Hearn records 88th Career Win

MALTA - Brett Hearn took another step toward breaking the track record for career victories when he drove to the 88th win of his career in the 35-lap 358-modified feature Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Hearn used a late restart to work his way around Keith Flach and notch his fourth win of the season at the historic Malta track. He needs two more victories to tie Jack Johnson at the top of the track's all-time win list.

Victories in July are usually a good sign for Hearn, who sat in victory lane for the first time at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in 1994. Hearn didn't win a race during the month of July last year, and lost the track championship to Ken Tremont Jr. But in 2002 and 2006, Hearn used July hot streaks as a springboard to track championships.

The fans were treated to another wild 358-modified feature on Friday night. Even though Flach was dominant early, the battle for second usually involved four or five cars, and two of those combatants were Hearn and Johnson.

Jumpin' Jack, still looking for his first win of the season, took the lead away from Flach on lap 24, but Flach readily accepted the new challenge, and was back on the point three laps later. Hearn took the No. 2 spot away from Johnson on lap 31 and that proved to be a huge pass, as Mike Perrotte brought out the final caution one lap later, putting Hearn right on Flach's rear bumper.

Hearn then made his move on the restart, taking the lead and beating Flach to the finish line by 1.24 seconds. Johnson crossed the stripe third, followed by Tremont and Tony Kawalchuk.

Kory Sandstedt drove to his first career victory in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Sandstedt, who started seventh, took the lead for good on lap 16 and easily outran defending track champion Mike Ketchum to get the victory. Mark Kislowski, Rich Ronca and Derrick McGrew completed the top five.

Lori Langevin used a last-lap pass to notch her fourth win of the season in the pro street stock feature. Daryl Carl, who started third, used two early restarts to quickly move out front, but Langevin, who started seventh, worked her way to the front and took the lead for the first time on lap 17.

Carl hung tough and regained the top spot two laps later, but Langevin stayed right with him, and brought the crowd to its feet with a big move on the final lap, beating Carl to the finish line by just 0.187 seconds.

Cullen Howe went flag-to-flag to come away with his first career win in the budget sportsman division, holding off Bryan Davis, and Ken Conroy picked up his second win of the campaign in the limited division.

The mini-stocks were also in action Friday night, with Josh Rheome picking up his first win of the year.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will return to action on Friday, July 25, for the Summer Meltdown, which will include an appearance by the Central New York Mini-Sprints.

MODIFIEDS: BRETT HEARN, Keith Flach, Jack Johnson, Ken Tremont Jr., Tony Kawalchuk, Marc Johnson, Jeff Trombley, Vince Quenneville Jr., Don Ronca, Dave Camara, Mike Ronca, Matt DeLorenzo, Todd Stone, Don Mattison, Ron Proctor, Joe Williams, Mike Perrotte, Jimmy Becker, Robert King, Jimmy Davis, Ronnie Johnson, Elmo Reckner, John Proctor, Jimmy Cottrell.

SPORTSMAN: KORY SANDSTEDT, Mike Ketchum, Mark Kislowski, Rich Ronca, Derrick McGrew, Mike Tholin, Joe Santoro, Ken Anatriello, Josh Hohenforst, Tyler Curtis, Dave Constantino, Eric Mack, Dave Baranowski, Pep Corradi, Corey Gilligan, Rob Langevin, Matt Depew, Alex Bell, Stan Lemiesz, Dave DePaulo, Andy Boniewski, Skip Shippee, Mike Ballestero, Chris Busta, Jack Gentile, Adam Tranka, John Willis.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: LORI LANGEVIN, Daryl Carl, Jeremy Pitts, Rob Yetman, Kevin Van Chance, Pete Broderson, Chuck Towslee, Kim Duell, William Smith IV, Phil DeFiglio, Ed Thompson, Johnny Rivers Jr., Jim Monroe, Mike Paquin, Randy Miller, Mike Minick, James Monroe, Mike Migliori, Vince Santoro, Walt Brownell, Greg McGill, Jim Groncki.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: CULLEN HOWE, Bryan Davis, Scott Duell, Frank Corradi, Anthony Morro, Chuck Dickinson, Jimmy Eaton, Pete Carlotto, Randy Davis, Jeremy Dygert, Dan Peckham, Ron Ayotte, Greg DeCamp, Nick Lussier, D.J. Brundige, Dan Boni, Angelo DiCarlo, Tim Anagnos.

LIMITEDS: KEN CONROY, Dan Carlton, Dan Older, John Filarecki, Mike Ostrander, Dan Petronis, Curtis Condon, John Morris Jr., Robert Steele, Mark Lester, David Cook, Jon Miller, Rich Howe, Mark Dwyer, Jordan Jeffalone, Brian O'Reilly, Charles Burkhart III, Amanda Clemens, Mark Burch, Andy Durie, Brian Ashline, Yule Cook, Nathan Dahoda, Shane Marks, David Billings.

MINI-STOCKS: JOSH REOME, Elmer Montville, Ken Hollenbeck, Michelle Catone, Justin Comes, Mike Cranston, Dan Older Jr., Jonathan Hayes, Ray Galusha, Justin Demers, Chris McCarthy, Jason Dickson, Erin Older, Travis Tromans.