~ By Tom Boggie

Got an hour or so? That’s about how long it’s going to take to break down Tim Hartman Jr.’s championship-clinching performance at Albany-Saratoga Speedway last Friday night.

Hartman Jr. officially clinched his record-setting fourth sportsman championship with finishes of 13th and sixth in last week’s double features (the first was the result of a rainout on July 1). With just two point races left in the regular season, Hartman Jr. has a 105-point lead over Andrew Buff. He could even take a night off if he wanted to and still win the title. But knowing how competitive Hartman Jr. is, let’s just assume he’ll be at Malta, driving as hard as ever for the final two point races.

Hartman Jr. wasn’t taking any chances last Friday. With double features, he brought two cars, including the 6 ½-year old Troyer that he’s had so much success with. It’s a good thing he had two cars, because he used both of them, and banged up both of them along the way.

In the first 25-lap feature, he was behind the wheel of the Troyer. After starting 14th, he got caught in the middle of a multi-car skirmish in the fourth turn on lap two, and although he got pin-balled around a little bit, he got away cleanly, and worked his way up to sixth by lap 18.

But on a restart on lap 21, Hartman Jr. banged into the concrete barrier on the inside of the fourth turn (“A miscalculation,” said car owner Mike Parillo later), suffering a flat left front tire. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Hartman Jr. then made contact with Dan Grignon and was subsequently hit from behind, resulting in a flat right rear. With flat tires on opposite ends of the car, Hartman Jr. had no choice but to make a quick stop in the hot pit, and the best he could do after that was 13th.

He went back to his regular Friday night car for the second feature, which was the last race of the night, and it didn’t take him long to get in trouble again. He was involved in a multi-car tangle (which included Buff) on the second lap, and again had to make a quick trip to the pits. Hartman Jr. returned and went to the tail of the field, but Buff wasn’t so lucky. The damage to his car forced him to park it, and his 26th-place finish, combined with Hartman Jr’s sixth, allowed Hartman Jr. to lock up the title.

Hartman Jr. is now the only four-time sportsman champion at Malta. The list of three-time champions includes his father Tim Sr., Don Ackner, Mike Ballestero and Jeremy Pitts.
Earlier this year, Hartman Jr. recorded his 33rd career sportsman win, which dropped Ballestero to second on the all-time win list. Since then, Hartman Jr. has upped the record to 34. But Ballestero drove his best race of the season Friday and just missed getting win , No. 33, finishing second to Zach Buff in the second feature.

“I’m just glad Mike didn’t win,” Hartman Jr. joked as his crew began packing up to head home. “That’s my record now.”
For the record, Ballestero had been the winningest driver in the sportsman division since Aug. 9, 2002 until Hartman Jr.’s win on June 17.

As a little icing on the cake, Hartman Jr. also became just the second driver to win three consecutive sportsman titles, matching Ackner, who was the division champ in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Ballestero knew he let a win slip away, just another chapter in a frustrating season.

“Sometimes, I feel like we’re so close, just a tick off,” he said. “We’ve really been struggling all year. I ask 10 different people for help, and get 10 different ways to go.”

MORE FROM MALTA

Travis Witbeck and Zach Buff became the 14th and 15th different winners in the sportsman division with their victories last Friday.

One of the people Witbeck thanked following his victory was modified driver Jack Lehner. “Jack is one of my best friends and helps with the setups,” Witbeck said. “He’s the one who got me here in the first place.”

Zach Buff joined his brothers Andrew and Justin on the all-time sportsman win list at Malta. Andrew has 12 career wins, while Justin’s only win came on May 31, 2019, when he inherited the victory after Derek Bornt failed to pass post-race inspection.

Not to be outdone by their brethren, the limited sportsman division has seen 14 different winners this year, following Alex Palmer-Sawyer’s first career win last Friday. Craig Wholey leads the division with three wins, and point leader Chris Crane Jr. and Mike Parodi each have two.

Speaking of Lehner, he had rear end problems during hot laps last week and had to be towed back to the pits. “We broke a shock shaft,” he said after coming back to finish second in the modified feature. “The same thing happened at Canandaigua. I guess it’s time to change shock shafts.”

