MALTA, N.Y. — Jack Speshock edged by Ryan McCartney with 10 laps remaining in Friday night’s non-stop 35-lap DIRTcar modified feature to claim his second Albany-Saratoga Speedway win of the season.
But he didn’t know it.
“I knew I’d advanced a long way from 11th but I had no idea I was leading,” offered a jubilant Speshock. “The car hooked up good and I passed a lot of cars on the bottom as the top went away and when the bottom slowed down, I moved to the middle and hoped nobody passed me. But when we came around after the checkers, I had no idea that I’d won.”
Polesitter CG Morey led early on with Rich Ronca and Todd Ryan dueling behind him. Ryan, back after a layoff of well over a decade, had his first strong run since his return to action and when the lap counter hit ten he had not only staked a claim to second, he was right on Morey’s bumper. But behind them, Speshock had gotten to the top six and kept getting stronger as the laps passed.
McCartney, who had charged forward from seventh on the grid, marked the halfway point by shooting past Ryan, then giving Morey an old-fashioned bump and run in turns three and four to get the lead. The fleet youngster looked like a sure winner until Speshock turned the wick up a couple of notches and drove under Ryan for second on lap 20.
From that point on the leaders ran in lapped traffic, with Speshock taking command with 11 to go when McCartney got too high lapping a backmarker. From there, he was home free.
The large crowd then turned its attention to a three-car charge from the rear featuring point leader Peter Britten, last week’s winner Demetrious Drellos and Mike Mahaney, who won two races ago.
At the checkers, Matt DeLorenzo had moved from 15th to third behind Speshock and McCartney with Ryan fourth ahead of Brian Calabrese. Britten, Justin Stone, Mahaney, Marc Johnson and Drellos rounded out the top 10.
“I made one little mistake and Jack got me,” offered McCartney. “I got carried away a little running the far outside around a lapped car when I should have gotten right back to the bottom. That was my third loss to Jack but we’ll get him one of these nights.”
“I needed a yellow but I didn’t get one” summed up DeLorenzo. “My tires got too hot and made me too free up on the top. There was no traction at all on the cushion. It was strange because at the same time, the bottom got better.”
In supporting class action, Mike Ballestero led the sportsman feature flag to flag for his first score since ending a lengthy retirement. His 36th win came at the expense of Craig Wholley, Elliot Lusier, Connor Crane Jr and Mike Benson. The $1,200 Pro Stock win went to Jordan Mordano, who bested Brandon Emigh and Shane Henderson.