Exclusive By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – FONDA, NY – For Stewart Friesen, Saturday was nearly a perfect night.
He was fastest in warmups, won the holdover Modified feature from April 27, won his heat and then won the Thunder on the Thruway Series Race #3.
The only drawback was that Jessica Friesen suffered engine trouble while in the lead of the 2nd feature.
“I had a really good draw back on April 27th ,” Friesen said after his 400th career win. “It felt good to be up there in clean air and we were able to take care of it.”
Friesen started 2nd and trailed pole sitter Chris Curtis the first 10 laps. Curtis was running well, but when he came upon Brian Pessolano to put a lap on him, Friesen made his move to the outside for the lead.
The great run for Curtis took a bad turn with 5 to go as he tangled with the lapped car of Craig Hanson. This put Michael Maresca into 2nd. A caution for 3rd running Bobby Hackel IV with one to go tightened the field again. But Friesen pulled away to an .88 of a second win over Maresca. Rocky Warner finished 3rd with Jessica Friesen 4th and Jack Lehner 5th.
Tucker O’Connor finished 6th with Alex Yankowski 7th, Darwin Greene 8th, Hackel IV 9th and Ronnie Johnson 10th.
“Hopefully, we can get a bunch more, ” Friesen said after his first Fonda win of the season. “Such a special racetrack, a great day for it.”
In the regularly scheduled feature, it looked like the Friesen’s were going to split the evening’s wins as Jessica grabbed the lead at the start and built up a 7 second lead when the caution flew on lap 14.
Demetrios Drellos raced past Ronnie Johnson and Stewart Friesen to get to 2nd, but Jessica was still in control.
Suddenly with 9 to go, smoke from the 1Z signaled the end of Jessica’s great run and chance for victory. This put Drellos into the lead, but when Roger Henion Jr. slowed on the track, drawing a yellow with 7 to go, Drellos ducked into the pits, putting Stewart into the lead.
Stewart went unchallenged over the final laps to get win #401 and his 90th career Fonda Speedway victory.
Michael Maresca had a solid night with another 2nd place finish. Ronnie Johnson finished 3rd, Bobby Hackel IV 4th and Jack Lehner 5th.
Alex Yankowski was 6th, Craig Hanson 7th, Rocky Warner 8th, Brian Calabrese 9th and Cody Clark 10th.
Although pleased with the 2nd win, Stewart was a little bummed about Jessica’s fate.
“Just thanks to the whole Halmar team. We were going to get them one way or another in that one. Jess had a great car, she ran great and just had motor problems. That’s disappointing. I have to do a better job of keeping the steam under the hood for her.”
And Stewart commented about reaching the 400 win milestone.
“I had some people text me after the first feature. It’s something really special. I think we got about 25 percent of them here at Fonda. Pretty cool. Started in ’99 at Lancaster on the pavement. It’s great to be back here at Fonda.”
Peyton Talbot took advantage of a pole position draw and rolled to a flag-to-flag win in a non-stop feature in the 602 Crate Sportsman division, his 2nd win of the season at Fonda.
“I was just trying to stay aggressive all night,” Talbot said. “When I got into lapped traffic, I just stayed as aggressive as I could. Trying to get around the cars cleanly. And it paid off. This car was a missile.”
Stephen Gray had a very fast car and made some great moves late in the race as he advanced from 12th starting spot to finish 2md. Chip Constantino finished 3rd, Chad Edwards was 4th and Clayton Dumond 5th.
Completing the top 10 were Butchie Irwin 6th, Mark Mortensen 7th, Blaine Klinger 8th, Dylan Madsen 9th and Michael Wagner-Fitzgerald 10th.
In the Pro Stock feature, held over from May 25th, Ivan Joslin was the flag-to-flag winner over Ken Gates.
“It’s hard to get a win, and to go back-to-back is cool. It was a hard fought race,” Joslin said. Just had to hit my marks. I missed it one time and gave them a chance. But I shut the door and got the win,”
Joslin had to hold off first Nick Stone, then Gates during the race. Gates kept it very close, but Joslin was able to open it up over the final few laps to win by .42 seconds over Gates. Gary Silkey finished 3rd, Shane Payford was 4th and Devon Canenga 5th.
