~ By Tom Boggie

Wow. I should look at a calendar more often. After two straight cancellations at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, I kind of lost track of time, and suddenly, I look up and there are only three racing dates left in the points season for modified, sportsman and pro stocks.

Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at the points.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway has crowned six different modified champions in the last six years, and if that trend is going to continue, Jack Lehner has to figure out a way to catch Peter Britten and Marc Johnson.

In the last six seasons, the crown has been worn by Demetrios Drellos, Matt DeLorenzo, Anthony Perrego, Mike Mahaney, Marc Johnson, Brett Hearn and Britten.

Britten leads the modified point chase with 700 points, and has a 32-point lead over Johnson. That lead looks pretty darn comfortable, taking into consideration the way Britten has been running this season. Lehner, who has three wins under his belt so far, sits third at 653 and, let’s admit it, probably needs a miracle to come away with the title.

That’s not the way it is in the sportsman division, where Tim Hartman Jr. has such a big lead that he could afford to take a week off, just to make things interesting.

If it wasn’t for Hartman’s domination, the sportsman division would be pretty darn compelling. Chris Crane Jr., easily one of the most improved drivers in the division this season, is second with 550 points (90 behind Hartman Jr.), and Dylan Madsen and Mike Coffey Jr. are tied for third with 546.

The best point race is in the pro stock division, where the top five drivers are separated by just 25 points.

Jason Casey, who is looking for his first championship, leads the point race with 624, just seven ahead of five-time winner Brandon Emigh. Kim Duell, who looked to be in control of the division about a month ago, is now tied for third with Beau Ballard with 615. And don’t forget about defending champion Rich Crane, who is fifth with 599 and can’t be counted out.

THE NOT-SO-GREAT RACE PLACE

I’ll be heading over to the Nassau Sportsman Club on Sunday for the North East Stock Car Old Timers annual steak bake. Earlier this summer, Mark Krosky called me (I should know better than to answer the phone when the caller ID says “Krash”) and asked me if I’d do a presentation for Mike Romano, who is going to be one of the recipients of a NESCOT SAM (Superior Achievement in Motorsports) award. I said I would, because I’ve got all of Romano’s stats in my notes somewhere.

As I was doing some double-checking, I found out that Romano is the only driver in the top 10 on the all-time modified win list at Fonda Speedway who never won a race at Albany-Saratoga. There was just something about The Great Race Place that didn’t suit Romano’s driving style.

He did finish second twice, the first time very early in his career, behind C.D. Coville on May 23, 1980. He also finished second in the 100-lap Coors Light Challenge in 2001. Bobby Varin won that race driving the Bobar No. 6.

As far as I can tell, the last time he raced at Albany-Saratoga was in 2003, in the CVRA vs. The World feature, finishing 27^th.

READ THE SMALL PRINT

I was reading a release concerning the upcoming Vermont 200 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway earlier this week, and was surprised to see that track owner Mike Bruno had changed the eligibility requirements for the race.

Now, only drivers with at least six starts in a 602 crate sportsman car prior to Aug. 1 are eligible to enter.

That means that modified drivers like Lehner, who finished second in the Darrah Racing 14B last year; Marc Johnson, who finished second in 2021; or Demetrios Drellos, who won the 200 in 2020, are no longer eligible.

That really opens the door for a lot of lower-budget drivers to make a serious run at the top prize of $10,000. Bruno is also putting up a $2,500 bonus if the winner of the Vermont 200 is a regular at Devil’s Bowl or Airborne Park in Plattsburgh.

AROUND THE TRACKS

DIRTcar went 2-for-3 on its SummerFAST Super DIRTcar Series this week. Brewerton rained out on Monday, but Canandaigua and Fulton both got their races in.

Mat Williamson got the win and the top prize of $7,500 at Canandaigua on Tuesday, and Alex Yankowski pulled off a big win at Fulton, but the big story was Adam Pierson’s second-place performance at Fulton.

If you remember, Pierson cut back on his racing schedule in May because of financial considerations, and he hadn’t raced his big block for about a month and a half prior to this week. He didn’t even make the field at Canandaigua, but bounced back at Fulton and lost to Yankowski by 0.091 seconds.

Here’s a blast from the past. Otto Sitterly, who began his racing career in the GT division at Albany-Saratoga, won the Mr. Supermodified Championship at Oswego Speedway Saturday, earning $10,000. Sitterly, driving for John Nicorta, lost the lead to Michael Barnes on lap 35 in the 75-lap feature, but Barnes blew his motor with seven laps to go, giving Sitterly his 45^th career win at Oswego and his fifth Mr. Supermodified title.

Former Albany-Saratoga sportsman driver Brock “Bam Bam” Pinkerous had a good weekend on the RUSH Late Model Touring Series. He finished second on Saturday at Marion Center, Pa., and was fourth at Eriez Speedway on Sunday. Unfortunately, Jeremy Wonderling won both races, and now trails the 14-year-old Pinkerous by just two points in the battle for the series championship, which pays $20,000 to the winner.

Drellos was also at Marion Center, winning his heat and coming away with a career-best fourth place finish in the feature. He ran into problems at Eriez and finished 19^th.

It was good to see Kolby Schroder finally get his first modified win of the season Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway. Schroder has been a constant threat at Albany-Saratoga on Friday nights, but has been even better at the Valley. He’s only finished out of the top 10 once this season, when he blew his motor on July 27 when he was running in the top five.

Schroder now has eight career modified wins at the Valley, and six of them have come in the month of August.

Oh, yeah, Hartman Jr. picked up his 12^th straight sportsman win at the Valley. Like a pitcher who’s working on a no-hitter in the eighth inning, it’s better not to talk about it.

Andrew Buff, the 2023 sportsman champion at Albany-Saratoga who is still making the transition to 358s, got an impressive win Saturday in the Sail Panel Showdown at Fulton. Finishing second and third, respectively, were Larry Wight and Tim Sears Jr., who are regulars on the Super DIRTcar modified series.

It looks like Jeremy Pitts is back in action, Pitts, who blew the motor in his Next Generation Enterprises modified at Albany-Saratoga in mid-June, made the trip to Fulton Wednesday, but failed to qualify.

Weather shouldn’t be a problem Friday when Albany-Saratoga returns to action. The modifieds will be competing for $4,000 to win.