Camara ends drought at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA, NY - Showing the determination and fearlessness that carried him to two track championships in the early part of the decade, Dave Camara held off Ken Tremont Jr. in a wild finish to record his first win of the season Friday night in the 358-modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

In picking up his first win at Albany-Saratoga since June 27, 2003, Camara also snapped Tremont's four-race winning streak at the Malta track.

Camara brought out a new Bicknell chassis two weeks ago, only to retire with ignition problems while he was leading the feature. But there were no bugs in the system Friday night.

Camara came off the front row and led flag-to-flag, but needed to hold off the hard-charging Tremont to do so.

Tremont, who started 14th, rocketed to the front and was second after just eight laps. And for the rest of the feature, he did everything he could to get by Camara.

It looked like Tremont was going to extend his streak when he started to pull ahead of Camara on the white flag lap, but Tremont drifted a little too high going through the third turn, and Camara kept his advantage, beating Tremont to the finish line by less than a car length.

“On the last lap, I used a lapped car as a pick to stay in the lead and take the win,” said Camara after the race.

Camara won the modified point title at Albany-Saratoga in 2000 and 2001, but then left the speedway halfway through the 2003 campaign after a dispute with track officials. He didn't race at Albany-Saratoga again until 2007, when he was used as a substitute driver for Matt Sheppard in a Randy Ross-owned car. Ross is now one of the sponsors of Camara's small block.

Jeff Trombley held off Brett Hearn for third, in another battle that had the fans hooting and hollering. Hearn, who started 15th, hadn't been at the track since late June, thanks to rainouts and the fact that he was chasing DIRTcar points, and his return was supposed to determine just how good Tremont's new Bicknell chassis is, as the last three of Tremont's win had come while Hearn was absent.

Pep Corradi recorded his second win of the campaign in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Corradi, who started eighth, only needed four laps to get to the front and then held off Scott Duell to come away with the win. They were followed by Chris Busta, Rob Langevin and Matt Depew.

Derrick McGrew held off point leader Tim Hartman Jr. to post his fourth win of the season in the 25-lap budget sportsman feature. McGrew used a couple of early cautions to move right to the front, and had the lead by lap eight. Hartman, who started 11th, took over the No. 2 spot on lap 15 and stayed right on McGrew's rear bumper, but McGrew never bobbled, and hit the finish line ahead of Hartman, Bryan Davis, Jack Swinton and Anthony Marro.

Kim Duell took another step toward repeating as the pro-street stock champion as he came away with his second win of the year in that division. Duell made it look easy, outrunning William Smith IV and Jeremy Pitts after getting the lead on lap seven of the 25-lap feature.

Brandon Emigh outran Jason Wood to notch his second win of the year in the limited division, Travis Tromans won the mini-stock main and Jim Closson won the 50-lap enduro.

Albany-Saratoga will be back in action on Friday, Aug. 21, with the Empire Lightning Sprints joining the card, which will feature all the regular CVRA divisions in action on Gas And go Night. Racing will begin at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: DAVE CAMARA, Ken Tremont Jr., Jeff Trombley, Brett Hearn, Ronnie Johnson, Todd Stone, Matt DeLorenzo, Keith Flach, Elmo Reckner, John Proctor, Ron Proctor, Don Ackner, Floyd Billington, Kris Vernold, Mike Perrotte, Jimmy Cottrell, Marc Johnson, Todd Ryan, Mike Ronca, Don Ronca, Bob Savoie.

SPORTSMAN: PEP CORRADI, Scott Duell, Chris Busta, Rob Langevin, Matt Depew, Dave DePaulo, Mark Kislowski, Rich Ronca, Pat O'Hanlon, Chris Johnson, Ken Anatriello, Adam Tranka, Skip Shippee, Kory Sandstedt, Andy Boniewski, Dave Manny, Tyler Curtis, Mike Tholin, Randy Hotaling, Justin Barber, Robert Bublak, Chad Miller.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: DERRICK MCGREW, Tim Hartman Jr., Bryan Davis, Jack Swinton, Anthony Marro, Jim Nagle, Peter Carlotto, Chuck Dickinson, Marc Hughes, Dan Santabarbara, Ron Ayotte, Natalie Ryan, Leo Sousie, Shannon Donnelly, Dan Peckham, Jim Duncan, Bill Martindale, Jack Gentile, Jamie Introne, Robert Bublak, Fred Proctor Jr., D.J. Brundige.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: KIM DUELL, William Smith IV, Jeremy Pitts, Fred Little, Daryl Carl, Walt Brownell, Jeff Washburn, Ed Thompson, Dan Madigan, Tom O'Connor, Dave Cook, Jake Losaw, Randy Miller, Jim Monroe, Bob Schmidt, James Monroe, Jesse Edwards, Chris Fifield, Greg McGill, Cale Kneer, Mike Minick.

LIMITEDS: BRANDON EMIGH, Jason Wood, Mike Ostrander, Dan Petronis, Shea Montgomery, Mark Dwyer, Nathan Dahoda, Frank Monroe, Ben Durie, Dave Emigh, Brian O'Reilly, Mark Burch, Jon Miller, Matt Mosher, Eric Esterby, Dan Older.