MALTA, N.Y. — In honor of Albany-Saratoga Speedway promoter Lyle DeVore’s late father Stan, the theme Friday night was “32,” based on his love of ’32 Fords.
The 32-lap DIRTcar modified feature paid the winner some $3,200 and it looked for most of the race like car No. 32 might win. But polesitter James Meehan’s luck ran out before the checkers, as a flat left-front tire in the late going let his pursuers rapidly chew up his solid lead.
Second-running Jessey Meuller closed rapidly on Meehan with five to go only to have last week’s winner, Demetrious Drellos, scoot underneath him as they hit turn one on lap 31.
By the time he got to turn three, “the Greek Streak” had also run down Meehan and with the crowd up and cheering, he muscled his way between the leader and the turn-four inside wall to seal another win.
The score gave him the $500 Madsen Overhead Door Back to Back Bonus as well, making him the second bonus winner on the year along with Peter Britten.
Meuller used the remaining lap to grab second with the fastest car on the track, 13th-starting Matt DeLorenzo, edging Meehan for third. Brian Calabrese was fifth, trailed by Jeremy Pitts, Britten, Kenny Tremont Jr, Don Ronca and Adam Pierson.
Meehan and front row companion Calabrese battled early on, with Keith Flach’s trip over the turn two banking on lap four bringing the night’s only restart. The infield hugging Meehan again took command once the green reappeared with the fifth-starting Meuller grabbing second on lap nine.
Many expected the rim riding Meuller to keep going and take command but that was as far as he got and the crowd turned to DeLorenzo’s charge through the field, battling Brittten and Tremont all the way.
DeLorenzo was closing rapidly on Mueller and Drellos but needed the normal distance of 35 laps to have a chance of advancing further.
“We’ve been a little tight recently so we freed the car up from last week and we were coming,” offered DeLorenzo. “I really needed another yellow. And three more laps wouldn’t have hurt either.”
“I could hear Demetrious coming before I saw him,” tipped Meuller when asked if he was surprised by the late pass. “We made the wrong tire choice tonight. If we’d made a different choice, we might have gotten the lead earlier and been OK.”
Drellos, however, differed, saying “the slicker this place gets, the better we go. I thought I’d have to be content with third, then I saw that Meehan had a flat left front and was struggling. I watched Jessey running high and knew the bottom was the place to be. Then, all of a sudden on lap 28, it got slick enough for the car to come on and we were good to go!”
Anthony Maxon bested Dakota Green in the limited sportsman finale while Chris Johnson prevail over Zach Buff, Tim Hartman Jr, Travis Whitbeck and Dylan Madsen in the sportsman feature.