0
0
MALTA – It’s obvious that Rob Yetman still knows how to win the big ones.
Yetman dominated the pro stock division at Super DIRT Week a decade ago, chalking up five straight wins, both at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and at Oswego, from 2013-2017.
But he pocketed the biggest check of his career Friday night, winning the 49-lap Upstate Chevy Dealers Autism Awareness Night feature that highlighted the racing card at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
The victory in the third annual Autism Awareness race, which is organized by pro stock driver Jordan Modiano, was worth $10,000 plus lap money to Yetman, who took the lead for good on lap 37 and then outran the Duell Family Racing team of Scott Duell, who finished second, and Scott’s father Kim, who crossed the finish line third, after starting on the pole.
The way that Kim Duell earned the pole was unusual. When the top 12 drivers appeared in front of the grandstand for the redraw, fans were allowed to bid during an auction for the pole position, with the winning bid going to the Autism Acceptance charity. The bidding quickly reached $1,000, but ended abruptly when someone put up $7,000 to put Duell on the pole.
Duell jumped right into the lead, but that was short-lived, as Chris Stalker, who raced pro stocks at Lebanon Valley Speedway this season while campaigning a street stock at Malta, took the high line out of the fourth turn to move into the No. 1 spot.
The feature was continually disrupted by yellow flags, as it seemed like three or four laps was a long green-flag run. Throughout the cautions, Stalker, Kim Duell, Rich Crane and Yetman, who started ninth, were running in a four-car pack.
But the complexion of the race changed on a restart on lap 29. On the restart, Crane got into Stalker between turns three and four, with Stalker spinning around. That gave the lead back to Kim Duell, put Yetman into second and put both Stalker and Crane at the rear of the field.
After that restart, Scott Duell, who had started seventh but who got shuffled back early in the race, took his usual line on the extreme outside of the track, and began to close ground on the two leaders.
Yetman took the lead for the first time on lap 31, swinging around the outside of Kim Duell in the fourth turn, but as they crossed the finish line, they switched lanes, with Duell going to the inside. Coming out of the fourth turn, they banged sidebars, and Kim Duell had the lead back at the start-finish line.
But Yetman wasn’t going to give up and six laps later, got a big run coming out of the second turn and pulled in front of Kim Duell again, this time for good.
The final 10 laps of the feature saw Yetman maintain his advantage, with the father and son team running side-by-side. Scott finally worked his way around his father with four laps to go, but by then, it was too late.
“This is pretty awesome, to run this many laps and get 10 grand,” said Yetman after celebrating on the roof on his Joe Lazzaro-owned car. “I wouldn’t say this is better than Super DIRT Week, but it ranks right up there.”
“I exploded the right front shock with about 10 laps to go,” said Kim Duell. “I knew something was wrong.”
“That was a blast,” said Scott Duell, who earned $5,000 for his runner-up performance. “I haven’t raced that hard in one of these for 15 years, but it felt like I never left.”
Playing second-fiddle to the pro stock race on Friday’s card was a 35-lap non-points modified feature, which saw Marc Johnson record his second straight win and fifth big block victory of the season at Malta.
Ryan McCartney, one of the most improved drivers at the track this season, took the lead away from pole-sitter Jeremy Pitts on lap nine, and set a torrid pace, while Johnson was working his way up from his eighth starting position.
Johnson normally sticks to the bottom, but on this night, chose the top. He took the No. 3 spot away from Matt DeLorenzo on lap following a restart on lap 16, then worked his way by Pitts for second on lap 22.
On lap 28, Pitts and DeLorenzo made contact going into the third turn, with Pitts spinning around, and on the subsequent restart, Johnson made a crossover move on McCartney in the second turn and moved out in front for good.
McCartney, who is only in his third year of driving big block modifieds, finished second for the second time in three weeks, while DeLorenzo was third.
Earlier in the night, DeLorenzo won the final leg of the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Shootout Series, taking home a $2,400 payday. DeLorenzo started on the pole and led all 25 laps to get his second race of the series. Marc Johnson finished second to win the series championship.
