MALTA, N.Y. — Even more than usual, the front row was the place to start Friday night at the Albany – Saratoga Speedway.
Combined with a track that got blacker and slicker as the night went on and green to checkers runs in both the Pro Stock and DIRTcar big-block modified features, front-row starters managed to win those features as well as the 358 modified finale.
After having a big-block win in sight two weeks ago only to fall victim to an errant slide job that left him backwards against the turn four wall, outside front row starter Donnie Ronca followed polesitter Matt Depew for a lap, then blew around him through turns three and four and drove off to a solid lead he would hold to the checkers.
Behind the 65-year-old second generation racer, Depew and Scott Huber dueled through the early going, with Huber finally prevailing on lap 11 and refocusing on Ronca.
“I gained for a while but then the harder I tried, the more I went backward,” said Huber. “I saw Matt right there inside me every time I caught the cushion and bounced the car, which slowed me down a little.”
Nevertheless, Huber held second to the white flag in the 35-lapper but Depew, enjoying his best run in recent history, didn’t give up and got inside Huber in the final corner to steal second by inches.
“I was snug at first but then I found the black in the middle and kept getting better,” explained Depew. “On that last lap, a lapped car looked like he was going to squeeze Scott and I but he left us room and I made it by. Barely!”
By then Ronca, who was out to a straightaway lead, had coasted to the win, his 14th career score at “The Great Race Place.”
“I didn’t know where anybody was behind me and I’ve lost wins late in the race before, so I just kept going as fast as I could,” said the elated winner. “We had to put a front clip on the car last week and it was a lot of work. I’m getting too old for that!”
Ryan McCartney advanced from 14th to fourth with Josh Masterson fifth. David Schilling led a second five that included Peter Britten, Brian Calabrese and Marc Johnson.
Mike Mahaney grabbed the lead off the pole in his Huttig No. 35 and led the 358 modified feature flag to flag. Front-row companion Marc Johnson did challenge him on a pair of restarts but to no avail. Fellow big block regulars Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Ronnie Johnson and Robert Bublak trailed Mahaney to the stripe.
“I kept seeing Marc on the outside and that told me to move up off the bottom and to move around more,” detailed Mahaney. “That’s the best we’ve started all year and now that we have a small-block win, we need to get one in the big blocks.”
Beau Ballard led the Pro Stock finale flag to flag, building up a small but comfortable advantage in the non-stop event as runner-up Rich Crane fought off Rob Yetman and Jason Casey behind him.