Story By: CHRIS MOORE / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – FONDA, NY – A $14,000 weekend. Next up for the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco is an appearance at historic Fonda Speedway for the fifth annual ‘Firecracker 50’ presented by Scenic View Campground of West Winfield, N.Y., and Picture Perfect Pools & Spas of Clinton, N.Y.
The ‘Track of Champions’ hosts Round No. 5 of the STSS Modified River Valley Builders North Region for another $10,000-to-win feature event on Sunday, July 2.
Fonda Speedway hosted six STSS events in its history, four of those being the Independence Day weekend ‘Firecracker 50’ offering $10,000 to the winner.
The win list for the ‘Firecracker 50’ is a short one, as Sprakers, N.Y.’s Stewart Friesen has won all of the previous editions.
Friesen’s only defeat in Track of Champions STSS competition came in last year’s ‘Fonda 200,’ when the engine in his No. 44 expired early.
The driver who topped that $53,000-to-win race – Savannah, N.Y.’s Matt Sheppard – leads the River Valley Builders North Region points by 31 points following a resurgent fourth-place run at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt.
Sheppard leads St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada’s Mat Williamson and Bohemia, N.Y.’s Dillon Steuer by 81 points.
Otego, N.Y.’s J.R. Hurlburt and St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada’s Steve Bernier – both fresh off their best-ever STSS performances – round out the top five in North Region points.
The STSS Crate 602 Sportsman join the night of racing for Round No. 3 of the Precision Hydraulic & Oil North Region.
The Crate 602 Sportsman contingent battle 25 laps and a boosted $2,000 winner’s share.
On Saturday (July 1), the eve of the ‘Firecracker 50,’ Fonda Speedway holds an F.X. Caprara Car Companies Thunder on the Thruway Series Amsterdam Truck Center Modified event, which pays $4,000 to the winner and utilizes a draw/redraw format.
Each Thunder on the Thruway program – a six-race mini-series between Fonda and Utica-Rome (N.Y.) Speedway – utilizes the host speedway’s rules package.
In total, a winning weekend offers Modified drivers a chance at a $14,000 weekend at Fonda Speedway to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday.
Like their Modified counterparts, the Crate 602 Sportsman have back-to-back draw/redraw events at Fonda. Saturday’s Thunder on the Thruway event pays $1,500 to the winner.