Ronnie Johnson Steals The Win In A Last Lap Pass on Stan Da’ Man Night At Malta
Story By: TOM BOGGIE / ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – Ronnie Johnson only led one lap at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night, but that was all he needed to end a long winless streak.
Johnson charged into the lead when Jack Speshock jumped the cushion in the second turn on the final lap and won the special 32-lap modified feature that highlighted the fifth annual Stan Da’ Man Night at the historic Malta track.
The night paid tribute to the late father of Albany-Saratoga promoter Lyle DeVore. Stan DeVore was a master mason and custom car enthusiast, and his favorite ride was a yellow ’32 Ford coupe. As a result, the number 32 was prominent throughout the night, including the $3,200 Johnson received for his victory.
The win was Johnson’s first big block victory at Malta since July 14, 2023.
The finish wasn’t the only thing wild about the 32-lap feature. Marc Johnson, who started 13th, was making big moves early in the race and on lap 17, pulled a crossover move on Don Ronca in the second turn to take over the No. 2 position.
CG Morey brought out a caution on lap 19, and then things got interesting. Ronnie Johnson, who had started seventh, jumped into third on the restart and one lap later, Marc Johnson tried to pull another crossover move, this time on Speshock in the second turn, but drifted too high, killing his momentum, Two turns later, Marc Johnson bounced through a hole in the fourth turn, allowing Ronnie Johnson to take over second.
But that little skirmish allowed Speshock, who had started third and who had the lead after just two laps, to get a little breathing room.
Speshock was getting great runs off the top coming out of the second turn, allowing him to keep Ronnie Johnson at bay. But when he jumped the cushion in the second turn on the final lap, Johnson capitalized and came away with the win.
“I saw he was skating up, skating up, but so was I,” said Johnson after his win. “I knew I had to calm myself, and had to hook the bottom on the last lap. I got a really good launch and it worked. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve won a big block race here. It feels good to be back.”
“I just missed my mark,” said Speshock after recording his best finish of the season. “When the tires heated up, I started to push up.”
Marc Johnson came across the finish line third, with Demetrios Drellos fourth after starting 18th, and Jack Lehner finished fifth.
Matt DeLorenzo, who was seeking his fourth straight modified victory, never had a chance. He was involved in a chain-reaction incident in the fourth turn before the first lap was completed, had to restart at the rear of the field and fought his way back up to ninth.
Each modified heat race winner also received a $320 bonus, through sponsorship from Chris Grady’s Racing Photos. Those bonuses went to David Schilling, Ronca and Lehner.
Tim Hartman Jr. drove to his third win of the season in the special “Flying Trowel 32” for sportsman, taking home the top prize of $1,320, Drew Cormie started on the pole and dominated the first half of the feature, but Hartman used a restart on lap 22 to take the lead for good and then came away with his second Stan Da’ Man Night victory in the last five years.
“Drew ran a super race,” said Hartman Jr., who also won the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, which paid a $320 bonus this week. “I was glad I got the restart so I could throw the kitchen sink at him.”
Cormie crossed the finish line second, but was later disqualified, moving Alex Palmer-Sawyer up to second and Chris Jakubiak into third. Completing the top five were Dave Baranowski and Zach Buff.
The best race of the night was the 25-lap pro stock feature, which paid $1,320 to win through sponsorship from Ron Mensing’s Native Pride program.
Chris Stalker, who started third, only needed three laps to move out on the point, leaving a three-car battle between Brandon Emigh, Pete Stefanski and Rich Crane behind him. On lap 16, Crane made a great move, hugging the bottom to go from fourth to second.
A caution for a spin by Shane Henderson bunched the field on lap 22, and Stefanski regained the No. 2 spot on the restart. But Crane wasn’t done yet, and quickly moved to the top, taking the second spot back. But just as Crane was starting to get wound up on the outside, Jimmy Duncan spun to bring out another caution on lap 23.
After the restart, Crane stuck his nose in front of Stalker to lead lap 23, but the two stayed side-by-side after taking the white flag. Coming out of the fourth turn for the final time, Stalker led by half-a-car length, but Crane put the gas pedal to the floor, made up the difference and hit the finish line inches ahead of Stalker for his second straight win.
Stefanski finished third, with Jason Casey fourth and Kyle Hoard fifth.
Bodie Marks drove to his second straight win in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature. Marks started 12th, but moved to the top early in the race and was picking off cars one by one. He took the No. 2 position away from David Zelker on lap 14, and three laps later, went past Dan Seguin in the third turn to take the lead for good. Seguin and Lucas Duncan completed the podium.
Andrew Fitzgerald recorded his first win of the season in the 20-lap street stock feature, which paid $320 to win through sponsorship from Burt’s Tree Service. Fitzgerald, who started 10th, was running fourth when he capitalized on an incident in front of him. Shane Wetherington and Mark Burch were battling for second when Burch made contact with the left quarter of Wetherington’s car, sending Wetherington into a spin. When Burch was sent to the rear, Fitzgerald suddenly found himself in second place.
Fitzgerald then chased Chirs Murray for a number of laps before finally taking the lead with three to go, with PJ Cram, who was looking for his third straight win, following in Murray’s track to take over second. Murray hung on for third.
Adam Montville continued to dominate the four-cylinder division, chalking up his fourth win of the season. Kyle Lanfear finished fifth overall and had the first single-cam car across the finish line.
