MALTA, N.Y. — Ronnie Johnson parleyed a fast car and some bad luck for Demetrious Drellos to notch his third DIRTcar modified win of the season Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
The 35-lapper got off to a bad start when the field was ragged and starter Rich Petersen held the green, causing polesitter Neil Stratton and third-starting Keith Flach to lock bumpers and slide to a stop on the frontstretch.
With order restored, Johnson made a charge from seventh to third behind Stratton and CB Morey before the next yellow flew on lap six for a Mike Mahaney flat tire. He appeared headed for the lead, but the 11th-starting Drellos had other ideas.
Drellos stood fourth on the restart and when Johnson blew under Morey for second in turn two, Drellos drove around the outside to drop Morey to third at the other end of the three-eighths-mile oval. The next time around Drellos used the extreme outside to drive around both Stratton and Johnson as they ran side by side dueling for the lead.
From there, the “Greek Streak” drove away, leaving fans to watch Adam Pierson’s impressive climb through the top 10.
Drellos built up a solid lead again after a lap-13 caution only to pull up four laps later with a flat right rear. That put Johnson in command and the only question was who would finish second. By then Pierson had advanced from 13th to fifth and when action resumed, he went to war with Marc Johnson, Stratton and Morey with Jeremy Pitts soon joining the battle as well.
The race’s final restart on lap 28 saw Pierson third and Pitts fifth, with the latter making an outside run only to have to lift when Pierson hit turn three too hard and bounced up into Pitts’ lane.
Pierson quickly rebuilt his momentum and dropped Morey to third with three laps to go. Marc Johnson was fourth with Pitts fifth ahead of Drellos, Jack Speshock, Stratton, Matt DeLorenzo and Jack Lehner.
“Demetrious was really fast and I knew that our only shot was if he had trouble,” summed up the winner. “That one hour rain delay left the track choppy and he lost that tire while we hung on to the end. That was the difference.”
“The track had a lot of grip from top to bottom, which helped me get through the pack,” offered Pearson. “I felt bad that I got into Pitts on that restart. It was entirely my fault. He was really quick on the top.”
Morey was winded but happy, saying “a top five here is good and a top three is really good. We’re a little down on power, which is ok when it’s slick but tonight it was tacky and I could have used more motor. I’m getting old but thankfully the car drove perfectly all night.”
Jay Casey notched a hard-fought win in a crash-marred Pro Stock feature, besting Brandon Emigh, early leader Chuck Dumblewski, Rich Crane and Jay Corbin.