~ By Tom Boggie

Sometimes, I like to start the 4th Turn with a musical reference, so this week we’re going with “Love Rollercoaster,” the 1976 hit by the American funk/R&B band The Ohio Players.

There’s no better way to describe Scott Duell’s racing career. It’s been full of ups and downs. But after recording his first sportsman win of 2022 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway last Friday night, he admitted he’s looking for more consistency this year.

Which is probably a good thing, because all those ups and downs can make you dizzy. But while Duell hasn’t reached the top of the heap yet, he’s been making steady progress in his climb.

He’s coming off one of the best seasons on his career. Last year, driving one of the Dick Bisson Racing team cars, he notched three wins at Albany-Saratoga and finished fifth in the sportsman point standings. It only took him two weeks to make his way to victory lane this year, so it looks like the upward trend is continuing.

“I thought if we could get in the top three tonight, we could get back on the map,” said Duell after his win, which was worth $1,500. “We were good last year, with three wins. But we really stunk it up bad last week, so we changed the whole setup for this week.”

Duell, who followed in the footsteps of his father Kim, was a successful pro stock driver before making the move to sportsman. He had seven career pro stocks victories at Albany-Saratoga, with more than half (four) coming in the 2005 season. The 2005 campaign also saw him win five features and the track championship at Devil’s Bowl.

He later moved up the ladder, to the budget sportsman division, and notched his first win in that class in 2008. Two years later, when Albany-Saratoga went back to an asphalt surface, Duell was back in a pro stock. After making two trips to victory lane, he decided to go back to sportsman and won back-to-back features, on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

The 2010 campaign also saw Scott and his father finish one-two on two separate nights. Kim Duell won the pro stock feature on June 25, with Scott second, and Scott took the checkered flag, in front of Kim, on Aug. 13.

Then came the dipsy-doodles. Last season was the first time Scott finished in the top nine in points since 2016. Since 2016, he’s driven for Lazzaro Motorsports, Dodson Racing, Brian Pessolano, a handful of races for Stratton Motorsports, a half-season for Jon Miller … and I’ve probably forgotten about others.

And he knows he can win more races. He’s been to victory lane at Lebanon Valley, winning a King of Dirt Series race; he won a 50-lapper, which paid $3,000 to win, while he was racing for the Dodson team; and he won a 50-lap “Run Whatcha Brung” race at Malta in 2013.

The 43-year-old Duell knows he should be running at the front on a regular basis. Maybe this will be the year he and Bisson finally put together an awesome season.

“Years ago, I used to be in the shop every night,” said Duell. “But I’ve got two kids now, and that changes things. I have other responsibilities.

“I think we should be running with guys like Tim (defending track champion Tim Hartman Jr.),” he added. “I think we’re right there, speed-wise. But his team is so consistent. We have to get that type of consistency in our program.”

FLACH MAKES DEBUT

Keith Flach made his 2022 debut last Friday, a week later than expected. Flach missed the season opener as he and his family were all recovering after contacting the COVID-19 virus at the same time.

Because of his illness, Flach received show-up points for the opener, which put him on the pole for last Friday’s feature. He and Larry Wight put on an entertaining show until Wight used lapped traffic to get the lead for good, forcing Flach to settle for second.

“Missing last week put a hurt on us, with no practice or anything,” said Flach after the feature. “This is our first race, our first night here, and I’m proud of what we did.”

Like Duell, Flach is looking for more consistency this year.

“I’d like to get a win or two, but what we really need here is to get consistent,” he said. “My crew chief Andrew and I were pretty stubborn for a long time, and we were late getting up to speed on this coil thing. We haven’t been as competitive as I would like. We’ve got to be more consistent.”

ANOTHER TRIBUTE FOR JUMPIN’ JACK

Stewart Friesen, who won the Jack Johnson Memorial race last Sunday and followed that up with a win in the Diamond State 50 at Delaware International Speedway on Wednesday, unveiled his throwback paint scheme for the May 6 NASCAR Truck Series race at Darlington earlier this week.

The Halmar/Friesen Racing 52 will be wrapped in the Day-Glo orange color scheme of the B.R. DeWitt-sponsored dirt modified that Jack Johnson drove at Syracuse in 1993. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Friesen’s Facebook page. It’s gorgeous.

In a video that accompanies the announcement, Ronnie Johnson said, “For my dad to be a dirt track racer and to be able to be recognized by so many people in so many levels of racing, it’s truly an honor.”

AROUND THE TRACKS

Andy Bachetti, who swept the big block and small block modified titles at Lebanon Valley last season, won the opener on the high banks last Saturday. Hartman Jr., who will be making his Saturday night home at the Valley this year, finished second in the sportsman feature.

Chassis builder and Hall of Famer Pete Bicknell started his 50th season of racing in style when he won the feature at Merrittville last weekend. Bicknell is still going strong at the age of 67.

One of the best races at Malta last weekend was the four-lap modified dash. Don Ronca and James Meehan hooked together on the first lap, with the Ronca car suffering serious front end damage. When the race resumed, Jack Lehner rocketed around Flach and seemed to be on his way to the win, but Flach nosed out Lehner at the finish line to collect the $200 bonus from Four States Enterprise.

Congratulations to Rob Yetman for replacing “Hollywood” Joe Santoro at the top of the all-time pro stock win list at Albany-Saratoga. Yetman, who also won Saturday night’s feature at the Valley, is 3-for-3 so far this year. “We’ve been struggling the last couple of years, but there’s no doubt, I think we hit on something this year,” said Yetman Friday.

Jack Speshock has had nothing but bad luck in the first two weeks at Malta. He had mechanical problems in the opener and didn’t qualify for the feature. Then, last Friday, outside pole starter Matt Depew slapped the wall coming out of the fourth turn on lap 2 of the modified feature, and slowed dramatically as he tried to make his way to the pits. Speshock, who had started third, had nowhere to go, threw his car sideways and slammed into Depew, ending his night.

After recording his second career win at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, Wight said he’s comfortable racing on the historic Malta oval. “It feels like Fulton, without the wall on the inside,” he said. “There’s always a good bottom, and a killer cushion. You just have to watch how far out the cushion moves.

“We’ve been doing a lot of testing on the tracks where we’re not running for points,” Wight added. “When you’re not worried about points, you can throw the kitchen sink at it. We were a little off last week, but we put our heads together and figured out what we needed for tonight.”

WHAT’S AHEAD

The modifieds will be racing for $3,000 to win at both Albany-Saratoga and Lebanon Valley this weekend, while Glen Ridge Motorsports Park is scheduled to begin its 2022 season on Sunday.