The win for Joslin was his 2nd of the season and his 16th career win at Fonda.
In the regularly scheduled feature, this time it was Ken Gates taking the win over Ivan Joslin.
“I was good on the top, but even better on the bottom,” Gates said. “When I felt some pressure, I went back down low.
Gates and pole sitter Joslin ran side-by-side for a couple of laps before he was able to clear Ivan for the lead. Gates faced challenges from Luke Horning and Beau Ballard during the race but held them off. Joslin, who had fallen down in the standings, made a late race charge to get back to 2nd.
Trailing Gates and Joslin were Ballard 3rd, Horning 4th and Jason Morrison 5th.
Gates is the Fonda Speedway leading all time Pro Stock winner with 93 after Saturday’s victory.
In the Limited Sportsman, AJ Greco got a late race break with a caution flag and was able to make the pass of Bobby Rhinehardt with 3 to go to take the win.
Before the race even went green, there was a spin and the accordion effect saw the 44 of Rocco Constantino having a flip. No injuries, but Constantino and other cars were eliminated.
Rhinehardt had things pretty much his own way the first 10 laps until Corky Warner had front end trouble and the loss of his right front wheel. This tightened up the field and on the restart, Greco got to 2nd and passed Rhinehardt for the win.
Phil Arnold finished 3rd, Kirsten Swartz 4th and Timothy Wilmot 5th.
Hayleigh Gates won her first ever dual cam 4 Cylinder feature. Kerrie Hollenbeck finished 2nd, Jay Ingersoll 3rd, John Napoli 4th and single cam winner Ken Hollenbeck 5th.
Next Saturday, June 22nd, will be another big night at Fonda Speedway. Randall Implement presents Fan Appreciation Night. $5 Grandstand Admission plus pre-race Meet & Greet – All divisions plus Bill Ag Memorial Modified Elimination Race – May 25 Modified & Limited Sportsman features.
AMSTERDAM TRUCK CENTER MODIFIEDS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[8]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 3. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 4. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[10]; 5. 85-Jack Lehner[14]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[12]; 7. 20C-Craig Hanson[6]; 8. 1-Rocky Warner[19]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[9]; 10. 4-Cody Clark[13]; 11. 35-Chris Curtis[15]; 12. 16X-Dan Creeden[17]; 13. 19JR-Roger Henion Jr[2]; 14. 66-Don Bellen[11]; 15. 42-Tucker O’Connor[16]; 16. 111-Demetrios Drellos[7]; 17. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[1]; 18. 1G-Darwin Greene[20]; 19. 24P-Brian Pessolano[4]; 20. 34-Dave Constantino[21]; 21. 151-BRAD ROTHAUPT[22]; 22. 76-Jamike Sowle[18]; 23. 27-Jason Reome[23]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[6]; 3. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[4]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca[8]; 5. 4-Cody Clark[5]; 6. 42-Tucker O’Connor[7]; 7. 1-Rocky Warner[1]; 8. 151-BRAD ROTHAUPT[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 2. 20C-Craig Hanson[2]; 3. 21C-Brian Calabrese[4]; 4. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[6]; 5. 85-Jack Lehner[7]; 6. 16X-Dan Creeden[8]; 7. 1G-Darwin Greene[3]; 8. 27-Jason Reome[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 111-Demetrios Drellos[5]; 2. 19JR-Roger Henion Jr[1]; 3. 66-Don Bellen[3]; 4. 24P-Brian Pessolano[6]; 5. 35-Chris Curtis[4]; 6. 76-Jamike Sowle[7]; 7. (DNS) 34-Dave Constantino
