Sports - Mike Ronca wins Malta Main

From his fourth starting spot, Ronca quickly moved into second and began working the inside groove of the speedway to gain ground on early leader Ron Proctor. Ronca drew even with Proctor by Lap 6 and after two laps of side-by-side racing, Ronca took the lead on Lap 8. Ronca enjoyed a comfortable lead until Lap 15 when the only Caution Flag of the race was displayed for a spinning Frank Hoard. On the restart, Ronca got the jump on Proctor who now had his hands full with Sheppard. The two battled for second place for eight laps before Sheppard pulled away and drew in on Ronca. Sheppard tried everything to get around Ronca but the leader’s car was getting great bite on the inside groove and held on for a 0.192 second victory. Sheppard held off Ken Tremont in the closing laps as it appeared Tremont had the fastest car, but ran out of laps. Matt DeLorenzo crossed the line fourth ahead of Ronnie Johnson. Ronca’s fourth career win was his first since September 2003 and this win netted the victor $2,050 for his efforts.

Dick Bisson won the wreck-filled 25-Lap Sportsmen feature. Pole starter Tyler Curtis led from the start and held on after a couple early restarts for minor incidences. Things would get crazy on Lap 6 when Cory Sandtedt barrel-rolled his car in the first turn. Sandtedt emerged uninjured but, just three laps later, Whitey Slavin took a wild ride as he flipped his car in almost the same spot. Slavin was alright after the flip but the same could not be said for his wounded race car. On the Lap 10 restart, leader Curtis banged wheels with Dave Peek with Peek ending up on the wall. On the Lap 11 restart, Pep Corradi passed Curtis for the lead, however that lead would be short-lived as Bisson caught the rookie and gave him a bump in the rear bumper causing Corradi to spin out. Things settled down after that with Bisson cruising to his second win of the year over Dustin Delaney, Chris Busta, Chris Johnson and Dave DePaulo.

Paul Dunham took his fourth win of the year in the Budget Sportsmen class. Mike Visconti had led since Lap 2 until Dunham motored around him on Lap 17 of the 20-Lap race. Fred Proctor also made it past Visconti with a lap to go to finish second. Visconti held onto third place just ahead of Bryan Davis and Chuck Allen.

Mike Ostrander won the battle of the “Ballston Boys” in the 20-Lap Limited feature. Dan Older of Ballston Spa passed Mark Burch for the lead on Lap 6 and had clear sailing until a Lap 16 restart when he came under heavy pressure from Ballston’s Mike Ostrander and Burch. Contact from Burch led to a flat tire for Older as another Ballston driver, Brandon Emigh, joined the battle. At the finish line, Ostrander picked up the win which was his first since the 2002 season. Emigh, Burch, Ken Conroy and John Filarecki followed him across the line, respectively.