The 4^th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

Remember the lead-in for the old “Wide World of Sports” show, with the ski jumper going head-first off the ramp while Jim McKay stated, “The thrill of victory; the agony of defeat.”

Last weekend, Neil Stratton experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of disqualification at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

After Stratton recorded the first modified win of his career at the Malta track Friday night, he was ecstatic. He said how glad he was to finally put a PMC chassis into victory lane at Albany-Saratoga, adding, “Everybody said we couldn’t do it.”

But less than 12 hours later, he had been disqualified. Here’s what transpired.

After the race, Elmo Reckner, who finished fourth and saw both Stratton and Marc Johnson pass him during the 35-lap feature, protested the stroke and bore in the engines of both Stratton and Johnson.

Johnson’s motor was legal.

The stroke and bore allowance for the motor that Stratton was using is .070. His measured out at .084. According to Albany-Saratoga promoter Lyle DeVore, there was some confusion among the Malta officials, with some thinking the allowance was .080, so they initially let that go.

But during the tech inspection, it was discovered that Stratton was running domed pistons.

On Saturday, Stratton went on Facebook and explained his side of the story. What follows is right off his Facebook page.

“We have a fully Ported Brodix Spec headed motor. Pat Morrison built this specifically for Malta, not to be DIRT legal! So we have a slight dome on our pistons, which there is no rule in the Albany Saratoga rule book saying we can’t run it.”

A little further down, the Facebook post added, “Our team are not cheaters. We found a grey area in their rule book.” 

Now, I’ll admit I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to engines. After all, I did major in journalism. But I do know that Albany-Saratoga Speedway is DIRT sanctioned, and follows the DIRT rule book. In fact, I don’t think there’s been an actual Malta rule book since 2010!

Anyway, I do know how to read, and comprehend (see, all those English courses did pay off). So I went to the rules box on the Albany-Saratoga Speedway website, clicked on the link to the DIRT rule book and scrolled my way down to the rules for 358 modifieds.

Lo and behold (people don’t say lo and behold enough), there was rule 15.1.8, with the heading “Pistons, connecting rods, crankshafts and vibration dampers.”

Section D reads, “Only three-ring flat top aluminum pistons will be allowed.”

I don’t see any gray area here. I only see black and white. Flat top pistons only. That would mean that domed pistons are not allowed.

After Albany-Saratoga officials checked with DIRT Northeast head inspector Mark Hitchcock on Saturday (it was Hitchcock who confirmed that the maximum allowance for stroke and bore was .070), it was determined that Stratton was in violation of both the stroke and bore limit, as well as the piston issue. Thus, he was disqualified.

According to the pit penalty notice filed by DeVore to DIRT, “Driver is considered parked until further notice.”

MY FAVORITE DQ

I’ve seen a lot of disqualifications during my career (Mike Romano being light at Fonda when no one was sure what weight he was supposed to be running, David Towns for exceeding the decibel limit at Albany-Saratoga, Brett Hearn for being light at the final USNA race at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse) but my favorite is still the one at Albany-Saratoga on June 18, 1999, when Ken Tremont Jr. lost a win for using a tire softener. Remember that one, when C.J. Richards sent the tire to a lab in North Carolina to get it tested?

I talked to Tremont about that issue a couple of years ago. Hey, Ken, did you use a tire softener?

“Not that night,” he replied, “I had tried it, using different softeners, but all they did was make the tires come apart, so I got away from it.”

THE RICH GET RICHER

I’ll admit, I was looking forward to writing a feel-good column about last Sunday’s “Battle at the Bowl,” the 50-lap big block/small block challenge at Devil’s Bowl Speedway that was paying $10,000 to win. I was looking for a big upset.

Then I saw the top three: Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, Brett Hearn.

Seriously? The top two drivers of their generation and the winningest driver in the history of dirt track modified racing?

There goes that feel-good story.

Sheppard had never even seen Devil’s Bowl before Sunday, and walked away undefeated, winning the 25-lap big block qualifying race, three legs of the “Pole Shuffle” shootout, and then leading all 50 laps of the feature, after starting on the pole.

Sheppard walked out with $11,500, Friesen won a total of $5,250 (including a bonus for being the highest finishing Fonda Speedway regular) and Hearn’s take was $4,600 (he won the 25-lap small block qualifier).

Tremont won the “Leon Gonyo Memorial” for the crate sportsman, taking the top prize of $1,500. That was Tremont’s sixth win in 11 crate sportsman starts at the Bowl this season.

AROUND THE TRACKS   

With Rocky Warner running at the Bowl on Sunday (and finishing fourth), the window of opportunity at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park was wide open, and Andrew Buff jumped through to record his first crate sportsman win of the year.

Warner made history last Saturday when he wrapped up the modified point championship at Fonda Speedway for car owner Jake Spraker. Warner is the first driver in the history of the Track of Champions to win championships in four divisions (street stocks, pro stocks, sportsman and modified). He deserves his own corner in the Fonda Speedway Museum.

Kim Duell recorded his first pro stock win of the season Friday night at Albany-Saratoga and admitted he’s given up on the battle for the track championship. “We’ve thrown the points out,” he said. “I’m trying things to get ready for DIRT Week (in October in Oswego). We started experimenting and it hurt us last week, but we went back to our 2017 setup tonight.”

A lot of people were doing a double-take Friday when the 9S modified pulled into the pits at Albany-Saratoga. Isn’t that Sheppard? Turns out it was Travis Billington, who bought one of Sheppard’s old cars and didn’t have time to change any of the vinyl work.

In the bad luck department: Two weeks ago, Brian Berger hurt his Lebanon Valley motor and put his Malta motor into his Valley car. When last Friday came, he borrowed a motor from Paul Gilardi for his Malta car. But he blew that motor in the second heat race.

More bad luck: In the modified feature at the Valley last week, 48-year-old John Ruchel, who has never won a feature on the high banks, started on the pole and still had the lead going into the third turn on the final lap, when L.J. Lombardo pulled a classic Valley “slide job” going through the third turn and came away with the win, which was worth $5,000. Prior to Saturday night, Ruchel, who has been racing for 30 years, had never led more than 15 laps of a feature.

Connor Cleveland, who hasn’t won in the tough sportsman division at Albany-Saratoga since opening night, came away with his sixth win of the season at Airborne Speedway last Saturday.

Cleveland trails defending champion Tim Hartman Jr. by 22 points in the chase for the sportsman championship at Albany-Saratoga. Marc Johnson has opened up a 10-point lead over Matt DeLorenzo in the modified division. Hartman Jr. already has one championship under his belt, as he wrapped up the sportsman title at Fonda last Saturday.

All eyes will be on Orange County Speedway in Middletown on Saturday night, when the modifieds will be running a 160-lap feature for $100,000 to win to highlight the track’s Centennial Weekend. Although the 60-year-old Hearn only has one big block win at Orange County this season, since making the Saturday night switch from Lebanon Valley, he is the winningest driver in the history of the Middletown track and has to be considered a contender for the $100,000. He’s also leading the big block point standings at Orange County. That championship is worth $40,000 this season.

Centennial Weekend at Orange County will include an 80-lap big block race Friday night that will pay $10,000 to win. I have to wonder how many Malta regulars make the trip south to try to qualify for that race. All the weekly divisions, plus the Bear Ridge USAC midgets, will be in action at Albany-Saratoga Friday.