~ By Tom Boggie
Did you ever have one of those days when you thought you should have just stayed in bed?
Bryce Breault was having those feelings last Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, but he refused to throw in the towel, and kept his hopes alive for the limited sportsman track championship. Breault was probably feeling pretty good when he pulled into the pit gate at Albany-Saratoga. After all, his first win of the season on Aug. 14 put him back on top of the point standings.
Then things started to fall apart.
During the limited sportsman warm-up laps, Breault’s engine shut off, and he had to be pushed back into the pits. I wandered over to see what was going on, and as Breault tried to get the car refired, there was a strong odor of fuel. “I definitely don’t need this,” said Breault and his crew started to scramble to fix a carburetor problem.
The issue was resolved in time for Breault to compete in his heat race. But during the race, Taylor Wason clipped the concrete wall in the inside of the fourth turn and as he headed down the front straightaway, he slowed dramatically with a flat tire. Breault, who had nowhere to go, drove into the rear of Wason’s car, which sent Breault’s car to the left, where it slammed into the implement tires guarding the end of the first-turn concrete wall. The impact sheared the left front wheel right off the car.
That would have been enough to make anyone pack up and head home. But when Breault’s car was towed into the pits, Dick Bisson’s racing team offered Breault a spare front end, and both crews started scrambling to repair Breault’s car.
The hard work paid off, as Breault was able to start at the tail end of the limited sportsman feature, and after 20 laps of cautious driving (he probably didn’t want to do anything to that borrowed front end) Breault finished 11th and maintained his point lead. He went into the night with a 27-point lead over Shane Larman, and thanks to the Bisson team, still has a 20-point advantage over Larman and Ron Delease Jr., who are now tied for second.
Sometimes, it takes more than just driving ability to win a championship.
PERREGO BREAKS THROUGH
After struggling through the first six weeks of season, recording just one top five finish at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Anthony Perrego decided to jump on the Bicknell bandwagon, and last week, the switch paid off, as he picked up his first modified win of the season.
Oddly enough, Perrego isn’t really a newcomer to the Bicknell family, as he ran a Bicknell early in his career before switching over to Bobby Hearn’s TEO-Pro chassis.
“Bobby, Matt (Hearn) and I are all friends and they’ve done a lot for me,” Perrego said after his win. “But I had to do something, I was really struggling. Switching got us turned around.”
Perrego said that he worked on his setup during a practice session before coming to Albany-Saratoga last Friday. “We did some testing at Orange County on Tuesday and learned some stuff that we thought would work here,” he said. “We put our heads together and with the help of Penske racing shocks, came up with something that worked tonight.”
VALLEY FINALE
Congratulations to Andy Bachetti for winning his third career big block championship at Lebanon Valley last Saturday. Bachetti cut his left rear tire on lap 20 of the feature, but, after pitting, came back out to finish 11th, more than enough to give him the championship.
Rob Pitcher won the final big block race of the season, with Mark Flack Jr. second in the Madsen Overhead Doors car. Pitcher’s win was his first at the Valley since 2017, while Flach was racing for just the second week after returning from a seven-year layoff.
The small block title went to Brett Haas, but it was a heartbreaking night for Timothy Davis. Davis went into the night trailing Haas by one point, and when Davis finished fourth and Haas came across the finish line sixth, it looked like Davis had his first championship. But he was disqualified for being light on the scales after the race, which moved Haas up to fifth, giving him the crown by one point over feature winner Jason “The Flying Farmer” Herrington.
AROUND THE TRACKS
Breault wasn’t the only driver who got off to a bad start at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, Danny Varin caught the berm in the first turn during modified hot laps and wound up on his roof. Most of the damage was cosmetic, however, and with some help from the Tim Hartman Jr. crew, the sheet metal was pulled back out, a couple of braces were replaced and Varin was ready to go. The car then suffered mechanical problems during the final hot lap session, with Varin getting a push back to the pits. Varin was forced to retire after 24 laps of the feature, denying him a third straight top-10 finish.
Friday was also a tough night for former modified champion Peter Britten. He was involved in an incident in the first turn on the first lap, and was done for the night.
Stewart Friesen recorded his 23rd win of the season Tuesday at “Blast at the Beach” at Georgetown Speedway in Delaware. Friesen took home $8,260 in purse and bonus money. He started 23rd in the field and passed Billy Pauch Jr. on the white flag lap of the 35-lap feature.
While Andrew Buff recorded his second sportsman win of the season last Friday at Albany-Saratoga, Marty Kelly III was the one who put on the show, finishing sixth after starting 22nd.
Still looking for his first win of the season, Rocky Warner made a rare appearance at Thunder Mountain on Saturday, and finished second in the small block feature.
With Fonda, Lebanon Valley and Orange County all closed for the season, Devil’s Bowl Speedway will be switching to Saturday night racing for the remainder of its season. There will be back-to-back nights of racing this weekend, as the Charlie Laduc Memorial that was rained out last Sunday will be held this Sunday.
The modifieds will be running for $2,500 to win at Albany-Saratoga on Friday night, with Bart Contracting putting up the extra cash. The sportsman and pro stocks will be racing for $1,000 to win.
Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh returns to action on Saturday night, with the sportsman/modifieds running for $1,500 to win.
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