MALTA, N.Y. — Matt DeLorenzo notched his third Albany-Saratoga Speedway DIRTcar modified feature win of the season Friday night. But this was easily his favorite as the 60-lap “Modified Spectacular” win was worth some $6,060.
Jack Lehner took second back from Justin Stone in the waning laps but though both had legitimate shots at DeLorenzo at various times, the best they could do was draw even briefly. Both times, DeLorenzo dug deep and drove off to a comfortable lead again.
Stone, who pulled the pole in the redraw, took command on the initial break but the fourth starting DeLorenzo ran him down in just four laps, getting alongside off turn two and putting him away as they came to the flagstand. Lehner was shadowing DeLorenzo after starting a row behind him and two laps later he was a frustrated second.
“I knew if I was going to win it, I had to get the lead before Matt,” said Lehner. “I figured if I got there first, I could hold him off but I didn’t make it. I got alongside him in traffic later on but he got away and I spent the rest of the race battling with Justin.”
Billy Pauch Jr., making a rare New York start, joined the scrum with Stone and Lehner and got to third only to get blasted on a lap 21 restart when Chris Curtis got down inside him in turn one. They both went around in turn two, collecting a handful of others in the process.
That put Stone back on Lehner’s bumper and a few laps later he worked his way by to take second back, with the top three building a solid lead over fourth place runner Kyle Armstrong by halfway.
DeLorenzo was out to a full turn lead by the time Pauch slowed on lap 37, negating DeLorenzo’s advantage once again. Stone cranked it up when green reappeared and got alongside the leader with 20 to go but couldn’t put him away. In the meantime, Adam Pierson had taken third away from Lehner, who then decided he’s saved his tires long enough and picked up the pace enough to drive by both Pierson and Stone before the checkers.
“I knew Justin had a softer tire on so I let him run it off,” tipped Lehner. “I was better on long runs but still not good enough to handle Matt.”
“Yeah, with extra heat in the tire at the end we faded,” summed up Stone. “But it was a lot of fun racing with those guys. Matt is amazing here. He’s so good in the low groove and has amazing side bite and drive off the turns. You think you’ve got him on the outside, then he just drives away from you.”
“I was just driving around, trying to save my tires,” offered DeLorenzo with his patented grin. “Starting up front really helped. And my brother gave me a great car. He’s the brains, I just drive it. I didn’t know where Jack and Justin were when I was struggling with lapped cars so I just kept digging.”
Marc Johnson turned in a terrific drive from 19th to seize fourth from Pierson with the checkers in sight. Peter Britten led the second five, which included David Schilling, Felix Roy, Anthony Perrego and Rich Ronca.
Teenager Cadon Dumblewski won his first ever Pro Stock feature, holding off veteran Kim Duell, Rich Crane, Jim Duncan and his father, Chucky Dumblewski. Dylan Madsen bested Zach Buff, Dave Baranowski, Joey Scarborough and Derrick McGrew Jr in the Sportsman finale.
