The 4^th Turn

By Tom Boggie

I know every inch of the grounds at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and I can tell you there’s no classroom anywhere on the premises.

But Ryan Godown certainly learned some valuable lessons last Friday night.

Godown usually races at Big Diamond Speedway on Friday nights but with Big Diamond having a night off last Friday, Godown made the decision to haul from his home in Ringoes, N.J. to Malta (it’s 211 miles one way) for a regular distance, regular payoff show.

But Godown was looking at the bigger picture. He wanted to test his small block modified in preparation for Brett Hearn’s Big Show 11 on June 25.

“This is only the third time we’ve run this car this year,” said Godown, who finished second to Peter Britten in the Friday night’s 35-lap feature, despite starting 15^th, “We ran it at Can-Am and at Weedsport, and I don’t have enough notes on the car yet. The suspension on this car is totally different than the small block I run at home. I wanted to get some notes so I don’t fall too far behind in time trials when we come back for the DIRT [series] race.”

Sticking to the bottom of the race track, Godown only needed 12 laps to move into the top five. There was one point during the early stages of the race that Brett Hearn started to run the top, and Godown took a chance on a restart on lap 10 and began to follow Hearn. But he quickly dropped back to the bottom.

“It [an outside groove] looked like it was there,” said Godown. “I tried it, and said, ‘It ain’t there,’ and went back to the bottom.”

Godown moved into fourth following a restart on lap 29, and the next time around, muscled his way inside Rocky Warner for third.

Another caution came out on lap 31, and Godown was right on Britten’s rear bumper. He hadn’t been timid about moving Warner out of the way. Would he do the same thing to Britten? After all, he had made a long haul and why not take home a win?

“Naw, I didn’t even think about it,” said Godown with a smile later. “Peter is a nice guy and we race together in the DIRT races. I didn’t want to get a win like that.”

Fans will remember that Godown made two trips to Albany-Saratoga Speedway last season. He ran in Big Show 10 on June 26, and then returned for the Stampede at ‘Toga STSS Series race on Aug. 15. He finished 11^th in the Stampede, but he didn’t even get a chance to work up a sweat in Big Show 10.

Godown landed a ride in the Andy Romano-owned big block for that race. Godown ran two hot laps, two laps in time trials, but didn’t even complete a lap in his heat race. He caught the berm in the third turn and flipped the 97, ending his night.

“Let me tell you. I felt that one for about a month after,” he said.

So when Godown returns for Big Show 11 later this month, he hopes to stick around a little longer. And he’ll be coming back with a good lesson plan.

ARE YOU SERIES-OUS?

When is a series not a series? When no one follows it.

Round 2 of the VP Racing Fuels Summer Shootout Series for DIRTcar Sportsman was held last Friday at Albany-Saratoga. The six-race series, with two races each at Albany-Saratoga, Lebanon Valley and Utica-Rome, was announced in late April. Each race pays $1,000 to win (not really a big deal), and the overall winner will receive a VP Racing Fuels car wrap, a driver’s suit and $3,000 in VP Racing Fuels products.

Matt Janczuk won the first race of the series at Utica-Rome. He can’t be taking the series too seriously, because he didn’t show up for Round 2. And a look at the results from the Utica-Rome race shows that Pat Jones was the only Malta regular to make the trip.

Round 2 drew five outsiders, and none finished in the top 10. Charlie Tibbitts, a regular at Utica-Rome, was 16^th.

And where were the Lebanon Valley cars? Not one car from the Valley has run in the first two races of the series, and there was no excuse last week, because sportsman weren’t even on the card at the Valley.

This series reminds me of my time working in Oneonta in the mid-1970s. Oneonta was a member of the Southern Tier Athletic Conference, while all of the other schools in the league were in Binghamton. During bowling season, rather than take the hour-long bus ride to Binghamton in the winter, Oneonta would bowl at its home lanes, their opponent would bowl at its home lanes, and the two coaches would match scores during a phone call later that night.

The VP Racing Fuel series might want to adopt this format to crown its champion. It will save a lot of wear and tear on race cars, and save a little in Thruway tolls.

SPRINT CAR NEWS

Josh Pieniazek reached a milestone in his racing career Saturday when he recorded his first Empire Super Sprints victory at Airborne Park in Plattsburgh.

Pieniazek is no stranger to area racing fans. He was the New York State Stock Car Association 358 Rookie of the Year in 2005 when he was competing at Fonda Speedway and has recorded CSRA victories at Albany-Saratoga, Fonda, and Utica-Rome.

During the 2014 season, he won four features, tying him with Danny Varin for the most CSRA wins that year, and in 2015, he finished second, by four points, to Kyle Smith in the race for the overall CRSA Series championship.

Judging from his victory lane reaction, Saturday’s win will be one Pieniazek will remember for a long time.

Speaking of Varin, he finished second in Sunday night’s Tony Stewart All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car race at Weedsport in only his fifth start ever in a 410 sprint car. Pretty impressive.

Varin will be at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night when the Empire Super Sprints run on the Hoosier Daddy Father’s Day card.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Andy Bachett had his hands full Saturday night at Lebanon Valley, running in four features. He finished first and fourth in the big block features, and first and sixth in the small block features. He actually finished third in one of the small block events, but was penalized three spots.

Steve Hough started on the pole and led flag-to-flag to win the J.C. Flach Memorial at the Valley Saturday night and take home the top prize of $5,000. Hearn came from deep in the field and finished second, and if the feature had gone another lap or two, he probably would have been in victory lane. Ironically, the car Hough won with was one he bought from Hearn.

Rocky Warner is proving to be unbeatable at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. He won both the modified and crate sportsman features last Sunday, and led every lap of both features. Do I hear the word bounty?

Robert Bublak Jr. scored a popular win in the sportsman feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Bublak nearly got stuck behind the lapped car of Dave Manchester on the backstretch with four laps left, but Bublak used the side rails to move Manchester aside, and then held off Chris Johnson for the win.

Bublak’s father, Robert Sr., who died in 2006, was a long time crew member for Mike Ballestero, and the Ballestero brothers have been big influences on Robert Jr.’s racing career.

“If not for Mike and Tony Ballestero, I wouldn’t be here,” said Bublak Jr. after the race. “This car is part of their legacy.”

Bublak said he had just found out that he’s going to become a father for the first time, and the baby’s due date is on his father’s birthday.

Car owner Ted Barcomb finally saw his dream come true when Robbie Belinger put the familiar black-and-yellow Barcomb colors in victory lane at Brewerton Speedway last Friday. Barcomb’s father, Cliff, who died in 1993, was a Hall of Fame car owner whose drivers included C.D. Coville and Dave Leckonby.

The last time the Barcomb 11 was in victory lane was in 1985 at Lebanon Valley, with Leckonby behind the wheel. But the most famous Barcomb ride probably came from Coville, when he put the Barcomb 11 into the trees off the third turn at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

In three starts last weekend, Matt Sheppard had two wins (Outlaw and Weedsport) and a third (Canandaigua). So far this year, he’s a perfect 5-for-5 at Outlaw, and I think his win at Weedsport brings his season’s total to 15.

In the first four modified features at Albany-Saratoga, four different drivers have finished second, and for each driver, the runner-up finish was their best ever at the track. It started with Mike Mahaney on May 17, and continued with Jackie Brown Jr., Warner, and Godown.