DeLorenzo gets reacquainted with victory lane

MALTA - Matt DeLorenzo can thank his brother, Mike, for getting him back to victory lane at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Things were going so bad for DeLorenzo during the month of July that he was ready to junk his car, and his brother, who serves as his crew chief, kept tinkering, and finally came up with a combination that worked.

DeLorenzo won a great battle with Dave Camara early in the race, and then outran Jeff Trombley Friday night to come away with his second win of the season in the 35-lap 358-modified feature at the historic Malta track.

DeLorenzo's other win came on opening night, but he knew he was lucky to get that one, as leader Ken Tremont Jr. blew his motor with two laps to go in a 50-lapper, handing the win to DeLorenzo. Since then, it's been a struggle. After a third-place finish in the CVRA vs. The World on June 27, DeLorenzo wasn't even able to crack the top five in the next three weeks.

After starting eighth on Friday night, he took the lead away from Camara on lap 13, after a great side-by-side battle that had a big Friday night crowd buzzing, and pulled away from Trombley to get the victory.

“My brother Mike is a genius,” said DeLorenzo in victory lane. “We found some bent parts on this car and reinforced some of the suspension parts and here we are, in victory lane.”

DeLorenzo was running the bottom, while Camara found some good bite on the top, but DeLorenzo switched grooves to get the lead, and then dropped back down, protecting the bottom and challenging anyone to pass him on the outside.

“The bottom seemed better, so I dropped back down on the low side,” he said.

Both Mike Perrotte and Ronnie Johnson gave up potential top-five finishes because of mechanical problems. Perrotte was running third when he pulled out on lap 14, and Johnson encountered driveline problems late in the race, when he was in the top five.

Following DeLorenzo and Trombley across the finish line were Tremont, Camara and Brett Hearn. Don Mattison, Vince Quenneville Jr., Mike Ronca, Todd Stone and Marc Johnson completed the top 10.

One week after driving to his first career win at Albany-Saratoga, Kory Sandstedt was right back in victory lane with win No. 2 after Friday night's 25-lap feature. Sandstedt snatched the lead away from Joe Santoro on lap 18 and beat Santoro to the finish line by 0.765 seconds. Josh Hohenforst, Mike Ketchum and Ken Anatriello completed the top five.

Frank Corradi picked up his first career victory in the 25-lap budget sportsman feature. Corradi started sixth, but had the lead after just five laps and easily held off Cullen Howe and D.J. Brundige for the victory.

Lori Langevin added another notch to her belt in the pro-stock feature, driving to her fifth victory of the year. Kevin VanChance set the pace for a good portion of the feature, but Langevin rocketed into the lead on lap 17 and stayed out front for the rest of the 25-lap feature. Rob Yetman finished second, his best run of the season at Albany-Saratoga, and Kim Duell got up for third.

Mark Lester added his name to the growing list of winners in the limited division, holding off Ken Conroy to get his first win of the 2008 campaign. A restart with two to go allowed Lester to get right up on Conroy's rear bumper, and he worked his way to the front and held off Conroy by a half-a-car length.

Jason Dickson returned to victory lane in the mini-stock feature, and Mike Kiser took the checkered flag in the Central New York Mini Sprint feature.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will be staging the 100-lap cvra.com 100 on Friday, Aug. 1.

MODIFIEDS: MATT DELORENZO, Jeff Trombley, Ken Tremont Jr., Dave Camara, Brett Hearn, Don Mattison, Vince Quenneville Jr., Mike Ronca, Todd Stone, Marc Johnson, Keith Flach, Don Ronca, Tony Kawalchuk, John Proctor, Joe Williams, Jimmy Cottrell, Ronnie Johnson, Dustin Delaney, Jack Johnson, Mike Perrotte, Ron Proctor.

SPORTSMAN: KORY SANDSTEDT, Joe Santoro, Josh Hohenforst, Mike Ketchum, Ken Anatriello, Tyler Curtis, Mike Tholin, Dave Constantino, Rich Ronca, Ron Langevin, Derrick McGrew, Matt Depew, Jason Herrington, Corey Gilligan, Chris Busta, Jack Gentile, Dave Baranowski, Pep Corradi, John Willis, Dave DePaulo, Stan Lemiesz, Mike Ballestero, Skip Shippee, Mark Kislowski, Alex Bell, Bill Bokus.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: FRANK CORRADI, Cullen Howe, D.J. Brundige, Frank Hoard III, Don Miller, Mike Burdo, Chuck Dickinson, Dennis Pennock, Seth Howe, Bryan Davis, Anthony Morro, Jared McMahon, Paul Dunham Jr., Scot Straight, Ralph Dennison, Steve Williams Sr., Mike Visconti, Pete Carlotto, Scott Duell, Rick LaMont, Matt Hyde, Nick Lussier, Ricky Quick, Dan Peckham.

PRO-STOCKS: LORI LANGEVIN, Rob Yetman, Kim Duell, Kevin VanChance, Walt Brownell, William Smith IV, Phil DeFiglio, James Monroe, Mike Paquin, Daryl Carl, Ed Thompson, Vinnie Santoro, Bob Schmidt, Pete Broderson, Jim Monroe, Jeremy Pitts, Jim Groncki, Jake Losaw, Mike Migliori, Chuck Towslee, Randy Miller, Kevin Arnold, Jeff Washburn, Greg McGill, Johnny Rivers Jr.

LIMITEDS: MARK LESTER, Ken Conroy, Mike Ostrander, Dan Petronis, John Filarecki, Dan Older, Robert Steele, Jon Miller, Mark Burch, Mark Dwyer, Dave Billings, Rich Howe, Jordan Jeffalone, Dan Carlton, David Cook, Amanda Clemens, Ken Allen, Brian O'Reilly, Megan Purstell, John Morris Jr., Andrew Durie, Shane Marks.

MINI-STOCKS: JASON DICKSON, Elmer Montville, Chris McCarthy, Justin Demers, Michelle Catone, Dan Older Jr., Mike Cranston, Erin Older, Ray Galusha, Josh Rheome, No. 24, Jonathan Hayes.