MALTA - Frank Hoard Sr. and Dave Camara are at opposite ends of the racing spectrum, but on Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, they were on equal terms. Hoard ended an 11-year winless drought in the first feature, and Camara continued his late summer-early fall hot streak in the second in the twin 35-lap modified features at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
The first set of features was carried over from a rainout on Aug. 31. Both Hoard and Camara drive for Teo Pro cars family-oriented, self-sponsored race teams, but that’s where the similarity ends. Hoard’s operation operates on a shoestring, compared to Camara and while Camara is a couple of good finishes away from securing his second straight Champlain Valley Racing Association overall point championship, which is worth $10,000, Hoard’s main goal is finishing every week.
On Friday night, both used front-row starting positions, and led every lap of their respective features. And in both events, Tim Laduc finished second, and had the opportunity to get the victory.
Hoard, who’s first and only other win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway came on June 1, 1990, came off the pole and beat Ron Proctor to the backstretch, which essentially decided the first feature. Hoard became the 16th different driver to win a modified feature at the Malta track this season. Proctor looked good early, sticking the nose of his Ron White-owned small block under Hoard on a number of occasions.
Laduc, who had started fourth, moved around Proctor on the 14th lap to take over second, but with the race still under green from the first lap, Hoard had opened up a comfortable lead. Laduc kept chipping into the lead. but the fans in the stands didn’t realize he already had a problem. Early in the feature, Laduc had clipped the concrete barrier on the inside of the first turn, and his left front tire was slowly going flat.
When the only caution of the race came out on the 30th lap, when Jack Cottrell suffered a flat left rear, it became very apparent that Laduc had a problem, as the left front was now nearly flat, and he had to be happy to hang on for second, as Hoard celebrated his first victory in over 11 years.
Brian McKenzie, who had started on the outside pole, ran another strong race and finished third, matching his best finish of the season. Proctor crossed the finish line fourth, with Vince Quenneville fifth.
In the unique features-only format that was used for the second half of the program, the top 15 drivers in the point standings drew for starting positions in the second feature, and Camara drew the outside pole. “I told the guys the toughest part of the second one was going to be the draw,” said Camara, who had finished second in the last two regular Friday night features. “I had worked my ass off just to finish eighth in the first one, and I knew it was going to be tough to pass in the second one.”
But because of the draw, Camara didn’t have to do any passing, only leading. He almost didn’t make it through the first lap, however. As he and Cottrell, who had drawn the pole, went through the third and fourth turns, Cottrell stuck the nose of his modified right under the rear bumper of Camara’s car, and for an instant, it looked like Camara was going to go around. But Cottrell quickly backed out, Camara got straightened out, and the lead never changed.
Cottrell and Laduc swapped the No. 2 position twice in the early stages of the second 35-lapper, before Laduc finally took the the spot for good, and began to race side-by-side with Camara. Laduc, trying to find traction on the top, hung just off the right rear quarter of Camara’s car, which was glued to the bottom. But as the race went on, the bottom started to go away Camara had his hands full with lapped traffic, and Laduc continued to built up momentum on the top, waiting for a chance to rocket by Camara. That opportunity nearly came on the 31st lap, when Laduc got a good run off the third turn. But as the leaders came out of four, Camara slid up to block, breaking Laduc’s rhythm, and four laps later, Camara had his second victory of the season and Laduc had his second runner-up
performance of the night.
Gene Munger came across the finish line third, followed by Cottrell and Quenneville.
Point leader Mike Ballestero and defending track champion Tom Proctor won the two sportsman features. While Ballestero easily got his third win of the season in the nightcap, Proctor’s victory in the first 20-lapper was a struggle. Tony Ballestero grabbed the lead on lap eight of the first feature, and when a caution came out on lap nine, officials noticed that both Proctor and Rich Ronca, who were third and fourth at the time, were running with flat left front tires.
Mike Ballestero came through traffic to move into the lead pack, but on a restart on lap 14, the right front brake on Mike Ballestero’s car froze, sending him to the pits. At nearly the same instant, Tony Ballestero’s left rear tire went flat, which moved Proctor, flat tire and all, into the lead.
Proctor stayed out front the rest of the way, even though his engine began to skip badly in the closing laps of the race. But he was able to cross the finish line ahead of Tim Hartman, Stan Lemiesz and Mike Ballestero, who ducked into the pits and got his brake problem fixed without losing a lap.
There was no such excitement in the second feature, which Mike Ballestero dominated. Hartman picked up another second-place finish, with Jason Herrington third, Frank Hoard Jr. fourth and Tony Ballestero fifth.
Five was the lucky number in the pro-street stock features, as both Joe Santoro and Fred Little picked up their fifth wins of the season in the twin features.
