The 4th Turn ~ By Tom Boggie

There’s an old proverb that says, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

On the other hand, two rights followed by a good left hook can solve a lot of problems, but that’s another story.

Social media has rehashed last Friday night’s run-in between Ken Tremont Jr. and Demetrios Drellos at Albany-Saratoga Speedway all week, but what the heck, let’s do it again.

Normally, heat races don’t grab my attention, but I was glued on the second modified heat last Friday because I didn’t think Tremont had a chance to qualify. He was a distant sixth with four laps left, but then started to charge, so I kept my eyes on the 115.

Tremont tried to make a pass on Drellos between turns three and four heading to the white flag, but couldn’t make it stick. He ducked low coming out of turn two on the last lap, got by Drellos cleanly and was clear going down the backstretch. But going into the third turn, Drellos ran into the rear of Tremont’s car, spinning him around.

That’s the first wrong.

The checkered flag flew, ending the heat. Tremont refired his car, cut through the infield and drove into the front end of Drellos’ car as Drellos was slowly coming around the track after the incident in the third turn.

That’s the second wrong.

Because Tremont and Drellos park close to each other in the pits, security was sent to the scene to make sure nothing escalated further.

Tremont was obviously upset by the incident, and wanted his spot back, to put him in a handicapped position. According to track officials, it came down to a “Either he goes or I go” standoff. When that request was denied, Tremont loaded up his car and went home. In a show of support, Hector Stratton, who has reportedly also had a problem with Drellos in the past, also left.

Drellos started at the rear of the modified feature and finished seventh.

Oddly enough, Tremont and I had a little discussion before any racing even started last Friday, and we were talking about Tremont’s racing future. “I love racing,” Tremont had said. “but I hate dealing with all the bull….”

Drellos was wrong for spinning Tremont out. But take the names out of the mix, and would anyone really have cared? If the sixth place car in a heat race spins out the fifth place car, whether it’s on the first lap or the last lap, the spinee loses his spot and the spinner gets sent to the rear. That’s normal procedure.

But Tremont should have known better than to retaliate, frustration or no frustration. He went from being a victim to being a participant.

The fallout from the incident is that both Tremont and Drellos have been suspended for one week from Albany-Saratoga, and have been put on probation by DIRT, meaning any future incidents will carry harsher penalties.

After the week he’s had, Albany-Saratoga promoter Lyle DeVore is probably thinking that driving a Mr. Ding-a-Ling truck looks like a promising career path right about now.

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE

All the nonsense that went on with Tremont and Drellos overshadowed an incredible race by modified rookie Jack Lehner.

The Saratoga Springs driver finished third in the 35-lap modified feature, losing second place to Brett Hearn by a nose at the finish line.

Snowboarder Shaun White was the original “Flying Tomato,” but after Friday night’s race, the red-headed Lehner deserves the nickname.

While Matt DeLorenzo, who won the feature, and Hearn were running the far outside, Lehner stayed low and made it work.

“When Matt was ahead of me, he wasn’t getting away,” said Lehner, who had one sportsman win last year before moving up the modifieds. “I was comfortable on the bottom, anyway, and I started chipping away at Matt. On a couple of restarts, I was on top, but I always got back to the bottom as quick as I could.”

“I’m doing a lot better than I expected,” he added, with a huge grin. “This is a tough field. Anytime you can run with Brett, it feels great.”

I always smile when I see Lehner walking through the pits before he puts on his firesuit. At about 6-foot-4, wearing shorts and flip flops, with that shock of red hair, he looks like a kid heading out to a summer league basketball game.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I heard someone call my name last Friday, turned around and saw Tim Clemons in a firesuit. I felt like I had climbed into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and gone back in time.

The former Albany-Saratoga and Fonda sportsman championship was in town for the weekend, and had reunited with Tommy Spencer, his former car owner, to do a little racing.

Clemons, who runs Lakeview Motor Speedway in Nichols, S.C., doesn’t do much dirt racing anymore (“If one of the guys at my track says his car’s not handling, I’ll take it out for a couple of laps and see if I can help,” Clemons said.), but looked pretty good during warmups. He kept the car in one piece during his heat and in the feature, finishing 25^th. He also ran the Spencer car Saturday night at Fonda.

BIG WEEK FOR FRIESEN

Stewart Friesen had a good week, but it could have been incredible. Last Thursday, he finished second in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky, came back with his fifth modified victory of the season at Fonda on Saturday, and then finished third in Wednesday night’s truck series race on the dirt at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway.

Friesen had to come from the rear of the field at Kentucky after his team had to make an engine change.

“We only had an hour to swap them out, and we had a good finish,“ he said after the race.

Friesen had an excellent shot at winning Wednesday, but was spun out in the closing laps of the first stage and had to go to the rear. He then made an impressive charge to get back to third in the Halmar-sponsored Silverado.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Friesen has raced six times at Fonda this season, and has five wins and a second.

His win Saturday night was part of a sweep by the DKM chassis team, as Dave Constantino won the King of Dirt sportsman series race, and Derrick McGrew Jr. won the limited sportsman feature, his sixth win of the season at the Track of Champions.

Jessica Friesen finished fifth in the modified feature at Fonda, her best run of the season since climbing back behind the wheel at the beginning of the year.

Devil’s Bowl ran Twin 20s for 358s last Sunday, with Jessey Mueller and Neil Stratton getting the wins. The Scarborough brothers, Joey and Jake, finished one-two in the sportsman modified feature, which was the annual Vince Quenneville Sr. Memorial race. The Scarborough twins drive cars bearing numbers 24 and 38, which each pay tribute to the late Norm Scarborough – one of the most accomplished car owners and chassis builders at Devil’s Bowl Speedway history, who won two championships in the late 1960s with Quenneville as his driver..

The CRSA Sprints were at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, and former modified star Jeff Trombley finished second in the feature.

“I’m having a ball,” said Trombley of racing the Warren Alexson-owned sprinter. “You know what I like about running these? You race against the track more than you race against each other. There’s no slam-banging and everybody gets along, like modifieds used to be.”