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Matt Sheppard of Waterloo, N.Y., picked up his first win in the Modified feature at the Albany Saratoga Speedway last Friday night. Sheppard, driving the Randy Ross owned Magee Transportation sponsored #44, started fifth in the 35-Lap race. On the first couple laps, front-row starter Jimmy Cottrell battled with Mike Ronca for the lead. By the third lap, Ronca assumed control of the lead as Sheppard slipped past Cottrell for second. As Ronca and Sheppard began to pull away from the pack, lapped cars became an issue since there were no Caution Flags throughout the entire race. Sheppard took the lead on Lap 13 only to lose it one lap later as the two were darting in and out of lapped traffic. On Lap 25, Sheppard drove under Ronca in the first turn and took the lead for good. A.J. Romano came on late in the race and snuck past Ronca for second in Lap 31; however, by then Sheppard had opened up a two-second lead. Sheppard cruised to his first career win at the track and gave car owner Ross his 9th victory at the track. Romano finished second followed by Ronca, Jack Johnson and Ken Tremont Jr.
There was a first-time winner in the Sportsman division, as well, as Whitey Slavin led all 25 laps to garner his first career win. Slavin started on the pole and quickly stretched out a sizable lead. This feature nearly went caution-free until Lap 14 when Dave DePaulo drifted into Scott Duell. Chris Busta, who was looking for his fourth win of the season, had no where to go and ran into the back of Duell and then hit the wall, ending his night. On the Lap 15 restart, Slavin easily pulled away from rookie Pepi Corradi and went unchallenged the remaining 10 laps. Current points leader, Dustin Delaney, passed Corradi on the final turn to take second. Corradi was followed by Mike Ketchum and Josh Hohenforst. Defending Pro-Street Stock Champion Lori Cary won her second feature of the season in their feature. The race was only one lap old when opening night winner Kim Duell was slowing on the back stretch because of a flat tire and current points leader Jeff Washburn piled into the back of Duell. Washburn was done for the night and Duell lost a lap in the pits. Jimmy Eaton took the lead on the Lap 2 restart and held it until Cary made her way by on Lap 11. A Caution Flag bunched the pack up with one lap to go but Cary was able to hold off Eaton on the final lap. Cary’s second win of the year was her 10th career win at the speedway. Eaton finished second followed by Dan Madigan, Vinny Santoro and Bernie Companion. “Crazy” Curtis Condon finally got his season on track as the former division dominator took his first win of the season. Condon passed D.J. Brundige with two laps to go then held off Jeff Monroe on the final lap to take the win. Monroe, Brundige, Ken Conroy and Dan Petronis rounded out the Top Five. Phil DeFiglio took the overall win in the combined 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder Mini-Stock feature. Brette Osgood was second, and the first 4-cylinder across the line.
Notes: The Delaney Construction Team has purchased a NASCAR Busch Grand National car for young Dustin Delaney. The team is scheduled to test the car next week with Delaney scheduled to make his debut on July 14th at the Thompson Speedway, in Thompson, Conn., in the NASCAR Grand National East Series. Racing returns this Friday, June 29, with a 75-Lap Race of Champions Modified Tour race. The Sportsman Division will have the night off but all other classes will be competing. There will also be a large fireworks display. Race time is 6:45 p.m. |
