Hearn Unstoppable at Malta

MALTA - The last time Brett Hearn had a flat tire at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, it cost him a five-race winning streak. But on Friday night, a flat tire couldn’t keep him out of victory lane.

Hearn bounced back from lap-two jingle that sent him to the pits for a new left rear tire, and used a number of caution flags to win Friday night’s 358-modified feature at the historic Malta track.

The win was Hearn’s seventh of the year at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, keeping him on a pace to break the track record of 12 wins in a season. The win was also his 42nd career victory at Malta, moving him into a tie for second place with C.D. Coville on the all-time win list.

Hearn has made eight Friday night stops at Albany-Saratoga Speedway this season, and seven of them have resulted in wins. The only time he didn’t win was on June 21, when he suffered a flat tire on a restart on lap 18, and didn’t have time to get the tire changed before losing a lap in the pits.

But he didn’t have that problem Friday night. On lap two of the feature, someone tapped Hearn from behind, getting the Brioschi-sponsored small block out of the shape, and the resulting chain-reaction pileup sucked in Dave Camara, Ken Tremont Jr., Jack Cottrell and Frank Hoard Sr.

Tremont suffered front end damage in the wreck, but because of the red flag to clean up the first mess, and a number of subsequent yellows on the restart, he was able to make repairs without losing a lap.

Hearn ducked into the pits for a new left rear, and rejoined the field at the rear of the pack, which really wasn’t too far away from where he had been in the first place.

Ron Proctor, who got the lead on lap six, set a very good pace, but Hearn was weaving his way through traffic, and on lap 17, clicked off the fastest lap of the night, stopping the clock in 17.560 seconds.

Hearn then used a restart on lap 18 to move past Proctor, and from there, the Madsen Motorsports car was never seriously challenged, pulling away to a 1.5 second margin of victory over Proctor, who had his best finish of the season. In fact, the last time Proctor finished in the number two position was in the opening race of the 2001 season.

Todd Ryan, who had started on the pole, also ran a strong race, coming across the finish line third. He was followed by Ronnie Johnson and Cottrell. Completing the top 10 were Tremont, Camara, Mike Perrotte, Gene Munger and Mike Ronca.

Tim Clemons took advantage of a good starting position to come away with his second win of the season in the 25-lap sportsman feature. After starting seventh, Clemons needed only nine laps to get around polesitter Rich Ronca. Clemons became the first-two-time winner in the sportsman division at Albany-Saratoga Speedway this season. Mike Ballestero put on a late charge and nipped Ronca for the runnerup position. John Bellinger came across the finish line fourth, with Tom Proctor fifth.

Joe Santoro drove to his fifth win of the season in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature. Fred Little, who has had nothing but bad luck at Albany-Saratoga Speedway this season, started on the outside pole and battled with Don Daniels before getting the lead on lap seven. But by that time, Santoro, who had started seventh, was already up to third, and he got the lead for good on lap 14.

Little finished second, followed by Bob Schmidt, Carl Vladyka and Vince Santoro.

Dave Daniels came away with the victory in the 15-lap hobby stock feature. This was one race that went right down to the wire, as Daniels had his hands full with Mike Traylor, who was looking for his first win of the season. But Daniels held his line, and beat Traylor to the finish line by 0.167 seconds, with Jim Monroe just behind the leaders for third.

Two familiar faces were back in victory lane after the two cruiser division features, as Dave Kennedy won the six-cylinder race, and Jason Duncan was first under the checkered flag in the four-cylinder division.

There was also a 50-lap enduro on Friday night’s card, with Ken Wiley coming away with the win.

MODIFIEDS: BRETT HEARN, Ron Proctor, Todd Ryan, Ronnie Johnson, Jack Cottrell, Ken Tremont Jr., Dave Camara, Mike Perrotte, Gene Munger, Mike Ronca, Don Ackner, Matt DeLorenzo, Jimmy Becker, Jeff Betit, Tim Laduc, John Kollar, Jim Introne, Frank Hoard Sr., Randy Hotaling, Ron Dwyer, Scott Noel, Brian Gerrain.

SPORTSMAN: TIM CLEMONS, Mike Ballestero, Rich Ronca, John Bellinger, Tom Proctor, Jimmy Cottrell, Jack Swinton, Gary Gates, Tony Ballestero, Ricky Davis, Randy Salisbury, Keith Nichols, Paul Dunham Jr., Bill Cody, Jason Herrington, Mike Catone, Ray Martindale, Ken Anatriello, Tim Hartman, Jack Gentile, Derrick McGrew.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: JOE SANTORO, Fred Little, Bob Schmidt, Carl Vladyka, Adam Tranka, Dean Charbonneau, Mike Fritz, Tom O’Connor, Mike Paquin, Charlie Koenig, C.J. Brooks, Dave Uline, Don Daniels, Matt Anatriello, Jay Fitzgerald, Mike Bradley, David Shippee, Chris Maxon, Walt Brownell, Jason Brownell, Scott Duell.

HOBBY A MAIN: DAVID DANIELS, Mike Traylor, Jim Monroe, Mike Ostrander, Chris Busta, John Filarecki, Mike Tholin, Dan Daniels, John Laviolette, Chris Reckner, Jeff Monroe, Eric Sbregea, Brian Westcott, Rusty Palmateer, John Morris Jr., Adam Stoddard, Bill Smith, Roy Fifield, Fred Harris.

HOBBY B MAIN: ADAM STODDARD, No. 19, Rusty Palmateer, Jeff Monroe, Fred Backes II, Curtis Condon, Kevin Sawyer, Bill Martindale, Brad Breault, George Welch, Ed Sears, Dave Dunston, Lori Cary, Garnet Prescott, Glen Evans.

SIX-CYLINDER CRUISERS: DAVID KENNEDY, Matt Thomas, Amanda Clemens, Jason Pelton, Robert Sousis Jr., Harry Williams, John Quintana, Keith Wright, Ken Bergstrom, Elmer Montville, Jon Atwell, No. 51, Brian Myers, Peter Pelech.

FOUR-CYLINDER CRUISERS: JASON DUNCAN, Robert Ross, Keith Guilder, Joe Naccarato, Jeffrey Krouse, Jim Monroe, Mike Minick, Mike Mrzyglod, Stan Durie, Mike Carman, Joe Ladd, Emerson Ostrander, Matt Corbiel, Kevin Connors.