~ By Tom Boggie

As I was walking over to Neil Stratton’s hauler after last Friday’s “Stan Da’ Man Night” modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, I wasn’t sure if I should offer congratulations or condolences.

Congratulations for finishing second to Demetrios Drellos in the wild, crowd-pleasing 32-lap feature …

Or condolences for finishing second to Drellos in the wild, crowd-pleasing 32 lap feature.

Stratton made it easy for me.

“After what we’ve been through, I’ll take finishing,” he said. “I just wish I could have come out on top.”

I can’t argue with that. The 2023 season has been a complete disaster for Stratton. Plagued by motor issues, Stratton had just two top-10 finishes in the first dozen events of the season, a sixth on May 12 and an eighth on July 14. So just finishing last Friday’s feature was a big deal.

“I’ve had so much tough luck, it’s something just to finish,” he said. “We’ve had a fast car all year. If we didn’t have a fast car, absolutely, I’d be discouraged. But the car has been fast. We’re getting our primary motor back this week, and that should help.”

A slide job by Drellos with two laps to go prevented Stratton from getting his first modified win at Albany-Saratoga. He’d been to victory lane once before, on Aug. 9, 2019. But he was later disqualified because of a rules interpretation about the engine package he was running.

Winning has never come easy for Stratton. He recorded his first modified victory at Lebanon Valley Speedway on July 2, 2011, winning the Maynard Forrette Memorial. He also has two wins at Devil’s Bowl, with the last coming on July 15, 2018. That was his last official win.

His runner-up finish last Friday was his best finish ever at Albany-Saratoga. Since becoming a regular at the Malta track in 2012, he’s had nine top-five finishes, including four third-place runs.

Maybe that runner-up finish last week, and getting his primary motor back will enough to make him a weekly contender again. He’s always known the formula for success.

“I just have to do what I did tonight. Finish races,” he stated.

Now, getting back to Drellos. His victory moved him to within seven points of defending modified champion Matt DeLorenzo, and he’s suddenly the class of the field.

“If it hadn’t been for that flat tire two weeks ago, I’d have three in a row,” he said after last Friday’s win. “We found something the last few weeks and it’s really seemed to work.”

Anyone who’s watched Drellos and Stratton race at Albany-Saratoga know how aggressive they are, and it was inevitable that sparks would start to fly when they were battling for the lead. The sparks literally flew on lap 18, when Stratton slammed into the left side of Drellos’ car in the second turn as he was trying to avoid the car of Brett Graham, who had brought out the caution with mechanical problems.

“We’ve butted heads before. That’s a lot of damage for a hit under caution,” said Drellos, looking as his bent side bars.

“He dirtied me up last week, so I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said Stratton about his battle with Drellos. “But he raced me clean. I got into him on that caution because I was already committed to a slider.”

So when it was over, Drellos had his second win of the season and the winner’s check for $3,200, and Stratton had an extra $320 for winning his heat and a reason for optimism heading into the final seven weeks of the season.

MORE FROM MALTA

Lost in the Drellos-Stratton drama was a heck of run by 13-time champion Ken Tremont Jr. Tremont, who had announced earlier in the week that the 2023 season would be his last behind the wheel of a modified, had been plagued by carburetor problems right from the first round of hot laps last Friday. After failing to finish his heat, he started last in the 27-car modified field, but never gave up, and came away with a ninth-place finish.

All year long, defending sportsman champion Tim Hartman Jr. has complained about the sportsman features being cut back to 20 laps, to accommodate dual features. He said that 20 laps aren’t enough for drivers who start deep in the field to get to the front. So, in last Friday’s 32-lap “Flying Trowel,” he provided his point, dominating the feature despite starting 22^nd. Just to back up Hartman Jr.’s point, Andrew Buff, the current point leader, finished second, despite starting 23^rd.

“It had better rain out tomorrow at Lebanon Valley because we’re going to celebrate this one hard,” said Hartman Jr. after his second win of the year and division-leading 37^th of his career.