A Feature 1 (32 Laps): 1. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[7]; 2. 08-Jack Speshock[3]; 3. 3J-Marc Johnson[13]; 4. 111-Demetrios Drellos[18]; 5. 2L-Jack Lehner[10]; 6. 87-Neil Stratton[11]; 7. 35-Mike Mahaney[14]; 8. 91-Felix Roy[15]; 9. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[17]; 10. 20-David Schilling[9]; 11. 7-Don Ronca[5]; 12. 99-Kolby Schroder[23]; 13. 15X-Justin Stone[8]; 14. 14B-Brendan Darrah[2]; 15. 215-Adam Pierson[16]; 16. 4B-Derek Bornt[12]; 17. 21C-Brian Calabrese[19]; 18. 23D-Tommy D’Angelo[1]; 19. 32C-James Meehan[24]; 20. 3G-Brian Gleason[21]; 21. 667-Matt Depew[6]; 22. 14-CG Morey[22]; 23. 44T-Brandon Daley[25]; 24. 21A-Peter Britten[20]; 25. 19-Jessey Mueller[4]; 26. 1-Rich Ronca[26]
Heat 1 (12 Laps): 1. 20-David Schilling[4]; 2. 23D-Tommy D’Angelo[1]; 3. 08-Jack Speshock[2]; 4. 667-Matt Depew[3]; 5. 91-Felix Roy[7]; 6. 215-Adam Pierson[6]; 7. 21C-Brian Calabrese[5]; 8. 14-CG Morey[8]; 9. 44T-Brandon Daley[9]
Heat 2 (12 Laps): 1. 7-Don Ronca[1]; 2. 87-Neil Stratton[5]; 3. 3J-Marc Johnson[6]; 4. 19-Jessey Mueller[2]; 5. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[3]; 6. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[7]; 7. 21A-Peter Britten[8]; 8. 99-Kolby Schroder[4]; 9. (DNS) 1-Rich Ronca
Heat 3 (12 Laps): 1. 2L-Jack Lehner[4]; 2. 14B-Brendan Darrah[1]; 3. 15X-Justin Stone[3]; 4. 4B-Derek Bornt[5]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[6]; 6. 111-Demetrios Drellos[8]; 7. 3G-Brian Gleason[7]; 8. 32C-James Meehan[2]
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 711-Rich Crane[9]; 2. 177-Chris Stalker[3]; 3. 2S-Pete Stefanski[6]; 4. 324-Jason Casey[13]; 5. 76-Kyle Hoard[8]; 6. 14-Kim Duell[10]; 7. 322-Jay Casey[15]; 8. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[5]; 9. 04-Jaxson Ryan[7]; 10. 771-Jim Duncan[11]; 11. 28-Jordan Modiano[12]; 12. 9-Shane Henderson[1]; 13. 36-Pete Vila[14]; 14. 2-Brandon Emigh[4]; 15. 07-Chucky Dumblewski[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Chucky Dumblewski[3]; 2. 2-Brandon Emigh[5]; 3. 9-Shane Henderson[2]; 4. 711-Rich Crane[7]; 5. 177-Chris Stalker[4]; 6. 771-Jim Duncan[6]; 7. 324-Jason Casey[8]; 8. 322-Jay Casey[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[3]; 2. 2S-Pete Stefanski[4]; 3. 76-Kyle Hoard[6]; 4. 14-Kim Duell[7]; 5. 04-Jaxson Ryan[5]; 6. 28-Jordan Modiano[1]; 7. 36-Pete Vila[2]
Doug Wholey’s Ideal Excavating DIRTcar Sportsman – 29 Entries
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Tim Hartman Jr[4]; 2. 667-Andrew Cormie[1]; 3. 12-Johnathan Miller[2]; 4. 07W-Taylor Wason[6]; 5. 18-Jeff Wasburn[3]; 6. 49-Chris Jakubiak[7]; 7. 69-Dakota Green[5]; 8. 33B-Mike Bensen[9]; 9. 26M-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[8]; 10. 20-Brent Bouplon[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Scott Bennett Jr[1]; 2. 711X-Connor Crane[5]; 3. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[2]; 4. 4-Elliott Lussier[4]; 5. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[7]; 6. 98-Craig Wholey[6]; 7. 89-Dylan Madsen[9]; 8. 43-Tavien Blowers[10]; 9. 916-Nick Brundige[8]; 10. 44-Rocco Constantino[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Nick Lussier[1]; 2. 112-Dave Baranowski[3]; 3. 23G-Chad Gregory[2]; 4. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[6]; 5. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[4]; 6. 01-Zach Buff[9]; 7. 42D-Daniel Grignon[5]; 8. 02-Cody Ochs[8]; 9. 27M-Michael Ballestero[7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 6-John Santolin[1]; 2. 8S-Dan Seguin[2]; 3. 33M-Bodie Marks[6]; 4. 1A-Nick Arnold[5]; 5. 51-Jordan Hill[4]; 6. 117-Cordell Younger[7]; 7. 5A-Damon Anderson[8]; 8. 14-Yule Cook[3]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 316-Dave Zelker[1]; 2. 771-Lucas Duncan[2]; 3. 99S-Alex Smith[3]; 4. 9J-James Galarneau[6]; 5. 02B-Michael Baker[5]; 6. 8-Devon Palmer[4]; 7. 5MJ-Matt Jordan[8]; 8. 23Z-Zach Mecca[7]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 1I-Dan Odell[1]; 2. 10-Sloan Cherko[3]; 3. 2E-Colten Emigh[2]; 4. 16-Jarron Maguire[5]; 5. 24-Kirsten Swartz[6]; 6. 18B-Steve Burch[4]; 7. 42-Zach Delaney[7]
