Johnson & Hartman Big Winners At Albany-Saratoga
Story By: TOBY LAGRANGE / ALBANY SARATOGA SPEEDWAY MEDIA
Photos By: MARK BROWN & DAVE DALESANDRO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Malta, NY –September 10, 2016- Ronnie Johnson and Tim Hartman, Jr. were the big winners Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Johnson won the 40 lap, Tom Clothier Trucking/American Foundation of Suicide Prevent Small Block Modified feature event. The win was worth $3,000. Hartman meanwhile won the 100 lap Northeast Crate Nationals, King of Dirt Sportsman Series event. The win came over an impressive 62 car field and was worth $2,500 plus contingency and lap money.
Elmo Reckner and Kenny Tremont, Jr. led the Small Block Modified field to the green with Tremont taking the early lead over Reckner and Ryan Artbithnot.
By lap eight Tremont had a commanding lead over Reckner, Artbithnot, Bobby Varin and Ronnie Johnson. On lap ten Matt Delorenzo took the fifth position from Varin who had have way to Johnson a lap earlier. Sean Mandel made contact with the tractor tire in turn two to force the first caution flag on lap 11.
On the restart Ricky Davis and John Lutes tangled in turn two to force a restart. When racing resumed Tremont held the lead over Johnson, Reckner, Delorenzo and Arbithnot. Ricky Davis slowed on lap 15 to bring out the yellow flag. After another yellow on lap 16 racing resumed Tremont held the top spot over Johnson and Delorenzo.
After a lap 18 caution racing resumed with Tremont and Johnson battling for the lead. Before a lap could be completed a multi-car incident on the backstretch slowed the field. On the restart Tremont held the lead over Johnson, Delorenzo, Marc Johnson and Reckner.
Johnson took the lead on lap 31 with Tremont falling to second. In the end Johnson picked up the win over Tremont, Delorenzo, Ray Hoard and Marc Johnson. With 33 Small Block Modifieds on hand heat races were won by Mark Kislowski, Tremont and Hector Stratton.
Mike Ostrander and Michael Sabia led the Northeast Crate Nationals field to the green with Ostrander taking the early lead over Chris Johnson and Sabia. Scott Duell took the third position from Sabia on lap three as Johnson challenged Ostrander for the top spot. The leaders battled side by side for about a lap before Johnson took the lead.
After ten laps Johnson had opened nearly a straightaway advantage over Ostrander, Duell, Sabia and Hunter Bates. On lap 18 Connor Cleveland spun exiting turn four and collected four other drivers including David Schilling, Andrew Buff and JaMike Sowle. Cleveland came into the night as the King of Dirt Sportsman Series points leader. Schilling came in as the runner up.
With caution laps counting for the first 75 laps, racing resumed on lap 24 with Johnson holding the lead over Ostrander, Sabia, Cody Bleau and Duell. Bleau moved into third on lap 26 as Adam Pierson challenged Duell for fifth. On lap 29 Duell moved to fourth and Tim Hartman, Jr. took over fifth. Hartman then took over fourth a lap later and set his sights on Bleau. Hartman took the Parillo Racing machine to the top side and moved past Ostrander for second on lap 31.
Hartman quickly closed on Johnson with Ostrander third, Pierson fourth and Bleau fifth. Lap after lap Hartman closed the gap until Duell came to a stop on the front stretch on lap 38. The restart would occur on lap 41 with Johnson and Hartman battling side by side for the lead. Hartman cleared Johnson on lap 43 with Pierson up to third, Ostrander fourth and Gray fifth. Gray moved to fourth on lap 44.
The yellow flag waved on lap 47 for Bates who slowed in turn four. Racing resumed on lap 51 with Mike Ostrander spinning in turn one causing a scramble. The green flag waved again on lap 55 with Hartman leading Johnson, Pierson, Gray and Sabia. Allison Ricci slowed on lap 57 forcing the caution flag. The restart on lap 61 with Hartman leading Johnson, Gray, Pierson and Sabia. Derrick McGrew took fifth on lap 63 while Pierson reclaimed fifth.
