Tremont extends win streak at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA, NY - Despite having a little problem with his engine in the latter stages of the race, Ken Tremont Jr. extended his winning streak to four races Friday night in the 358-modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The winning streak is the longest of Tremont's career at Albany-Saratoga, and he needs two more wins to tie the track record of six consecutive victories, set by Brett Hearn in 2002. Ironically, Hearn, who also holds the track record for career wins, hasn't been around for Tremont's last three victories, as he's been chasing DIRTcar series points at other speedways.

Tremont started deep in the field Friday night, lining up 18th in the 21-car field, but he took the lead away from Jeff Trombley on lap 19 and pulled away for his fifth win of the season.

“This car is going real well,” said Tremont of the Bicknell chassis he brought out last month. “The motor was skipping toward the end of the race, so we'll have to check that out and see what happened.”

Matt DeLorenzo, who has struggled at Albany-Saratoga all year long, crossed the finish line second, 2.237 seconds behind Tremont, for his best finish of the season. Ronnie Johnson got up for third, with Trombley fourth and Todd Stone fifth.

It was another long night for former track champion Dave Camara, who debuted a new Bicknell chassis. Camara moved into the lead on lap eight but one lap later, was done for the night, the victim of ignition problems.

Matt Depew ended a long winless streak, as he came away with his first win of the season in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Depew and Rob Langevin put on a heck of a show during the final six laps of the feature, swapping the lead until Depew moved out in front for good with two to go. He beat Langevin by a car-length to record his second career victory. His only other trip to victory lane came in April 2007.

Chris Busta finished third, followed by Mark Kislowski and Dave Baranowski. Kislowski cracked the top five despite starting 15th, after doing severe damage to his car during a violent flip during warmups.

Anthony Marro reached a milestone in his young career, coming away with his first win ever in the 25-lap budget sportsman feature. This finish was even closer than the sportsman, as Marro took the lead away from Jack Gentile on lap 19 and beat Gentile to the finish line by a mere 0.088 seconds. They were followed by Tim Hartman Jr., Mike Burdo and Frank Hoard III.

Walt Brownell put together his best run of the season, picking up his first win of the year at Malta in the pro-street stock feature. Brownell only needed seven laps to get to the front, and then easily outran Kim Duell and Lori Langevin to get the victory. Brownell had been running consistently in June and early July, picking up three straight top-three finishes (third, second, third) before the track suffered three straight rainouts.

Mike Ostrander notched his third win of the year in the limited feature, taking the lead on a restart on lap 13 and pulling away from Byron Westcott and Dave Emigh.

All divisions will be in action on Friday, Aug. 14, when Albany-Saratoga holds its annual Showdown at Sundown, which will also feature an enduro race. Racing will begin at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: KEN TREMONT JR., Matt DeLorenzo, Ronnie Johnson, Jeff Trombley, Todd Stone, Keith Flach, Don Ronca, Mike Perrotte, Mike Ronca, Elmo Reckner, Ron Proctor, Floyd Billington, Cory Gilligan, Vince Quenneville Jr., Marc Johnson, Jimmy Cottrell, Kris Vernold, Don Ackner, Tony Ballestero, Dave Camara, John Proctor.

SPORTSMAN: MATT DEPEW, Rob Langevin, Chris Busta, Mark Kislowski, Dave Baranowski, Chris Johnson, Randy Hotaling, Kory Sandstedt, Dave DePaulo, Mike Tholin, Skip Shippee, Whitey Slavin, Pep Corradi, Scott Duell, Natalie Ryan, Justin Barber, Ken Anatriello, Dave Constantino, Pat O'Hanlon, Rich Ronca, Adam Tranka.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: ANTHONY MARRO, Jack Gentile (DIRTcar), Tim Hartman Jr., Mike Burdo, Frank Hoard III, Derrick McGrew, Paul Dunham, Ricky Quick (DIRTcar), Jack Swinton, Robert Bublak, Cullen Howe, Bryan Davis, D.J. Brundige, Chuck Dickinson, Jim Nagle, Marc Hughes, Dan Peckham, Pete Carlotto, Dennis Pennock, Dan Santabarbara, Jamie Introne, Leo Sousie, Andy Durie, Shannon Donnelly.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: WALT BROWNELL Jr., Kim Duell, Lori Langevin, Jeremy Pitts, Chuck Towslee, Kevin Arnold, Fred Little, Ed Thompson, Bill Smith IV, Darryl Carl, Tom O'Connor, Jim Monroe, Dave Cook, Bobby Schmidt, Jake Losaw, Gregg McGill, Cale Kneer, Mike Minick, Randy Miller, No, 99, Johnny Rivers Jr., Jeff Washburn, Chris Fifield.

LIMITEDS: MIKE OSTRANDER, Byron Westcott, Dave Emigh, Dan Petronis, Nathan Dahoda, Dave Billings, Jason Wood, Chuck Burkhart, Marc Burch, Josh Coonradt, Brandon Emigh, Lucas MacIsaac, Justin Demers, Curtis Condon, Frank Monroe, Ben Durie, Russ Farr, Jon Miller, Shea Montgomery, Randy Elder.