MALTA, N.Y. — Marc Johnson claimed his third DIRTcar big-block modified victory of the season and his second in three weeks Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Known to his loyal fans as the “Black Knight,” Johnson’s 24th career win at the three-eighths-mile oval came at the expense of Neil Stratton, who advanced from tenth on the grid to second in three laps, then spent until halfway of the 35-lapper hounding outside front row starter James Meehan for the lead while trying to hold off Johnson, who had started one row behind him.
Johnson had dueled with another two-time winner, Jack Lehner, as they climbed through the field but finally shook loose from him and went to work on Stratton and Meehan as halfway neared.
Defending track champion Demetrious Drellos spun in turn three on lap 17 and got blasted by a backmarker, drawing a yellow that led to a big shakeup in the running order on the restart.
Johnson blew under Stratton for second as they hit turn one only to see the Vermonter come off the top of turn two like a bullet and blow around Meehan for the lead at the other end.
Meanwhile, Jack Speshock had sneaked from fourth on the restart to second with Johnson dropping to fourth before starting his climb back.
A restart triggered when David Schilling went around on lap 24 saw Johnson having disposed of Speshock for third and on the green, he dipped low and shot by Meehan down the frontstretch. Johnson was on Stratton’s bumper down the backstretch and grabbed the lead in turn four, leaving Stratton to battle Meehan as he drove off to a solid lead.
“We worked our buns off on the car this week after we lost a motor last week, which killed us in points,” offered the elated winner. “The top is not my forté but we made it work at times tonight along with my usual low groove and got all the way to the front.”
Behind him, Meehan had fallen into the clutches of Matt DeLorenzo, up from 13th, and at the stripe it was Stratton, DeLorenzo, Meehan and Ryan McCartney in line behind Johnson.
Lehner led a second five that included Peter Britten, Speshock, Justin Stone and Mike Mahaney. Point leader Britten advanced all the way from 27th.
“We were good but Marc was a little bit better,” offered a disappointed Stratton, who had visions of winning the $3,000 that Johnson took home. “The way the track was, whoever got out front after that last restart was going to win. It got to be one lane, which made it really tough to fight back.”
As for DeLorenzo, he said he was “too tight, too early. I got by Meehan and then caught the two leaders really quick but after that last restart we were only good, not great and it ended that way.”
In support class action, Jimmy Duncan won the street stock feature while Beau Ballard notched his third win, worth some $1,000, in the pro stock finale.
Rob Yetman, point leader Kim Duell and Rich Crane trailed in an excellent race that saw Ballard run down and pass the lead trio with the four running under the proverbial blanket for most of the feature.