Tremont ends drought at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA, NY - Albany-Saratoga Speedway officials were only kidding Friday night when they asked Ken Tremont Jr. if he needed directions to victory lane.

Tremont, who won the track championship last season without getting a win, ended a long winless streak with a victory in the 35-lap 358 modified feature at the historic Malta track.

The last time Tremont was in victory lane at Albany-Saratoga was on Aug. 3, 2007, when he won the cvra.com 100. His win on Friday night ended a 24-race winless streak.

“I almost drove right back to my pit after being weighed because I haven't done this in a while,” he said in victory lane.

Tremont got a huge break from two of his biggest rivals to come away with the win. Midway through the race, Ronnie Johnson and Brett Hearn were battling for fourth when they made contact and spun out. Hearn, who was looking for his sixth straight win, dating back to last August, had to go to the rear, while Johnson pulled into the pits, done for the night.

Drivers usually don't like to see cautions, but Tremont had to smile when he saw that one. “Those guys are tough to beat, and you have to take advantage of their misfortune,” he said.

When the Johnson-Hearn mishap occurred, Don Ronca and Tony Kawalchuk were setting the pace, and the restart allowed Tremont to move past Mike Perrotte for third.

Tremont took over second on lap 17 and needed just three more laps to take the lead away from Kawalchuk.

The rest of the way was smooth sailing for Tremont, who easily notched the 49^th win of his career at Albany-Saratoga. Kawalchuk, getting the feel of an unfamiliar PMC chassis, crossed the finish line second, his best finish ever at Albany-Saratoga, and Perrotte was third. Hearn charged from the rear to hit the finish line fourth, and Dave Camara was fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Keith Flach, Ronca, Todd Stone, Jack Johnson and Matt DeLorenzo.

Frank Corradi came away with his first career win in the sportsman division. His win came just three weeks after his cousin, Pep, drove to his first career win.

Frank Corradi, a rookie in the sportsman division this year after moving up from budgets, started on the outside pole and led almost the entire race, holding off Mike Tholin by 0.522 seconds. They were followed Pep Corradi, Dave Constantino and Chris Busta.

Rob Yetman had a productive night, picking up back-to-back wins in the pro-street stock division, which had to run a carried-over feature from the May 8 rainout. Yetman has three wins in five starts this season.

Jack Gentile and D.J. Brundige won the twin budget sportsman features. Brundige outran Scot Straight and Anthony Marro to get the win in the carried-over feature, and Gentile dominated the second race to get his second win of the year.

The closest race of the night came in the limited division, where Dan Older nipped Dan Petronis to get his second win of the season in the carried-over feature. The second feature was won by Mike Ostrander.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will be back in action for Kids Night on Friday, May 22, with all divisions. Racing will begin at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: KEN TREMONT JR., Tony Kawalchuk, Mike Perrotte, Brett Hearn, Dave Camara, Keith Flach, Don Ronca, Todd Stone, Jack Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Vince Quenneville Jr., Marc Johnson, Jimmy Cottrell, Don Ackner, Elmo Reckner, John Proctor, Ron Proctor, Ronnie Johnson, Corey Gilligan, Todd Ryan.

SPORTSMAN: FRANK CORRADI, Mike Tholin, Pep Corradi, Dave Constantino, Chris Busta, Mark Kislowski, Rob Langevin, Ken Anatriello, Rich Ronca, Matt Depew, Mike Ketchum, Keith Slavin, Dave DePaulo, Chris Johnson, Andy Boniewski, Tyler Curtis, Dave Baranowski, Kory Sandstedt, Brian Jones, Cass Bennett, Pat O'Hanlon, Dave Manny, Seth Roberts, Jimmy Eaton, Adam Tranka.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN (regular feature): JACK GENTILE, Cullen Howe, D.J. Brundige, Derrick McGrew, Marc Hughes, Dan Peckham, Chuck Dickinson, Fred Proctor Jr., Frank Hoard III, Jack Swinton, Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Mike Burdo, Dennis Pennock, Ricky Quick, Seth Howe, Scott Duell, Jim Duncan, Chris Rheome, Tim Hartman Jr., Jamie Introne, Jim Ayotte, Pete Carlotto, Paul Dunham Jr., Anthony Marro, Scot Straight, Bryan Davis.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN (from May 8): D.J. BRUNDIGE, Scot Straight, Anthony Marro, Jack Gentile, Bryan Davis, Frank Hoard III, Chuck Dickinson, Marc Hughes, Cullen Howe, Ricky Quick, Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Jack Swinton, Dennis Pennock, Paul Dunham, Dan Peckham, Fred Proctor, Jamie Introne, Pete Carlotto, Scott Duell, Derrick McGrew, Josh Joseph, Mike Burdo, Chris Rheome, Tim Hartman Jr., Ralph Denison, Ron Casey, Seth Howe.

PRO-STREET STOCKS (regular feature): ROB YETMAN, Jeremy Pitts, Bob Schmidt, Jeff Washburn, Bernie Companion, William Smith IV, Kim Duell, Kenny Martin, Walt Brownell, Lori Langevin, Kevin Van Chance, Daryl Carl, Chuck Towslee, Tom O'Connor, Johnny Rivers Jr., Mike Migliori, Greg McGill, Cale Kneer, Chad Jeso, Ron Zagata, Kevin Arnold, Chris Fifield, Ed Thompson.

PRO-STREET STOCKS (carried over from May 8): ROB YETMAN, Ed Thompson, William Smith IV, Kim Duell, Bob Schmidt, Bernie Companion, Cale Kneer, Jeremy Pitts, Kevin Van Chance, Daryl Carl, Lori Langevin, Jeff Washburn, Chuck Towslee, James Monroe, David Cook, Greg McGill, Johnny Rivers Jr., Chad Jeso, Walt Brownell, Chris Fifield, Jim Monroe.

LIMITEDS (regular feature): Mike Ostrander, Dave Billings, Dan Petronis, Mark Lester, Brandon Emigh, Dan Older, Ken Conroy, Brian O'Reilly, Marc Burch, Dustin Holmes, Frank Monroe, Jon Miller, Jordyn Jeffalone, Mitch Sequin, Jason Wood, Justin Demers, Bill Burlingame, Nathan Dahoda, Dan Herring, Ben Ladd, Yule Cook, Stan Durie, Chuck Burkhart, Dan Carlton.

LIMITEDS (carried over from May 8): DAN OLDER, Dan Petronis, Jon Miller, Brian O'Reilly, Dave Billings, Ken Conroy, Mike Ostrander, Brandon Emigh, Mark Burch, Ben Durie, Yule Cook, Dan Carlton, Jeff Monroe, Nathan Dahoda, Dustin Holmes, Frank Monroe, Mitch Sequin, Jordyn Jeffalone, Jason Wood, Mark Lester, Justin Demers, Ben Ladd, Chuck Burkhart.