The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

Even though C.D. Coville always said that finishing second just meant you were the first loser, I’ve come across a lot of drivers over the years who were happy with second place.

Last weekend at Super DIRT Week, two Albany-Saratoga Speedway regulars, Robert Bublak Jr. and Chucky Dumblewski, finished second in their respective features at Oswego. But there was no satisfaction for either driver. Their second-place finishes were painful.

Bublak finished second to Shane Pecore in the 75-lap sportsman feature. The Ballston Spa driver moved into the lead on lap 28 when leader Dave Marcuccilli dropped out with power steering problems, and set the pace until the final lap, when he got pinched behind lapped cars, allowing Pecore to make the last-lap pass.

“Those lapped cars wouldn’t get out of the friggin’ way,” said Bublak after the race.

A win at Oswego would have been good redemption for Bublak. He didn’t win a feature at Albany-Saratoga this season, and only finished 10^th in points in the highly competitive support division. But he was right on point at Oswego, sitting ninth after time trials, and then winning his qualifying race.

Bublak has been around racing his whole life. His father, Robert Bublak Sr., who died in 2006, was a member of Mike Ballesteros’ crew, and Robert Jr. always tagged along with his father.

He won his first sportsman feature at Devil’s Bowl in 2009, and also has wins at both Albany-Saratoga and Fonda to his credit.

The other tough-to-swallow loss was recorded by Dumblewski in the 50-lap pro stock feature. Like Bublak Jr., Dumblewski had the lead on the final lap. But going into the fourth turn, C.D. Beauchamp did a little bump and run on Dumblewski’s left rear quarter panel, getting Dumblewski out of shape just enough to allow Beauchamp to win by inches.

“I’d rather finish fifth than lose like that,” said Dumblewski, who had one win (a DIRT pro-stock series race) and finished third in points at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Dumblewski had started on the pole at Oswego, and came inches away from the biggest win of his career. Beauchamp’s victory also broke the five-race pro-stock winning streak of Rob Yetman at Super DIRT Week.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway was well-represented in both support division races at Oswego. In the sportsman feature, Adam McAuliffe was third, Connor Cleveland was fourth, Andrew Buff was fifth and Dave Constantino finished sixth.

In the pro-stock feature, Kim Duell was fourth, Yetman was fifth, track champion Kenny Martin was seventh, Jay Corbin was 11^th, Dan Older was 14^th, Dean Charbonneau was 15^th and Josh Coonradt was 27^th.

Fonda Speedway champion Kenny Gates finished 12^th.

Peter Britten, the 2016 modified champion at Albany-Saratoga when he was driving the Andy’s Service 97 for Andy Romano, won Saturday’s Gander Camping World 150 at Oswego, despite starting 22^nd. The victory was worth $20,000.

OSWEGO TIDBITS

Marc Johnson, the 2016 modified champion at Albany-Saratoga, came out of nowhere on Sunday to finish 5th in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200, taking home $6,000.

Ken Tremont Jr. made his 38^th appearance at Super DIRT Week, and finished 11^th in the big block race. One day earlier, he was ninth in the 358 race.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway modified rookie Jack Lehner was hampered by a lack of practice time, but won one of the last chance qualifiers and finished 21^st in the 200.

Stewart Friesen didn’t win either of the two biggest races of the weekend, but did take home a total of $33,000 after finishing second in both the 358 and big block features.

Keith Flach had the second-fastest time during time trials, which put him on the outside of the front row for the 200, but he faded to 14^th at the finish.

Brett Hearn had a very un-Hearn-like performance at Super DIRT week. The 2018 modified champion at Albany-Saratoga finished fourth in the 358 race, and was 23^rd in the big block race.

Scott Jeffrey cemented his place in the DIRT Hall of Fame Sunday when Larry Wight won the Billy Whittaker Cars 200. Jeffrey, who I’ve known for ages, is the crew chief on Wight’s car. Jeffrey was the winning crew chief four times for Billy Decker when Super DIRT Week was held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Sunday’s win was his first at Oswego.

AROUND THE TRACKS

The Super DIRT Series heads to Brockville tonight. The big blocks will be running tonight, and a rained out 358 Series was will be held on Saturday.

While most of the attention was on Oswego last weekend, Andy Bachetti won the Short Track Super Series race at Thunder Mountain on Saturday night. Decker finished fifth, and has a 30-point lead over Anthony Perrego in the North Region point standings heading into the season finale on Oct. 18 at Orange County Speedway in Middletown.