4/27 Makeup Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[8]; 3. 1-Rocky Warner[5]; 4. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[10]; 5. 85-Jack Lehner[9]; 6. 42-Tucker O’Connor[11]; 7. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[12]; 8. 1G-Darwin Greene[4]; 9. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[3]; 10. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[15]; 11. 34-Dave Constantino[20]; 12. 76-Jamike Sowle[14]; 13. 19JR-Roger Henion Jr[18]; 14. 20C-Craig Hanson[13]; 15. 24P-Brian Pessolano[17]; 16. 35-Chris Curtis[1]; 17. 21C-Brian Calabrese[7]; 18. 4-Cody Clark[19]; 19. 66-Don Bellen[16]; 20. 111-Demetrios Drellos[21]; 21. 27-Jason Reome[6]; 22. (DNS) 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi; 23. (DNS) 93-Ryan Odasz; 24. (DNS) 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr; 25. (DNS) 0-Glenn Styres
Hot Laps: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.102[9]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:18.210[16]; 3. 85-Jack Lehner, 00:18.266[15]; 4. 1-Rocky Warner, 00:18.409[22]; 5. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:18.548[8]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.616[23]; 7. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.651[11]; 8. 19JR-Roger Henion Jr, 00:18.685[13]; 9. 4-Cody Clark, 00:18.734[3]; 10. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:18.752[7]; 11. 16X-Dan Creeden, 00:18.910[5]; 12. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:18.947[6]; 13. 34-Dave Constantino, 00:18.979[4]; 14. 42-Tucker O’Connor, 00:18.990[17]; 15. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:19.083[2]; 16. 24P-Brian Pessolano, 00:19.136[18]; 17. 20C-Craig Hanson, 00:19.309[12]; 18. 76-Jamike Sowle, 00:19.349[21]; 19. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:19.421[14]; 20. 1G-Darwin Greene, 00:19.621[10]; 21. 66-Don Bellen, 00:20.028[1]; 22. 151-BRAD ROTHAUPT, 00:20.757[20]; 23. 27-Jason Reome, 00:24.856[19]
SWAGGER FACTORY APPAREL CRATE 602 SPORTSMAN
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[1]; 2. 25-Stephen Gray[12]; 3. 63-Chip Constantino[2]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards[9]; 5. 314-Clayton DuMond[4]; 6. 117N-Butchie Irwin[10]; 7. 1M-Mark Mortensen[5]; 8. 9K-Blaine Klinger[3]; 9. 89-Dylan Madsen[13]; 10. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[6]; 11. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[20]; 12. 74-Matt Perry[14]; 13. 12B-Tyler Bobar[21]; 14. 12P-Connor Prokop[7]; 15. 1H-Harry Shaffer[15]; 16. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[19]; 17. 312-Bill Port[16]; 18. 8-Josh Kane[28]; 19. 55-Jonny Feagles[22]; 20. 6-Pat Mann[26]; 21. 4-Al McCoy[25]; 22. B24-Brendan Gibbons[11]; 23. 84-Ricky Quick[17]; 24. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[23]; 25. 19-Floyd Billington[24]; 26. 99-Clyde Peek[27]; 27. 1B-Brett Mortensen[18]; 28. (DNS) 78-Tanner Warner
GRECO’S NAPA HARD CHARGER – Stephen Gray +10
