Pep Corradi in victory lane for first time

MALTA, NY - For years, Pep Corradi Jr. has been one of the guys responsible for getting Jeff Trombley to victory lane.

But on Friday night, he decided to drive there himself.

Corradi held off invader David Towns to record the first win of his career in the 25-lap sportsman feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Albany-Saratoga promoter Bruce Richards gave the 358 modifieds the night off as part of the Full Throttle Friday, but the fans were still treated to some outstanding racing, as three of the four features went right down to the wire.

Corradi has spent over 20 years turning wrenches, but on the urging of his cousin Frank and brother-in-law John Grant, an engine builder, began racing a couple of years ago.

In the last two seasons, Corradi had just two top-five finishes, but on Friday night, after starting on the pole, everything fell into place.

Early in the race, Corradi relinquished the lead to Chris Busta, who is rebounding from a miserable 2008 season, and both of them had to worry about Towns, who was subbing for Mark Kislowski. Towns had set fast time of the night during time trials, and because of the inversion, started sixth.

Thanks to lapped traffic, Corradi was able to regain the lead on lap 13 and quickly pulled out to a large advantage. But Towns wasn't going to give up. He took the No. 2 spot away from Busta on lap 21 and with two to go, pulled even with Corradi.

But Corradi refused to back off, and hit the finish line just 0.394 seconds ahead of Towns.

In victory lane, Corradi dedicated the race to his father, who passed away last year.

“My father was definitely riding with me tonight,” said Corradi. “This one is for him.

“My brother and I have worked on Jeff's crew for 20 years, and on Saturday nights, our main role is to work around Jeff at Fonda. But on Friday nights, I get to play a little bit.”

Towns, a former competitor at Albany-Saratoga who still shares the track record for sportsman wins in a season (nine, set in 1996), was pleased with his second-place run.

“All of the moves you think about making at Fonda with a two-barrel carburetor on the motor, you don't have to think about with this car and motor combination,” he said.

Busta crossed the line third, with Matt Depew fourth and Kory Sandstedt fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Mike Ketchum, Rob Langevin, Mike Tholin, Dave Constantino and Ken Anatriello.

Chuck Dickinson used a restart with two laps to go to record his second career win in the 25-lap budget sportsman feature.

Dickinson started fourth and set the pace for the first 16 laps, but a caution for an incident involving Andy Durie and Ron Ayotte reset the field, and Jack Gentile grabbed the lead when the green flag came back out.

But when Scott Duell brought out another yellow with two to go, Dickinson got the jump on the restart and beat Gentile by a car length. Frank Hoard III, Derrick McGrew and Bryan Davis completed the top five.

Cale Kneer started on the front row and led flag-to-flag to win the 20-lap pro-street stock feature. Daryl Carl haunted Kneer for the entire 20 laps, but even with two restarts, had to settle for second. They were followed by Charles Towslee, Rob Yetman, who won on opening night, and defending track champion Kim Duell.

Dan Older picked up the win in the 20-lap limited feature. After starting seventh, Older worked his way to the front and finally got the lead on lap 13. He then pulled away, leaving Ken Conroy and Dan Petronis to battle for second.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will return to action on May 1, with all divisions racing in the Spring Green Friday.

SPORTSMAN: PEP CORRADI JR., David Towns, Chris Busta, Matt Depew, Kory Sandstedt, Mike Ketchum, Rob Langevin, Mike Tholin, Dave Constantino, Ken Anatriello, Rich Ronca, Dave Manny, Chris Johnson, Frank Corradi, Dave DePaulo, Corey Gilligan, Davd Baranowski, Pat O'Hanlon, Brian Jones, Cass Bennett, Tyler Curtis, Joe Santoro.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: CHUCK DICKINSON, Jack Gentile, Frank Hoard III, Derrick McGrew, Bryan Davis, Ralph Denison, Tim Hartman Jr., Seth Howe, Mike Burdo, Pete Carlotto, Anthony Marro, Stan Lemiesz, Cullen Howe, D.J. Brundige, Chris Rheome, Jon Bates, Paul Dunham Jr., Jack Swinton, Dan Peckham, Marc Hughes, Ron Wanamaker, Scott Duell, Andy Durie, Ron Ayotte.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: CALE KNEER, Daryl Carl, Charles Towslee, Rob Yetman, Kim Duell, Kevin Van Chance, Jeff Washburn, James Monroe, Dave Cook, Ed Thompson, Greg McGill, Carl Vladyka, Bernie Companion, Jim Monroe, Bill Smith IV, Tom O'Connor, Jeremy Pitts, Walt Brownell, Lori Langevin.

LIMITEDS: DAN OLDER, Ken Conroy, Dan Petronis, Brian O'Reilly, Jon Miller, Mark Lester, Adam Stoddard, Dave Billings, Ben Durie, Mike Ostrander, Yule Cook, Nathan Dahoda, Dustin Holmes, Paul Braymer, Mitch Sequin, Justin Demers, Jason Wood, Russ Farr, David Emigh, Chuck Burkhart, Erwin Smith, Jeff Monroe.