Camara Wins Albany-Saratoga Track Championship
MALTA, NY - For once, there were no blown tires, no busted rear ends, no broken
suspension parts - just a checkered flag at the end of a race. After
suffering through two months of nothing but bad luck, Mike Perrotte finally
ended the jinx Friday night when he won the 35-lap Fall Championships 358
modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
While Perrotte was getting his first win of the season in the
double-point show, Dave Camara finished second, which allowed him to lock up
the point championship. The title was the first for Camara at
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and ended Kenny Tremont Jr.’s six-year reign as
the track champion.
While Camara was happy to win the title, Perrotte was glad just to
finish a race. In the last two months, he’s been knocked out of races by
just about everything imaginable, and in most cases, he was leading when
disaster struck. But the curse was lifted Friday night.
The feature got off to a shaky start, with two cautions in the first two
laps. As the field went down the backstretch for the first time, a number of
cars started banging together, with Mike Ronca winding up off the second
turn and Bob Savoie, who was looking for his second straight win, heading to
the pits with a flat tire.
When the green came back out, there was a four-car incident in the
fourth turn involving Ronca, Dave Leckonby, Ron Proctor and Don Mattison.
The second restart allowed Perrotte, who had started third, to get the lead
away from John Harrison, and the feature went green the rest of the way.
Perrotte and Hector Stratton, who had started eighth, quickly separated
themselves from the rest of the pack, leaving behind some incredible racing
for position.
While Wayne Jelley, Todd Ryan, Scott Noel and Tim LaDuc battled for
third, there was another cluster of cars farther back drawing a lot of
attention, as Camara, Jack Johnson and Jim Ryan were coming through traffic
in a hurry. Camara had his Enders-powered Teo humming, and was up to fourth
by the 15th lap. Stratton’s good run ended on lap 16, when he dropped out
with a flat tire, and on lap 24, Camara moved around Noel to take over the
No. 2 spot.
Perrotte, who was running the high groove in the George Huttig-owned
Adirondack Auto-sponsored modified, still had a sizable lead at that point,
but Camara quickly ate into the advantage and with five laps left, was in
position to challenge for the lead. But Perrotte then got some unexpected
help. Two lapped cars, driven by Ronca and Brian McKenzie, were battling for
position in the low groove. Perrotte came out of the throttle just enough to
stay side-by-side with the two, which forced Camara to follow Perrotte
around the speedway.
On the final lap, Camara made one final move, slipping back just enough
coming out of two to get his car wound up for a charge down the backstretch.
But Perrotte still had the preferred line through three and four, and beat
Camara to the finish line by less than a car length.
Noel came across the line third, followed by LaDuc and Don Scarborough.
The rest of the top 10 consisted of Johnson, Todd Ryan, Tremont, Jelley and
Jim Ryan.
Tim Hartman took the lead with two laps to go and went on to record his
third win of the season in the 20-lap sportsman feature. Gary Gates and
Hartman had a heated battle midway through the race, banging off each other
through every turn, but with five laps left, Gates opened up a little bit of
a cushion. But one bobble cost him the momentum, and Hartman took the lead
coming out of the second turn on the 19th lap to get the win. Gate settled
for second, with Jack Gentile third, David Peek fourth and point leader Ron
Proctor fifth.
Ernie Grenier charged from his 10th starting position to come away with
his third win of the season in the pro-street stock feature, outrunning
Bernie Companion and Mike Paquin to the finish line.
Jeff Davis picked up his first win of the year in the hobby stock
division, Pete Knapp won the four-cylinder cruiser division feature and
Randy Manhey was victorious in the six-cylinder cruiser class.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway will take a week off before returning to action
on Saturday. Sept 23 with the New York State Dirt Track Championships. The
racing card will include sportsman, pro-street stocks, hobby stocks and
cruisers. All four divisions will feature open competition, with home track
rules applying in each category. Racing is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
MODIFIED: MIKE PERROTTE, Dave Camara, Scott Noel, Tim LaDuc, Don
Scarborough, Jack Johnson, Todd Ryan, Ken Tremont Jr., Wayne Jelley, Jim
Ryan, Jack Cottrell, Vince Quenneville Jr., Don Ackner, Brian McKenzie, Mike
Ronca, Ron Proctor, Don Mattison, Chuck Higley, Bob Savoie, Hector Stratton,
Ken Aanonsen, John Harrison, Dave Leckonby, Gene Munger.
SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN, Gary Gates, Jack Gentile, David Peek, Ron Proctor,
Jimmy Becker, Jimmy Davis, Rich Ronca, Kim Duell, Ricky Davis, Gary Karl,
Rich Bisson, Doug Sheely, Jake Zak, Bobby Ray, Randy Salisbury, Paul
Cirincione, Ken McGuire, Stan Lemiesz, Mike Ballestero, Tony Ballestero, Ray
Martindale, Jason Harrington, Derrick McGrew.
PRO-STREET STOCKS: ERNIE GRENIER, Bernie Companion, Mike Paquin, Fred
Little, Pete Kimball, Dan O’Connor, Bob Gile, Charlie Koenig, Adam Tranka,
Matt Rich, Matt Anatriello, Bill Smith, Walt Brownell, Tom O’Connor, Randy
Brownell, Joe Santoro, Dean Charbonneau.
HOBBY STOCKS: JEFF DAVIS, Daniel Lee, Mike Ostrander, Jim Monroe, Jeff
Daubert, Keith Norton, Jason Armer, Mike Tholin, Todd Dunston, Dave
Perretta, Dan Daniels, Donnie Williams, Ken Town, Brian Ashline, Don
Daniels, Adam Stoddard, Rob Muscanell.
SIX-CYLINDER CRUISERS: RANDY MANHEY, Jeff Monroe, W. John Smith, Ron
Earfrato, Kevin Koval, Roy Fifield, Dan Sequin, Kyle Dieterle, Jon Atwell,
Dan Uber, Chris Busta, Lucas MacIsaac.
FOUR-CYLINDER CRUISERS: PETE KNAPP, Randy Rathbun, Jim Monroe Jr., Bill
Marshall, Dave Kennedy, Mitch Gaies, Mike Carmen, Randy Soucie, Ben Ladd,
Dave Campbell, No. 20, Shawn O’Grady, No. 46.