RPW Exclusive: Stewart Friesen Wins First Of ’24 Season At Utica-Rome Speedway Friday

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – VERNON, NY – With many of the Friday tracks in the northeast falling victim to thunderstorms, this probably had more eyes than usual tuning in to the racing at Utica-Rome Speedway. And if they did, they saw some fantastic racing.

Stewart Friesen trailed Mike Trautschold for the first 26 laps of Friday’s Modified feature. But one slight slip by Trautschold on the 27th lap enabled Friesen to make the pass for the lead and the win.

“That was rough. Mike’s been getting better and better,” said Friesen in Victory Lane. “He’s definitely got a hot rod here for Utica.”

With this race being part of the Thunder on the Thruway Series, the redraw saw 2nd starting Trautschold taking the lead at the start with 4th starting Friesen quickly moving into 2nd. With only a lap 7 caution interrupting the action, it was a furious battle at the front.

“We were a little better in 3 and 4, but that line in 1 and 2 that Mike was running was right where I wanted to be.”
Friesen made several bids for the lead in turn 4, his best chance came on lap 20, but Trautschold didn’t waver and maintained the top spot.

“I threw everything at him and I just couldn’t get him. We got mixing it up in lapped traffic and I finally got him,” Friesen said.

As Trautschold and Friesen approached the car of Brandon Loucks on the 27th lap, Mike slipped up the track slightly and Friesen was side-by-side and Stewart drove it hard into turn 3 to go to the lead and on to the win.

“A big thanks to the Halmar team, it was a long, hot day for us. It’s good to be back in Victory Lane at Utica,” Friesen said.

The race for the lead wasn’t the only great racing in Friday’s feature. The race between Alex Yankowski and Matt Sheppard for positions 3 & 4 was as intense as what was going on at the front. Racing only a tick behind the leaders, they swapped the spot a few times with Sheppard getting the upper hand with slide jobs in turns 3 and 4. But Yankowski was able to retake the spot on the frontstretch and into turns 1 & 2.

At the finish, Friesen was a 2.4 second winner over Trautschold with Yankowski winning the battle for 3rd over Sheppard with Bobby Hackel IV finishing 5th. Matt Janczuk was 6th with Justin Wright 7th, Michael Maresca 8th, Billy Decker 9th and Dave Constantino 10th.

The win for Friesen, his first at Utica-Rome since August 19, 2023, was his 65th of his career at the track, which is 2nd to Sheppard’s 76.

After a big crash at Fonda two weeks ago badly damaged the 12T of Tyler Peet, the team took a week off and even considered not competing this week as more damage was found.

But the team was in competition on Friday and Peet was able to dominate the 602 Crate Sportsman race for his 2nd victory of the year at Utica-Rome.

“We took a week off last week and it wasn’t really a week off. We worked hard,” Peet said. “I really didn’t know if we were going to make it back this week, we found more stuff. My dad, my uncle and I, we went to work on it.”

After some early side-by-side racing with Butchie Irwin, Peet pulled out to a considerable lead. While he was comfortable out front, Irwin, Payton Talbot and Mike Richmond had a great race for 2nd.

After Richmond took 2nd and Talbot 3rd, they began to close the gap on Peet. But it was too late as Peet crossed the line a winner by 2.26 seconds.

“The last 7 laps, I just fall hard,” Peet surmised. “I don’t know why, but we’ll figure it out.”

Following Peet, Richmond and Talbot in the finishing order were Irwin in 4th and AJ Digsby 5th. Completing the top 10 were Chip Constantino 6th, Chad Edwards 7th, Ed Lucas 8th, Blake Sarpriacone 9th and Stephen Denton 10th.

A week ago, Bret Belden finished 2nd to Devon Camenga. This week, he was able to flip the results as his late race pass netted him the Pro Stock win, his first of the season. And he was glad to get one in the books.

“We had a pretty good streak at the end of last season,” Belden said. “These things come hard. I’m just tickled to be out here.”

As it was in the Modified feature, it was great racing for the lead as Camenga was able to hold off Belden for many laps until Bret got the good run on the last lap to take the win. AJ Walters finished 3rd with Tim Wood 4th and Jason Morrison 5th.

Andrew McFadden took the lead early and led all the way to the checkers for his first Limited Sportsman win. Jayden Wust was 2nd, Eric Jensen 3rd, Maddy Broedel 4th and Rocco Constantino 5th.

