Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW -WEST HAVEN, VT – You could physically see the relief in Stewart Friesen’s face after he captured the Short Track Super Series’ Slate Valley 50 Sunday evening at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
“We’ve kind of let you guys down the last couple years,” Friesen said. “We haven’t had many great runs so it feels really, really good to get one tonight.”
In a true battle of attrition, the driver from Sprakers, NY used skill, luck and perfect timing to take the lead from JR Hurlburt on a lap 31 restart and that was all she wrote.
However, this wasn’t a cakewalk for Friesen who missed the redraw and had to start 15th in the 50-lap affair. However, luck was on his side on this night.
“Nothing fell off,” he said. “Tommy (Conroy) did a great job prepping the car for tonight.”
Starting deep in the field, Friesen made calculated moves from the start of the feature and used several cautions to work his way up the leaderboard.
However, when he got to the lead, he wasn’t giving it back.
“It took us all race to get to the front,” he said. “We missed on gearing a little bit in the heat race and I thought missing the redraw was going to be the kiss of death. I knew it was going to be tough passing but little by little, we just picked them off.”
With good luck going his way, trouble set in for several of the races top runners including Peter Britten, Matt Sheppard and Ajay Potrzebowski, all of whom went pitside for a spell but rallied back for solid finishes.
“Some guys had bad luck tonight and luckily, we didn’t,” he said. “Our car stayed together on the Integra Shocks and Draco Springs. This team earned every bit of this tonight.”
Hurlburt inherited the lead from pole sitter Peter Britten when the 21a went to the pits on lap 14 for repairs to his right rear suspension. From that point until Friesen made his way around on lap 31, the driver of car #6 was running the middle groove of the track. On the restart, Friesen went even higher.
Did he know there was enough track out there to make a pass work?
“JR was fast all night long,” he said. “He passed me on the top in the heat race to get the last redraw spot and I though our night was over. However, gave me just enough on that restart to make the move.”
Friesen took advantage.
“I kind of watched what he did on the restart earlier when (Steve) Bernier jumped him and they called it back,” he said. “I just was able to get to the top. My laps at Utica-Rome from 2004 and 2005, running way up top and then shooting down across the track, seemed to pay off tonight. Once it got out front, it was really strong.”
Ironically, it was a ‘game-day decision’ by the 44 team that may have been the difference maker in aiding Friesen’s victory.
“Tommy made a good call this morning,” he said. “I had the spec motor car scaled up last night ready to load in the trailer this morning. He got the Fonda car turned around and ready to go and said maybe we should bring it just in case.”
What was the reasoning behind that? Was the track going to need bigger power than the spec could provide?
“We got here today, took one look at the track and said yeah, we’re going to need the smoke tonight.”
In the end, though, you could tell
Hurlburt brought his racecar home in second for his best career Short Track Super Series finish and was pretty relieved when the night was completed.
“We are pretty happy with were we ended up,” Hurlburt said. “It was tough. As you can see, the track had a little bit of character tonight and I was hanging on.”
Track conditions were less than ideal for the competitors but officials worked hard all night in an attempt to give the drivers the smoothest surface possible. Unfortunately, several ruts did form up.
However, when Hurlburt was out front, he was able to dictate where he could run on the track.
“We were bouncing off of each other,” he said. “We were all trying to keep them straight. If guys are upset, I mean, this was a rough track. We all know that. We’ll get over it and race again another day.”
Still, not getting the $10,000 first place check, Hurlburt was ecstatic with his showing in the Green Mountain State.
“I couldn’t be beat by a better guy,” he said. “I was hoping it would stay green so I could stay ahead of Stewart, but it is what it is. I’ll take a second.”
Except for when Friesen was able to get by on that restart, Hurlburt was able to fend off all comers who tried to wrestle the lead away from him.
“This is a great bunch of guys to race with a tough competition,” he said. “I’m happy to get in the redraw so I’m real happy to be on the frontstretch after finishing the top three. This is just great.”
Third place finisher on the night was Canadian racer Steve Bernier. Bernier won his heat race and ran strong all race long to come home in the show position.
“We’re happy with tonight,” Bernier said. “With a very tacky track and the W16 engine, it wasn’t easy. It was a bit faster in the corners but it had no straightaway speed compared to the other guys.”
Racing around guys like Friesen and Sheppard seemed to help the learning curve for the first-year series regular on the Vermont oval Sunday night.
“I saw when Matt passed me, he was missing the holes,” he said. “Friesen was doing that too. These guys have a lot of experience and it’s important to learn from what they do.”
Right at the midway point of the race, it looked like Matt Sheppard, who was running second, may have something for Hurlburt who was out front. On a lap 25 restart, the two were side-by-side as they exited turn two. However, Sheppard had to back out of the gas as the number 6 moved up.
Over the next few laps, the defending Series champion had to maneuver through the holes and ultimately something went amiss on the #9s and he was forced to the pits so his team could make repairs.
The driver from Savannah, NY returned to the track determined to drive back through the field with hopes of getting another win at Devil’s Bowl. Unfortunately, he was only able to get back to fourth although it was a monster recovery at the finish.
Fifth place at the checkers was Ajay Potrzebowski who, honestly, looked like he had the best car on the track. Potrzebowski moved up quickly from his 18th starting spot and was contending with Hurlburt for the lead as the race reached lap 28.
