MALTA, N.Y. – Neil Stratton appeared to win his first DIRTcar modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night, but that was until he visited the tech shed.
Stratton was disqualified after his car failed post-race inspection, leading to runner-up Peter Britten being declared the winner.
Britten, who had started eighth, was running fourth after 10 laps, and used a restart on lap 12 to move into third. That caution came out when 13-time track champion Ken Tremont Jr., who was in a four-car dogfight for sixth place, made contact with another car in the second turn and wound up on the infield.
By lap 20, Britten had taken over second place, and with six laps left, Stratton, who had started fifth and taken the lead on lap five, found himself in heavy traffic. But when he cleared the lapped car of Kris Vernold, Britten couldn’t make the same quick move, and Stratton had a comfortable lead when he went under Rich Peterson’s checkered flag.
Jeff Trombley, who spent many seasons at Albany-Saratoga in a modified, claimed the feature for the visiting CRSA 305 sprints. He advanced steadily from ninth, showing fifth on a lap five restart and second on lap eight when the next caution came.
When green returned, he went right to the top, drawing even with leader Dalton Herrick for two lap before changing lanes and diving under him as they hit turn one on lap nine.
From there it was clear sailing for Trombley, who led Brandyn Griffin, Mike Kiser, Alysha Bay, Justin Mills and Gerald Sehn to the checkers.
Division kingpin Tim Hartman prevailed over Connor Cleveland and Pat Jones in the Sportsman feature with old pro Kim Deuel notching a $1,000 score in the Pro Stocks. He was trailed by Brandon Emigh, Nick Arnold and Josh Coonradt.