Using a borrowed car, Rudy King dominated the 4 Cylinder race to take the dual cam win, his 3rd of the season. David Denova was 2nd, Jeff Connolly 3rd, Wayne Russell Jr. 4th and Hayleigh Gates 5th. Russell Jr. was the single cam winner for the 8th time this season.

The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series was in action on Friday with 5 feature winners. Recording wins were Randy Delaney Modifieds, Curtis Condon Late Models, Joe Rando Mystique, Don Briggs Antique and Brian Gray Sportsman.
On the schedule for next Friday, June 28th is Mastrovito Hyundai First Responders Night: Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Cars (first-time ever) – All divisions.

3 Bastards Brewing Modifieds

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[4]; 2. 28T-Michael Trautschold[2]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[9]; 5. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[8]; 6. 28X-Matt Janczuk[3]; 7. 19W-Justin Wright[1]; 8. 7MM-Michael Maresca[5]; 9. 91-Billy Decker[11]; 10. 34-Dave Constantino[12]; 11. JS98-Rocky Warner[19]; 12. 42P-Pat Ward[16]; 13. 22W-Brandon Walters[15]; 14. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[20]; 15. 12-Addison Bowman[10]; 16. 43-Keith Flach[18]; 17. 23-Brandon Loucks[23]; 18. 76-Jamike Sowle[21]; 19. 4-Cody Clark[24]; 20. 77-Alan Barker[13]; 21. 97S-Randy Shantel[17]; 22. 9J-Jim Becker[7]; 23. 1X-Willy Decker[14]; 24. 44C-Ed Downing[25]; 25. 369-Jim Walsh[26]; 26. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 3. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 4. 28X-Matt Janczuk[8]; 5. 77-Alan Barker[7]; 6. 42P-Pat Ward[1]; 7. JS98-Rocky Warner[6]; 8. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[2]; 9. (DNS) 43-Keith Flach

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[4]; 2. 34-Dave Constantino[2]; 3. 91-Billy Decker[7]; 4. 28T-Michael Trautschold[6]; 5. 1X-Willy Decker[3]; 6. 97S-Randy Shantel[8]; 7. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[1]; 8. 23-Brandon Loucks[5]; 9. (DNS) 44C-Ed Downing

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Addison Bowman[1]; 2. 19W-Justin Wright[6]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[7]; 4. 9J-Jim Becker[3]; 5. 22W-Brandon Walters[8]; 6. 43-Keith Flach[9]; 7. 76-Jamike Sowle[4]; 8. 4-Cody Clark[5]; 9. 369-Jim Walsh[2]

Hot Laps: 1. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:18.413[15]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.435[26]; 3. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:18.441[10]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:18.573[17]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.641[11]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.669[12]; 7. 1X-Willy Decker, 00:18.716[7]; 8. 22W-Brandon Walters, 00:18.750[22]; 9. 4-Cody Clark, 00:18.924[4]; 10. 12-Addison Bowman, 00:19.029[3]; 11. 28X-Matt Janczuk, 00:19.056[13]; 12. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:19.060[20]; 13. 91-Billy Decker, 00:19.127[6]; 14. 77-Alan Barker, 00:19.144[1]; 15. 9J-Jim Becker, 00:19.215[2]; 16. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:19.253[24]; 17. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:19.278[23]; 18. 43-Keith Flach, 00:19.294[9]; 19. 16S-Jeremy Slosek, 00:19.404[18]; 20. 23-Brandon Loucks, 00:19.424[14]; 21. 76-Jamike Sowle, 00:19.445[19]; 22. 34-Dave Constantino, 00:19.467[5]; 23. 97S-Randy Shantel, 00:19.631[16]; 24. 19W-Justin Wright, 00:19.769[25]; 25. (DNS) 44C-Ed Downing; 26. (DNS) 369-Jim Walsh

Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12T-Tyler Peet[2]; 2. 22X-Mike Richmond[6]; 3. 14T-Payton Talbot[10]; 4. 117N-Butchie Irwin[1]; 5. 10A-AJ Digsby[7]; 6. 63-Chip Constantino[9]; 7. 10%-Chad Edwards[19]; 8. 77L-Ed Lukas[8]; 9. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[5]; 10. 44C-Stephen Denton[4]; 11. 12B-Tyler Bobar[16]; 12. 621-Seth Martin[17]; 13. 82H-David Hackett[12]; 14. 7H-Allan Hodge[18]; 15. 2K-Josh Amodio[13]; 16. 314-Clayton Dumond[25]; 17. 9K-Blaine Klinger[20]; 18. 74-Matt Perry[21]; 19. 262-Matthew Richardson[22]; 20. 67W-Zack Welch[23]; 21. 28J-Joey Buonagurio[14]; 22. 78-Tanner Warner[15]; 23. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[11]; 24. 23-David Dickey[3]; 25. 25-Stephen Gray[24]

