Will Hull Conquers Albany-Saratoga Speedway in USAC DMA Action
Malta, NY: Will Hull of Plainfield VT, rolled into the famed Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta NY looking to maintain his series point lead and left doing just that. Hull, in his number three Seals-it sponsored Skip Matczak owned USAC DMA midget, scored win number three of the season.
Heat race one (8 laps) had the 23 of Tim West on pole and Justin Sheridan in the 17 starting outside. Under green, the 17 of Sheridan jumped to the early lead and was quickly followed by Jeff Horn in the A1 who had started fourth. Sheridan would hold point for the first three laps until mechanical issues caused him to drop back. Seeing an opportunity to take over the lead, TJ Foster in the 26 moved around Horn’s A1 and had the lead on lap four. From that point on Foster and Horn would battle for the top spot while the 9M of David Moniz would take over third. At the checker, it was the 26 of TJ Foster from West Topsham VT for the win followed by Jeff Horn of Ashland MA in the A1 for second and rounding out the top three was David Moniz in the 9M from Fairhaven MA.
Heat race 1 finishing order: TJ Foster (26), Jeff Horn (A1), David Moniz (9M), Tim West (23), Wayne Kohler (91), Steve Midford (5), Owen Carbee (50), Justin Sheridan (17).
Lap leaders: laps 1-3 Justin Sheridan (17), laps 4-8 TJ Foster (26)
Time of race: 2 minutes 22 seconds
Fast lap: TJ Foster (26) 17.6 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.449 seconds
Heat race two (8 laps) began with the 42 of Manny Diaz starting from pole and Dean Christensen in his 69 next to Diaz on the outside. The race went green and action heated up quickly as the 1B piloted by Joe Krawiec moved into the lead followed by the 2 of Seth Carlson for second and now the 3 with Will Hull going from fifth to third. Those three would put on a hard-fought race for position with Carlson in his 2 taking over on lap three followed by teammate Hull in the 3 for second and Krawiec’s 1B now in third. On lap five Carlson’s 2 had mechanical problems which caused the driver to back off and let the other racers take over. While the action up front was strong, the 19 of Jason Goff who was the series 2018 Champion and making an appearance for the first time this season, came from starting last to now moving into fourth. With Carlson out of contention, the 3 with Hull and 1B with Krawiec held the first and second spots. As lap eight began the running order would change and in the end, Jason Goff of Lebanon Valley NY in the 19 would take the win followed by Will Hull of Plainfield VT for second in the 3 and Dean Christensen of Granby CT in the 69 for third.
Heat race 2 finishing order: Jason Goff (19), Will Hull (3), Dean Christensen (69), Seth Carlson (3), Manny Dias (42), Joe Krawiec (1B), Jeff Champagne (77), Adam Whitney (12).
Lap leaders: laps 1-2 Joe Krawiec (1B), laps 3-5 Seth Carlson (2), laps 6-7 Will Hull (3), lap 8 Jason Goff (19)
Time of race: 2 minutes 19 seconds
Fast lap: Jason Goff (19) 17.026 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.036 seconds
With the series making the first of two stops in 2019 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, teams started to get ready for the feature event at one of the country’s fastest dirt track.
On pole was Manny Diaz in his 42 and outside pole went to the 26 piloted by TJ Foster. With the green flag displayed the field took off into turn one but it would quickly be halted as the 77 with Jeff Champagne and 91 of Wayne Kohler would tangle which brought out the caution flag. On the restart, racing action heated up with several positions changing before the end of lap one. Seth Carlson, starting fifth in the 2, went low and then high taking over the lead by the time lap one ended moving Diaz in the 42 to second and now in third was Will Hull driving the 3 who had started thirteenth on the field. It was not long before the 3 of Hull would move into the lead on lap three followed by teammate Carlson in the 2 and now Dean Christensen wanted to be part of the action in his 69 and had moved into third. Lap four would have the caution flag waving for the 91 of Wayne Kohler spinning on the front stretch and hitting the wall. The driver would be ok but the racecar was done for the night. Back to green with Hull (3) and Carlson (2) still in the top two spots but it was not very long before the 19 of Jason Goff would power through the field and into third. The next several laps would be controlled by Hull in the 3, Carlson in the 2 and Goff in the 19 all giving the fans a show that they had come to see. Lap eleven had the caution flag out for the spinning 23 of Tim West who came to rest in turn two. Caution was quick and it was back to green with the leaders still locked in position. On the start of lap twelve, Goff in the 19, fell victim to electrical issues and began to drop back through the field which now gave the 1B of Joe Krawiec the opportunity to take over third from Goff. Lap fifteen would be slowed again by caution for the 23 of West going for another spin. West would get moving and the race was back to green with the leaders of Hull, Carlson, and Krawiec still holding positions one through three. Racing action was strong all around the track with many spots back in the field changing on every lap. For the remaining ten laps the top three would be Hull (3), Carlson (2) and Krawiec (1B) with the fourth position now going to the 9M of David Moniz who had moved around the 69 of Christensen. When it was all over, Will Hull of Plainfield VT in his 3 would score the win for the third time this year followed by teammate Seth Carlson of Brimfield MA in the 2 and the 1B of Joe Krawiec of Granby CT rounding out the top three.
Feature race finishing order: Will Hull (3), Seth Carlson (2) Joe Krawiec (1B), David Moniz (9M), Dean Christensen (69), Jeff Horn (A1), Jeff Champagne (77), Justin Sheridan (17), Manny Dias (42), TJ Foster (26), Tim West (23), Adam Whitney (12), Jason Goff (19), Owen Carbee (50), Steve Midford (5), Wayne Kohler (91).
Lap leaders: laps 1-2 Seth Carlson (2), laps 3-25 Will Hull (3)
Time of race: 16 minutes 10 seconds (slowed by 4 yellow flags)
Fast lap: Will Hull (3) 17.7 seconds
Margin of victory: 3.421 seconds
The series will be back in action on June 29th at Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, VT.
To learn more about the USAC Dirt Midget Association, please visit the series website at www.usacdma.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DirtMidgetAssociation
For additional information regarding this press release please contact Mark J. Hann, USAC DMA Series Director, at mhann@victorymotorsportsmarketingservices.com
Sources: Mark Hann, USAC DMA PR