I’ll admit, I was really confused by Chad Jeseo’s performance in the pro-stock feature last Friday. The five-time winner couldn’t keep his car running, went from off the pace to full throttle back to crawling around the inside, even cut through the infield at one time. It was obvious he was just trying to pick up as many points as posslble, hoping to stay in the hunt for the title. As it turns out, Jeseo’s motor was acting up, and his crew sent most of Saturday working on the uncooperative power plant, changing fuel pumps, the carburetor, distributor, everything they could think of. They finally solved the problem, and Jeseo then drove to his ninth win of the year at Lebanon Valley in his Friday night car.

But that 15th-place finish at Malta dropped Jeseo 28 points behind points leader Jason Casey.

It’s a good bet that a Samrov will win the street stock crown, as Josh Samrov leads his brother Jason by two points (786-784) with three point races left in that class. But don’t count out two-time champion Jeff Meltz Sr., who is lurking in third, just 10 points out of first.

As the summer goes along, tracks suffer from diminishing car counts, and Albany-Saratoga Speedway is no exception. Only 18 cars started the modified feature last week. Don Ronca, Rob Pitcher and Demetrios Drellos all suffered from mechanical problems earlier in the night, and Bornt, James Meehan and Kris Vernold were absent.

Matt Depew also sat out the modified feature, after being parked by officials following an incident with Marc Johnson after their heat race. I’m staying out of the middle of this one, because I only saw the end result, not the original problem that got Johnson riled up, which resulted in retaliation by Depew.

After Johnson picked up his second modified feature win last Friday, I talked to him about his recent swing on the Super DIRTcar SummerFAST Series. He finished 12th at Brewerton on Aug. 16 and was sixth at Land of Legends in Canandaigua on Aug. 18. “We’re trying a lot of things and learning a lot,” he said. “But we’ve been racing at tracks we’ve never seen before, and we’ve got no notes to go on. Peter (Britten) has been giving us help on gears and things like that, but we’ve got no one to lean on.”

CORRECTION

Last Sunday, I headed out to the Nassau Sportsman’s Club for the annual NESCOT Steak/Chicken Bake. This was my first time there and I have to say, they put on a heck of a spread, which included both lunch and dinner. Recipients of the annual SAM (Superior Achievement in Motorsports) Awards were Ernie and Eddie Marshall, Don Kruger, Ron Hedger, Mark “Krash Mender” Krosky and the Dirt Track Digest TV crew, with George Smith representing the DTD-TV team.

During the course of the day, I had a nice conversation with Bob Ogren, who I haven’t seen in years, and he pointed out an error I didn’t realize I had made.

“I read your column every week (at least someone does!), and a while ago, you said that LJ Lombardo’s win at the Valley (in the King of the Spring Super DIRTcar Series race in May) was the first time that a PMC chassis won a Super DIRT race,” said Ogren. “That was actually the second time. Frank Cozze was driving a PMC when he won at Syracuse.”

Geez, I had forgotten all about that one. Cozze WAS driving a PMC when he won the Rite Aid 200 at the New York State Fairgrounds during Super DIRT Week in 2008. I stand corrected.

BERGER STEPPING AWAY

Despite enjoying the best season of his modified racing career, Brian Berger announced earlier this week that he’s going to step away from racing at the end of the 2022 campaign. He never used the word retirement, just stepping away. Berger has two wins at the Valley this season, but they came in two of the biggest events of the year, the JC Flach Memorial, which paid $5,000 to win, and the Bryan Goewey Memorial, which paid $10,000.

“I won’t say I will never race again,” said Berger in a release put out by his Phaze 3 racing team. “But I am done spending money and consuming all the time and energy it takes to be successful in this game full-time.”

Berger started racing in 1990, driving for his uncle Bruce, and got his first modified win in 2005. His win in the Goewey Memorial was his seventh career win on the high banks.

AROUND THE TRACKS

The Buff brothers swept the top three spots in last Sunday’s DIRTcar Sportsman Series race at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, with Andrew leading Justin and Zach across the finish line. Also, the Jack Millard Memorial for All-Star Slingshots was a huge success, with 24 drivers taking the green flag.

Albany-Saratoga fans will remember Gene Munger, who campaigned the Richardsdale Farms No. 75 at Malta for years. Last Saturday, Munger’s son A.J., 21, recorded his first career limited sportsman feature win at Devil’s Bowl. He did win a race last year, but that was a non-winner’s event for the limiteds.

Orange County Speedway will be holding its Championship Night Saturday. In the NASCAR-style playoff format, Anthony Perrego, Max McLaughlin, Matt Sheppard and Billy Van Inwegen are the four drivers eligible for the $30,000 payoff.