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Home arrow Past Issues arrow July 18, 2008 arrow Sports - Albany Saratoga Speedway: Proctor wins first race of the year in Modified
Sports - Albany Saratoga Speedway: Proctor wins first race of the year in Modified PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andy Hickok   
Friday, 18 July 2008
The season of comebacks continued last Friday night when Ron Proctor of Charlton won his first Albany Saratoga Speedway Modified feature in almost five years.

 

Proctor became the latest of a string of drivers who have won after going several seasons without a win.

 

Starting positions would prove to be very important since the 35-lap feature went Green to Checkers without a single Caution flag. Proctor started second with pole-sitter Vince Quenneville, Jr. taking the lead at the start. Quenneville pulled away initially, but as he began lapping slower cars, Proctor reeled him in. When the race reached the halfway point, Proctor was right behind Quenneville with Quenneville staying on the bottom and Proctor using the outside groove to make up ground. The two were running side-by-side and made contact at the Start/Finish Line at the completion of Lap 25 and Proctor nosed ahead. Ronnie Johnson was now making a late-race charge and caught up to Quenneville and Todd Stone as they battled for second. Johnson moved into third place on Lap 29 and into second on Lap 30 as he closed in on Proctor. However, any chance of passing Proctor for the win went out the window when Johnson banged the inside wall entering Turn 1 on the last lap. Proctor held on to notch his 10th career win but his first since Sept. 12, 2003 at the Malta track. Ronnie Johnson came home second, followed by Stone, Mike Ronca, and Don Ronca. Points leader Kenny Tremont finished sixth. Three-time winner Brett Hearn was racing in Canada so his Orange County teammate Michael Storms filled in for him and brought the #4 car home 8th.

 

The Sportsman 25-Lap feature saw Mark Kislowski take his second win of the season. Kislowski developed engine trouble in his own car so he piloted Ronnie Johnson’s backup car to a convincing win. Ken Antriello led for the first couple laps but was passed by Tyler Curtis on Lap 4. Kislowski started fifth and, after using the first few laps to get used to the #2 car, he was flying. On a Lap 11 restart, Kislowski blasted past Curtis and pulled away to a nearly five-second lead at the finish. Curtis held on to second as Derek McGrew had his best run of the year to place third ahead of Mike Ketchum and Chris Busta.

 

The Budget Sportsman feature saw a wild finish when Cullen Howe, who had led the entire race, came out of the fourth turn to get the White Flag when second running D. J. Brundige slipped by him for the lead. As they went through the second turn, on the final lap, Howe made a last ditch effort to get the lead back by diving under Brundige. However, Howe made hard contact with Brundige resulting in his front end getting up in the air and slamming back down as Brundige pulled away. The win was Brundige’s second in a row. Bryan Davis made it past Howe during Howe’s miscue to take second. Howe held on to third followed by Jason Harrington and Scott Duell.

 

Walt Brownell lost a heartbreaker in the Pro-Stock feature after leading the first 21 laps in the 25-lap race. The race was Red Flagged on Lap 21 when Jim Monroe, Jr. slid sideways into the Turn 1 Jersey Barrier resulting in Monroe getting airborne before rolling over several times. Monroe was a little shaken up but otherwise okay. When the race was restarted, with Brownell as the leader, mechanical gremlins ended his strong run handing the lead over to Chuck Towslee. Towslee held off a hard charging Rob Yetman over the final four laps to get his first win of the year. Daryl Carl finished third, ahead of Lori Langevin and Kim Duell.

 

Andy Durie of Stillwater made a daring move at the start of the Limited Feature as he started in the third row but took the lead going down the backstretch on the first lap. Durie would go on to lead all 20 laps to capture his second win of the season. John Morris, Jr., Dan Older, John Filarecki and Ken Conroy rounded out the Top Five.

 

Elmer Montville, Jr. of Ballston Spa won his second Mini-Stock feature of the year in their 15-lap race.

 

Racing resumes this Friday night with “Black Flag Night.” The action gets underway at 6:45 p.m.

 
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