For years, Marc Johnson had tried winning a Malta Massive Weekend championship belt at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, but came up short on multiple occasions.
However, the Guilderland, NY driver’s moment finally came Friday night, passing Mat Williamson with 15 laps to go to earn his first career DIRTcar 358 Modified Series victory.
“We just kept on digging,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if being on the bottom was better or the top. This thing is just slow, but the track is very racy. There was a top and a bottom.”
Joey Scarborough led the field to the green in the 50-lap Feature, driving away from Williamson in the early stages of the event. That lead was short-lived, however, as a caution for defending race winner Mike Mahaney slowed the field on Lap 5.
When the race resumed, “Money Mat” made his move, sliding in front of Scarborough in Turn 4 to take the lead.
Williamson would lead for the next 24 laps while Johnson moved through the field, passing Neil Stratton, Matt Delorenzo, Zach Payne, and Tim Sears Jr. on his way to the front from his 15th starting position.
Johnson moved into second on Lap 26 and got the opportunity he needed on Lap 29 when the yellow came out again for Walt Hammond. That lined Johnson up next to Williamson in a race for the $4,000 prize.
When the green came back out, Williamson went to the top, trying to keep his momentum rolling on the outside lane. Meanwhile, Johnson was in his preferred inside lane, keeping pace with the No. 6. The two traded the lead back and forth for five laps, until the “White Knight’s” No. 3J had just enough momentum to pull ahead of Williamson as they completed Lap 35.
Marc Johnson battles Mat Williamson for the lead/Joe Grabianowski
That gave Johnson some breathing room in the race’s closing stages, but the race wasn’t over yet. A yellow flag on Lap 46 for C.J. Castelletti gave Williamson one more chance.
On the restart, Johnson went back to the bottom, but Williamson thundered around the outside of the racetrack, trying to wrestle the lead away. But Johnson was too strong in the end, as he held on to win his first DIRTcar 358 Modified Series Feature.
“Everybody in the field is really good nowadays,” Johnson said. “You just have to hope and pray that you hit your marks good and, I’m happy.”
Williamson settled for second, after leading 20 laps in the Feature. He also extended his points lead to 66 points over Roy, who finished third.
“I tried to make it interesting at the end,” Williamson said. “(Turns) 3 and 4, I was probably a little better on the top than I was floating in the middle. I just kept on making mistakes in 1 and 2. I was trying to push hard and keep up with those W-16s.
“Marc ran a great race. The better car won tonight, that’s for sure.”
Roy, the defending Series champion, said he was happy with his podium and is excited to use that momentum toward Saturday’s Super DIRTcar Series race.
“I was happy to see that (Lap 46) caution,” Roy said. “I was able to roll the top and hopefully put on a good show for the fans. We’re just happy with a third-place finish.”
Stratton finished fourth, and Zach Payne rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series heads to Super DIRT Week 53 at Oswego Speedway (Oct. 6-11) for the Salute to the Troops 150 on Friday, Oct. 10.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all of the Super DIRTcar Series action on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
DIRTcar 358 Feature (50 Laps): 1. 3J-Marc Johnson[15]; 2. 6M-Mat Williamson[2]; 3. 91-Felix Roy[13]; 4. 87-Neil Stratton[9]; 5. 77Z-Zachary Payne[11]; 6. 77X-Carey Terrance[5]; 7. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[10]; 8. 12-Darren Smith[4]; 9. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[6]; 10. 31-Lance Willix[18]; 11. 25R-Erick Rudolph[20]; 12. 20-David Schilling[21]; 13. 19-Tim Fuller[17]; 14. 97HA-Bobby Hackel IV[24]; 15. 4*-Anthony Perrego[7]; 16. 60-Jackson Gill[28]; 17. 35C-Chris Curtis[22]; 18. 28-Jordan McCreadie[16]; 19. 5-Amy Holland[26]; 20. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[23]; 21. 97-Cody Higbie[25]; 22. 21A-Peter Britten[29]; 23. 06-Mike Coffey[27]; 24. 98H-Walt Hammond[14]; 25. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[1]; 26. 117-CJ Castelletti[31]; 27. (DNF) 7S-Shaun Shaw[12]; 28. (DNF) 10C-Willy Decker[19]; 29. (DNF) 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[30]; 30. (DNF) 35-Mike Mahaney[8]; 31. (DNS) 11-Matt Caprara
