MALTA, N.Y. — Peter Britten is back in form! Not only did he win the DIRTcar modified feature at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night, he was so pleased at winning two in a row that he led the large crowd in an Aussie cheer from victory lane.
Besides the $3,000 winner’s purse, Britten left with another $500 from the Madsen Overhead Doors back-to-back win pot, not to mention a huge smile.
“To think that we were struggling three weeks ago,” said the happy Australian. “It’s great to get turned around and run well again. I’d like to make a habit of this!”
Britten’s win came after a race long battle with eventual runner-up Kenny Tremont, who’d started 10th. Britten, who came out of the 13th hole, got by Tremont in traffic, after which they traded positions a few times mid-race.
While they battled, front row starter C.G. Morey was leading the field around the three-eighths-mile oval with Jack Speshock and Jeremy Pitts in pursuit.
By halfway, Donnie Ronca had advanced from ninth to second, scooting under the rim riders in the corners, and he finally took command of the 35-lapper at halfway. But his lead was short lived, as Pitts put Morey away for second on lap 24 and Britten followed. Three laps later, he blew by both Pitts and Ronca in turn four and grabbed a lead he wouldn’t give up.
Tremont got to second on lap 30 and was closing on Britten when he hit turn one too hard and nearly went over the end with two to go. He recovered and passed Pitts again but by then, Britten was headed to the checkers.
Speshock was fourth ahead of Ronca, Adam Pierson, Morey, Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo and Jack Lehner.
“There wasn’t a big berm to hook you and you needed a different car to run the top or the bottom,” explained Tremont. “I was trying to adjust the brakes on the fly to run both grooves but you can’t get it right every time when you’re racing. That one lap, it got away from me. Actually, I didn’t even know we were racing for the lead.”
“We were off just a little,” said Pitts. “I tried a couple of things after the heat and it got snug on me in the feature. But I don’t think it really mattered. Peter was really good.”
“I figured Kenny was the one I had to beat at the end tonight,” summed up Britten. “We had a hell of a race through the field and it was hard to know just where to run at the end. I was getting loose on the bottom but it wasn’t too big a problem. We still got there first!”
Chuckie Dumblewski scored a $1,000 win in the Pro Stock feature with a last lap pass of Luke Horning. Robbie Yetman was third, ahead of Jason Casey and Shane Henderson.