Jeremy Pitts, the 2016 track champion took fifth from McGrew on lap 67 and quickly closed on Gray for fourth. Pitts moved into fourth on lap 69. Hartman meanwhile entered heavy traffic on lap 72 holding a straightaway lead over Johnson. Using the low groove Pitts closed on Pierson for the third position and on lap 76 took over the position. Rocky Warner meanwhile took over fifth.
With 20 laps to go Hartman still had a large lead. Johnson was slowed by heavy lapped traffic which allowed Pitts to close. With Hartman checked out Johnson, Pitts, Pierson and Warner battled for positions second through fifth. Pierson tangled with slower traffic on lap 87 to bring out the caution flag. He would continue although lost some positions.
Racing resumed with Hartman leading Johnson, Warner, Pitts and Pierson. Warner moved past Johnson for second on lap 94 however Hartman had a large lead. In the end Hartman would pick up the win over Warner, Johnson, Pitts and Pierson.
In qualifying action, a total of 62 drivers took a lap under the clock in time trials with the top six moving on to the Northeast Crate Nationals feature event. Turning the quick time was Michael Sabia with a lap of 16.798 seconds. The remainder of the top Burt’s Tree Service Super Six were Mike Ostrander, Hunter Bates, Chad Edwards, Scott Duell and Chris Johnson.
The remaining drivers moved on to the 15 lap Next Generation Roofing B, C and D Mains where four drivers transferred into the feature event. In the B-Main Cody Bleau picked up the win over Adam Pierson, Adam McAuliffe and Chris Stevens. The C-Main was won by Connor Cleveland over Floyd Billington, JaMike Sowle and Derrick McGrew. In the D-Main Jason Gray picked up the win over Rocky Warner, Jeremy Pitts and Jack Lehner.
A total of three consolation events were run to complete the field. The three events were won by Tim Hartman, Jr., Andrew Buff and Doug Flynn.
Cory Sparks won the 25 lap CRSA A-Main. Jeff Trombley and Sparks led the field to the green with Sparks taking the initial lead over Trombley and Brett Jaycox. The leads ran single file until the red flag was waved for a dual flip in turn one and two featuring Chuck Alessi and Art Kiser. On the restart Sparks held the lead over Trombley, Josh Pieniazek, Jaycox and Kyle Smith.
On lap eight Pieniazek moved past Trombley for second. Trombley slowed a bit on lap ten, which dropped him back to around seventh. On lap 13 Kyle Smith slide off the back stretch. He lost four spots. The caution flag waved on lap 14 for Mike Kiser who slowed in turn three.
When racing resumed Sparks again controlled the lead with Pieniazek in pursuit. With five laps to go Sparks held more than half a straightaway lead over Pieniazek and Jaycox. Pieniazek closed late but could not close fast enough and Sparks picked up the win. Pieniazek finished second with Jaycox third, Johnny Smith IV fourth and Dana Wagner fifth. Heat races for the 21 CRSA Racesaver Sprint Car Series were won by Wagner, Trombley and Mike Kiser.
Tim Hartman, Jr. won the 30 lap Meltz Lumber Street Stock special event. Al Relyea dominated the event until a lap 22 caution flag brought Coonradt alongside for the restart. Coonradt and Relyea ran side by side for a few laps before Coonradt gained control of the lead. Relyea made one last challenge to Coonradt on the last lap however contact was made which forced Relyea to slow. In the end Coonradt would pick up the win over Hunter Sanchez, Jason Meltz, Jody Thew and Mark Burch. A total of 21 drivers were on hand with heat races being won by Jason Meltz and Bill Dupree.
The Albany-Saratoga Speedway roars back to action next Friday night with the final stock car program of the season. All weekly divisions will be in action plus the Empire Lightning Sprints. For more information on the Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log onto www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.
