Empire State Nationals presented by Goodyear Sep 17th - 19th

A brand new race team walked off with the biggest 358 Modified payoff in the Northeast Sunday night in the Empire State Nationals, presented by Goodyear, at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Small-block veteran Mike Ricci of New Paltz, driving for longtime car owner Wayne Ryan of Vermont, pulled off a huge upset by earning the top prize of $25,000 in the Nationals. And Ricci did it with flair. After finishing sixth and fourth in the first two features in the Triple 50s format, in which the driver with the lowest number of accumulated points was declared the winner, Ricci won the third 50-lapper to record the biggest payday of his racing career.

Ricci went into the final 50-lapper trailing Jack Johnson by four points, as Jumpin’ Jack finished fifth in the first feature, and won the second in the Bobar Motorsports 12B.

Ricci started fifth in the decisive feature and Johnson started 10th. But Jumpin Jack could only get up to sixth, which gave Ricci the $25,000 by a single point.

After doing donuts in the front stretch and following that up with a traditional roof dance in victory lane, Ricci said, "I’ve been racing a lot of years, but I’ve never won anything this big. When Wayne called me and said he wanted me to drive the car, I said I’d give it a shot. Usually, I have no luck at all here."

Ricci is no stranger to Albany-Saratoga Speedway. He was a regular at the track during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, but never got to victory lane, despite a number of top-five finishes.

Johnson had to settle for second in the final order of finish, earning $15,000, while Jack Cottrell overcame a poor starting position in the final 50 and finished third to walk off with $10,000, which was also the largest single-payday of his career.

Brett Hearn finished fifth in the Madsen Motorsports entry while Meme DeSantis, who had to qualify through the last chance race on Sunday afternoon, put on a crowd-pleasing performance in all three 50s, and finished fifth in the final order of finish.

The weekend began with the Sunoco Racing Fuels Quick Six time trials for 358 Modifieds on Friday night, and that also produced a big surprise. Second-year driver Ronnie Johnson, sitting behind the wheel of the Team Goewey small block, earned the pole for the first 50-lapper by turning a lap of 17.126 seconds. Billy Pauch earned the outside pole with a lap of 17.193.

Also locking into Sunday’s first 50-lapper were 1999 track champion Ken Tremont Jr. (17.265), CVRA regular Mike Ronca (17.266), Jack Johnson (17.280) and Hearn (17.280).

Pauch outran Tremont to win the first 50-lapper on Sunday, and the fans figured the stage was set for a Pauch-Tremont shootout that would last the rest of the afternoon.

But the drivers had been told that the lineups for the second and third 50-lappers would be determined by a blind draw, and when Tremont drew the 29th starting position for the second 50, his day was essentially done. Also hurt by the draw was Hearn, who had finished fifth in the first 50-lapper. He started 31st in the second 50-lapper, and his chances for the $25,000 day payday were also out the window.

Pauch wasn’t hurt by the draw, but he suffered transmission problems in the second feature and dropped out of the race, erasing his hopes for $25,000.

When Jack Johnson won the second 50, he put himself in a good position to earn the top prize. But Ricci had been running consistently all afternoon, and when he drew the five hole, and Johnson picked 10, for the third event, everyone knew Johnson had his work cut out for him.

DeSantis started on the outside pole in the third 50 and set the early pace, but Ricci was flying, and had the lead after just six laps of racing. Johnson battled with Tremont and Ron Proctor early in the race, and got up as far as fifth at one point, but with veterans like Jeff Strunk, Craig Von Dohren and DeSantis in front of him, Johnson couldn’t pick up enough positions to get overall victory.

Von Dohren got up to challenge Ricci for the lead with 10 laps left in the final feature, but Ricci said later that he still had something left, and easily pulled away from Von Dohren to walk off with $25,000.

Tim Laduc, who has been the dominant sportsman driver on the CVRA this season, won Sunday’s Pepsi 100 for sportsman and earned $3,000. Laduc started on the pole, but Tony Ballestero, who started on the outside of the front row got the jump and set the early pace.

Laduc was never far from the lead, usually hanging on Ballestero’s rear bumper, and that proved to be a good place to be, as Ballestero suffered a flat tire just as the leaders reached the halfway point of the race, giving the lead to Laduc.

Laduc then had to contend with Tony Ballestero’s brother, Mike, who had worked his way to second from his eighth starting position. But Mike Ballestero was also victimized by a flat tire in the final laps of the race, dropping him out of contention.

Following Laduc across the finish line were John Scarborough, Tim Hartman, Ryan Watt and Mike Ballestero, who continued to run with the flat.

Mike Paquin was also a big winner, taking the checkered flag in the Saratoga Transport 100 for street stocks on Saturday to earn $2,000. He had started fifth in the 26-car starting field, but quickly made his way to the front and went on to record his fourth win of the season at the Malta track. Henry Tanner was second, with Dave Bruno third, Greg Card fourth and Jerry Holmes fifth.

Joe Santoro won the hobby division feature on Friday night, and Jake Zak sat in victory lane after the cruiser division feature.

MODIFIED RESULTS: TRIPLE 50s (OVERALL FINISH): MIKE RICCI ($25,000), Jack Johnson (15,000), Jack Cottrell (10,000), Brett Hearn (5,000), Meme DeSantis (4,000), Jeff Strunk (3,500), Dave Camara (3,000), Ronnie Johnson (2,500), Ken Tremont Jr. (2,000), Craig Von Dohren (1,500), Hector Stratton (1,400), Ron Holmes (1,300), Ron Proctor (1,200), Glenn Strunk (1,100), Gene Munger (1,000), Don Scarborough (900), Don Ronca (800), Todd Stone (700), Andy Bachetti (600), Mike Ronca (500), Billy Pauch (500), Vince Quenneville Jr. (500), Ray Hoard (500), Don Ackner (500), Mike Perrotte (500), Jeff Trombley (500), Bob Savoie (500), K.C. Goewey (500), Jim Ryan (500), Steve Hulsizer (500), Frank Cozze (500).

SPORTSMAN: TIM LADUC, John Scarborough, Tim Hartman, Ryan Watt, Mike Ballestero, Floyd Billington, John Harrison, Jim Becker, Chuck Higley, Jim Davis, Jeff Richardson, Tony Ballestero, Jack Gentile, Dave Sargent, Greg Sleight, Dave Peek, Gary Gates, Brian Whittemore, Richard Stinton, Chris Sprague.

STREET STOCKS: MIKE PAQUIN, Henry Tanner, Dave Bruno, Gary Card, Jerry Holmes, Butch Klinger, Dave Madej, Fred Little, Mike Fritz, Rob Ray, Steve Burega, Adam Tranka, Charlie Koenig, Dan O’Connor, Ray See. Jr., Nick Rogers, Lucas Baker, Pete Kimball, Mike McDowell, Pat Beals, Chris Maxon, Ron Lawson, Ernie Greenier, Adam Haas, Mike Bradley, Mike Bussino.

HOBBY STOCKS: JOE SANTORO, Rob Muscanell, Mike Marsche, Chuck Knowlton, Luke Klob, Jon Trudeau, Mike Ostrander, Jeff Assman, Mike Tholin, Larry McIntosh, Curt Condon, Jack Swinton, Dave Peck, Ken Town, Dave Cook, Steve Vrooman

CRUISERS: JAKE ZAK, Bill Marshall, Jim Monroe Sr., Rick Mrzyglod, Dan Uber, Mark Fritz, Kevin Sawyer, Jon Atwell.