Having Fun In NY’s Capital Region; Peter Britten Opens Albany-Saratoga Season With Victory
News Director 
Story By: BOBBY CHALMERS / PETER BRITTEN RACING – WEEDSPORT, NY – Peter Britten’s starting to like the Capital Region of New York…and with good reason.
After two solid top five finishes to start his first season as a Lebanon Valley Speedway regular, Britten joined the rest of the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Modified field on Friday night and preceded to park his #21a Troyer in victory lane. Not a bad way to start of the 2019 season at the ‘Great Race Place,’ and he did it with a little bit of luck.
“I always draw terrible for races like this,” Britten said after his win. “But tonight, I had a good draw, won my heat and started up front in the feature. That made things a lot easier.”
The main event, which went green-to-checkered, was made extra tricky for the Australian-born driver as lap traffic came into play. However, Peter was able to keep his cool and fired the first shot to his competition, proving his 2017 track title was no fluke.
“I got squeezed into the frontstretch wall at one point while lapping cars,” he said. “It wasn’t anything that guy did wrong. It was just tight racing. There’s always something when you have that many lapped cars to deal with, but I’ll tell you, it’s good to be back in Malta. This season’s going to be a blast.”
The track wasn’t really the way Britten’s likes it these days. With all the rain that has hit the area so far this season, Malta’s surface was extremely heavy and had a ton of bite. While he use to enjoy it, Peter’s really taken to tracks where you have to use finesse more than raw power.
“I don’t really like the fast tracks anymore,” he said. “I wouldn’t say track conditions were in my wheelhouse tonight, but I was able to adjust and make the most of it.”
Saturday at Lebanon Valley, on the other hand, was more difficult for Peter. He didn’t make the cut in his qualifying race and had to start the 30-lap feature from 22nd. The whole evening at Lebanon threw him a curveball.
“I was disappointed with how we ran at the Valley,” he said. “I was a little off my game all night and we had a couple set-up issues with the car. I just don’t think I did my best behind the wheel. In the end, it was a night you learn from and move on to the next race.”
Peter brought his Troyer machine home in 11th and was able to salvage a decent point night as most of the top point men had trouble. This week, Albany-Saratoga will try and get their second race in this season after the “Come ‘N Get It” $5,400-to-win race was rained out, again, on Tuesday. After Friday night, Peter will head back to the Valley to see if he can get things back on track at the West Lebanon, NY oval. He’ll then head back to one of his old stomping grounds, the Weedsport Speedway, on Sunday for their season-opening event.
