6/14/2023
RacinBoys
Chris Hile Captures First Super DIRTcar Series win at Albany-Saratoga
By Michelina Friss, Super DIRTcar Series PR (Malta, NY) -- Chris Hile’s night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway ended with an exclamation mark as he won the 71-lap, $7,500-to-win, Super DIRTcar Series Feature – the first of his career.
The 2021 Rookie of the Year took a hiatus from full-time competition last year with the Series to rebuild his program. Now, four races into his full-time return, the decision is already paying dividends for the Oswego, NY driver.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mark Brown
His good fortune started early, drawing the #1 pill to start on the pole for the Feature and earning the $100 SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Award.
On his outside was 2022 Rookie of the Year Anthony Perrego. Perrego shot out in front once the green flag dropped, looking to distance himself from the pack. Hile was behind him, followed by Adam Pierson.
Hile and Pierson were locked into a tight battle for a handful of laps before Pierson edged by the night’s pole sitter on Lap 15 to put himself in second place. His lead held for the next 16 laps until Hile decided to repay the favor once he was shown some room on the bottom.
He then wasted no time in setting his focus on hunting down race leader, Perrego.
“With these extended races, I mean this one is 71… To start up front you kind of just have to settle in and really realize what you have for a car and what’s going on,” Hile said. “We just kind of tried to take it a little slow early and see what the car is going to give us, get a couple laps under our belt. I think it was maybe a restart around (Lap) 40, it might have been earlier, I could see I was starting to catch those guys. I said, this race isn’t over, Anthony (Perrego). We got up on the wheel and luckily, we found the top. Then, everything stayed together for us.”
Hile took the lead over from Perrego on Lap 39, bolting out in front of the field after the pass was completed. Hile continued to extend his lead as the laps ticked off the counter, keeping a steady hand navigating through lapped traffic.
He faced one final hurdle with five laps remaining when the last yellow flag of the race dropped, giving the other competitors a chance to challenge his lead. After the restart, Hile drove the last five laps mistake free and made it to the finish line to capture his first career Series win.
“It’s awesome,” Hile said. “It’s been a long time coming. I feel as a team, we all just gel and mesh together. If my mom, dad, brother, and wife didn’t give me the support they do, it just wouldn’t be possible. It’s a testament to everyone that has ever helped us out along the way.”
Behind the leader, there was a fierce battling going on for the runner-up slot, which changed hands several times throughout the matchup.
Pierson took over the position on Lap 44 but only held it until Lap 49 before being passed by a hard charging Demetrios Drellos, coming all the way from ninth place, and local driver Matt DeLorenzo. Drellos suffered a flat left front tire in the closing laps and lost second to DeLorenzo, then third to Pierson and then fourth to Peter Britten.
“The whole race was a battle,” DeLorenzo said. “The track was hammer down. I was surprised it was as good as it was the whole race. I thought it would slow down. But it seemed to be pretty fast. It was fun battling with Adam Pierson and (Tim) Fuller for a while, then Drellos.”
Adam Pierson crossed the finished line in third, his first podium finish of the season.
“We had a good car out of the box, and we had a shot there for a while,” Pierson said. “I don’t think we cut our tire up enough. The short runs were not so good, the long runs, that’s when I could gain on them a little bit, but I’m happy.”
Britten finished fourth, after starting 13th, and Drellos had to settle for fifth. Nine-time and defending Series champion Matt Sheppard rebounded for a sixth-place finish after suffering an issue early in the race.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series travels to Canandaigua, New York to compete at Land of Legends Raceway on Mon., July 3 for a 70-lap, $7,500-to-win, showcase.
RESULTS
Summer Starter 71 (71 Laps): 1. 5H-Chris Hile[1]; 2. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[6]; 3. 215-Adam Pierson[3]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten[13]; 5. 111-Demetrios Drellos[9]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[7]; 7. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[11]; 8. 88-Mat Williamson[16]; 9. 3J-Marc Johnson[20]; 10. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[8]; 11. 91-Felix Roy[15]; 12. 12-Darren Smith[14]; 13. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[21]; 14. 96-JF Corriveau[12]; 15. 7MM-Michael Maresca[22]; 16. 7-Donald Ronca[24]; 17. 35-Mike Mahaney[18]; 18. 99L-Larry Wight[19]; 19. (DNF) 15X-Justin Stone[17]; 20. (DNF) 4-Anthony Perrego[2]; 21. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[5]; 22. (DNF) 54-Steve Bernard[26]; 23. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[28]; 24. (DNF) 2-Jack Lehner[23]; 25. (DNF) 91D-Billy Decker[10]; 26. (DNF) 8H-Max McLaughlin[25]; 27. (DNF) 37M-Mathieu Desjardins[4]; 28. (DNF) 32R-Ronnie Davis III[27]
HYTORC Of New York LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 2. 2-Jack Lehner[2]; 3. 28-Michael Trautschold[4]; 4. 17-Marcus Dinkins[11]; 5. 21C-Brian Calabrese[7]; 6. 4B-Derek Bornt[6]; 7. 1-Richard Ronca[8]; 8. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr[3]; 9. 6H-Josh Hohenforst[9]; 10. 9V-Vincent Visconti[10]; 11. (DNF) 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 12. (DNS) 18-Ryan Macartney
HYTORC Of New York LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7MM-Michael Maresca[1]; 2. 7-Donald Ronca[2]; 3. 87-Neil Stratton[5]; 4. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[9]; 5. 27-Jeremy Pitts[6]; 6. 34-Kevin Root[11]; 7. 54-Steve Bernard[7]; 8. 14-CG Morey[10]; 9. 15-Todd Root[4]; 10. (DNF) 8H-Max McLaughlin[3]; 11. (DNS) 7Z-Zachary Payne