Tim Hartman Jr. continued one of the best season of his career, chalking up win No. 6 in the 25-lap sportsman feature. Craig Wholey had the lead when a caution came out of lap 12, but on the restart, Hartman Jr., who had worked his way from seventh to second, crossed over in front of Wholey in the second turn to get the lead and all Wholey could do was follow Hartman Jr. the rest of the way. Dan Grignon completed the podium.
Mike Benson pocketed $200 for winning the Four States Enterprises Sportsman Dash for Cash.
Jordan Hill put her name into the Malta record books, picking up her first win career win in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature. Hill became the second female to win a limited sportsman race this season, following in the footsteps of Sloan Cherko.
Hill started from the pole and looked to be in for an easy night until a yellow flag came out on the last lap. On the final restart, Chase Zimmer, who was in the second position, got into Hill in the first turn, but it was Zimmer who spun out while Hill went on to get the win.
Nick Brundige, who finished 14th, won the limited sportsman championship.
Mark Burch drove to his first win of the season in the 20-lap street stock feature, outrunning Stalker and Matt Mosher. Stalker locked up the street stock title with his runner-up performance.
NAPA MODIFIEDS: MARC JOHNSON, Ryan McCartney, Matt DeLorenzo, David Schilling, Neil Stratton, Jack Speshock, James Meehan, Brian Calabrese, Don Ronca, Robert Bublak Jr., Jeremy Pitts, Tim Hartman Jr., Rich Ronca, Derek Bornt, Eric Mack, Tommy D’Angelo, Mike Engwar, Matt Depew, Demetrios Drellos, Josh Masterson, Brandon Daley.
DICARLO AUTO BODY 358 SHOOTOUT SERIES: MATT DELORENZO, Marc Johnson, David Schilling, Walter J. Hammond, Chris Curtis, Robert Bublak Jr., Brian Pessolano, Garrett Poland, James Fadden, Alan Hammond, Todd Morey, Bill August, Joey Coppola, Peter Carlotto, Walt Hammond Jr., Jim Introne, Andrew Buff.
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., Craig Wholey, Dan Grignon, Chris Jakubiak, Mike Benson, Tyler Rapp, Derrick McGrew Jr., Dave Baranowski Jr., Zach Buff, Drew Cormie, Brendon Gibbons, Mike Ballestero, Chad Gregory, Taylor LaPlante, Elliot Lussier, Josh LeClaire, Daryl Nutting, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Josh Coonradt, John Miller, Mark Mortensen, Fire Swamp, Scott Bennett, Nick Lussier, Pat Jones, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, EJ Gallup, Jason Gray, Taylor Wason, John Dumond.
UPSTATE CHEVY DEALERS AUTISM AWARENESS PRO STOCKS: ROB YETMAN, Scott Duell, Kim Duell, Kyle Hoard, Beau Ballard, Luke Horning, Chris Crane Sr., Chris Stalker, Shane Henderson, Ian Bressette, Rich Crane, Slater Baker, AJ Walters, Jimmy Duncan, Dean Charbonneau, Jason Casey, Chris Wemple, Nick Stone, Caden Dumblewski, Chad Jeseo, Pete Stefanski, Jordan Modiano, Kenny Gates, Mike Hill, Shane Playford, Chucky Dumblewski, Andy Graves, Phil DeFiglio, Bret Belden, Jay Fitzgerald, Brandon Emigh, Eric Jean-Louis.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: JORDAN HILL, Lucas Duncan, Dan Seguin, Tanner Coon, John Santolin, Blake Patrick, Walter Cook, Nick Arnold, Alex Smith, Steve Burch, Mike Block, Matthew Gebo, James Galarneau, Nick Brundige, Owen Lewis, Mike Baker, Craig Coons, Colton Emigh, Nick Auspelmyer, Dana Palumbo, Chase Zimmer, David Zelker, Cordell Younger, Russ Farr, Sloan Cherko, Adam Tranka, Dakota Green, Dan Odell.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: MARK BURCH, Chris Stalker, Matt Mosher, Al Relyea, PJ Cram Jr., Jeff Meltz, Dan Madigan, John Filarecki, Josh Hemming, Tim McFarland, Justin Taylor, DJ Mabb, Derek Van Veghten, Dan Buell, Wayne Russell, Adam Osbourne, Zach Delaney, Jason Barrett.
