Ronnie Johnson wins again at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA – Two and 11 were the lucky numbers at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Sunday as the regular season at the historic Malta track came to a close.

Ronnie Johnson came away with his second consecutive win in the 35-lap 358-modified feature, and Ken Tremont Jr. walked off with his 11^th point championship in the premier division.

Johnson made it look easy as he came away with his 16^th career win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. After starting 10^th, Johnson only needed 10 laps to get to the front. With the race being stopped by just one yellow flag, on lap seven, Johnson got into lapped traffic and easily outran Tremont and Matt DeLorenzo, who finished second and third, respectively.

“I almost wish the season was just starting,” said Johnson in victory lane after the race.

But in the final tally, Tremont was an overwhelming 92 points ahead of Johnson as he won the track championship for the third straight season.

“Everything went well for us all season long,” said Tremont, who finished the year with five wins and 14 top-five finishes in 15 starts.

Todd Ryan hung on for fourth in the final points race of the season, and Jeff Trombley was fifth. Ryan's finish matched his best of the year in the Percy Barber-owned small block.

Dave Constantino, who climbed behind the wheel of the John Kollar-owned sportsman midway through the season, got his first win in that division while Mark Kislowski used a second-place finish in the Morris Auto Group/NYAutoguide-sponsored small block to earn the first track championshiup of his career. Rich Ronca finished third in the feature on Sunday, followed by Chris Busta and Ken Anatriello.

Kim Duell was awarded the victory in the pro-street stock feature. Daryl Carl was first under the checkered flag, but came up light on the scales, giving the win to Duell, his third win of the campaign. Ironically, two of Duell's wins came as the result of disqualifications to the race winner.

But even though Duell got the win, Jeremy Pitts walked off with the point championship, thanks to a second-place finish on Sunday that gave him a seven-point margin of victory. Fred Little, Walt Brownell and Pete Broderson completed the top five in Sunday's feature.

Bill Duprey, a regular at Devil's Bowl Speedway, made a rare appearance at Albany-Saratoga pay off, as he won the limited feature. Dan Older crossed the finish line third, which was just enough to give him the track championship. Dan Petronis, who was battling Older for the title, finished 15^th on Sunday, allowing Older to win the title by 10 points.

Jack Swinton came away with his second win of the campaign in the budget sportsman feature. Bryan Davis crossed the finish line second, with Tim Hartman Jr. third, Derrick McGrew fourth and Mike Tholin fifth.

Dan Older Jr. (four-cylinder) and Travis Tromans (six-cylinder) won their respective division of the mini/stock class. Tromans and Colin Clow earned the division championships. Andrew Smith got the win in the Duke stock feature, and ran away with the point championship.

The fall season at Albany-Saratoga will begin the annual Halloween Havoc on Oct. 17. Additional information about upcoming events at Albany-Saratoga can be obtained by going to www.cvra.com.

MODIFIEDS: RONNIE JOHNSON, Ken Tremont Jr., Matt DeLorenzo, Todd Ryan, Jeff Trombley, Dave Camara, Mike Ronca, Marc Johnson, Don Ronca, Jimmy Cottrell, Todd Stone, Keith Flach, Bob Savoie, Elmo Reckner, John Lutes, Corey Gilligan, Erik Nelson, Matt Quinn, John Proctor, Howard Gage, Don Ackner.

SPORTSMAN: DAVE CONSTANTINO, Mark Kislowski, Rich Ronca, Chris Busta, Ken Anatriello, Rob Langevin, Tyler Curtis, Matt Depew, Dave DePaulo, Chris Johnson, Mike Tholin, Pep Corradi, Scott Duso, Dave Baranowski, Cass Bennett, Skip Shippee, Eric Mack, Randy Hotaling, Adam Tranka, Pat O'Hanlon.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: JACK SWINTON, Bryan Davis, Tim Hartman Jr., Derrick McGrew, Mike Tholin, D.J. Brundige, Chuck Dickinson, Frank Hoard III, Jack Gentile, Nick Lussier, Mike Burdo, Jim Nagle, Marc Hughes, Hunter Bates, Cody Sargent, Chris Thorpe, Ralph Denison, Paul Dunham Jr., Dan Santabarbara, Fred Proctor Jr., Ken Towne, Jason Harrington, Robert Bublak, Anthony Marro, Ron Wanamaker, Andrew Durie.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: KIM DUELL, Jeremy Pitts, Fred Little, Walt Brownell, Pete Broderson, Mike Paquin, James Monroe, Cale Kneer, Jim Monroe, Chris Cary, David Cook, Kenny Martin, Bob Schmidt, Dave Peck Jr., Mike Migliori, William Smith IV, Greg McGill, Jake Losaw. DQ: Daryl Carl.

LIMITEDS: BILL DUPREY, Jon Miller, Dan Older, Mike Ostrander, Mike Clark, Jason Wood, Dave Billings, Justin Demers, Nathan Dahoda, Brian O'Reilly, Paul Braymer, Mark Dwyer, David Shippee, Eric Esterby, Dan Petronis, Ben Durie, Joshua Coonradt, Raldy Alger, Matt Mosher, Brandon Emigh.