No stopping Hearn

MALTA - Brett Hearn’s car owner may be thinking about a track championship, but Hearn is thinking about a track record.

Following the orders of car owner Brian Madsen, Hearn skipped a higher-paying race at another speedway Friday night to run at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and the result was his ninth victory of the season in the 35-lap 358 modified feature at the Malta track.

By frustrating Matt DeLorenzo once again, Hearn also put the Madsen Motorsports small block into the point lead for the first time this season. Ken Tremont Jr. went into the night with the point lead, but a flat tire midway through the feature ended his night, and when the dust had cleared, Hearn had his ninth win, as well as the point lead. Going into Friday night’s racing, Hearn has a four-point lead over DeLorenzo, 526-522.

But while car owner Brian Madsen may be thinking about winning the track championship, Hearn has his sights set on the track record of 12 wins in a season, set by Jack Johnson in 1981 and matched by Dave Lape in 1982. Hearn’s best season came in 1996, when he won 11 features.

For most of the race, it looked like DeLorenzo was finally going to get his first victory of the season. After starting the year with four straight second-place finishes, all behind Hearn, DeLorenzo ran into a dry spell, and as a result, started third in the lineup Friday night.

Mike Ronca came off his front-row starting position and set the pace for the first 22 laps, but DeLorenzo was never far behind, and finally got the lead on lap 23.

Hearn, who had started 18th. was only fifth at that point, running behind Ronca, Jack Cottrell and Dave Camara, but just five laps later, Hearn had the Brioschi-sponsored small block up to second, and then used a restart on lap 32 to get the lead.

DeLorenzo finished second for the fifth time this season, with Cottrell third, Randy Hotaling fourth and Scott Noel fifth.

Camara’s run of bad luck continued, as he dropped out with a flat tire with just four laps left, and finished 10th.

Tim Clemons drove to his third straight victory in the 25-lap sportsman feature, and then had a little graduation celebration after the feature. Clemons, a veteran modified driver, had been told by promoter Bruce Richards prior to the race that a third consecutive win in the support division would mean that Clemons would have to move up to the 358 modifieds. Clemons then proved that he’s not a sandbagger, going out and recording his 21st career victory at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Joe Conroy led the first 10 laps before giving way to Rich Ronca, who maintained the top spot until Clemons got the lead on lap 19. Clemons then outran point leader Tim Hartman to get the victory. Brian MacKenzie finished third, with John Bellinger fourth and Mike Ballestero fifth. But Ballestero, who went into the night just one point behind Hartman in the battle for the track championship, was then disqualified for not going to the scales, moving Conroy up into the No. 5 position.

Fred Little made a little history in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature, as he drove to victory using a General Motors factory stock engine. The CVRA put the spec engine into Little’s car about a month ago to test its durability, and Little proved Friday night that not only is it durable, but it’s got more than enough power to win a race, even though it runs on 93 octane pump fuel.

Little, who started ninth, got the lead with just three laps to go, and held off Don Daniels by just 0.387 seconds to record his first win of the season at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Daniels, also winless this season, came across the finish line second, followed by early leader Chris Maxon, Carl Vladyka and Joe Santoro.

Lori Cary, who has been having a great season at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, finally transferred some of that luck to Albany-Saratoga Friday night, and came away with her first win of the season in the 15-lap hobby stock feature, holding off Mike Ostrander is a side-by-side finish.

Cruiser features were won by Keith Wright (six-cylinder) and Robert Ross (four-cylinder).

The Central New York Mini-Sprints were also on Friday night’s card at Albany-Saratoga, with Matt Norrie outrunning Mike Emhof and John Lieto to get the victory.

MODIFIEDS: BRETT HEARN, Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Cottrell., Randy Hotaling, Scott Noel, Gene Munger, Don Ackner, Don Mattison, Frank Hoard Sr., Dave Camara, Ron Proctor, Ken Tremont Jr., Ronnie Johnson, Mike Perrotte, John Harrison, Mike Ronca, Ron Dwyer, Chuck Higley, Bob Savoie, Tim Laduc, Wayne Jelley, John Kollar, Todd Ryan, Jim Introne, Brian Gerrain.

SPORTSMAN: TIM CLEMONS, Tim Hartman, Brian McKenzie, John Bellinger, Joe Conroy, Dick Bisson, Tony Ballestero, Tom Proctor, Gary Gates, Jason Herrington, Neal Erickson, Jack Gentile, Mike Boomhower, Paul Dunham Jr., Keith Nichols, Jack Swinton, Doug Sheely, Ray Martindale, Ken Anatriello, Jimmy Cottrell, Ray Salisbury, Derrick McGrew, Rick Davis, Randy Salisbury. DQ: Mike Ballestero, Rich Ronca.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: FRED LITTLE, Don Daniels, Chris Maxon, Carl Vladyka, Joe Santoro, Dean Charbonneau, Dan Madigan, Mike Paquin, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Charlie Koenig, Matt Anatriello, Terry Stacy, Scott Duell, Steve Burega, Cale Kneer, Jay Fitzgerald, Adam Tranka, Jason Brownell, Bob Schmidt, William Smith, Vince Santoro, Mike Fritz, C.J. Brooks, David Shippee.

HOBBY STOCKS: LORI CARY, Mike Ostrander, Jim Monroe, Chris Busta, David Daniels, Bill Smith, Mike Tholin, Dan Daniels, Adam Stoddard, John Morris Jr., Ed Sears, Jeff Monroe, Fred Backes III, Brian Westcott, Eric Sbregea, Mike Traylor, Gary Michaud, Roy Fifield.

SIX-CYLINDER CRUISERS: KEITH WRIGHT, Jason Pelton, David Kennedy, Elmer Montville, Matt Thomas, Peter Pelech, Rick Mrzyglod, Dan Uber, John Quintana, Keith Keller, Ken Bergstrom, Amanda Clemens, Brian Myers, Luke MacIsaac.

FOUR-CYLINDER CRUISERS: ROBERT ROSS, Kevin Connors, Jeffrey Krouse, Keith Guilder, Joe Naccarato, Jim Monroe, Mike Mrzyglod, Pete Jeske, Michael Dow, Joe Ladd, Mitch Gries, Jason Duncan, Emerson Ostrander, William Lehman, Mike Minick, Matt Corbiel.

CENTRAL NEW YORK MINI-SPRINTS: MATT NORRIE, Mike Emhof, John Lieto, Dennis Fink, John Ianitelli, Cory Sparks, Jeff Lamothe, Lance O’Dell, Duby Woodruff, James Brush, Don Harvey Jr., Barry Viris, Bryan Lind, Tony Richard, No. 711, Mike Bosco, Ed Warren, Eric Cartier, Patrick Kuerner, Joe Kalk, Wally Kruyn, Aric Copeland, Woody Woodruff, Jared Fink, Bryan Howland.