DeLorenzo wins Asphalt Assault at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA –  Matt DeLorenzo joined a very exclusive club Sunday when he won the 40-lap “Asphalt Assault” for 358-modifieds at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

DeLorenzo became just the fourth driver ever to win features on both asphalt and dirt in the premier division at the historic Malta track, which traces its roots back to 1965, when it was built by Joe Lesik. Lou Lazzaro, Chuck Ely and Dave Lape are the only other drivers who won modified features on both surfaces.

But that exclusive club will probably grow considerably larger in the future. Although Albany-Saratoga promoter Bruce Richards took the dirt off the track in September as an experiment, he announced Sunday that the track will be repaved this month, and will revert back to its asphalt roots.

DeLorenzo started on the pole by virtue of the heads-up start and led flag-to-flag to get his second win of the season, building up a huge lead as he got into lapped traffic early.

Track champion Ken Tremont Jr., who had started fifth, worked his way up to second and got a shot at DeLorenzo when the final caution of the feature came out on lap 29. On the restart, the lapped car of Floyd Billington sat between Tremont and the leader, and by the time Tremont worked his way around Billington on lap 32, DeLorenzo was long gone.

“I was only in a race car on asphalt one other time, and that was when I took the Richard Petty Driving Experience when I was 18 years old,” said DeLorenzo in victory lane.

Tremont finished second, but was later disqualified when he came up light on the scales. That moved Airborne Speedway promoter Mike Perrotte up to second, with George Foley third, Keith Flach fourth and Bobby Varin fifth.

DeLorenzo said he had tested at Albany-Saratoga for nearly five hours during a practice session Friday to get a good setup for his car.

Derrick McGrew worked his way around Jason Herrington on the final lap and took the checkered flag in the 30-lap budget sportsman feature. Herrington started on the pole and led the first 29 laps, but had problems with a lapped car on the final lap, allowing McGrew to win the feature by a couple of feet. They were followed by Frank Hoard III, Dan Conklin and John McAuliffe.

Mke Paquin picked up a very popular win in the 30-lap pro-stock feature. Paquin has been a regular on the Champlain Valley Racing Association for a long time, but the victory was his first at the Malta track since June 2000. That was also the year he was the pro-stock champion at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. On Sunday, Paquin was followed across the finish line by Kevin Arnold, Jimmy Monroe, Fred Little and Jim Monroe.

Jon Miller won the won the 25-lap limited feature, making him 2-for-2 on the asphalt as Albany-Saratoga Speedway, as he also won the limited feature that was part of Halloween Havoc on Oct. 17. Dan Petronis was second, and Fonda Speedway invader Cody Bleau was third

Randy Martin, a regular at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, won the mini/stock feature.

ASPHALT ASSAULT MODIFIEDS: MATT DELORENZO, Mike Perrotte, George Foley, Keith Flach, Bobby Varin, Leon Gonyo, Shawn Pangman, Art Collins, Don Ronca, Mike Reyell, Chris Ross, Floyd Billington, Paul Gilardi, Seth Roberts, Don Ackner, Scott Dusco, Randy Hotaling, Stewart Friesen, Marc Johnson, Rich Ronca, Martin Hebert, Jim Ryan, Kyle Sheldon, Joe Williams. DQ: Ken Tremont Jr.

MODIFIED B MAIN: JOE WILLIAMS, Mike Reyell, Don Ackner, Floyd Billington, Seth Roberts, Scott Dusco, Skip Shippee, Bill Cody, Dan Brown, Colleen Salisbury, Richard Tisseur, Jim Introne, Mike Phinney, Bob Savoie, Ron Proctor.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: DERRICK MCGREW, Jason Herrington, Frank Hoard III, Dan Conklin, John McAuliffe, Mike Tholin, Anthony Marro, D.J. Brundige, Ralph Denison, Jack Gentile, Hunter Bates, Chuck Allen, Danny Hedges, Andy Durie, Fred Proctor.

PRO-STOCKS: MIKE PAQUIN, Kevin Arnold, Jimmy Monroe, Fred Little, Jim Monroe, Kim Duell, Pete Broderson, Ivan Joclyn, Chuck Dumblewski, Scott Duell, Darryl Carl, Jake Losaw, Pat McLaughlin, Jamie Atkins, Bobby Schmidt, Jeff Washburn, Kenny Martin, Edgar Hedges, Mike Jeske, Russ Miller, Mike Laduc, Chad Miller, Dan Burl.

LIMITEDS: JON MILLER, Dan Petronis, Cody Bleau, Mike Ostrander, Darrell Older, Mitch Sequin, Andy Smith, Dan Older, Dave Emigh, Brandon Emigh, Dave Horning Jr., James Venditti, Bill Lerse.

MINI-STOCKS: RANDY MARTIN, Bill Thwaits, Todd Goldstein, Chris Lavair, Travis Tromans, Steve Loomis, No. 08X, Andrew Bordeau, Bobby Lavair, Dan Older Jr. Steven Noel, Steve Breselle, Nathan Woodworth, Scott Richner, Brandon Atkins, Jon Hayes, Brent Warren.