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[1]; 2. B24-Brendan Gibbons[3]; 3. 78-Tanner Warner[4]; 4. 12P-Connor Prokop[8]; 5. 89-Dylan Madsen[9]; 6. 312-Bill Port[7]; 7. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[6]; 8. 55-Jonny Feagles[5]; 9. (DNS) 4-Al McCoy; 10. (DQ) 8-Josh Kane[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 117N-Butchie Irwin[1]; 2. 25-Stephen Gray[4]; 3. 63-Chip Constantino[3]; 4. 1M-Mark Mortensen[5]; 5. 74-Matt Perry[2]; 6. 84-Ricky Quick[6]; 7. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[9]; 8. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[8]; 9. 6-Pat Mann[7]; 10. 4-Al McCoy[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[1]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger[2]; 3. 314-Clayton DuMond[4]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards[7]; 5. 1H-Harry Shaffer[3]; 6. 1B-Brett Mortensen[5]; 7. 12B-Tyler Bobar[9]; 8. 19-Floyd Billington[6]; 9. 99-Clyde Peek[8]
Hot Laps: 1. 1M-Mark Mortensen, 00:19.902[18]; 2. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:20.047[14]; 3. 84-Ricky Quick, 00:20.091[23]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.144[5]; 5. B24-Brendan Gibbons, 00:20.217[7]; 6. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:20.222[8]; 7. 55-Jonny Feagles, 00:20.245[6]; 8. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.284[3]; 9. 8-Josh Kane, 00:20.286[12]; 10. 314-Clayton DuMond, 00:20.315[4]; 11. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt, 00:20.320[9]; 12. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell, 00:20.399[26]; 13. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.409[13]; 14. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.434[28]; 15. 12P-Connor Prokop, 00:20.538[22]; 16. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 00:20.562[27]; 17. 117N-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.614[10]; 18. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner, 00:20.647[11]; 19. 1B-Brett Mortensen, 00:20.652[17]; 20. 74-Matt Perry, 00:20.687[20]; 21. 1H-Harry Shaffer, 00:20.750[24]; 22. 12B-Tyler Bobar, 00:20.880[2]; 23. 312-Bill Port, 00:21.557[21]; 24. 6-Pat Mann, 00:21.690[15]; 25. 4-Al McCoy, 00:21.877[16]; 26. (DNS) 19-Floyd Billington; 27. (DNS) 99-Clyde Peek; 28. (DNS) 14T-Payton Talbot
LEATHERSTOCKING CREDIT UNION PRO STOCKS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[2]; 2. 49-Ivan Joslin[1]; 3. 15-Beau Ballard[3]; 4. 2H-Luke Horning[13]; 5. 715-Jason Morrison[5]; 6. 15M-Mike Hill[6]; 7. 35A-Joe Achzet[12]; 8. 28-Dave Emigh[7]; 9. 1D-Nick Santuccione[10]; 10. 62-Nick Danna[11]; 11. 110-Devon Camenga[15]; 12. 57-Chuck McSpirit[4]; 13. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[8]; 14. 6-Shane Playford[9]; 15. (DNS) 81A-Michael Achzet; 16. (DNS) 8N-Nick Stone; 17. (DNS) 75-Gary Silkey
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[3]; 2. 15-Beau Ballard[1]; 3. 57-Chuck McSpirit[4]; 4. 28-Dave Emigh[8]; 5. 6-Shane Playford[5]; 6. 62-Nick Danna[9]; 7. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning; 8. (DNS) 110-Devon Camenga; 9. (DNS) 75-Gary Silkey
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[2]; 2. 49-Ivan Joslin[8]; 3. 715-Jason Morrison[7]; 4. 15M-Mike Hill[3]; 5. 1D-Nick Santuccione[1]; 6. 35A-Joe Achzet[5]; 7. (DNS) 81A-Michael Achzet; 8. (DNS) 8N-Nick Stone
5/25 Makeup Feature (20 Laps): 1. 49-Ivan Joslin[1]; 2. 35-Ken Gates[5]; 3. 75-Gary Silkey[9]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[4]; 5. 110-Devon Camenga[6]; 6. 2H-Luke Horning[2]; 7. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[8]; 8. 81A-Michael Achzet[7]; 9. (DQ) 8N-Nick Stone[3]
