Story By: CHRIS MOORE / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – GEORGETOWN, DE – Sun, fun, speed. The Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco returns to life on Tuesday, August 30, at Georgetown Speedway.
The ninth annual Melon 1 ‘Blast at the Beach’ takes place as the STSS big-block/small-block Modifieds race for 35-laps around the progressively banked half-mile in pursuit of a $6,000 payday.
The late-summer classic serves as Round No. 6 of the Hurlock Auto & Speed Supply South Region $15,000 championship series.
Fresh off his second South Region victory of the season, Ringoes, N.J.’s Ryan Godown leads the South Region stable heading into the southern Delaware facility.
Godown maintains a 25-point advantage over Savannah, N.Y.’s Matt Sheppard, who won the most recent feature at Georgetown Speedway – a $12,000 triumph in the Gary Simpson Memorial ‘12K for the 12K’ on July 22.
The lead duo has distanced themselves from the rest of the South Region field, as Pipersville, Pa.’s Danny Bouc sits third, 94 markers off the pace set by Godown. Boyertown, Pa.’s Mike Gular is ranked fourth – six points behind Bouc – and King Ferry, N.Y.’s Mike Mahaney rounds out the top five.
Frenchtown, N.J.’s Billy Pauch Jr. is the defending winner of the race, having won two of the last three ‘Blast at the Beach’ events. Only Sprakers, N.Y.’s Stewart Friesen has stood in the way of the ‘Kid’s Kid’ and three consecutive ‘Blast at the Beach’ titles.
Friesen passed Pauch Jr. on the final lap of the 2020 affair, to claim his second ‘Blast at the Beach’ victory. Friesen and Pauch Jr. are the only multi-time ‘Blast at the Beach’ winners.
Other event winners include Middletown, N.Y.’s Anthony Perrego (2018); Oley, Pa.’s Duane Howard (2017); Milford, Del.’s Jordan Watson (2015); and Wallkill, N.Y.’s Tyler Dippel won a non-sanctioned event in 2014.
The STSS Crate 602 Sportsman join the program, taking part in Round No. 4 of the Belmont’s Garage South Region.
Newtown, Pa.’s Joe Toth extended his lead to a 61-point advantage over Edgewater Park, N.J.’s Nick Van Wickle. Toth just claimed his second career STSS victory at Bridgeport (N.J.) Motorsports Park.
Fleetwood, Pa.’s Dylan Swinehart rounds out the top three, 65 markers behind Toth and just four behind Van Wickle for the runner-up spot.