Tom Clothier Trucking Small Block Modified Results (40 Laps) – 1) Ronnie Johnson, 2) Ken Tremont Jr, 3) Matt Delorenzo, 4) Ray Hoard, 5) Marc Johnson, 6) Alan Johnson, 7) Jessey Mueller, 8) Matt Depew, 9) Mark Kislowski, 10) Elmo Reckner, 11) Brett Haas, 12) Matt Janiak, 13) John Lutes Jr, 14) Bobby Varin, 15) Hector Stratton, 16) Ryan Arbithnot, 17) Olden Dwyer, 18) Frank Hoard III, 19) Nick Lussier, 20) Ricky Davis, 21) Brian Peterson, 22) Alissa Cody, 23) Don Ronca, 24) Rich Ronca, 25) Craig Hanson, 26) Robert Bublak, 27) Joey Scarborough, 28) Jason Herrington, 29) Demetrios Drellos, 30) Shaun Pangman, 31) Sean Mandel, 32) Scott Huber, 33) Douglas Hancock
King of Dirt Series/Northeast Crate Nationals Sportsman Results (Unofficial) (100 Laps) – 1) Tim Hartman Jr, 2) Rocky Warner, 3) Chris Johnson, 4) Jeremy Pitts, 5) Adam Pierson, 6) Adam McAuliffe, 7) Mike Tholin, 8) Jason Gray, 9) Michael Sabia, 10) Floyd Billington, 11) David Schilling, 12) Dave Constantino, 13) Jack Lehner, 14) Scott Duell, 15) Kevin Chaffee, 16) Andrew Buff, 17) Hunter Bates, 18) Mike Ostrander, 19) Cody Hunt, 20) Allison Ricci, 21) Cody Bleau, 22) Justin Smith, 23) Chris Stevens, 24) Jon Miller, 25) Doug Flynn, 26) Derek McGrew, 27) Richard Smith, 28) Connor Cleveland, 29) JaMike Sowle, DQ) Chad Edwards
Did Not Qualify – Matt Atwood, Mike Barrett, Don Bellen, Scott Bennett Jr, Travis Billington, Dylan Bokus, Reggie Bonner, Derek Bornt, Aaron Burton, Brian Calabrese, Mike Coffey, Corey Cormier, Gary Derocher, Tony Farone, Adam Gage, Jack Gentile, Douglas Hancock, Diana Huyck, Pat Jones, Luke Klob, James Meehan, Jim Morgan, Josh Neal, Daryl Nutting, Joe Orlando, Brian Pessolano, Ricky Quick, Christopher Ronca, Dan Santabarbara, Chris Schaffer, Bob Schmidt, Jack Swinton, Kevin Ward
CRSA Sprint Cars Results (25 Laps) – 1) Cory Sparks, 2) Josh Pieniazek, 3) Brett Jaycox, 4) Johnny Smith IV, 5) Dana Wagner, 6) Jeff Trombley, 7) Kyle Smith, 8) Josh Flint, 9) Scott Goodrich, 10) Dalton Herrick, 11) Brian Krummel, 12) Christian Rumsey, 13) Tyler Jashembowski, 14) Sydney Prince, 15) Peter Dance, 16) Jeremiah Munson, 17) Rick Stone, 18) Emily VanInwegen, 19) Mike Kiser, 20) Chuck Alessi, 21) Art Kiser
Meltz Logging & Lumber Street Stock Results (30 Laps) – 1) Josh Coonradt, 2) Hunter Sanchez, 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Jody Thew, 5) Mark Burch, 6) Paul Mulrain, 7) Paul Braymer, 8) Al Relyea, 9) Damon Anderson, 10) Jeff Meltz Jr, 11) Chase Aussicker, 12) Matt Mosher, 13) Chris Minett, 14) John Hayes, 15) Jason Miller, 16) David Shippee, 17) Biill Dupre, 18) Curt Condon, 19) Kevin Paul, 20) David Cook, 21) Jeff Davis, DNS) Jeff Meltz Sr.
