy, Charlie Koenig, Chris Fifield, Paul Mulrain, Mike Wilber, Robert Bublak, David Emigh, Luke MacIsaac, Brian Ashline, Mark Burch, Steve Burch.

MINI-STOCKS: BRETTE OSGOOD (4), Mike Cranston (4), Ken Hollenbeck (4), Travis Tromans (4), Shane Marks (4), Charlie Stoddard (4), Dan Lorenc (6), Jason Dickson (4), Andy Hickok (4), Chris McCarthy (6), Kevin Lukasik (6), Tim Anagnos (6), Alecia Mason (4), Mike Duclos (6), Perry Schaad (4), Ted Fitzgerald (4), Blake Williams, Jim Daniels (4), James Roner (6).