~ By Tom Boggie

I went to another track last weekend because it was hosting a big race, so that was the only racing I saw because Albany-Saratoga was dark.

I don’t want to hash out the blow-by-blow details of the race. That’s been done on numerous other web sites. But what if I just write about Albany-Saratoga regulars?

Guys like … Jack Lehner. Lehner began the season with high hopes, but nothing has gone right. He never got the results he was looking for. The 23-year-old driver went into last weekend’s racing winless in 51 starts in 2022. His best results had been at Albany-Saratoga, where he had seven top five finishes, including a pair of seconds. His season appeared to take a turn for the better last week, as he won the Ultimate Underdog 33 for non-winners on Thursday, using a motor he borrowed from the Brock Pinkerous racing team. He then finished third in his heat on Friday, which put him into the redraw. He started 12th, but on the first lap of the big race on Saturday, he was hit by another car in the third turn and sailed into the tire barrier nose-first, doing severe damage to his new Bicknell chassis. He later said the car was totaled. He did pick up $450 in bonus money despite finishing 40th. But now, he’s down to one car for the remainder of the season.

Guys like … Demetrios Drellos. Drellos always seems to come alive in big races, and last weekend was no exception. He was strong all day, and finished fifth. But when the car went across the scales after the race, he was 12 pounds light, which amounts to about a gallon and a half of fuel, and he was disqualified. That cost him a $4,000 payday. He later said, “We underestimated our fuel needs. Our mistake.”

Guys like … Mike Mahaney. Mahaney finished third in this particular race for the third straight year, and earned $10,000. But did you see that victory lane photo, with winner Matt Sheppard wearing an ear-to-ear smile and Mahaney looking like the IRS just told him they are going to audit his tax returns? Mahaney had his reasons for looking surly, but no sense rehashing them here.

Guys like … Tim Hartman Jr. and Mike Ballestero. Hartman Jr. finished third in the sportsman race on Saturday, and Ballestero, who ended a 14-year winless drought at Albany-Saratoga on Sept. 9, was right behind him in fourth. Nice runs, gentlemen.

Guys like … Adam Tranka. He’s actually a Glen Ridge regular, but he USED to be a Malta regular. Oh, what the heck, Tranka chalked up his first career street stock victory on Friday night. He finished second, behind Chris Murray, but Murray was later disqualified for having an illegal exhaust.

Guys like … Marc Johnson. In all the reports I’ve read about this race, there have been very few mentions of Johnson, other than to say he led some laps early in the second 100. I must be losing my mind (Ed Lamberton will back that up. He’s always thought I was nuts). Didn’t I see Johnson pull the Kevin Starchak-owned No. 9 into the hot pit while the field was taking pace laps and then rejoin the rear of the field? Didn’t that mean that Johnson gave up his 21st starting position and started 41st, the last car in the field? When he finished sixth (elevated to fifth by Drellos’ DQ), didn’t that make him the Hard Charger, going from 41st to sixth? Or did I just imagine the whole thing?

A MASSIVE FINALE

Albany-Saratoga will end its 2022 season with the two-day Malta Massive Weekend Friday and Saturday. The weather looks pretty good, and if DeVore gets in both nights, the season will end with 17 consecutive nights of racing (Sept. 16 doesn’t figure in, because no racing was scheduled for that night). The record for consecutive nights of racing is 18, set in 2012, the first year that Howard Commander leased the speedway. If DeVore hadn’t canceled racing on May 27 because of an unfavorable forecast of heavy rain (which never materialized), the 2022 season would have included 24 consecutive nights of racing. Wow, no wonder everyone is getting testy!

Modifieds will be running both nights at Malta Massive Weekend, with a 40-lapper paying $4,000 to win on Friday and the 100-lap Super DIRTcar Series race, paying $10,500, on Saturday. With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series taking this weekend off, Stewart Friesen will be at Malta both Friday and Saturday. Friesen is currently third in the chase for the truck series championship, only 15 points behind leader Chandler Smith. The regular Albany-Saratoga divisions will also be in action, split over two nights. Again, no sense rehashing it here. Just look to the left when you go back to the home page!

I need a couple of new sweatshirts. Who should I give my money to?

AROUND THE TRACKS

Devil’s Bowl will also be in action this weekend, holding Championship Night on Saturday. Last week, Todd Stone drove to his fourth win of the season and for all practical purposes, locked up the sportsman/modified championship, opening up a 105-point lead over Justin Comes. That will be Stone’s fourth championship at the Bowl, and his first title on dirt since 2008. Stone lost the 2009 crown to Ken Tremont Jr. by one point, and then won modified championships on asphalt in both 2013 and 2014.

David Boisclair finished second to Stone last Saturday. That’s the fourth time this year he’s been the runner-up.

Here’s an interesting fact Tim Hartman Sr. passed along last weekend. Only three drivers (regardless of division) have won track championships at Albany-Saratoga, Fonda and Lebanon Valley during their careers. That list is made up of Bill Wimble (modified champion at Albany-Saratoga in 1967, Lebanon Valley champion in 1968, five-time champion at Fonda); Rob Yetman (six-time pro stock champion at Lebanon Valley, two-time champion at Albany-Saratoga, tied with Kenny Gates for championship at Fonda in 2007); and Tim Hartman Jr. (four-time sportsman champion at Albany-Saratoga, champion at Fonda in 2019, champion at Lebanon Valley in 2022).

Mohawk International Speedway hosted a pair of DIRTcar Pro Stock Series races last weekend. “Cousin” Luke Horning picked up the win on Friday, while two-time Albany-Saratoga champion Chad Jeseo got the win on Saturday.

Peter Britten, who finished second to Matt DeLorenzo in the battle for the Albany-Saratoga modified championship this season, opted to race at Canandaigua last Saturday, finishing third in the 100-lap Gerald Haers Memorial. Adding in his bonus money, he walked out with a total of $3,200.

Craig Von Dohren, who was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame earlier this year, won a total of $32,060 for his victory in the Freedom 76 at Grandview last weekend. Because Grandview is reportedly being sold, “Happy Trails” was played over the PA system at the end of the night and Jeff Strunk went back out on the track after tech and made one final, slow lap around the speedway. Von Dohren’s win was his 130th career victory at Grandview.