MALTA, N.Y. — Jack Speshock has led numerous 35- lap DIRTcar modified features at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway only to suffer mechanical failures or get passed in the late going. Â
But Friday night he went forward in the waning laps instead of backward and notched his first modified win on the three-eighths-mile dirt oval, besting defending champion Matt DeLorenzo and early leader Rich Ronca.
“I finally made it!” he declared in victory lane, a cold beer in one hand and a checkered flag in the other. “Kris Vernold scared me at the end, when I was trying to lap him, because he took my line. Then I hit the hole in between turns three and four and the suspension flattened out, but nothing broke. I almost fell out of the seat but I wasn’t about to quit. I hate running the bottom because I’m afraid I’ll hit the inside barrier but tonight I could slow down and run down there and that got us the win.”
Ronca ran out to a healthy lead off the pole and duplicated the move through a handful of yellows early on. Â At ten laps he had seventh starting CB Morey following him with Brian Calabrese third but Speshock and DeLorenzo, who started in row six, were on their way to the front.
A yellow at halfway to retrieve Robert Bublak’s stalled mount saw Speshock third and DeLorenzo sixth for the restart. By lap 20 they had run down Ronca and the next time around Speshock was in command. Â DeLorenzo then made some strong runs on the leader but could never put him away.
“The track was unusually rough and I was bouncing around,” tipped DeLorenzo.  “I had trouble seeing through the dust on the restarts but the difference was that he got through the holes better than I did. I thought I had him once but I caught a hole and got all four wheels in the air. He was good and deserved the win!”
“I didn’t know where anybody was,” said Rona. “I just tried to stay cool and keep it down but it was hard to see when I caught the lapped cars and I gave up a lot of ground there.”
Jack Lehner crossed fourth ahead of 20th starting Peter Britten, Neil Stratton, Demetrious Drills, Anthony Perrego, Mike Mahaney and Keith Flach.
In the companion pro stock feature, Shane Henderson survived a dog eat dog battle for the lead to claim the $1,600 win, his first in six years of trying. He was trailed by Jay Corbin, Rich Crane and Devon Camenga.
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