MALTA, N.Y. – Through much of the early season, Kenny Tremont Jr.’s performance at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway has been well below par.

Last week he went back to basics and got back on track, finishing third from deep in the pack.  Friday night, he was even better, charging from 13th on the grid to record his 76th win at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.

Marc Johnson was almost as good, advancing from 16th to second in the 35-lap DIRTcar modified feature.  With just three laps remaining when he got there, he had no time to challenge the fleet Tremont. Jackie Brown Jr. was a strong third with early leader Rich Ronca and Matt DePew rounding out the top five.

Last week’s winner, Brett Hearn, drew the first yellow on lap three with fuel pressure problems.  The second came on lap 11, when Mike Mahaney and Elmo Reckner tangled in turn four and by then, Tremont was sixth after a strong low groove charge.

When the green returned, Tremont dueled with Bobby Hackel IV for fourth for a few laps, then got a run off turn two and shot down Hackel, DePew and Brown in one fell swoop to show second.

By halfway he’d disposed of Ronca and began building a solid lead. Behind him,  Don Mattison and Matt DeLorenzo battled just out of the top five as Johnson kept getting better and better, making his usual late run on the lead through the late 20-lap range. But by the time he got to Ronca, he was out of time to challenge for the win.

“I was starting to wonder,” said Tremont.  “We put a million different setups under there and finally, last week we were good.  This week we were right on, good in all three lanes.  It feels good to be here again.”

DeLorenzo crossed sixth, trailed by Hackel, Keith Flach, Pete Britten and Jessey Mueller.

In supporting class action, Josh Coonradt bested Chuckie Dumblewski and Brandon Gray in the Pro Stocks while Mike Coffey Jr. claimed the Mark Hughes Memorial over division king pin Tim Hartman Jr. and Daryl Nutting.