~ By Tom Boggie

Talk about sensory overload! Fans will be talking about the 2023 version of Malta Massive Weekend for years to come.

There are so many lasting images, from fans surrounding Ken Tremont Jr.’s car and taking cellphone pictures to capture him climbing into his modified for one of the last times before heading into retirement, to Chad Jeseo winning the highest-paying pro stock race ever, to Parker Friesen celebrating with his dad on the frontstretch after Stewart won the 115-lap Super DIRT Series feature on Saturday.

But when I think about Malta Massive Weekend, my lasting image will be of Tyler Rapp.

To preface this, Rapp has had a frustrating year at Albany-Saratoga. Now is his second full season in the highly competitive sportsman division, where wins are hard to come by, he recorded his first career win on May 12, but he had just two other top-five finishes since then. So, obviously, a win in last Friday night’s DIRTcar Sportsman Series race would have made his season.

He started on the pole in the third heat, but when he fired into the fourth turn on the first lap, he was hit from behind, got turned in front of the field and was belted by Taylor Wason. His night was done before he had completed one lap.

In watching the Dirt Track Digest TV replay, when Rapp went into the fourth turn, he was hit from behind by EJ Gonyo, who then went to the top while Drew Cormie dove to the bottom. As Rapp spun to his left, he saw the white car of Cormie drive by.

While the field was stopped on the backstretch, under a red flag, Rapp climbed out of his car in the fourth turn and started heading for the backstretch. When he arrived at Cormie’s car, he started gesturing at Cormie and then threw a punch.

Cormie quickly put up his hands, in a gesture of surrender, and began pointing over his shoulder to Gonyo’s car, which is also primarily white. After all, Cormie had seen the whole thing develop.

Rapp then walked over to Gonyo’s car, threw a couple of right hands at Gonyo’s helmet, added a couple of lefts and then added one more right. As he walked through the infield and headed back to the pits, the fans gave him a nice round of applause.

I’m pretty sure Rapp will get some sort of penalty for his actions, but let’s face it; sometimes, you just reach your boiling point, and Rapp reached his on Friday night.

MORE FROM MALTA

Friday was the longest night of racing I’ve ever endured. You can be sure I’ve never driven out of those gates on Route 9 at 1:30 in the morning before. With over 200 cars signed in, there were at least 30 haulers parked in the spectator parking area on the north side of the parking lot.

Tremont debuted a new PMC chassis for his final night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and finished 10^th in his final career start. His son Montgomery will attempt to qualify that car during Super DIRT Week in Oswego next month.

Larry Wight lived up to his nickname of “Lightning Larry” in the Super DIRTcar Series race on Saturday. Wight had to come through one of the Last Chance Qualifiers and started 20^th in the 27-car field. But after 115 laps, he was sitting fourth, quite an accomplishment.

Two Albany-Saratoga regulars who deserve some accolades are James Meehan and Randy Miller.

Meehan drove to an impressive third-place finish in Saturday night’s Super DIRTcar Series race, easily his best finish ever in a tour event. In fact, it was his best finish of the year at Albany-Saratoga.

Meehan and his brother Patrick are the money men behind Meehan’s racing operation, and they race when they can afford to. The 30-year-old Meehan had only raced at Albany-Saratoga six times in 2023, finishing 23^rd on April 14, 33^rd on April 21, 21^st on June 30, 27^th on July 26, 25^th on Aug. 11 and 13^th on Aug. 26. He also made one start at Airborne Speedway and two at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park this season.

Meehan finished second to Friesen in the fourth modified heat on Saturday to get into the redraw, and drew the fourth starting spot. He ran as high as second, occupying the No. 2 position from lap 22 until lap 79, when Felix Roy used a restart to become the runner-up. Hall of Famer Dick Hicks did a heck of a job preparing the Hico Fabrications-sponsored car for Meehan.

“This is pretty cool,” said Meehan, whose only big block victory at Albany-Saratoga came on Aug. 6, 2021. “This is like a win for us.”

Then there’s Miller, known around Albany-Saratoga as “The Wheelman.” Miller is a veteran of the street stock ranks. If my research is correct, he recorded his first street stock win in 2012, and has been to victory lane a total of 44 times.

He’s cut back on his racing in the last couple of seasons, but returned this year with a pro stock.

On Friday night, he was one of 43 drivers trying to earn a spot in Jordan Modiano’s Autism Awareness Night feature, which was paying $10,500 to win. Miller hasn’t had much luck in his first season in a pro stock, and Friday was really no different. He made his way into the feature by finishing second in one of the Last Chance Qualifiers, which put him 27^th in the 28-car field.

But he avoided all the chaos that proved to be costly to many other drivers, and when the checkered flag fell, he was 12^th overall. Friday marked the first time he had run in a feature since May 26.

After being involved in a wreck that ended his night prematurely on Friday, Kim Duell came back with a second-place finish to Luke Horning in the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series race on Saturday. “Luke was really fast. There was no catching him,” said Duell after the race. “Our car was good. We had a fuel issue in the heat race and then changed everything in the fuel system. So I’m happy.”

Duell goes into the offseason in the No. 1 spot on the all-time pro stock win list at Albany-Saratoga with 29 victories.

One of the other big stories Saturday night was the absence of 2023 Albany-Saratoga modified champion Demetrios Drellos. On Saturday morning, the Drellos team posted on Facebook, “Sorry to all our amazing fans we will not be racing at Albany-Saratoga tonight our driver is a little under the weather.”

Drellos is scheduled to be running his late model at Pennsylvania Motor Speedway this weekend in the Pittsburgher Weekend.

Mike Mahaney has been on a roller-coaster all season long, and last weekend was no different. He was incredibly fast on Friday, winning his heat race and the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash before finishing second to Mat Williamson in the 358 Modified race. But he got caught up in an incident with Josh Hohenforst in his heat race on Saturday and had to go to a backup car for the Super DIRTcar Series event. He only completed 52 laps, and finished 25^th.

You can’t say enough about all the sponsors who stepped up last weekend to make the Malta Massive Weekend memorable. The list includes Bart DeRocha, who put up $115 bonuses for heat race winners in the 358 modified, sportsman and pro stock divisions on Friday night, and wound up shelling out a total of $1,840, as the three huge fields necessitated a total of 16 heat races.

After winning the Autism Awareness Night feature, Jeseo donated back $1,115 to charity in a tribute to Tremont. Overall, Modiano raised over $10,000 for Bring on the Spectrum and Autism Society Greater Hudson Region.

Among the drivers who didn’t qualify for Friday night’s DIRTcar 358 Modified Series race was Jimmy Phelps, who won the Malta Massive Weekend 358 race last year. The list of the big block DNQ’s on Saturday included 2022 Albany-Saratoga modified champion Matt DeLorenzo, who finished behind Wight and Tim Sears Jr. in the second LCQ and missed qualifying by one spot.

Fresh off his win at Malta, Friesen will be returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend at Talladega Super Speedway. Friesen’s Toyota truck will be sporting a new black-and-yellow color scheme, with sponsorship from Gearwrench Tools.

Albany-Saratoga’s tribute to Tremont’s career allowed me to run into my old friend Mike Sullivan once again. We used to spend a lot of time together in the Tremont pits, especially during Super DIRT Week in Syracuse, when Sullivan was always Tremont’s gas man. After sharing a couple of more laughs again on Saturday, we reaffirmed that we’re never going to grow up.

This is going to put a wrap on The 4^th Turn for another season. Hope I’ve kept you amused, and haven’t offended anyone.