Jimmy Ryan ends long drought at Albany-Saratoga

MALTA –  Nine years is a long time between wins, so you can't blame Jimmy Ryan for wanting to do a little celebrating Friday night.

Ryan came off the front row and led every lap to win the 35-lap modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. The victory was the third of his career at the historic Malta track, but it marked the first time he's been to victory lane since June 8, 2001.

Ryan was a regular at Albany-Saratoga during the late 1990s and the first couple years of the new decade, but in recent years, he's concentrated on running at Devil's Bowl in West Haven VT. But with both Champlain Valley Racing Association tracks switching to asphalt this season, Ryan wanted to get as much seat time as possible, and returned to Albany-Saratoga.

He had two top-10 finishes in the first two weeks of the season, and then put everything together Friday night to get a popular victory.

The feature was slowed by just one caution flag, for Randy Hotaling on lap 8. But Ryan, a resident of Whiting, VT, still had his hands full during the closing laps of the race.

That was because defending track champion Ken Tremont, who started 11th, really got hooked up, and was rocketing through the field. Tremont was fifth with 15 laps to go, but first picked off Rich Ronca, and then got around Joey Williams to take over second with three to go. But Ryan, who had some problems with lapped traffic, had enough momentum to hold off Tremont, who finished second for the third time this season. He was just 0.127 seconds behind Ryan, with Williams right behind Tremont for third, matching his opening night performance.

Kris Vernold crossed the finish line fourth, the first time he's cracked the top five this season, and Marc Johnson was fifth.

Matt Depew won the Denooyer dash for cash.

Sheldon Martin drove to his first career victory in the 30-lap pro stock feature. Veteran Fred Little started on the pole and set the pace for the first 16 laps, but Martin, who had been at nearly every test session that Albany-Saratoga Speedway promoter Bruce Richards held in the spring, used a restart on lap 17 to jump into the lead and finished with a comfortable advantage over Joe Santoro, who is still looking for his first win of the season. Kim Duell finished third, with Little fourth and Mike Scorzelli fifth.

Jason Herrington became the second two-time winner in the sportsman division, driving to an easy victory over Chris Johnson and Alex Bell. Herrington, who started eighth, got the lead on lap 19 and pulled away for a 4.6-second margin of victory over Johnson in the 25-lap feature. Bell, Hunter Bates and Adam Tranka completed the top five.

Dave Emigh recorded his third win of the season in the 25-lap Renegades feature, leading Dan Petronis and Frank Monroe to the finish line, and Harold LaVair ran his winning streak to three races in the Bomber Warriors division.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will return to action with a regular show in all divisions on Friday, June 18. There will also be a 50-lap enduro on the racing card, which begins at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: JIMMY RYAN, Ken Tremont Jr., Joey Williams, Kris Vernold, Marc Johnson, Rich Ronca, Don Ronca, Leon Gonyo, Mike Bruno, Derrick McGrew, Mike Perrotte, Keith Flach, Dave DePaulo, Don Scarborough, Chris Ross, Andy Lindemann, Dave Manny, Matt Depew, Ron Proctor, Randy Hotaling.

DENOOYER DASH: MATT DEPEW, Ron Proctor, Marc Johnson, Kris Vernold, Joey Williams, Jimmy Ryan.

SPORTSMAN: JASON HERRINGTON, Chris Johnson, Alex Bell, Hunter Bates, Adam Tranka, Andy Durie, Cody Sargen, Luke Klob, Paul Dunham Jr., Derrick McGrew.

PRO-STOCKS: SHELDON MARTIN, Joe Santoro, Kim Duell, Fred Little, Mike Scorzelli, Scott Duell, Darryl Carl, Mike Paquin, Chad White, Jim Monroe, Carl Guilefuss, Russ Miller, Jeremy Houghtaling.

RENEGADES: DAVE EMIGH, Dan Petronis, Frank Monroe, Dan Older, Mike Ostrander, Jon Miller, Brandon Emigh, Ben Durie, Bill Burlingame.

BOMBER WARRIORS: HAROLD LAVAIR, Ken Duell, Dan Older Jr., Colin Clow, Mark Lindblade, John Lindblade.