However, that’s where his changes for the win took a massive hit. Potrzebowski was working to the inside of Hurlburt going for the lead when he hit a rut, pulled a wheelie and ended up flattening his left rear American Racer tire.
He would head to the pits to get it changed, returned to action and began to slice through the field like a hot knife through butter. He was able to charge back through the field and came home with an impressive fifth place finish in an extremely fast Teo Pro Car.
Mat Williamson was the Series’ North Region point leader entering the night but unfortunately was an early retiree from the event. A broken driveshaft took the Behrent’s #3 out of contention on lap eight while running ninth at the time.
Williamson was visibly sore after the parts failure, limping as he exited the vehicle but was okay. He was credited with a 20th place finish and now sits 31 markers behind Sheppard for the point lead.
Slate Valley 50 (50 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[15]; 2. 6H-JR Hurlburt[3]; 3. 25-Steve Bernier[5]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[8]; 5. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[18]; 6. 111-Demetrios Drellos[11]; 7. 25R-Erick Rudolph[16]; 8. 5S-Tanner Siemons[22]; 9. 49-Francois Bernier[20]; 10. 17Z-Dillon Steuer[21]; 11. 21A-Peter Britten[1]; 12. 215-Adam Pierson[7]; 13. 21C-Brian Calabrese[17]; 14. 26R-Corey Cormier[24]; 15. 35C-Chris Curtis[25]; 16. 35M-Mike Mahaney[6]; 17. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[13]; 18. 4B-Andy Bachetti[4]; 19. 44P-Anthony Perrego[12]; 20. 3W-Mat Williamson[10]; 21. 19-Tim Fuller[9]; 22. M2-Shawn McPhee[26]; 23. 9J-Marc Johnson[2]; 24. 24-Dave Camara[19]; 25. 87-Neil Stratton[23]; 26. 20-David Schilling[14]
Consolation (10 Laps): 1. 17Z-Dillon Steuer[2]; 2. 5S-Tanner Siemons[1]; 3. 87-Neil Stratton[6]; 4. 26R-Corey Cormier[4]; 5. 69-Randy Green[5]; 6. 2J-Robert Bublak[3]; 7. JS98-Rocky Warner[8]; 8. 35C-Chris Curtis[11]; 9. M2-Shawn McPhee[7]; 10. (DNF) 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[10]; 11. (DNS) 22V-Tanner Van Doren
Heat #1 (10 Laps): 1. 35M-Mike Mahaney[2]; 2. 4B-Andy Bachetti[8]; 3. 9J-Marc Johnson[7]; 4. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[4]; 5. 21C-Brian Calabrese[1]; 6. 5S-Tanner Siemons[6]; 7. 69-Randy Green[3]; 8. 22V-Tanner Van Doren[5]
Heat #2 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Steve Bernier[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 3W-Mat Williamson[4]; 4. 20-David Schilling[5]; 5. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[7]; 6. 17Z-Dillon Steuer[8]; 7. 87-Neil Stratton[6]; 8. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[3]
Heat #3 (10 Laps): 1. 44P-Anthony Perrego[3]; 2. 215-Adam Pierson[1]; 3. 6H-JR Hurlburt[5]; 4. 44-Stewart Friesen[7]; 5. 24-Dave Camara[4]; 6. 2J-Robert Bublak[2]; 7. M2-Shawn McPhee[8]; 8. 35C-Chris Curtis[6]
Heat #4 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Demetrios Drellos[2]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[7]; 3. 19-Tim Fuller[1]; 4. 25R-Erick Rudolph[4]; 5. 49-Francois Bernier[3]; 6. 26R-Corey Cormier[6]; 7. JS98-Rocky Warner[5]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Laps: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:17.005[11]; 2. 3W-Mat Williamson, 00:17.050[31]; 3. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II, 00:17.209[22]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:17.246[25]; 5. 22V-Tanner Van Doren, 00:17.321[29]; 6. 9J-Marc Johnson, 00:17.336[16]; 7. 17Z-Dillon Steuer, 00:17.413[27]; 8. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:17.439[14]; 9. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:17.494[21]; 10. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:17.535[4]; 11. 87-Neil Stratton, 00:17.572[28]; 12. 20-David Schilling, 00:17.587[24]; 13. 44P-Anthony Perrego, 00:17.596[20]; 14. 4B-Andy Bachetti, 00:17.598[1]; 15. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:17.613[17]; 16. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:17.666[8]; 17. 49-Francois Bernier, 00:17.756[2]; 18. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 00:17.815[23]; 19. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:17.818[10]; 20. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:17.893[30]; 21. 25-Steve Bernier, 00:17.958[3]; 22. 35C-Chris Curtis, 00:17.962[9]; 23. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:18.026[6]; 24. 5S-Tanner Siemons, 00:18.043[26]; 25. 6H-JR Hurlburt, 00:18.118[15]; 26. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:18.214[12]; 27. 2J-Robert Bublak, 00:18.258[5]; 28. 24-Dave Camara, 00:18.294[7]; 29. 69-Randy Green, 00:18.442[13]; 30. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:18.549[19]; 31. M2-Shawn McPhee, 00:19.591[18]