Mike Perrotte wins, Hearn locks up championship

MALTA - Mike Perrotte completed his set of bookends, Derrick McGrew recorded a milestone victory and Brett Hearn won a title Friday night in the final points race of the season at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Perrotte, who won the first points race of the season, nosed out Dave Camara on the final lap to win the 35-lap modified feature while McGrew, easily one of the most improved drivers at the speedway this season, notched his first career victory in the 25-lap sportsman feature.

Hearn ran third in the 358-modified feature to wrap up the point championship in that division, his first title ever at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Hearn went into the night with a 36-point lead and easily came away with the title in the double-points feature.

But the checkered flag in the 35-lap modified feature belonged to Perrotte, who had been plagued by wrecks and a blown motor since winning the opening-day feature on April 21.

The series of bad luck that has haunted Perrotte for the last two months resulted in his starting in the fifth position in the starting grid, and it only took him nine laps to get the front, as he stole the lead away Todd Ryan on the 10th lap, using an inside line on the speedway.

With Perrotte running out on the point, the man on the move was Matt DeLorenzo, who was still looking for his first victory of the season and who still had an outside shot at taking the point championship away from Hearn.

DeLorenzo had started 11th in the field, but by lap 20, had worked his way up to fourth, behind Perrotte, Randy Hotaling and Tim Laduc, who was driving the Sput Shaw 57.

But DeLorenzo’s bid came to a sudden end on lap 28, when he suffered a flat tire and had to go to the pits, ruining a fine run.

Camara, who had started 10th, seemed to find another gear around lap 26. At that time, he was running seventh, but helped by a caution, he charged up to third three laps later, and then took the No. 2 spot away from Jack Cottrell.

Camara, the defending point champion at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, then set his sights on Perrotte and brought the crowd to its feet when he took the lead on lap 32.

But if anyone thought Perrotte was going to give up, they were sadly mistaken. Keeping his foot to the floor in his 3-year-old Troyer modified, Perrotte hung right with Camara for the next two laps, and then got the nose of the George Huttig-owned Adirondack Motorsports modified in front coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap, beating Camara to the checkered flag by the width of his front bumper. The official final margin of victory was 0.026 seconds, about the wink of an eye.

Hearn came across the finish line third to secure the point title, followed by Ken Tremont Jr., who had pitted early in the feature, and Laduc.

Completing the top 10 were Todd Ryan, Scott Noel, Gene Munger, Hotaling and Frank Hoard Sr.

McGrew, who began his racing career in a hobby stock three years ago before moving up to the sportsman class last season, ran a spectacular race with Jimmy Davis to come away with his first career victory in the 25-lap sportsman feature.

By virtue of the heads-up start, McGrew sat on the pole and Davis was third when the green flag dropped, but it was Davis who got right to the front and started to set a torrid pace.

McGrew tucked in on Davis’ rear bumper and like a late-closer in the Kentucky Derby, sat just off the pace, waiting for the stretch run.

McGrew finally moved into the lead on lap 21, but Davis got his nose back in front with one to go. But just as Perrotte had done, McGrew wasn't going to give up without a fight, and passed Davis one more time on the final lap to get the victory, winning by 0.514 seconds.

Davis finished second for the third week in a row. Mike Ballestero finished third and won his second straight sportsman track championship at the Malta track. Tim Hartman finished fourth and Mike Boomhower was fifth.

Fred Little picked up his second victory of the season in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature, while Carl Vladyka finished fourth to win the track championship.

Little started seventh in the feature, but took the lead away from Mike Fritz on a restart on the 11th lap and set the pace the rest of the way, easily outrunning Fritz and Vince Santoro to get the victory.

Dave Daniels didn’t need any guesswork in the hobby stock feature, as he won the feature and the track championship in the process, beating Chris Busta and Adam Stoddard to the checkered flag. Elmer Montville won the six-cylinder cruiser feature, and Jeffrey Krouse won the four-cylinder cruiser feature.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway will be holding its final Friday night event of the season on Sept. 20, staging what promises to be a wild night of Run-What-Ya-Brung racing in all divisions. The 358-modified feature will be 75 laps, and pay $3,000 to win. Racing will begin at 7 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: MIKE PERROTTE, Dave Camara, Brett Hearn, Ken Tremont Jr., Tim Laduc, Todd Ryan, Scott Noel, Gene Munger, Randy Hotaling, Frank Hoard Sr., Matt DeLorenzo, Jack Cottrell, Tom Proctor, Don Ackner, Ron Dwyer, Jeff Betit, Don Mattison, Ron Proctor, Jimmy Becker, Frank Hoard Jr., Mike Ronca.

SPORTSMAN: DERRICK MCGREW, Jimmy Davis, Mike Ballestero, Tim Hartman, Mike Boomhower, John Bellinger, Ricky Davis, Erik Mack, Rich Ronca, Josh Pieniazek, Tony Ballestero, Jimmy Cottrell, Elmo Reckner, Doug Sheely, Dan Bublak, Ken Anatriello, Paul Dunham Jr., Fred Proctor, Joe Budka, Joe Conroy, Gary Gates, Neal Erickson, Jack Swinton, David Peek.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: FRED LITTLE, Mike Fritz, Vince Santoro, Carl Vladyka, Bob Schmidt, Don Daniels, Steve Burega, Adam Tranka, Dean Charbonneau, Matt Anatriello, Tom O’Connor, Cale Kneer, Jay Fitzgerald, Charlie Koenig, Bill Eaton, Brian Holbritter, Dave Uline, Mike Traylor, Ed Pieniazek Jr., Walt Brownell.

HOBBY STOCKS: DAVE DANIELS, Chris Busta, Adam Stoddard, Lori Cary, Mike Tholin, John Laviolette, Dan Daniels, Rusty Palmateer, John Coon, John Morris Jr., Jim Monroe, Brian Westcott, John Filarecki, Fred Harris, Jeff Monroe, Mike Ostrander, Gary Michaud, Kevin Van Chance.

SIX-CYLINDER CRUISERS: ELMER MONTVILLE, Keith Wright, Jason Pelton, Peter Pelech, Art Howe, Jon Atwell, Ken Bergstrom, John Quintana, David Emeigh, Luke MacIsaac.

FOUR-CYLINDER CRUISERS: JEFFREY KROUSE, Jason Duncan, Kevin Connors, Robert Ross, Joe Naccarato, Foster Ribsamen, Mitchell Cranston, Ron Stewart, Joe Ladd, Keith Guilder, Emerson Ostrander, No. 23, Matt Corbiel.