Tremont Triumphs At Malta; Johnson Wins Night Cap

Tremont Triumphs At Malta; Johnson Wins Night Cap

Story By: Tom Boggie/Albany Saratoga Speedway

Photos By: Dave Dalesandro/RacersGuide.com

MALTA NY – I’ll see you one Tremont, and raise you two Johnsons.

After Ken Tremont Jr. got a huge monkey off his back with a victory in the “Stan Da Man” Memorial race to open a full-moon-bathed racing card at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night, the Johnson brothers took over, with Chris Johnson winning the sportsman feature and his older brother Marc chalking up his second win in 10 days in the regularly scheduled 35-lap modified feature.

The Johnson brothers won features on the same night for the second time of their careers. The first came on May 20, 2016, the year Marc Johnson won the modified championship.

The win for Tremont was just his second of the year at the Malta track, and first since May 25. He darn near pulled off a double, but couldn’t hold off Marc Johnson in the second feature.
The “Stan Da Man” Memorial is a tribute race for the late Stan DeVore, the father of Albany-Saratoga Speedway promoter Lyle DeVore, and paid $3,200 to win. Because Tremont was mired in a slump when the race was originally scheduled, he started seventh in the field and had to hold off a late challenge from Bobby Hackel IV to return to victory lane.

“I’ll take them any way I can get them,” said Tremont of the victory. “This one makes up for the nights I started 26th, and should have won.”

Hackel made a late charge and pulled to within a couple of car lengths of Tremont, but blew the motor in his modified in the third turn on the final lap. Hackel’s misfortune allowed Brian Gleason to dart under the checkered flag second, his best finish ever at Albany-Saratoga. He was followed by Keith Flach, Jessey Mueller and Matt Depew.

In the second modified feature, Elmo Reckner started on the pole and went right to the lead, but Tremont was on the move early, took over the No. 3 spot following a restart on lap 13, and then moved into second when Bodie Bellinger, who had been pressuring Reckner for the lead, slipped off the backstretch on lap 15.

One lap later, Tremont was leading for the second time on the night, but Marc Johnson, who was running as low on the racing surface as possible, was slowly reeling Tremont in.
Johnson, who won the 50-lap Short Track Super Series “Stampede At Toga” on Aug. 15, finally got the lead with five laps to go in the 35-lap feature, and had to duck around a couple of lapped cars in the final laps to hold Tremont off.

“It was tight down there,” said Johnson of running the extreme bottom. “I had to keep hitting it perfectly. We struggled with the car all night, but threw some stuff at it, and here we are.”
Tremont said he knew Johnson was gaining ground on the bottom, but really didn’t want to come off the top. “I felt if I ran the bottom, I had to slow down,” he said. “I felt I was getting the job done where I was.”

Flach, Mueller and Bellinger completed the top five in the second modified feature.

Chris Johnson started 12th in the sportsman feature, but had the lead for good on lap 12. Three laps later, Daryl Nutting used a restart to move into second, but Johnson clearly had the faster car, and pulled away for his third win of the year.

“The car was really good,” he said in victory lane. “I got some new tires from my brother, and that helped.”

Jason Corbin, a former champion at Lebanon Valley Speedway who began racing fulltime at Albany-Saratoga midway through the 2017 season, recorded his first career win in the 25-lap pro stock feature. Corbin got the lead coming out of the second turn on lap 16 and finished a little over a second ahead of Kim Duell, who edged Dan Madigan by .008 seconds for the runner-up spot.

“I was starting to doubt myself,” Corbin said after the race. “Why couldn’t I go to another race track and get a win?”

Stephen Kneer outran Paolo Pascarella to win the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, and Jimmy Duncan came away with his third win of the year in the street stock feature, which was part of the Native Pride Series.
The Empire Lightning Sprints were also on Friday night’s card, with Doug Norrie getting the victory.

MODIFIEDS (STAN DA MAN TRIBUTE): Ken Tremont Jr., Brian Gleason, Keith Flach, Jessey Mueller, Matt Depew, Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Don Ronca, Bobby Hackel IV, Jack Lehner, Bodie Bellinger, Brett Hearn, Rich Ronca, Ronnie Johnson, CG Morey, Hector Stratton, Kris Vernold, Neil Stratton, Jim Nagle, Demetrios Drellos, Ray Hoard, Matt Pupello, Elmo Reckner.

MODIFIEDS (REGULAR FEATURE): Marc Johnson, Ken Tremont Jr., Keith Flach, Jessey Mueller, Bodie Bellinger, Brett Hearn, Ronnie Johnson, Kris Vernold, Danny Varin, Rich Ronca, Matt DeLorenzo, Neil Stratton, Jack Lehner, Demetrios Drellos, Elmo Reckner, Brian Gleason, Hector Stratton, Matt Pupello, Don Ronca, Lou Torres, Bobby Hackel IV, CG Morey, Ray Hoard, Matt Depew, Reggie Bonner, Jackie Brown.

SPORTSMAN: Chris Johnson, Daryl Nutting, Pat Jones, Andrew Buff, Mike Coffey Jr., Chad Edwards, Joey Scarborough, Robert Bublak Jr., Tim Hartman Jr., John St. Germain Jr., Jeremy Pitts, Mike Ostrander, Jason Gray, Nick Lussier, Fred Proctor, Joe Orlando, John Stowell, Jon Miller, Derek Bornt, Scott Duell, Rob Maxon, Elliot Lussier, Chris Ronca, Jim Osgood, Jason Rheome, Butch Wilcox, Connor Cleveland.

PRO STOCKS: Jason Corbin, Kim Duell, Dan Madigan, Kenny Martin, Norm Loubier, Rob Yetman, Josh Coonradt, Jason Meltz, Chuck Dumblewski, Dan Older, Brandon Emigh, Ed Thompson, Scott Towslee, Jimmy Eaton, Nick Arnold, Darrell Older, Mike Baker, Dean Charbonneau.

LIMITED SPORTSMAN: Stephen Kneer, Paolo Pascarella, Dylan Bokus, Gary VanAlstyne, Jeff Jenkins, David Boisclair Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Josh Rozzelle, Justin Buff, Derrick McGrew Jr., Emily Quinn, Scott Bennett, Jerard LeClair, Matt Rich, Steve Burch, Bob Schmidt, James Hinman, Dave Labarge, Karl Barnes, Bryant Moore, Thomas VanVorst Sr., Bryan Jones Jr., Dan Grignon, Jason Baker.

STREET STOCKS: Jimmy Duncan, Al Relyea, Damon Anderson, Jeff Meltz Jr., Scott Lawrence, Zach Seyerlein, John Hayes, Pete Vila, Randy Miller, Phil Arnold, Dustin Stevenson, David Cook, Mark Burch, Luke MacIsaac.