MALTA, N.Y. — Australian expatriate Peter Britten, known to his legion of fans as “Batman,” notched his second DIRTcar big block feature win of the season at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night on the blackest, shiniest surface possible after the SCONE sprint cars had polished the three-eighths-mile mile.
Britten led Matt DeLorenzo and Mike Mahaney, who started a row behind him in 14th and 15th, respectively, to the checkers by a comfortable margin.
“Experience pays off when it gets black and slick,” offered the winner with a big grin. “I’m not the newbie anymore. My row opened-up quickly and let me make some good moves early on. The secret is to get to the lead first, ahead of guys like Matt and Mike. I got nervous near the end when a couple of lapped cars held me up because I knew they’d be coming.”
The Ronca brothers, Rich and Donnie, led the field to green with Rich taking the lead right off and Donnie challenging his rim riding brother on the bottom through lap 15, when the hard charging Britten arrived on the scene and dispatched Donnie. Two laps later he dove under Rich entering turn one and hit the backstretch with the lead.
Meanwhile, DeLorenzo had been duplicating Britten’s moves and the next time around he dropped Ronca another spot. At that point, rookie Andrew Buff was a strong third but Mahaney caught him with ten to go in the 35-lapper and finally edged by five laps later after a pitched battle.
Buff was fifth at the stripe ahead of Jeremy Pitts, Jack Speshock, Jack Lehner, Rich and Don Ronca and Brian Calabrese.
“I almost caught Peter but he was getting off the turns better,” tipped DeLorenzo. “Then two lapped cars almost took me out. Second is like kissing your sister but tonight I was happy to finish there, all things considered.”
As for Mahaney, his night hinged on being in the wrong line on a restart. “I got stuck in the wrong line and Peter got away from me. The top was better for me but I had to run the bottom for a while to pass the guys up top who were ahead of me. We were fast enough to win but we’ll settle for third.”
360 sprint car veteran Matt Tanner claimed the Sprint Cars of New England finale after a hard-fought battle with front row companion Bobby Hackel.
Hackel, a veteran of the Albany-Saratoga modified wars, rode the high line to the lead on the break with Tanner settling in right on his bumper only to have an immediate yellow when a mid-pack car took a hard flip in turn three.
Hackel again led on the second try and by lap five they were lapping the back markers with Hackel holding a small lead. Tanner would close on Hackel in traffic only to have the leader escape when he got room to run his preferred line.
But Hackel’s luck ran out on lap 16 when he got trapped in a gaggle of lapped cars and Tanner sailed by. Then, to make matters worse, Hackel coasted to a stop with two to go.
Tanner led easily after the final restart, leading Kadyn Berry, Tunk Berry and veteran Chris Donnelly to the checkers.
Shane Henderson claimed the Pro Stock feature with Cody Ochs leading the Sportsman field home.
