~ By Tom Boggie

Marc Johnson is in need of some help.

Does anyone know of a good shaman or a witch doctor … someone who can chase the evil spirits away from his Bicknell modifieds?

“This car has me on pins and needles right now,” said Johnson before last Friday’s racing card at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. “Now, I’m double and triple checking everything. I want to win, sure, but first I’ve got to start finishing.”

After finishing fifth in the opening-night feature on April 14, Johnson has had nothing but trouble. During Week 2, his battery went dead with nine laps to go, resulting in a 21st place finish.

That prompted Johnson to quickly order a new Bicknell chassis, which he put together in less than two days and drove to a second-place finish on April 28. “Even when we finished second, it didn’t feel right,” said Johnson last Friday. “It wasn’t pulling down the straightaways like it should have.”

“The next week, it felt good in warmups, but that was the night we rained out,” he added.

Two weeks ago, more problems. Johnson broke a rocker arm during his heat race, and had to bring out his backup car. But the backup car had problems of its own.

“We couldn’t keep it running,” said Johnson. “It was OK when we ran it at Middletown, but it just wouldn’t run.”

Johnson pulled into the pits on the first lap of the feature, later returned after making some quick adjustments, but never completed a full lap, officially finishing 27th.

The gremlins returned last Friday night. Johnson made one miscue during his heat race, losing a couple of spots when he got too high in the fourth turn with two laps to go. He finished seventh in his heat race, which put him deep in the starting field (21st, to be exact). Johnson was in the wrong place at the wrong time on lap nine of the feature, when Brian Calabrese lost power on the front straightaway and was hit from behind by Demetrios Drellos. Johnson jumped on the brakes to avoid hitting anything, but again, wound up near the tail end of the field and only managed to get back up to 14th.

But at least he ran all 35 laps.

MORE FROM MALTA

To say Don Ronca was a little upset after last Friday’s modified feature would be an understatement.

After leading the first 33 laps of the 35-lap modified feature, Ronca lost the lead to Matt DeLorenzo on a restart with two laps to go and had to settle for second.

“What does it take to win a race?” lamented Ronca afterwards.

On that final restart, Ronca, who had been running the top all night, again chose the outside, but that proved to be his downfall. DeLorenzo got a big run coming to the green flag, drifted up to block Ronca’s lane coming out of the second turn and in the span of two laps, built up a three-car length lead by the time starter Rich Peterson threw the checkered flag.

“The car was tight early on, but on that last restart, it really locked down,” said DeLorenzo. “This car is a little different than our other one, and we’re still trying to figure it out.”

“I had been running the top all night, and I didn’t want to switch on that restart,” Ronca said. “I just didn’t get a quick enough jump. But at least I finished. This is the first race I’ve finished all year.”

Truth be told, Ronca nearly lost the lead to Robert Bublak Jr. on a restart earlier in the feature. Bublak had an advantage on the inside coming out of the second turn, but on that occasion, Ronca was able to keep his momentum up and was back in front when the lap was completed.

Lost in the excitement of the finish was an outstanding run by Matt Depew, who finished third. That was Depew’s best finish at Albany-Saratoga since finishing second to Brett Hearn on July 28, 2017. Depew began racing modifieds at Devil’s Bowl in 2005 and became a Friday night regular at Albany-Saratoga in 2012. His only victory in a regular points-paying feature came on July 17, 2015.

It looked like Neil Stratton was going to come away with a top-five finish last Friday, but he blew his left rear tire on the final lap and dropped to 18th. Stratton had been hooked up all night, winning his heat and lining up 10th on the starting grid. That blown tire could have resulted from contact with DeLorenzo when Stratton and DeLorenzo came together going down the backstretch while racing for second.

Eric Mack’s win in one of the sportsman features was his first victory at Albany-Saratoga since June 18, 2004, when the secondary division was known as the Line-X Modifieds.

“I was sitting in my car early in the night and said to myself, You know, Bob Savoie taught me a lot about this place,” said Mack after his victory. “So I said, Let’s go, Bob.” And go he did, leading all 20 laps from his outside pole starting spot.

Tim Hartman Jr. was nursing sore ribs after the second sportsman feature. On the first lap, pole-sitter Scotty Bennett looped his car between the first and second turns, setting off a chain-reaction that involved 13 cars of the 20-car field. Hartman Jr.’s car had a lot of damage after he slammed into Jon Miller, but he was able to come out after the red flag period. He wound up finishing ninth after spending the next 20 laps bouncing around in an ill-handling race car.

PROMISING START

Derrick McGrew Jr. wasn’t at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, as he was in Michigan to make his Menards ARCA East Series debut on Saturday.

Driving for Rise Motorsports in the Dutch Boy 150, the 15-year-old McGrew Jr. came away with a 10th-place finish in his series debut. He had to rebound from a couple of spinouts during the 150-lap feature on the ¼-mile paved oval at Flat Rock Speedway.

“Derrick McGrew is truly the real deal. Period,” said Rise Motorsports owner Tim Goulet in a Facebook post. “If any of you big teams have the luxury of putting talent before money, please, please consider this kid.”

On a video after the race, McGrew Jr. said, “It was definitely different. The longer races take a toll on you. All it all, it’s not a terrible night. Unfortunately, we got turned in the beginning but we regrouped ourselves and came back for a top-10 finish.”

AROUND THE TRACKS

The Memorial Day Weekend always means a lot of racing. The DMA USAC Bear Ridge midgets will be part of the program Friday night at Albany-Saratoga, and Lebanon Valley will be hosting the Super DIRTcar Series for its 100-lap King of the Spring race on Monday, after running a regular show on Saturday. The King of the Spring will pay $13,500 to win, and offers a guaranteed starting spot for the Billy Whittaker 200 at Oswego in October.

Glen Ridge Motorsports Park should be packed with slingshots on Sunday. The All-Star slingshots will be competing for $1,000 to win, while the juniors will be racing for a winner’s payout of $300.

Congratulations to Scott Towslee for recording the first limited sportsman win of his career last Sunday at Devil’s Bowl (they rained out on Saturday). Towslee was awarded the win after apparent winner Tim Aldrighetti was disqualified for a rev box violation. Towslee moved up to the limited sportsman this year after four seasons in a pro stock.

Glen Ridge promoter Ray Sefrin had to be overjoyed last week when over 100 cars signed into the pits for Sunday’s show. That included 20 DIRTcar 358 modifieds. Lance Willix won the 358 modified feature for the second week in a row, while Luke Horning was victorious in the Silver Fox Showdown for pro stocks, a tribute race for the late Don Warner.

Anthony Perrego was a no-show at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, opting instead to race at Accord. The modified feature at Accord was postponed after a couple of attempts to get it started because drivers felt track conditions weren’t safe, according to internet reports.