Case No.1 Engine Oil Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37M-Mathieu Desjardins[1]; 2. 4-Anthony Perrego[2]; 3. 111-Demetrios Drellos[5]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten[3]; 5. 15X-Justin Stone[4]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]; 7. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr[8]; 8. 44-Stewart Friesen[6]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[10]; 10. 6H-Josh Hohenforst[9]; 11. 17-Marcus Dinkins[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Chris Hile[1]; 2. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[2]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 4. 91-Felix Roy[3]; 5. 99L-Larry Wight[6]; 6. 2-Jack Lehner[5]; 7. 28-Michael Trautschold[9]; 8. 4B-Derek Bornt[7]; 9. 1-Richard Ronca[10]; 10. 9V-Vincent Visconti[8]; 11. (DNS) 18-Ryan Macartney
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 2. 215-Adam Pierson[2]; 3. 91D-Billy Decker[5]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[3]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[4]; 6. 7MM-Michael Maresca[6]; 7. 8H-Max McLaughlin[7]; 8. 87-Neil Stratton[10]; 9. 54-Steve Bernard[9]; 10. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[11]; 11. 34-Kevin Root[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[2]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller[1]; 3. 96-JF Corriveau[4]; 4. 88-Mat Williamson[3]; 5. 3J-Marc Johnson[5]; 6. 7-Donald Ronca[6]; 7. 15-Todd Root[7]; 8. 27-Jeremy Pitts[9]; 9. 7Z-Zachary Payne[8]; 10. 14-CG Morey[10]
Low E Insulation Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 37M-Mathieu Desjardins, 00:15.379[12]; 2. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:15.477[21]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:15.492[14]; 4. 3D-Matt Delorenzo, 00:15.505[15]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:15.539[16]; 6. 91-Felix Roy, 00:15.581[4]; 7. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:15.597[13]; 8. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:15.653[1]; 9. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:15.654[22]; 10. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:15.678[3]; 11. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:15.686[7]; 12. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:15.696[10]; 13. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:15.717[20]; 14. 4B-Derek Bornt, 00:15.741[17]; 15. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr, 00:15.752[9]; 16. 9V-Vincent Visconti, 00:15.813[2]; 17. 6H-Josh Hohenforst, 00:15.849[5]; 18. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:15.904[6]; 19. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:16.042[11]; 20. 1-Richard Ronca, 00:16.060[8]; 21. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:16.062[18]; 22. (DNS) 18-Ryan Macartney, 00:16.063
Low E Insulation Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:15.571[13]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:15.617[20]; 3. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:15.640[5]; 4. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:15.676[19]; 5. 12-Darren Smith, 00:15.677[11]; 6. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:15.684[18]; 7. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:15.693[12]; 8. 96-JF Corriveau, 00:15.707[10]; 9. 91D-Billy Decker, 00:15.751[8]; 10. 3J-Marc Johnson, 00:15.756[7]; 11. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:15.777[4]; 12. 7-Donald Ronca, 00:15.784[15]; 13. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:15.819[9]; 14. 15-Todd Root, 00:15.856[3]; 15. 34-Kevin Root, 00:15.949[6]; 16. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:15.972[14]; 17. 54-Steve Bernard, 00:15.991[21]; 18. 27-Jeremy Pitts, 00:15.997[17]; 19. 87-Neil Stratton, 00:16.022[2]; 20. 14-CG Morey, 00:16.121[1]; 21. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:16.374[16]
Hot Lap Group A: 1. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:15.207[21]; 2. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:15.267[3]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:15.301[20]; 4. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:15.305[22]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:15.322[16]; 6. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:15.333[13]; 7. 18-Ryan Macartney, 00:15.355[19]; 8. 3D-Matt Delorenzo, 00:15.396[15]; 9. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:15.423[10]; 10. 91-Felix Roy, 00:15.430[4]; 11. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:15.436[11]; 12. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:15.437[14]; 13. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:15.495[1]; 14. 9V-Vincent Visconti, 00:15.562[2]; 15. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr, 00:15.593[9]; 16. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:15.661[6]; 17. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:15.712[7]; 18. 4B-Derek Bornt, 00:15.717[17]; 19. 6H-Josh Hohenforst, 00:15.756[5]; 20. 37M-Mathieu Desjardins, 00:15.837[12]; 21. 1-Richard Ronca, 00:15.912[8]; 22. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:15.994[18]
Hot Lap Group B: 1. 3J-Marc Johnson, 00:15.298[7]; 2. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:15.299[9]; 3. 54-Steve Bernard, 00:15.418[21]; 4. 12-Darren Smith, 00:15.433[11]; 5. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:15.464[5]; 6. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:15.468[19]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:15.496[13]; 8. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:15.497[20]; 9. 87-Neil Stratton, 00:15.547[2]; 10. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:15.559[4]; 11. 15-Todd Root, 00:15.601[3]; 12. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:15.605[18]; 13. 7-Donald Ronca, 00:15.624[15]; 14. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:15.630[14]; 15. 96-JF Corriveau, 00:15.655[10]; 16. 91D-Billy Decker, 00:15.656[8]; 17. 27-Jeremy Pitts, 00:15.662[17]; 18. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:15.722[16]; 19. 34-Kevin Root, 00:15.966[6]; 20. (DNF) 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:15.970[12]; 21. (DNF) 14-CG Morey, 00:15.972[1]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
