MALTA, N.Y. — Adam Pierson is only in his second year of running the DIRTcar big block modified tour, but the experience gained on the road is noticeable at his weekly home, the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
On Friday night, he charged from the back to the front of his heat, easily swept the dash, then marched from 13th on the grid to win the non-stop feature by a full straightaway over defending track champion Matt DeLorenzo and Jack Speshock.
“We put a 400-compound tire on the rear for the feature and I knew it would take a while for it to come in,” explained Pearson. “We got going about halfway and if I got in the turns gingerly on the bottom, I could get off fast and drive under the rim riders.”
Big block rookie Jason Stone looked like he might win his first feature off the pole, as he edged away from front row companion Ryan McCartney in the early going and had a full turn lead by lap 10. But just before halfway in the 35-lapper, Stone coasted into the infield, passing command to McCartney, who was locked in combat with Speshock for second at the time.
Behind the lead duo, Pearson had clawed his way to third and when his tires came in, he immediately ran down the leaders. By lap 22, he was driving into the turns under the rim riding Speshock. A lap later, he was second and the next time around, he drove under McCartney in turns three and four and disappeared into the night.
While all this was going on, the 15th-starting DeLorenzo was mowing the field down and with five to go stood fourth.
He then shot by McCartney and Speshock, who were swapping second back and forth, with two to go but had no shot at the leader. McCartney had to settle for fourth ahead of Keith Flach, Kenny Tremont Jr, Rich Ronca, Jack Lehner, Brian Calabrese and Peter Britten.
“I was tight early and I couldn’t get through traffic,” said DeLorenzo. “But the last 10 laps, the car came to me and I got going. Adam was rotating through the middle of the turns better than I was and when I was struggling, he got away from me. There were no yellows and he was really quick, so we’ll be happy with second.”
“My car was good on the top but we weren’t going to beat Adam with him running the shorter distance creeping around the bottom,” offered Speshock. “I needed more gear to be able to run the bottom. I tried to follow Adam but I said, ‘No way!’ and went back to the top.”
In companion action, Kyle Swart and 12-year-old Connor Crane both notched their first ever Limited Sportsman wins.