Consolation (8 Laps): 1. 10%-Chad Edwards[1]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger[2]; 3. 74-Matt Perry[3]; 4. 262-Matthew Richardson[5]; 5. 67W-Zack Welch[9]; 6. 25-Stephen Gray[4]; 7. 4J-JJ Courcy[8]; 8. 10-Jim Nagle[7]; 9. 00X-Josh Coonradt[14]; 10. 01-Dylan Nichols[13]; 11. 90-Brodie Davis[12]; 12. 08-Dalton Doyle[11]; 13. 314-Clayton Dumond[6]; 14. 4C-Michelle Courcy[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77L-Ed Lukas[3]; 2. 63-Chip Constantino[4]; 3. 22X-Mike Richmond[5]; 4. 44C-Stephen Denton[2]; 5. 2K-Josh Amodio[7]; 6. 12B-Tyler Bobar[8]; 7. 10%-Chad Edwards[10]; 8. 25-Stephen Gray[9]; 9. 10-Jim Nagle[11]; 10. 4C-Michelle Courcy[1]; 11. 01-Dylan Nichols[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10A-AJ Digsby[7]; 2. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[1]; 3. 23-David Dickey[5]; 4. 117N-Butchie Irwin[10]; 5. 28J-Joey Buonagurio[2]; 6. 621-Seth Martin[3]; 7. 9K-Blaine Klinger[8]; 8. 262-Matthew Richardson[11]; 9. 4J-JJ Courcy[9]; 10. 08-Dalton Doyle[4]; 11. 00X-Josh Coonradt[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[4]; 2. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[1]; 3. 12T-Tyler Peet[5]; 4. 82H-David Hackett[6]; 5. 78-Tanner Warner[3]; 6. 7H-Allan Hodge[7]; 7. 74-Matt Perry[9]; 8. 314-Clayton Dumond[8]; 9. 67W-Zack Welch[10]; 10. 90-Brodie Davis[2]

Hot Laps: 1. 14T-Payton Talbot, 00:19.971[30]; 2. 22X-Mike Richmond, 00:20.007[28]; 3. 77L-Ed Lukas, 00:20.147[21]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.149[14]; 5. 7H-Allan Hodge, 00:20.179[18]; 6. 82H-David Hackett, 00:20.200[17]; 7. 12B-Tyler Bobar, 00:20.282[2]; 8. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.288[4]; 9. 262-Matthew Richardson, 00:20.354[27]; 10. 4J-JJ Courcy, 00:20.426[6]; 11. 00X-Josh Coonradt, 00:20.427[5]; 12. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:20.449[16]; 13. 10-Jim Nagle, 00:20.496[23]; 14. 74-Matt Perry, 00:20.512[26]; 15. 01-Dylan Nichols, 00:20.520[24]; 16. 621-Seth Martin, 00:20.541[22]; 17. 314-Clayton Dumond, 00:20.541[13]; 18. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.549[31]; 19. 69-Blake Sarpriacone, 00:20.552[29]; 20. 44C-Stephen Denton, 00:20.555[9]; 21. 2K-Josh Amodio, 00:20.568[1]; 22. 10A-AJ Digsby, 00:20.576[11]; 23. 23-David Dickey, 00:20.643[10]; 24. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.779[20]; 25. 67W-Zack Welch, 00:20.840[32]; 26. 5EJ-EJ Gallup, 00:20.979[15]; 27. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:21.015[25]; 28. 08-Dalton Doyle, 00:21.042[12]; 29. 90-Brodie Davis, 00:21.049[8]; 30. 28J-Joey Buonagurio, 00:21.063[3]; 31. 4C-Michelle Courcy, 00:21.369[7]; 32. (DNS) 117N-Butchie Irwin

