Williamson, Scarborough & Duell Win 61st Season Opener At Albany-Saratoga
Column By: Toby LaGrange – ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY – MALTA, NY – The Albany-Saratoga Speedway kicked off the 2026 season on Friday night with the annual season opening visit by the Super DIRTcar Series for Big Block Modifieds. With 119 drivers packing the pit area and a near standing room only crowd there to watch, three drivers would walk away with the lion’s share of the nights purse.
Ontario’s Mat Williamson parked the Buzz Chew Chevrolet number 88 in victory following the 61-lap season opener for the Super DIRTcar Series. Other winners during night included Joey Scarborough (DIRTcar Sportsman) and Kim Duell (DIRTcar Mini Stock).
When the green flag waved on the Super DIRTcar Series event, former track champion Matt Delorenzo would take control of the early race lead. Delorenzo would quickly open up a large lead while second place runner Williamson battled Alex Payne for the runner-up position.
That battle continued on a lap seven restart as Delorenzo held the lead but Williamson and Payne were not far behind. With caution laps counting until lap 36, the laps quickly started to wind down.
Delorenzo’s time out front would come to an end on a lap 26 restart when Williamson was able to drive past and into the lead.
With six laps remaining Delorenzo would make one last push to bring home the win but it was not to be as Mat Williamson will add his name to the record books as the opening day winner. Delorenzo finished second with Stewart Friesen third, Jack Lehner fourth and Jimmy Phelps fifth.
A total of 53 drivers entered the event with heat races being won by Tim Sears, Jr., Delorenzo, Friesen, Payne, Demetrios Drellos and Williamson. Sears was the overall quick time in time trials with a lap of 16.829 seconds. The twin Last Chance Showdowns were won by Tanner Van Doren and Larry Wight.
Joey Scarborough kicked off the DIRTcar Sportsman divisions season in style with a convincing win over a very stout 54 car field. Chris Crane, Jr. hounded the Vermont driver for most of the event only to come up just a bit short. Crane finished second with Craig Wholey third, Nick Brundige fourth and Derrick McGrew, Jr. fifth.
Picking up the heat race wins were Crane, rookie Bodie Marks, Wholey, McGrew and another rookie, Jordan Hill. The twin consolation events were won by rookie Cam Van Zandt and Tanner Coon. A total of 54 drivers entered the event.
Vermont’s Scott Duell dominated most of the DIRTcar Pro Stock feature event, despite battling his father Kim Duell and Chuck Dumblewski throughout the 25 laps. Duell would make a mistake late in the event, which handed the lead to Kim.
Former track champion Kim Duell would bring home the win over Scott, Kyle Hoard, Jordan Modiano and Jaxson Ryan. Heat races were won by Dumblewski and Scott Duell.
The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action on Friday, April 24th with all divisions in action including the DIRTcar 358 Modifieds and DIRTcar Four Cylinders. Pit gates open at 3pm, grandstand gates open at 5pm with hot laps rolling off at 6pm. Racing is set to begin at 7pm.
For more information on the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, please find us on our social media pages and our website – albany-saratogaspeedway.com.
Results – 4/17/25
Super DIRTcar Series Feature (61 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 3D-Matt DeLorenzo[1]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 4. 2-Jack Lehner[14]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[9]; 7. 111-Demetrios Drellos[6]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[13]; 9. 35-Mike Mahaney[11]; 10. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 11. 20-David Schilling[10]; 12. 91-Felix Roy[18]; 13. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 14. 27T-Tanner Van Doren[19]; 15. 4-Anthony Perrego[17]; 16. 99L-Larry Wight[20]; 17. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 18. 25-Erick Rudolph[12]; 19. 15X-Justin Stone[26]; 20. 21C-Brian Calabrese[24]; 21. 20C-Cole Stangle[22]; 22. 27-Jeremy Pitts[25]; 23. 1-Tyler Dippel[23]; 24. 3J-Marc Johnson[16]; 25. 99-Kolby Schroder[21]; 26. 17-Marcus Dinkins[28]; 27. (DNF) 6-Matt Stangle[27]; 28. (DNF) 28-Michael Trautschold[15]
DIRTcar Sportsman Feature (25 Laps): 1. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[1]; 2. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[3]; 3. 98-Craig Wholey[4]; 4. 916-Nick Brundige[15]; 5. 26M-Derrick McGrew Jr[2]; 6. 07W-Taylor Wason[5]; 7. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[13]; 8. 16X-Savannah Laflair[26]; 9. 3H-Cole Hentschel[12]; 10. 22-Tim Hartman Jr[17]; 11. 02-Cody Ochs[29]; 12. 03-Joshua Jock[14]; 13. 711X-Connor Crane[28]; 14. 51-Jordan Hill[9]; 15. 35R-Justin Comes[23]; 16. 216-Phil Arnold[27]; 17. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[30]; 18. 25JR-William Lussier[19]; 19. 313-Cam Van Zandt[21]; 20. 12-Johnathan Miller[6]; 21. 92-Tanner Coon[22]; 22. 1VT-Marty Hutchins[25]; 23. 27M-Michael Ballestero[16]; 24. 01-Zach Buff[20]; 25. 97K-Kaven Poliquin[18]; 26. 50-Bill August[24]; 27. 18-Jeff Wasburn[11]; 28. 33M-Bodie Marks[10]; 29. 23G-Chad Gregory[8]; 30. 112-Dave Baranowski[7]
DIRTcar Pro Stock Feature (25 Laps): 1. 14-Kim Duell[4]; 2. 14X-Scott Duell[1]; 3. 76-Kyle Hoard[11]; 4. 4M-Jordan Modiano[7]; 5. 04-Jaxson Ryan[8]; 6. 9-Shane Henderson[3]; 7. 57-Charles Mcspirit[9]; 8. 112-Chris Wemple[10]; 9. 07-Chucky Dumblewski[2]; 10. 711-Rich Crane[5]; 11. 2-Brandon Emigh[6]; 12. 03JR-PJ Cram[12]
