MALTA, N.Y. — Sportsman division graduate Jack Speshock notched his second DIRTcar Modified feature win Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway with a $3,000 score over track kingpin Matt DeLorenzo.
“This win is really satisfying,” declared the grinning youngster. “We had two bad weeks to start the season and that big wreck last week left us with a full week’s work to get back here tonight.”
The 35-lap big-block feature was run in bits and spurts early on, with six cars crashing in turn four on the initial start while two more locked together at the flagstand, finally requiring the track safety crew to cut the rear bumper off one to separate them.
Fourth-starting Ryan McCartney dueled with pole-sitter Ryan Storini early on and took command on a lap four restart that followed a lineup dispute that first saw Kolby Schroeder ejected for not getting in the proper spot, then restored to his sought-after position after a video review overruled the computer scoring.
Combined with skirmishes that caused three tries to get the next lap scored, it seemed like the field would never get an extended green but things finally fell into place.
A four-car crash on lap eight tightened the field once again and by halfway a number of drivers had advanced from the higher handicap positions to challenge the early leaders.
Speshock had clawed his way from 12th to second right around the bottom and 14th-starting Mike Mahaney, 16th-starting Matt DeLorenzo and 18th-starting Jack Lehner had all advanced to the lead pack.
With the race going green from lap seven, Speshock kept diving under the rim-riding McCartney in the turns until he finally got even at the flagstand on lap 23, then put the leader away the next time around.
DeLorenzo, who had finally broken loose from his battle with Mahaney, also shot down McCartney and began drawing in on the leader in the early 30s but ran out of time.
“He was better in three and four, then a lapped car broke my momentum and he got away,” tipped the former track champion. “I started gaining again but he’s really good on the bottom and I ran out of time.”
Behind the lead duo, Lehner continued his charge to show third at the checkers ahead of Mahaney and McCartney. Last week’s winner, Marc Johnson, led a second five that included 28th-starting Peter Britten, Schroder, Don Ronca and outsider Billy Pauch Jr.
Chris Stalker claimed the Street Stock feature while Brandon Emigh notched a $1,000 Pro Stock win over Rob Yetman, Luke Horning and Kim Duell. Pat Jones also had a $1,000 night by besting Zach Buff, Travis Witbeck and Tim Hartman Jr. in the Sportsman finale.