Tire Conservation & Good Car Helps Stewart Friesen Win Short Track Super Series Jake Marine Memorial

Story By: CHRIS MOORE / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – GEORGETOWN, DE – Just enough.  The 2024 Northeast Modified racing season kicked off with a dramatic 40-lap affair Sunday afternoon at Georgetown Speedway, with Stewart Friesen claiming the $8,500 top prize in the Jake Marine Memorial.

The Sprakers, N.Y., resident earned his 43rd career Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco, at the top of the all-time win list.

Friesen survived a war of tire attrition over the 40-lap race and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour throughout the day at the Sussex County oval.

The Jake Marine Memorial kicked off the Ollie’s Overall Championship and the NJ Quality Drywall South Region for the ’24 season.

“It was a survival of the fittest, daytime, gnarly afternoon race,” Friesen said. “That’s how these go this time of year.

“We had just enough. Our right-rear tire went out going into turn one just after the checkered.”

Friesen rolled off from the third starting position after the Beyea Custom Headers Redraw, with Belle Mead, N.J.’s Brandon Grosso and Milford, Del.’s Jordan Watson making up the front row.

Friesen, however, didn’t appear at the Beyea Custom Headers Redraw in front of the Georgetown crowd, as he and his crew were under the hood of his racecar working out what they believed was an ignition issue.

At the drop of the green flag, Grosso jumped out to the lead and Branchburg, N.J.’s Ryan Krachun was the driver on the move.

Krachun quickly climbed from the sixth starting spot to take third away from Watson and set his sights on runner-up Michael Maresca.

By the conclusion of lap four, Krachun had taken the second spot, but it came at a price. Krachun clipped the infield wall exiting turn four as he took the position and flattened his left-front tire.

Krachun rode it out and continued to hold the second position, while Maresca lost the third position to Friesen on lap seven, and the fourth spot to Matt Sheppard on lap 10.

Friesen continued to march forward, slipping by Krachun for second on lap 17, just one lap prior to the race’s first caution flag.

Under the caution, it became apparent not only that Krachun had a left-front flat tire, but so did Sheppard.

The first sign of tire attrition came on lap 26, when Anthony Perrego limped to the pit area with a right-rear flat. Perrego was the first of many.

Five laps later, leader Grosso and third-place-running Sheppard both simultaneously lost their right rear tires.

Other drivers to lose right-rear tires over the final nine laps included Watson, Mike Mahaney, Tyler Dippel, and Danny Bouc.

When the Sunoco checkered flags flew, it was Friesen outlasting the rest of the field to take the Jake Marine Memorial.

“I’ve been through this game so many times,” Friesen smiled. “I was kind of laughing under the yellows, I figured if it goes it goes but we gave it a shot.”

Maresca survived to claim the runner-up spot.

“I saw a piece of canvas fly off Friesen’s car on the last lap,” Maresca explained. “I’ve never seen that before, but I was hoping it was a good sign for us… we did everything we could.”

Boyertown, Pa.’s Mike Gular charged from ninth to round out the podium, with his right-rear tire going flat as the interview was taking place.

“Just tried to save my tires on the long green flag and make passes when I could,” Gular explained. “I guess we were like Stew and had just enough.”

Ringoes, N.J.’s Ryan Godown experienced a left-rear flat at the halfway point of the race. He and his team changed both rear tires allowing Godown to charge all the way to fourth.

St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada’s Mat Williamson climbed from 16th to round out the top five aboard the Behrent’s Performance Warehouse No. 3.

Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Walden, N.Y.’s Anthony Perrego, rebounding from a flat right-rear in the Vinnie Salerno owned No. 4*; Oley, Pa.’s Duane Howard aboard the Butch Getz-owned No. 15G; Krachun who ran the final 36 laps with a flat left-front tire in his family-owned No. 29; Sheppard, who also rebounded from a flat right-rear in his No. 9s; and Boyertown, Pa.’s Jeff Strunk, who rounded out the top-10 in Terry Fasnacht-owned No. 2x, teammates with Mike Gular.

Thirty-nine STSS big-block/small-block Modifieds signed in for competition in the season opening event.

Heat winners were Sheppard, Gular, Michael Trautschold, and Friesen. Consolations were won by Austin Hubbard and Bobby Hackel IV.

Racing continues for the STSS this weekend, March 15-16, at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pa. The ‘Speed Showcase’ offers a $50,000 to the winner for the STSS Modifieds after 75-laps. The STSS Crate 602 Sportsman go for 50-laps and a $4,000 winners share and the New York based Pro Stocks are on hand for 25-laps and a $1,250 payday.

Georgetown Speedway action resumes on March 29 for the ‘Mark “Coot” Williams Memorial.’ The Stockley Speed & Supply Super Late Models and Millman’s NAPA Modifieds co-headline the Friday night affair. Also on the card are the Blue Hen Dispose-All Crate 602 Sportsman, First State Chevrolet RUSH Late Models, Southern Delaware Vintage Stock Cars, Little Lincolns, Delaware Super Trucks, and Feebs Distilling Delmarva Chargers.

Jake Marine Memorial Feature (40 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[4]; 3. 2A-Mike Gular[9]; 4. 26-Ryan Godown[10]; 5. 3W-Mat Williamson[16]; 6. 4P-Anthony Perrego[13]; 7. 15G-Duane Howard[17]; 8. 29-Ryan Krachun[6]; 9. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 10. 2X-Jeff Strunk[18]; 11. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[14]; 12. 14W-Ryan Watt[25]; 13. 32-Brandon Grosso[1]; 14. 28T-Michael Trautschold[8]; 15. 1D-Tyler Dippel[11]; 16. 7-Rick Laubach[19]; 17. 51-Jordan Watson[2]; 18. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[22]; 19. 35M-Mike Mahaney[7]; 20. 35C-Chris Curtis[24]; 21. 6B-Danny Bouc[12]; 22. (DNF) 1J-Dan Creeden[15]; 23. (DNF) 65-Austin Hubbard[21]; 24. (DNF) 91-Carson Wright[27]; 25. (DNF) 1-Billy Pauch Jr[23]; 26. (DNF) 11-Danny Hieber[20]; 27. (DNF) 6S-Matt Stangle[26]

Consolation 1 (8 Laps): 1. 65-Austin Hubbard[1]; 2. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[3]; 3. 6D-Dillon Steuer[2]; 4. 14W-Ryan Watt[4]; 5. 6S-Matt Stangle[5]; 6. 74W-John Willman[9]; 7. J24-Justin Grosso[7]; 8. 31-Ryan Riddle[6]; 9. (DNS) 9X-James Introne; 10. (DNS) 9N-Greg Nailor

Consolation 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[1]; 2. 35C-Chris Curtis[2]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne[7]; 4. 91-Carson Wright[6]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[3]; 6. 30W-HJ Bunting[5]; 7. 96-Andy Graves[8]; 8. (DNS) 10C-Tanner Van Doren; 9. (DNS) 28-Brett Hearn

Heat #1 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 2. 51-Jordan Watson[1]; 3. 32-Brandon Grosso[4]; 4. 4P-Anthony Perrego[3]; 5. 15G-Duane Howard[6]; 6. 65-Austin Hubbard[5]; 7. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[8]; 8. 6S-Matt Stangle[7]; 9. J24-Justin Grosso[9]; 10. 74W-John Willman[10]

Heat #2 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-Mike Gular[1]; 2. 6B-Danny Bouc[3]; 3. 1D-Tyler Dippel[7]; 4. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[2]; 5. 2X-Jeff Strunk[4]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[9]; 7. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 8. 30W-HJ Bunting[8]; 9. 70A-Alex Payne[5]; 10. (DNS) 28-Brett Hearn

Heat #3 (8 Laps): 1. 28T-Michael Trautschold[1]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 3. 35M-Mike Mahaney[2]; 4. 1J-Dan Creeden[6]; 5. 7-Rick Laubach[5]; 6. 6D-Dillon Steuer[8]; 7. 14W-Ryan Watt[4]; 8. 31-Ryan Riddle[7]; 9. 9X-James Introne[9]; 10. 9N-Greg Nailor[10]

Heat #4 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 2. 26-Ryan Godown[3]; 3. 29-Ryan Krachun[5]; 4. 3W-Mat Williamson[6]; 5. 11-Danny Hieber[4]; 6. 35C-Chris Curtis[1]; 7. 10C-Tanner Van Doren[7]; 8. 91-Carson Wright[9]; 9. 96-Andy Graves[8]

Hot Lap Group 1: 1. 4P-Anthony Perrego, 00:19.193[9]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:19.247[6]; 3. 51-Jordan Watson, 00:19.356[10]; 4. 32-Brandon Grosso, 00:19.386[2]; 5. 65-Austin Hubbard, 00:19.471[3]; 6. 15G-Duane Howard, 00:19.481[8]; 7. 6S-Matt Stangle, 00:19.495[5]; 8. 1-Billy Pauch Jr, 00:19.499[7]; 9. J24-Justin Grosso, 00:19.641[4]; 10. 74W-John Willman, 00:19.686[1]

Hot Lap Group 2: 1. 6B-Danny Bouc, 00:18.997[6]; 2. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:19.085[3]; 3. 2A-Mike Gular, 00:19.156[1]; 4. 2X-Jeff Strunk, 00:19.166[5]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:19.176[7]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:19.188[4]; 7. 1D-Tyler Dippel, 00:19.484[2]; 8. 30W-HJ Bunting, 00:19.508[9]; 9. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:19.617[10]; 10. 28-Brett Hearn, 00:19.650[8]

Hot Lap Group 3: 1. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:19.279[6]; 2. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:19.503[7]; 3. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:19.623[9]; 4. 14W-Ryan Watt, 00:19.666[5]; 5. 7-Rick Laubach, 00:19.690[2]; 6. 1J-Dan Creeden, 00:19.776[4]; 7. 31-Ryan Riddle, 00:19.826[3]; 8. 6D-Dillon Steuer, 00:19.846[1]; 9. 9X-James Introne, 00:20.738[8]; 10. 9N-Greg Nailor, 00:21.856[10]

Hot Lap Group 4: 1. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:19.449[9]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:19.797[6]; 3. 35C-Chris Curtis, 00:19.810[1]; 4. 11-Danny Hieber, 00:19.873[8]; 5. 29-Ryan Krachun, 00:19.901[3]; 6. 3W-Mat Williamson, 00:19.926[2]; 7. 10C-Tanner Van Doren, 00:20.008[5]; 8. 96-Andy Graves, 00:22.175[4]; 9. 91-Carson Wright, 00:22.295[7]