Hot Laps: 1. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:22.407[4]; 2. 6-Shane Playford, 00:22.636[14]; 3. 75-Gary Silkey, 00:22.637[16]; 4. 35-Ken Gates, 00:22.943[8]; 5. 81A-Michael Achzet, 00:23.031[2]; 6. 28-Dave Emigh, 00:23.079[7]; 7. 7C-Caden Dumblewski, 00:23.175[6]; 8. 1D-Nick Santuccione, 00:23.805[15]; 9. 57-Chuck McSpirit, 00:23.841[12]; 10. 35A-Joe Achzet, 00:23.858[1]; 11. (DNS) 15-Beau Ballard; 12. (DNS) 62-Nick Danna; 13. (DNS) 15M-Mike Hill; 14. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning; 15. (DNS) 49-Ivan Joslin; 16. (DNS) 715-Jason Morrison; 17. (DNS) 8N-Nick Stone
MONTGOMERY COUNTY OFFICE FOR AGING LIMITED SPORTSMAN
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco[8]; 2. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[1]; 3. 216-Phil Arnold[2]; 4. 24-Kirsten Swartz[4]; 5. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[13]; 6. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[12]; 7. 22L-Lance Hill[5]; 8. 32-Steve Wagoner[3]; 9. 26B-Maddy Broedel[10]; 10. 538-Gus Kamburelis[14]; 11. 47-Walter Cook[9]; 12. 57-Ben Balzer[15]; 13. 11-Josh Persse[16]; 14. 797-Corky Warner[7]; 15. 13J-Jim Mallia[6]; 16. 44-Rocco Constantino[11]; 17. (DNS) 4-Jimmy Beach
GRECO’S NAPA HARD CHARGER – Tim Wilmot +8
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[2]; 2. 32-Steve Wagoner[3]; 3. 13J-Jim Mallia[5]; 4. 12AJ-AJ Greco[8]; 5. 47-Walter Cook[4]; 6. 44-Rocco Constantino[7]; 7. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[6]; 8. 57-Ben Balzer[1]; 9. 4-Jimmy Beach[9]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 797-Corky Warner[5]; 2. 216-Phil Arnold[2]; 3. 24-Kirsten Swartz[3]; 4. 22L-Lance Hill[4]; 5. 26B-Maddy Broedel[8]; 6. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[6]; 7. 538-Gus Kamburelis[7]; 8. 11-Josh Persse[1]
Hot Laps: 1. 1B-Jeff Bobilin, 00:21.149[4]; 2. 13J-Jim Mallia, 00:21.213[11]; 3. 216-Phil Arnold, 00:21.326[1]; 4. 44-Rocco Constantino, 00:21.351[6]; 5. 797-Corky Warner, 00:21.353[16]; 6. 22L-Lance Hill, 00:21.556[9]; 7. 14W-Timothy Wilmot, 00:21.738[17]; 8. 12AJ-AJ Greco, 00:21.996[8]; 9. 24-Kirsten Swartz, 00:22.198[14]; 10. 26B-Maddy Broedel, 00:22.296[5]; 11. 32-Steve Wagoner, 00:22.356[15]; 12. 57-Ben Balzer, 00:24.351[2]; 13. (DNS) 4-Jimmy Beach; 14. (DNS) 47-Walter Cook; 15. (DNS) 538-Gus Kamburelis; 16. (DNS) 11-Josh Persse; 17. (DNS) 618-Bobby Rhinehardt
FONDA FAIR FOUR CYLINDERS
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 42D-Hayleigh Gates[3]; 2. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck[7]; 3. 97JD-Jay Ingersoll[10]; 4. 3D-John Napoli[8]; 5. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck[11]; 6. 9D-David Frame[12]; 7. K1S-William Liberatore[5]; 8. 212S-TJ Marlitt[4]; 9. 420XS-Tim Warner[2]; 10. 98S-Stephanie Maille[1]; 11. 22D-Tony Frezzo[13]; 12. 223S-Josh Beals[9]; 13. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[6]
Hot Laps: 1. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck, 00:26.223[4]; 2. 9D-David Frame, 00:26.824[2]; 3. 3D-John Napoli, 00:27.221[10]; 4. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr, 00:28.184[11]; 5. 42D-Hayleigh Gates, 00:28.522[3]; 6. 212S-TJ Marlitt, 00:30.833[9]; 7. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck, 00:31.046[5]; 8. 98S-Stephanie Maille, 00:32.830[8]; 9. (DNS) 223S-Josh Beals; 10. (DNS) 97JD-Jay Ingersoll; 11. (DNS) K1S-William Liberatore; 12. (DNS) 420XS-Tim Warner