~ By Tom Boggie

I’ve got to go to Staples or somewhere where I can buy some of those blue-and-white tags that say, “Hello, my name is …” I keep running into people in victory lane at Albany-Saratoga Speedway who I really haven’t had any reason to talk to before.

First, it was LJ Lombardo, Then Felix Roy. And last week, Kolby Schroder.

Three weeks of racing at Malta, three first-time winners in the modified and 358 modified divisions. Demetrious Drellos broke that streak in the second modified feature last week, but more on that later.

Schroder added his name to the winners’ list at the historic Malta track in the first modified feature last Friday, which had been stopped after two laps the previous week because of rain. He restarted on the pole, and never gave up the lead.

The 35-year-old Schroder became a regular at Malta last season, and had a number of strong runs, including runner-up finishes to Marc Johnson on May 3 and to Jessey Mueller on July 5.

“We came here last year for a change of pace,” Schroder said. “Lebanon Valley is my serious track. We just wanted to come here and have some fun. I fell in love with the place and everything Lyle (promoter Lyle DeVore) does here.”

The Lebanon Valley regular is taking a different approach at Albany-Saratoga this year.

“My car owner (Steve Daniels) retired last year and sold his business, and now he has more time to work on the car at his house,” Schroeder said. “We built this car just for here, and we’ve got some new sponsors on board, including Home Water Solutions, which opened up a place in Saratoga. We struggled the first night, in the series (Super DIRTcar Series) race. Everything was new, and we were a little off. But we made some changes, and now, I think we have a great car.”

The only scary moment Schroder had last Friday was when he made hard contact with Todd Ryan’s car coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap. But he held on to complete his flag-to-flag run.

“The luck of the draw helped,” he said. “But I’ll take them anyway I can get them.”

The wins by first Lombardo and now Schroder will help silence some of the critics who claim that Lebanon Valley modified drivers can’t be successful at Albany-Saratoga.

Since Howie Commander took over operation at Albany-Saratoga in 2012, a number of Valley drivers have been “encouraged” to join the field at Malta, but few have found success.

Now, I’m not including Ken Tremont Jr. in this list, because he began racing at Abany-Saratoga and Devil’s Bowl at the same time he was beginning his career on the high banks. So don’t even go there.

Donnie Corellis went 1-for-26 at Malta, Lombardo is now 1-for-38, Schroder is 1-for-21 in the last two years and Olden Dwyer’s abbreviated run at Malta saw him go 0-for-20.

Even multi-time Lebanon Valley champion Andy Bachetti has a 1-for-35 record at Malta. His only win came in 2001, which I think was the only time he ran a full season at Albany-Saratoga.

You can add Eddie Marshall to that list, but he would need an asterisk, because he’s never been able to race on Friday nights because of his involvement with the family’s Marshall Oil business. In fact, he’s only raced at Albany-Saratoga once in his career, in 2000 in the USNA New York 200. For the record, he finished 16^th.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

You can hate Drellos all you want, you can boo him until your lungs hurt, but damn, he certainly puts on a show.

That was evident in the second modified feature last Friday, when he and Jeremy Pitts had the fans on their feet.

Here’s the short version, and some of the things Drellos did…

When Pitts, who started third, took the lead on lap 12, Drellos, who had lined up sixth on the starting grid, was fourth. On lap 16, Drellos pulled a slide job on Ryan McCartney coming out of the second turn and got up to third.

Two laps later, Drellos and the second-place car of Rich Ronca went left and right around the slower car of Mike Engwer, and Drellos came out in the runner-up spot.

By that time, Pitts was in heavy traffic and Drellos was closing in.

Engwer brought out a caution on lap 24, and things got very interesting. On the restart, Drellos tried to make a crossover move on Pitts coming out of the fourth turn, but couldn’t make it stick. On lap 27, Drellos tried a slide job in turn two, but got too high and went off the backstretch, losing two spots. But as luck would have it, Marc Johnson brought out a caution after getting hit from behind, and because the lap hadn’t been completed, Drellos got the No. 2 spot back on the next restart.

Drellos had Pitts set up for another slider in turn two on the restart, but a four-car tangle again bunched the field. Then, on lap 29, Drellos and Pitts went into the second turn side-by-side, and Drellos leaned on Pitts just enough to break his rhythm, and Drellos came away with the lead for good.

“He got off the top and I did lean on him,” Drellos admitted in victory lane. “But they say rubbin’ is racin’.”

Pitts, who faded to fourth in the final five laps, met Drellos in victory lane with a big smile on his face and shook Drellos’ hand.

“The track was a little off from what it has been,” said Drellos. “It took some time to clean off the top. For a while, it seemed like I was the only one trying to clean it off. But once the top cleaned off, I got better and better.

“The cautions made it a pretty exciting race,” he added. “I didn’t want the first one (on lap 24), because I was humming and getting ready to make a move on him. But that other caution saved me, when I jumped the cushion.”

MORE FROM MALTA

Matt DeLorenzo was running fourth in the carried-over modified feature when he rolled to a stop off the fourth turn following a restart on lap 20, the victim of a blown engine.

“I think I broke a piston,” he said later. “I was humming, too.”

Needless to say, the engine problem ended his night.

Brian Calabrese finished second, his best run ever, in the first feature and David Schilling was the runner-up to Drellos in feature No. 2. Calabrese’s best previous modified finish at Malta was a fourth in 2023, while Schilling finished second to Jack Lehner last year, on June 21.

Calabrese made a name for himself at Malta in 2018, when he won the 100-lap Northeast Crate Nationals, which paid $2,500 to win, in what was basically an unsponsored car. In addition to running a modified, he still hauls his sportsman south every February to race at Lake View and All Tech.

Ryan Godown made a surprise appearance at Albany-Saratoga last Friday. The New Jersey driver finished 14^th in the second feature after starting 25^th.

Remember last week’s 4^th Turn, when I made a big deal about having three first-time winners on the same night at Malta? Well, it happened again last week, with Schroder, Donovan Lussier (sportsman) and Bodie Marks (limited sportsman) all sitting in victory lane for the first time in their careers. That Killer Crate motor Marks has under the hood is a beast.

ANOTHER LOST WEEKEND

Stewart Friesen’s luck on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series can’t get any worse.

Last Friday night, he was battling for second place at Texas Motor Speedway, running side-by-side with Grant Enfinger with about 20 laps to go. Friesen, who was on the inside, felt the right rear of the truck begin to slide. As he tried to control the truck, the right front snapped around and caught the left rear quarter of Enfinger’s truck. Friesen got sideways and Chandler Smith, who had been running right behind the duo, had nowhere to go, getting into the side of Friesen’s truck and taking him hard into the wall.

Second straight week, second straight wrecked truck, second straight trip to the infield care center for Friesen. In his last three starts, he’s finished 27^th, 29^th and 24^th. But because he ran so well earlier in the year, he’s only dropped to 11^th in points.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Congratulations to my old friend Jay Castimore for his induction into the New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame last weekend. Castimore, who earned a reputation as the best tire man in the business when he was working for Brett Hearn, now works with Friesen’s dirt track team and has taken part in more than 800 total victories.

Rainouts last weekend included Lebanon Valley (three in a row), Devil’s Bowl and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, which had its season opener washed out. The last time I saw this much rain was on a trip to Ireland. Enough already.