News Director 
Story By: RON SZCZERBA / FONDA SPEEDWAY – FONDA, NY – This Saturday, May 28 the opening event of the 2022 F.X. Caprara Car Companies Thunder on the Thruway Series will take place at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway. The series will be for the Sunoco Modified, Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman, and the Algonkin Motel Pro Stocks with the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman and the Fonda Fair Four Cylinders also on the racing card.
Gates will open this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. with hot laps at 6:00 p.m. and racing at 7:00 p.m.
The 2022 F.X. Caprara Car Companies Thunder on the Thruway Series will consist of three races at the Fonda Speedway on 5/28, 7/2, & 7/16 and three events at the “Home of Heroes” Utica Rome Speedway on 6/3, 7/1, & 8/20.
A total of five events were held in the 2021 Thunder on the Thruway Series in the Modified, Crate 602 Sportsman, and Pro Stock divisions, three of them at Utica Rome and just two at Fonda after a rainout on Saturday, July 3.
Winners in the 2021 Thunder on the Thruway Series included Stewart Friesen who won all five Modified events in the series, three of them at Utica Rome and two at Fonda. Matt Janczuk (three wins at Utica Rome), Jason Greco (one win at Fonda), and Cody Clark (one win at Fonda) were the Crate 602 Sportsman Series winners while Nick Stone (a total of three wins, two at Fonda and one at Utica Rome), Kenny Gates (one win at Utica Rome which was also the first of his career at the track), and Beau Ballard (one win at Utica Rome) were the Pro Stock Series event winners.
Friesen was crowned as the 2021 Thunder on the Thruway Series Modified Champion while Chad Edwards won $1,000 as the 2021 Thunder on the Thruway Series Crate 602 Sportsman Champion with consistency bringing him the title without the benefit of a win in the series and Nick Stone was the winner of $1,000 as the 2021 Thunder on the Thruway Series Pro Stock Champion.
Following Friesen in the top five in Thunder on the Thruway Series Modified points were Matt Sheppard, Jessica Friesen, Rocky Warner, and Josh Hohenforst while Brian Calabrese, Cody Clark, Payton Talbot, and Mark Mortensen followed behind Edwards in the top five in Crate 602 Sportsman points. Beau Ballard, Kenny Gates, Devon Camenga, and Ivan Joslin trailed Stone in the Pro Stock Series points.
THUNDER ON THE THRUWAY SERIES PAST HISTORY
The Thunder on the Thruway Series has some history of its own with the series getting it’s start as the Go Green NMX Series in 2008 with all events being held at Fonda followed in 2009 when it was known as the Dual Track Thunder Series with events at both Fonda and Utica Rome. In 2010 the name of the series changed to the Thunder on the Thruway Series with events at both Fonda and Utica Rome and the name has stayed the same to this day. The series expanded to three tracks in 2011 with I-88 (Afton) becoming a participating track in the series along with Fonda and Utica Rome.
Past champions in the Modified Series include Brett Hearn (2008), Bobby Varin (2009), and Stewart Friesen (2010, 2011, 2021). David Towns (2009) and Bill Trexler Jr. (2010) were past champions in the Open Sportsman Series while Chad Edwards (2021) was the champion in the Crate 602 Sportsman Series last year. Rocky Warner is a two-time champion in the Pro Stock Series (2010, 2011) while Nick Stone (2021) was the champion in the class last year.
