MALTA, N.Y. — The invaders came but the local forces prevailed Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, with Mike Mahaney leading all but a handful of laps in the 71-lap Super DIRTcar Series event, topping a podium that included another former track champion, Marc Johnson, and rim riding Jessey Mueller.
Anthony Perrego and Tim Sears Jr rounded out the top five with Kenny Tremont Jr., Billy Decker, Peter Britten, Matt DeLorenzo and the region’s leading winner, Matt Sheppard, trailing.
Mahaney’s $7,500 score, his second series win at Albany-Saratoga in as many seasons, was all the more impressive as he carried a flat left front tire from the early 20 lap range to the checkers.
“I hit the inside wall in the first ten laps but it took until the 20’s for it to go completely flat,” tipped the elated Mahaney. “That changed the car completely. Getting into the turns was really hard, but the car had a lot of bite and I could really get off the corner once I got it turned.”
“A lot of bite” was an understatement, as Mahaney’s Adirondack Auto’s No. 35 launched like John Force or Don Garlits, lifting the front tire and driving away from his pursuers off each turn.
Mahaney drew the pole in the redraw with Johnson alongside and they took turns sliding each other for the lead early on, as an immediate caution on the initial start and another on the resulting restart kept them tight.
“I wanted to get the lead on the first lap but Marc had the same idea,” said Mahaney. “He slid me, I slid him, then the yellow flew again and he got the lead back so I decided to work the bottom until I got by him. He stayed up high and it might have been different if he’d run the bottom all night. He’s usually down there. Luckily, I could run the top, the bottom and even through the middle, which was pretty amazing with the tire flat.”
DIRTcar officials looked at Mahaney’s car closely during the final caution period, which came just after halfway, with many fearing they would pull him in. But he was obviously the fastest car even with the flat and he was allowed to continue.
He’d led from lap 10, when he edged by Johnson as they hit turn three after running side by side for a number of laps. From that point, Mahaney slowly built a solid lead and had a full straightaway advantage at halfway only to have the yellow fly again two laps later. Mahaney took the inside for the start and used a flat-out dive into turn one to edge by Johnson once again, leaving him to battle the rim riding Mueller for second.
Mueller finally prevailed on lap 43 and began closing on Mahaney as behind the leaders, there was an entertaining three wide battle for the second five positions. As the crowd watched this battle, Johnson went back to his normal bottom line and with ten to go got back to second. By then, Mahaney was out to a full straightaway lead again and the finish was set.
“I wish now that I’d gone to the bottom earlier,” assessed Johnson. “I decided I had to pressure Jessey because there wasn’t much left up top and I knew he’d start struggling. He did a good job and so did Mike. I was catching him a little at the end but my only hope was lapped cars messing him up and that didn’t happen.”
“I guess I wore the top out while the bottom kept getting better,” declared Mueller. “I thought I was all set when I got by Marc but he found something and got going again. But this was our best series finish ever, so I’m happy!”
Chad Jeseo won the companion Pro Stock race after a rousing drive from the rear after an early incident.
The finish:
Feature (71 Laps): 1. 35-Mike Mahaney[1]; 2. 3J-Marc Johnson[2]; 3. 19-Jessey Mueller[6]; 4. 4-Anthony Perrego[3]; 5. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 6. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr[12]; 7. 91-Billy Decker[10]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[8]; 9. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[9]; 10. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 11. 111-Demetrios Drellos[21]; 12. 88-Mat Williamson[13]; 13. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[14]; 14. 215P-Adam Pierson[22]; 15. 2A-Mike Gular[16]; 16. 87-Neil Stratton[20]; 17. 34-Kevin Root[28]; 18. 12S-Darren Smith[15]; 19. 8H-Max McLaughlin[19]; 20. 26-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[30]; 21. (DNF) 43-Keith Flach[5]; 22. (DNF) 18-Ryan Macartney[29]; 23. (DNF) 27-Jeremy Pitts[7]; 24. (DNF) 7-Donald Ronca[17]; 25. (DNF) 32C-James Meehan[24]; 26. (DNF) 55H-Brett Haas[18]; 27. (DNF) 2L-Jack Lehner[25]; 28. (DNF) 37-Paul St Sauveur[27]; 29. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[26]; 30. (DNF) 14-CG Morey[23]
Keyword: Mahaney Wins One For The Locals