One of the people missing from the celebration was car owner Mike Parillo. “Mike didn’t come,” said Hartman Jr. “He probably saw I was starting 22^nd and probably stayed home.”

Kim Duell and Kyle Hoard battled for the $320 bonus in the Four States Enterprises pro stock Dash for Cash like they were racing for a win at Super DIRT Week. They stayed side-by-side for four laps, until Duell slid up in front of Hoard coming out of the fourth turn on the last lap.

Brandon Emigh ended a long drought by recording his first win of the season (and 11^th of his career) in the pro stock feature. “I haven’t been here since 2019, so it feels pretty good,” said Emigh. He was quick to thank Art Howe, who “…put a motor in my car when I blew mine up.”

The pro stock field was down a car, as Luke Horning was serving a one-week suspension for an on-track incident involving Duell and Rich Crane on July 14. “Cousin Luke” opted to hit the road, finishing second at Utica-Rome.

Here’s an oddity. Mike Ballestero and Ron Proctor both qualified for the sportsman feature even though neither one finished their heat race. They were involved in a wreck on lap seven of their heat race, with Ballestero spinning in the second turn after making contact with the car driven by Drew Cormie, and Proctor had nowhere to go, slamming into Ballestero nose-to-nose. That incident left only four cars on the track, so Ballestero and Proctor got the final two qualifying spots. They made repairs (the front end of Proctor’s car had extensive damage) and both started the feature. Ballestero only lasted three laps before getting into a multi-car tangle in the second turn, finishing 27th, while Proctor ran all 32 laps, and finished 14^th.

The fourth annual John Grady Memorial Nostalgia Night is on tap Friday night at Albany-Saratoga, with all divisions running for increased purses, and the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds making an appearance. Racing will begin a half-hour earlier, at 6:30. Don’t forget, Albany-Saratoga will also be in action on Wednesday, Aug. 9 with the features from the rained-out show on June 16.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Glen Ridge Motorsports Park officials announced last week that the track will be adding the RUSH Crate Late Models to its weekly racing card in 2024. The RUSH Series is based in Pennsylvania, and currently competes on a regular basis at five tracks in the Western part of New York. Fans will be getting a preview of what’s to come when the Series makes a stop at Glen Ridge on Aug. 13. Last Sunday, Drellos hot-lapped his late model to show prospective drivers what the RUSH series is all about. Drellos liked what he saw at Glen Ridge, saying in a Facebook post that the surface was “fast, smooth and wide. It’s going to be an awesome show in a few weeks.” Former slingshot and sportsman driver Brock “Bam Bam” Pinkerous is a fulltime rookie in the RUSH Series this year.

It was good to see Bobby Hackel IV get back into victory lane, with his win in last Sunday’s Heath Memorial at Five Mile Point, taking home the top prize of $5,000. Hackel IV’s last win had been on Aug. 28, 2021, when he chalked up his only big block modified victory at Lebanon Valley.

The Super DIRTcar Series made a three-race swing in Canada earlier this week, and former Albany-Saratoga champion Mike Mahaney made the most of it, winning Tuesday night’s 75-lap feature at Drummond. The win was worth $10,000 for the George Huttig-owned racing team, and also gave Mahaney a guaranteed starting spot for the Billy Whittaker 200 at Oswego in October.

Erick Rudolph won Monday’s race, which was also at Drummond. Ironically, both Rudolph and Mahaney drew the No. 6 starting positions for their respective features.

The series concluded at Brockville on Wednesday, with Tim Fuller picking up the win. Fuller had recorded the first Super DIRTcar Series victory of his career at Brockville 27 years ago. Peter Britten was fourth on Wednesday, with Mahaney sixth and Jack Lehner eighth.

Stewart Friesen struggled to a 27^th-place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond last weekend, and failed to make the playoffs. “We brought a dull knife to a gunfight tonight,” Friesen told a member of the NASCAR public relations staff.