Beau Ballard, from Stamford, NY, and Rich Crane from Canaan, CT charged across the Albany-Saratoga Speedway finish line side-by-side in a thrilling DIRTcar Pro Stock Series finish. Ballard came out on top. Devon Camenga, from Troy, NY, started 13th and finished third when the 30-lap DIRTcar Pro Stock Malta Massive finale took the checkered flag.
Ballard took the lead immediately and led the entire race. He survived multiple restarts including a final charge from Rich Crane.
“I was just hitting my marks,” said Ballard. “I love it when it’s slick like this. I was just doing my thing.”
With conditions playing into Ballard’s hands, it was only a matter of keeping his rear bumper wide enough to maintain the lead. However, that is easier said than done.
“I was trying to run half of what I got and not abuse the tires,” noted Ballard. “I didn’t burn them up and kept the car straight. If your tires aren’t spinning you’re making ground and that’s my goal.”
A late caution set the stage for the razor-close .016 second margin of victory.
Beau Ballard edges Rich Crane at the checkered flag/Joe Grabianowski
“I’m not gonna lie I like when that jumbotron is here because I like to look at that off of Turn 4. I knew it was going to be Riche [Crane] coming for me. He’s been fast all year. I knew I just had to keep hitting my marks and it would be tough to get by me.”
Last night, Rich Crane watched his nephews Connor and Chris finish one-two in DIRTcar Sportsman Series competition. Tonight, he and his brother raced in second and third for the majority of the race.
“What a night,” said Crane. “I mean last night was one of the best races I ever watched partially because it had my nephews but it also went nonstop. The joke at home going into tonight was that we had to time the fastest and win the heat. Well, we did that but it still wasn’t enough. But getting both cars in the top five is huge though.”
Rich Crane and Chris Crane ran nearly the entire race in Beau Balldard’s tire tracks looking for a way around.
“I knew Beau [Ballard] was better on long runs and I kept looking at the lap counter,” noted Crane. “On Lap 25 I started hoping for just one more caution to get a shot and I got it. There is a little bit of a hole up there so I went low and in three and four there wasn’t quite as much grip. I was side-by-side with him [coming to the checkered] and I thought maybe we can nose ahead. I didn’t even know who won at the line. That was awesome. I’ll take where I ended.”
Devon Camenga made up a huge amount of ground in the 30-lap Feature including a late-race pass for the final step on the podium.
“We started deep in thirteenth after Qualifying bad and putting ourselves behind the eight-ball,” lamented Camenga. “We’ve really struggled the last three weeks here in Qualifying. I knew when it slicked off that we were gonna be really good. I methodically worked my way up and put myself in a position. I saw the Crane boys were battling each other. They were just packing it in too hard on entry. I figured if I kept myself calm I could sneak underneath them. I got one Crane but not both.”
TECH: Tire samples were taken from the Top Three.
Slater Baker in the No. 9b finished thirteenth and received a free Hoosier Racing Tire. The position was randomly determined prior to the Feature.
DIRTcar Pro Stock Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15-Beau Ballard[2]; 2. 711-Rich Crane[3]; 3. 110-Devon Camenga[13]; 4. 711X-Chris Crane[7]; 5. 2-Pete Stefanski[6]; 6. 7-Rob Yetman[10]; 7. 76-Kyle Hoard[18]; 8. 2E-Brandon Emigh[9]; 9. 4M-Jordan Modiano[23]; 10. 14-Kim Duell[8]; 11. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[5]; 12. 48-Jocelyn Roy[19]; 13. 9B-Slater Baker[11]; 14. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[4]; 15. 04-Jaxson Ryan[24]; 16. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[17]; 17. 58-Roxanne Roy[26]; 18. 324-Jason Casey[16]; 19. (DNF) 28D-Phillip Defiglio[1]; 20. (DNF) 55-Dave Stckles[25]; 21. (DNF) 09-Shawn Perez Sr[14]; 22. (DNF) 112-Christopher Wemple[15]; 23. (DNF) 9-Shane Henderson[12]; 24. (DNF) 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[22]; 25. (DNF) 25-Chad Jeseo[21]; 26. (DNF) 75-Gary Silkey[20]
