~ By Tom Boggie

Jack Speshock wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel last Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

On one hand, he had just snapped his streak of ridiculously bad luck by finishing second in the 35-lap NAPA Modified feature. On the other hand, he had let his first career win slip through his grasp when he spun his tires on a restart, allowing Mike Mahaney to take a lead he would never relinquish.

“I guess I can’t be mad about second,” said Speshock after the race.

Earlier in the night, Speshock had discussed his early-season misfortunes, rattling off his DNFs like an injury-prone athlete would rattle off a list of injuries.

“Let’s see. There was a broken input shaft, then I ran into (Matt) Depew, then I broke the axle on the left side of the car and last week, I broke the axle on the right side. If anything happens tonight, I’m going to drive the car right into Saratoga Lake and buy a smoker or something,” he said.

After not even making the field for the feature on opening night, Speshock had finishes of 31st, 20th, 20th and 22nd in the next four weeks. And the really frustrating part was that his car was fast every week.

“You know, the second and third times were frustrating,” he said of his breakdowns. “Then the fourth and fifth times were kind of comical. It was like, what’s going to happen now? We’ve been fast all year. It’s not like I was going out there and plowing into people.”

No, it was just the opposite. On most occasions, he was leading or challenging for the lead when something went wrong.

“I haven’t made any setup changes since Week 2,” he said. “We haven’t touched the shocks or anything. The car has been that good.”

Had it not been for one little slipup, Speshock would have had his first career win. When he’s leading, Speshock likes to take the inside on a restart, get a big jump coming out of the fourth turn, then slide to the top to get another big run out of the second turn. But last week, he spun his tires on a restart on lap 21, which allowed Mahaney to maintain his line on the outside and Speshock couldn’t get back to the top.
All he could do was watch Mahaney pull away.

“The top was getting a little sketchy, and I was hoping he would go in there (turn one) and plaster the cushion, but that didn’t happen,” said Speshock.

But at least he got a second, which matched his career-best finish, as he was also the runner-up to Rich Ronca last year on July 9.

Speshock, who is in his second full season in a modified after a solid sportsman career, which saw him pick up two wins at Albany-Saratoga, will be facing another challenge this week. “I’m not sure how good this car is in traffic,” he said. “I guess I’ll find out.”

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It was good to see Mahaney back in victory lane with car owner George Huttig last week.

Mahaney has been one of the busiest drivers in the Northeast this season. After last weekend’s racing, Mahaney had a total of 27 starts. Only Matt Sheppard, now with 31, has started more races.

But until last Friday, Mahaney was winless, and had just five top-five finishes to show for all his effort.

“We’ve been spreading ourselves too thin,” said Mahaney, who had skipped a Super DIRT Series race on May 18 to spend more time in the shop preparing his Adirondack Auto-sponsored modified for Albany-Saratoga. “This (racing fulltime) is hard to do, and we haven’t been giving ourselves enough time to get better.”

Scott Huber had to scratch out of the modified feature after wrecking his car during the hot-laps session. Huber got too high going through the third turn and crunched into the retaining wall at the top of the fourth turn, with his car winding up on its side. James Meehan, who was not far behind, then slammed into Huber’s car.

Darryl Nutting picked up his fourth career sportsman win, holding off a late charge from defending track champion Tim Hartman Jr. “This thing was a rocket ship all night,” said Nutting in victory lane. “This track has been fast and tonight, there were lanes on the top and the bottom. I could even drive right through the middle, and usually, you can’t do that.”

Speshock wasn’t the only modified driver who has been having a run of bad luck. Both Ronnie Johnson and Marc Johnson have failed to finish the last two features. Ronnie Johnson has finished 25th and 20th in his last two starts, while Marc Johnson has finished 16th and 19th.

At the other end of the spectrum, Robert Bublak Jr. has finished eighth and seventh in his last two starts, and Demetrios Drellos has finished third, fifth and fifth in his last three. Drellos has climbed to second in points, just 14 behind leader Peter Britten (290 to 276). Mahaney and Matt DeLorenzo are tied for third, just three behind Drellos, who is still looking for his first win of the season.

How balanced are the modified and sportsman fields at Albany-Saratoga? Through six weeks of racing, there have been no repeat winners in either division.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Stewart Friesen picked up his third career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in last Friday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Friesen was in second place when Ben Rhodes spun out with five laps to go, sending the race into overtime, and he got a perfect restart to get past leader Christian Eckes.

“I’m terrible on restarts,” said Friesen during a television interview after the race. “But I didn’t spin the tires this time and then I threw a slider on him.”

Andy Bachetti swept the big block and small block modified features at Lebanon Valley last Saturday. His victory in the small block feature was his 100th open-wheel victory at the Valley. The only other drivers who have more than 100 victories are Ken Tremont Jr. and Brett Hearn.

Speaking of sweeps, Matt Sheppard won both of the 50-lap features last Saturday at Orange County. Both features paid $5,000 to win, and Sheppard also picked up a $5,000 bonus for the sweep. For good measure, he also won a series race Tuesday night at New Egypt Speedway, earning another $7,500.

The Valley will be rocking over the Memorial Day weekend, with two nights of racing, on Saturday and Monday. The Monday attraction will be the King of Spring 100, which is part of the Super DIRT Series and will pay $13,500.

There will be a lot of extra money on the line Friday night at Albany-Saratoga. The modifieds will be running for $3,000 to win, while Meltz Lumber will be sponsoring the pro stock feature, which will pay $1,500 to win, and the street stock feature, which will pay a whopping $1,000 to win. In addition, Hico Fabrication will be putting up extra money for the sportsman feature, which will pay $1,000 to win, and the limited sportsman winner will receive $1,000, through sponsorship from Gary and Patricia Van Alstyne.

Justin Stone picked up his first win of the year in the sportsman/modified feature at Devil’s Bowl last Saturday, despite going to the rear for bringing out a caution early in the race. Both Justin and his father Todd are competing for the track championship this year, and both have one win so far.

After getting rained out last weekend, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park will be back in action Sunday with Heroes Night. All veterans and active military personnel with proper ID will be admitted free of charge.