Next Generation Graphix Pro Stocks

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 81-Bret Belden[4]; 2. 110-Devon Camenga[3]; 3. 22W-AJ Walters[5]; 4. 22-Tim Wood[1]; 5. 715-Jason Morrison[6]; 6. 35-Ken Gates[7]; 7. 13-George Cushman[2]; 8. 74N-Jim Normoyle[8]; 9. 49-Ivan Joslin[10]; 10. 28H-Johnny Holmes[11]; 11. 101-Ed Kotary[9]; 12. 28G-Gus Gould[12]; 13. 63-Matt Rose[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 110-Devon Camenga[2]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[1]; 3. 22-Tim Wood[6]; 4. 35-Ken Gates[4]; 5. 101-Ed Kotary[5]; 6. 28H-Johnny Holmes[3]; 7. 63-Matt Rose[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-George Cushman[2]; 2. 81-Bret Belden[3]; 3. 715-Jason Morrison[5]; 4. 74N-Jim Normoyle[4]; 5. 49-Ivan Joslin[6]; 6. 28G-Gus Gould[1]

Hot Laps: 1. 22-Tim Wood, 00:22.049[13]; 2. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:22.190[2]; 3. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:22.570[12]; 4. 49-Ivan Joslin, 00:22.641[7]; 5. 35-Ken Gates, 00:22.750[4]; 6. 28H-Johnny Holmes, 00:23.020[6]; 7. 28G-Gus Gould, 00:23.335[5]; 8. 63-Matt Rose, 00:24.589[11]; 9. (DNS) 81-Bret Belden; 10. (DNS) 13-George Cushman; 11. (DNS) 101-Ed Kotary; 12. (DNS) 715-Jason Morrison; 13. (DNS) 74N-Jim Normoyle

Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman

A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 10-Andrew MacFadden[6]; 2. 43J-Jayden Wust[8]; 3. 57-Eric Jensen[10]; 4. 26B-Maddy Broedel[3]; 5. 44R-Rocco Constantino[14]; 6. 24-Kirsten Swartz[5]; 7. 5-Eymarah Bowman[13]; 8. 4-Carson Rothwell[7]; 9. 17S-Ernie Staelens[2]; 10. 12-Hayden Coons[4]; 11. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[12]; 12. 60-Brad Poppleton[1]; 13. 0-Kyle Coley[11]; 14. (DNS) 77N-Bobby Newman

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 4-Carson Rothwell[6]; 2. 10-Andrew MacFadden[5]; 3. 26B-Maddy Broedel[3]; 4. 60-Brad Poppleton[1]; 5. 77N-Bobby Newman[7]; 6. 0-Kyle Coley[2]; 7. (DQ) 5-Eymarah Bowman[4]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 24-Kirsten Swartz[4]; 2. 43J-Jayden Wust[6]; 3. 17S-Ernie Staelens[1]; 4. 12-Hayden Coons[3]; 5. 57-Eric Jensen[5]; 6. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[2]; 7. 44R-Rocco Constantino[7]

Hot Laps: 1. 4-Carson Rothwell, 00:20.657[11]; 2. 57-Eric Jensen, 00:20.685[7]; 3. 10-Andrew MacFadden, 00:21.001[8]; 4. 26B-Maddy Broedel, 00:21.230[2]; 5. 24-Kirsten Swartz, 00:21.369[13]; 6. 44R-Rocco Constantino, 00:22.268[4]; 7. (DNS) 5-Eymarah Bowman; 8. (DNS) 0-Kyle Coley; 9. (DNS) 12-Hayden Coons; 10. (DNS) 44D-Kadyn Depasquale; 11. (DNS) 77N-Bobby Newman; 12. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton; 13. (DNS) 17S-Ernie Staelens; 14. (DNS) 43J-Jayden Wust

Fonda Fair Four Cylinders

A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 666D-Rudy King Jr[2]; 2. 9D-David Denova[6]; 3. 31D-Jeff Connolly[3]; 4. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[4]; 5. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[5]; 6. 35S-Hank Wedgren[7]; 7. 212S-TJ Marlitt[1]; 8. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[8]

Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 666D-Rudy King Jr[4]; 2. 31D-Jeff Connolly[5]; 3. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[7]; 4. 212S-TJ Marlitt[1]; 5. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[6]; 6. 9D-David Denova[8]; 7. 35S-Hank Wedgren[3]; 8. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[2]

Hot Laps: 1. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr, 00:26.214[8]; 2. (DNS) 31D-Jeff Connolly; 3. (DNS) 9D-David Denova; 4. (DNS) 42S-Hayleigh Gates; 5. (DNS) 666D-Rudy King Jr; 6. (DNS) 212S-TJ Marlitt; 7. (DNS) 35S-Hank Wedgren; 8. (DNS) H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr