RPW Exclusive: Notes From The Battle Of The Bullring; Better Night For Friesen; Tributes For Barry Davis

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – ACCORD, NY – It certainly went better for Stewart Friesen on this trip to Accord Speedway than his last time here.
In the 2021 Battle of the Bullring, Friesen was involved in an early heat race crash which saw him nearly flipping and causing enough damage to end his night.
But that all turned around for Friesen at Accord on Tuesday night.
Stewart was fast all night. He was 2nd fast time in his hot laps group, led all 8 laps of his heat, outran Mat Williamson in the Dash for Cash and went on to win the rain shortened Battle of the Bullring after some great racing with Accord’s all time leading winner, Rich Ricci Jr.
However, according to Friesen, the Halmar 44 did not come through the race unscathed.
“Yeah, this was much better than our last trip here,” Friesen said. “I think that I bent the axle when I hit the tires in the feature. Still, a great night for our team.”
The win was number 45 with the Short Track Super Series and Friesen’s second career Accord win.
It was Barry Davis Tribute Night and two drivers in the field showed their own tribute to Davis with their cars.
Danny Tyler had his usual 97T all painted up like one of Barry’s #9D racers back in the day.
The wording of painted is correct. Noted race car painter Frank Bush did the work and it was magnificent.
Matt Sheppard’s usual 9S was renumbered as 9D for this event.
Speaking of Sheppard, when he secured the outside front row starting spot in the redraw, many might have felt that it would be a repeat of last year where ‘Super Matt’ scored his first ever Accord win in the 2023 edition of the Battle of the Bullring.
However, it was not meant to be. Sheppard got shuffled back to seventh early on in the feature and finished fifth.
On Tuesday, there was an excellent field for both Short Track Super Series divisions. The Modifieds had 56 entries while the Sportsman had 36.
Due to the threat of rain, the show was moved along as quickly as possible and it was nearly completed. Light drops of rain started falling with 22 laps completed in the Modified feature.
Friesen took the lead from Ricci Jr. with an outside pass on a restart with 25 down. When the caution flew on lap 33, the rain intensity picked up and cars came off the track with Friesen declared the official winner.
Accord Speedway is back in action this Friday with racing sponsored by Upstate Auto and CYA Fire Inc. Modifieds, Sportsman, Pure Stocks, Slingshots and Four-Cylinders will be racing.