Stone Crushes Them Again At Albany-Saratoga

Rich Scagliotta and Don Ronca brought the field of DIRTcar Modifieds to the green with Scagliotta taking the early lead over Neil Stratton, Ronca, Brendan Darrah and Ronnie Johnson.

Ronca took over the top spot on lap three with Stratton moving past Scagliotta for second. Scagliotta dropped out of the top five over the course of the next three laps.

The caution flag waved on lap seven when Brian Calabrese slowed out of turn four with a flat tire.

When racing resumed Ronca held the lead over new second place runner Brendan Darrah. Stratton held down third with last Friday nights feature winner Justin Stone moving to fourth ahead of Johnson.

Johnson began to challenge Stratton for third on lap 12 and as they clicked off lap 13, he had the position. With 15 laps on the lap counter Ronca had nearly a straightaway advantage over Darrah, Johnson, Stone and Stratton.

Stone made a move on Johnson on lap 18 and took over position number three and quickly set his sights on second place runner Darrah. On lap 19 Stone took over the runner up position from Darrah.

He wasted no time and quickly closed in on Ronca. On lap 21 Stone looked under Ronca and took over the top spot. Within a couple of laps Ronca, Darrah and Johnson were all under a blanket battling for the runner up position. Darrah would take the spot on lap 24 with Ronca and Johnson following. By lap 27 Johnson had taken control of the third position.

With five laps to go Anthony Perrego took the Matt DeLorenzo machine into the fifth position. Jack Lehner looked strong over the final laps. He took over the second position on lap 32.

Lehner’s charge was too late as Stone would not be denied his second consecutive win at Albany-Saratoga. Stone picked up the win with Lehner second, Perrego third, Darrah fourth and Mike Mahaney fifth.

With the win Stone claimed the Madsen Overhead Doors Back-to-Back bonus. Jeremy Pitts, Andrew Buff and Stratton won the qualifying events. The Four States Enterprises Dash was won by Buff.

Craig Wholey won the 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature event. Chad Gregory and rookie Jordan Hill brought the field to the green with Hill taking the early lead over Craig Wholey and Dan Grignon. The caution waved on lap three for a jingle in turn four, requiring a restart.

On the restart Hill held the lead however the caution flag would fly again for a tangle between Taylor Wason and Josh LeClaire.

When racing resumed Hill and Wholey ran one-two with Grignon, Gregory and Mike Ballestero holding down the remainder of the top five positions. Wholey took a look under Hill on lap six and took over the lead while Derrick McGrew, Jr. moved into fifth.

With ten laps on the scoreboard Wholey held the lead over Hill. Grignon, McGrew and Joey Scarborough. The caution flag waved again on lap 11 when LeClaire spun on the backstretch.

The restart would see Wholey and Hill bring the field back to the green with Wholey taking the command. Hill lost a number of positions on the restart, dropping to the fifth position behind Grignon, Scarborough and McGrew.

A lap later the caution flag waved again for Brent Warren in turn two. On the restart Wholey held the lead with Scarborough using the cushion to take over the second position. With ten laps to go Wholey and Scarborough had pulled away from third place McGrew.

By lap 19 Scarborough was all over Wholey’s number 98. Just as Scarborough was to pull along side of Wholey, Nick Brundige came to a stop in turn four.

Wholey led on the restart with McGrew taking over second from Scarborough.

In the end no one could catch Wholey picked up the win over McGrew, Scarborough, Zach Buff and Bodie Marks. Heat races for the 32 entries were won by Gregory, Cole Hentschel, McGrew and Grignon.

The remainder of the program was lost due to mother nature with the remaining features being made up at a later date.

In qualifying action, the DIRTcar Pro Stock heat races were won by Scott Duell and Caden Dumblewski. The trio of Limited Sportsman heat races were won by William Lussier, Jr., James Galarneau and Kirstin Swartz. A pair of heat races were held for the Street Stock division with heat races going to Gary O’Brien and Dan Madigan.

The Albany-Saratoga Speedway returns to action on Friday, July 10^th with all weekly divisions in action plus 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.

Feature Results from 7/3

NEXT GENERATION ROOFING DIRTcar Modified Feature (35 Laps): 1. 15X-JUSTIN STONE[6]; 2. 2L-Jack Lehner[11]; 3. 3D-Matt DeLorenzo[15]; 4. 14B-Brendan Darrah[4]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[12]; 6. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 7. 3J-Marc Johnson[13]; 8. 27-Jeremy Pitts[10]; 9. 21A-Peter Britten[14]; 10. 7-Don Ronca[2]; 11. 87-Neil Stratton[3]; 12. 92B-Andrew Buff[8]; 13. 21C-Brian Calabrese[16]; 14. 08-Jack Speshock[9]; 15. 14-CG Morey[21]; 16. 11X-Josh Masterson[7]; 17. 34-Dylan Grogan[17]; 18. 8-Rich Scagliotta[1]; 19. 1-Rich Ronca[18]; 20. 23D-Tommy D’Angelo[22]; 21. 4B-Derek Bornt[19]; 22. 667-Matt Depew[20]

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING DIRTcar Sportsman Feature (25 Laps): 1. 98-CRAIG WHOLEY [4]; 2. 26M-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[10]; 3. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[8]; 4. 01-Zach Buff[17]; 5. 33M-Bodie Marks[13]; 6. 42D-Daniel Grignon[3]; 7. 07W-Taylor Wason[23]; 8. 4-Elliott Lussier[6]; 9. 51-Jordan Hill[2]; 10. 3H-Cole Hentschel[12]; 11. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[19]; 12. 12-Johnathan Miller[7]; 13. 29V-Joe Venditti[22]; 14. 711X-Connor Crane[15]; 15. 22-Tim Hartman Jr[14]; 16. 23G-Chad Gregory[1]; 17. 61-Alex Palmer Sawyer[21]; 18. 667-Andrew Cormie[26]; 19. 92-Tanner Coon[20]; 20. 3-Nick Lussier[29]; 21. 76-Raelin Dunham[31]; 22. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[30]; 23. 1-Scott Bennett Jr[28]; 24. 02-Cody Ochs[16]; 25. 916-Nick Brundige[11]; 26. 7-Josh Leclaire[25]; 27. 33B-Mike Benson[9]; 28. 27M-Michael Ballestero[5]; 29. 2W-Brent Warren[18]; 30. 12L-Katrina LeClaire[27]; 31. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[32]; 32. 112-Dave Baranowski[24]