Mike Paquin’s bad luck allowed Santoro to get the win in the first feature. Paquin got the lead on lap five of the 20-lapper and fought with Carl Vladyka for the next 13 laps, but with two laps left, his right rear tire started to go down. Santoro, who had started deep in the pack, moved around Vladyka on lap 17, and then took the lead from Paquin with one lap to go. Vladyka was second, with Chris Maxon third, Bob Smith fourth and Paquin fading to fifth.
Little led all 30 laps of the second feature, which was sponsored by United Parcel Service. The open competition feature got off to a bad start, as invader Terry Graves slammed into the fourth turn wall and rolled his car down the front straightaway. But he walked away injured. Little grabbed the lead on the subsequent restart, and held off Dean Charbonneau to get the victory. Nick Stone, an invader from Fonda Speedway, was third; Dan Madigan charged from a 29th starting position to finish fourth and Tom O’Connor was fifth.
The hobby stocks also ran double features, with Chris Reckner and Kenny Towne getting the victories. Point races in all divisions will be decided on Friday night in the Molson Fall Championships, which will offer double points. The Molson 100 will features a 50-lap feature for modifieds, as well as a 50-lap features for sportsman. Pro-street stocks, hobby stocks and cruisers will also be on the racing card, with the first green flag falling at 7 p.m.
MODIFIEDS (CARRIED OVER FROM AUG. 31); FRANK HOARD SR., Tim Laduc,Brian McKenzie, Ron Proctor, Vince Quenneville Jr., Scott Noel, Mike Perrotte, Dave Camara, Jim Ryan, Ken Tremont Jr., Don Mattison, Mike Ronca, Andy Bachetti, Randy Hotaling, Jason Becker, Jack Cottrell, Gene Munger, Todd Ryan, Don Ackner.
SECOND MODIFIED: DAVE CAMARA, Tim Laduc, Gene Munger, Jack Cottrell, Vince Quenneville Jr., Ken Tremont Jr., Scott Noel, Brian McKenzie, Jim Ryan, Mike Perrotte, Frank Hoard Sr., Mike Ronca, Andy Bachetti, Jason Becker, Don Ackner, Don Mattison, Randy Hotaling, Ron Proctor, Todd Ryan, John Kollar.
SPORTSMAN (Aug. 31): TOM PROCTOR, Tim Hartman, Stan Lemiesz, Mike Ballestero, Frank Hoard Jr., Gerry Conroy, Rich Ronca, Tony Ballestero, Jack Gentile, Randy Salisbury, Jack Swinton, Mike Boomhower, Tigger Matthews, Neil Erickson, Dick Bisson, Jason Herrington, Derrick McGrew, Kim Duell, David Peek, Jim Becker, Gary Gates, Brent Bouplon, Tim Adair, Paul Cirincione.
SECOND SPORTSMAN: MIKE BALLESTERO, Tim Hartman, Jason Herrington, Frank Hoard Jr., Tony Ballestero, Jack Gentile, Rich Ronca, Dick Bisson, Jimmy Becker, Stan Lemiesz, Mike Boomhower, Tom Proctor, Gary Gates, Gerry Conroy, Neil Erickson, Ray Martindale, Jack Swinton, Tigger Matthews, Randy Sailsbury, Paul Cirincione, Tim Adair, Ryan Odasz, Derrick McGrew, Bill Bushee, Keith Nichols.
PRO-STREET STOCKS (AUG. 31): JOE SANTORO, Carl Vladyka, Chris Maxon, Bob Smith, Mike Paquin, Dan Madigan, Matt Anatriello, Steve Burega, Dean Charbonneau, Jeremy Pitts, Charlie Koenig, Tigger Driscoll, Randy Brownell, Jason Brownell, Ed Pieniazek, Fred Little, Adam Tranka, Terry Stacy, Dave Uline.
SECOND PRO-STREET STOCK (30 LAPS): FRED LITTLE, Dean Charbonneau, Nick Stone, Dan Madigan, Tom O’Connor, Luke Klob, Steve Burega, Mike Paquin, Adam Tranka, Wayne Patrick, Bob Gile, Brian Holbritter, Tigger Driscoll, Bob Smith, Jeremy Pitts, Charlie Koenig, Matt Anatriello, Joe Santoro, Jeff Sukup, Chris Maxon, Terry Stacy, Bill Smith, Dave Uline, Dave Bayes, No. 13, Carl Vladyka, Ed Pieniazek, Jason Brownell, Randy Brownell, Terry Graves.
HOBBY STOCKS: CHRIS RECKNER, Mike Tholin, Don Daniels, Jim Mabb, Cliff Brooks, Brad Breel, Jim Monroe, Grant Rice, Vince Santoro, Larry King, Lori Cary, Fred Harris, Mike Ostrander, Dave Daniels, Dan Daniels, Doug Cram.