MALTA, N.Y. — Jessey Meuller notched his fifth Albany-Saratoga Speedway win in Friday night’s 35-lap DIRTcar modified finale, besting a fast-closing Adam Pierson and a much-improved C.G. Morey.
Polesitter Brian Calabrese beat front-row companion Meuller to turn one on the initial break, but the North Country veteran built up momentum in the outside lane, blew past Calabrese down the backstretch and led from there to the checkers.
With the announcer proclaiming “It’s Meuller Time” in Victory Lane, Mueller tipped that his car had been unusually fast all night before declaring “We really needed this.”
“I’ve been drawing bad and getting wrecked trying to come from the rear,” added Meuller pitside. “It was great just to start up front. I didn’t think I was going to make it, because the motor is hurt. It started vibrating near the end, but I wasn’t going to give up the win. The track had three good grooves tonight, but I ran it hard and stayed on the top right to the end. I figured it would be hard for anyone to get around me with the momentum I had.”
Calabrese, Neil Stratton and C.B. Morey battled for second in the early going, with Mueller out to a full-turn lead over Stratton and Morey by lap 10. The order was the same at halfway but Pierson had advanced from tenth to sixth by that point and continued to fight his way forward in the second half.
The first yellow of the evening flew on lap 20, bringing Meuller back to the field and letting Pierson jump to fourth when the second running Stratton went over the turn three banking. He shot down Calabrese the next time around, then disposed of Morey on a lap-19 restart triggered by Stratton stalling on the backstretch. The New Englander got down inside Meuller once but even was as far as he got and he had to settle for second.
“We came from 10th so we had a good car,” summed up Pierson. “It’s been good all year but little things like breakdowns and wrecks have plagued us. Tonight we could run the top, the middle or the bottom and it was a fun race.”
“I didn’t need that last yellow,” declared Morey, who had his sights set on a runner-up finish. “We could run it in hard on the bottom or the top because the track was great, so it was fun tonight.”
Calabrese hung on for a fine fourth place finish ahead of defending track champion Matt DeLorenzo, up from 15th, and 12th starting Mike Mahaney. Jack Lehner, Peter Britten, Demetrious Drellos and Don Ronca rounded out the top 10.
The DMC midgets, visiting from their regular venue, Vermont’s Bear Ridge Speedway, also had a flag-to-flag winner in Chris Murray. He got the jump on front row companion Will Hull on the initial green and they ran that way to the checkers, with Murray steadily edging away from his pursuers to win by a straightaway. Seth Carlson was third ahead of Brandon Piascka and Manny Dias.
“Joe Mancini really has this car figured out,” declared the happy winner. “It’s only my third time in the car and here we are in victory lane.”