MALTA, N.Y. – Rich Ronca scored his first Albany-Saratoga Speedway victory Friday night, leading the 35 lap DIRTcar modified feature flag-to-flag except for a brief interlude when his brother, Don, edged by in traffic.
Rookie Jack Speshock hit the stripe second, followed by Bobby Hackel III, Jack Lehner and Peter Britten.
With the infield a quagmire from days of rain, the sealed over racing surface rolled out wide and with more bite than usual, though it was surprisingly black and, in places, extremely slick. Ronca, a habitual bottom hugger, blasted off from the pole and ran the inside the entire distance, figuring anyone who passed him would have to go the long way around.
Don Ronca, who won a late season feature in 2020 to join Kenny Tremont Jr. as the only five-decade winners at the Malta oval, did just that on lap 21, using the faster outside line to shoot by his younger brother when he hesitated for a lapped car. From there, it looked like the Ronca brothers would take the checkers one/two, as they had a healthy lead over third running Derek Bornt, though the order of finish was uncertain.
Lap 27 saw Rich Ronca, who had been edging closer, reclaim the lead when Don Ronca got a little too high in turn two and had to feather the throttle momentarily. Behind them, the big guns were fighting hammer and tong to advance but the finish seemed set until Neil Stratton coasted to a stop with five to go for the night’s only caution.
On the restart, Don Ronca hit turn one high and hard, sliding over the cushion and dropping like a stone in the running order. Speshock, who restarted fifth, hugged the inside and shot to second as everyone scrambled for position. Bornt, who restarted third, dropped out of the top five, yielding to Hackel, Lehner and then Britten in the closing laps. The 19th starting Britten worked from tenth on the restart to take the checkers fifth ahead of Bornt, Matt DePew, Mike Mahaney, Anthony Perrego and Kenny Tremont Jr.
“I was starting to wonder if this first win would ever come,” said Rich Ronca. “I was just trying to hit my marks and not let anyone under me. There was a puddle in two and if you hit that, you’d slide all the way across the track.
“I heard Don coming and I was just hoping nobody else would go with him. Then we got back by him and it all worked out in my favor.”
“The track had a little bite and we were all right,” declared Speshock. “When Ronca went over the end I said ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ I got inside Bornt and just kept going and all of a sudden I was second.”
Hackel was also impressed with the bite in the speedway’s surface, saying, “I like bite! I hate it when it’s really slick and slow. We had a lot of motor trouble in the first half of the season but now that we have that fixed, I have time to work on the chassis and it’s showing.”
In supporting division action, Matt Mosher bested PJ Cram in the Street Stock feature while Nick Arnold claimed his first ever Limited Sportsman win over Chris Crane Jr. Connor Cleveland scored a hard fought victory over Jim Nagle and Tim Hartman Jr. in the Sportsman finale.