MALTA, N.Y. — The Lyle Devore Memorial, rained out in early August, was held at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night before a huge crowd.
The longtime promoter, who succumbed to cancer in the off-season, was remembered in a heartfelt ceremony punctuated by his widow, Marcie, pacing the 55-lap DIRTcar modified feature with track prep expert DeVore’s beloved grader.
The feature saw veteran Marc Johnson lead point leader Matt DeLorenzo to the checkers and claim more than $8,000 to conclude one of the strangest races in recent history.
Dom Roselli blew off polesitter Rich Ronca on the start only to have a lengthy red flag for Ronca’s brother Donnie, who disappeared into the woods off turns three and four, severely mangling his car. In addition, Ronca was just back from abdominal surgery and he was removed to a local hospital for observation.
Roselli maintained control on the restart, leading Jack Lehner through lap 24 when he suddenly slowed and headed for the pits. Lehner then led for just a lap before he too slowed and dropped out, putting Johnson on the point.
Meanwhile, NASCAR Truck and DIRTcar star Stewart Friesen had been flying through the field and had cracked the top five from 14th. But his progress was halted by another red flag when Brendan Darragh flipped into the turn four wall. Friesen got to fourth on the restart, then gained another spot when second-running Adam Pierson slowed and pulled into the infield.
The restart saw Friesen blast to second only to have two cars lock together and spin off the backstretch before he could challenge Johnson. With the huge crowd expecting a battle for the lead on the restart, third running James Meehan carried Friesen over the turn two banking on the restart. He recovered but things got worse when he tangled with Demetrious Drellos at the other end and spun.
This brought yet another restart, which saw David Schilling and Brian Calabrese do a double flip from the flag stand to turn one, thoroughly shredding Calabrese’s mount.
A single file restart restored sanity, with Meehan, DeLorenzo and the 19th starting Billy Pauch Jr trailing Johnson. DeLorenzo grabbed second with 13 to go and steadily drew in on the leader before appearing to get tight, letting Johnson slip away. They finished that way with Pauch third ahead of brother-in-law Mike Mahaney. Peter Britten, Meehan, Justin Stone, Kolby Schroeder, and Friesen trailed.
“It was sure better than last week, when I ran third with a bent front axle,” declared Johnson. “The yellows and dropouts helped but I was stuck tight to the bottom, which stayed good while the top seemed to go away, the opposite of last week.”
“I almost blew a corner because I was out of tearoffs,” added DeLorenzo. “I caught him but right about then the top went away and I started struggling. For once, I’d like to start up a ways instead of way back in the high handicap position.”
The visiting Pauch, who got $800 as the race’s hard charger, declared “in the middle of the race the car was phenomenal. Then the track cleared off and we got worse. I thought I’d get to Matt but I lost grip at the end too. But third from 19th on a track I seldom see is something we can live with.”
Mahaney and Friesen then closed out the night by running one/two in the 358 modified finale. Johnson was third ahead of Cole Henschel and Dave Camara. Taylor Wasson topped Joey Scarborough in the Sportsman feature, with all divisions receiving higher payoffs and special mid-pack awards contributed by fans and supporters in honor of DeVore.
