Story By: CHRIS MOORE / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – NEW EGYPT, NJ – One worth celebrating. For the second time in his career, Danny Bouc was victorious with the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco on Tuesday night.
The Pipersville, Pa., native snatched the lead away on a lap 23 restart and led the final 28 laps to win the 10th running of the ‘Dirty Jersey’ and the $6,000 top prize.
“We’ve found a lot of ways to lose this race,” Bouc explained in Bicknell Racing Products Victory Lane. “We’ve had several years, including last year, I thought we had a car to win, and it just never happened.”
Bouc’s win came in Round No. 5 of the NJ Quality Drywall South Region and Round No. 8 of the Ollie’s Overall Championship chase.
It took Bouc several years to win his first STSS race, which came in October of 2023, but just a half year later to get his second with his Craig and Leslie Pondish owned No. 6.
“I felt like we could get rolling (after last October’s triumph),” Bouc reasoned. “Then this year started, and we have not always been good.
“We’ve picked it up a little bit here lately and this one definitely feels good to get.”
Following the Beyea Custom Headers Redraw, Bouc rolled from the fourth position, with Boyertown, Pa.’s Ryan Watt and Sprakers, N.Y.’s Stewart Friesen on the front row.
Friesen quickly rolled the outside groove to lead the opening laps and was setting a torrid pace. Meanwhile, Bouc and Watt were battling back and forth for the runner-up spot for several laps.
Bouc wrestled the runner-up spot away from Watt on lap 11 but was three seconds behind Friesen by the time he got to second.
Yellow flags reset the field, however, and put Bouc alongside Friesen to settle it amongst themselves. Bouc failed on a lap-20 restart to take the lead away, but three laps later, Bouc took the lead away on his second try and never relinquished it.
“I was nervous on the first restart I was leading; you have to be with Stewart (Friesen) alongside you,” Bouc said. “Once I got a feel for them though and realized I was clearing him, I was ok with the cautions keeping me from lap traffic and letting my tires cool off.”
Bouc, a former champion at New Egypt Speedway, survived a late race scare as lap traffic had cost him speed and allowed Friesen to close, but a final yellow with two laps to go allowed Bouc to get clean racetrack and hang on for the victory.
Friesen settled for second in his Halmar International No. 44.
“We got rolling pretty good early, but I knew the restarts were going to be tough on us,” Friesen offered. “We got to him again in traffic and the dang caution came out again.”
Covington Township, Pa.’s Alex Yankowski completed the podium in his Millman’s NAPA Auto Parts No. 84y.
“They put the water down before the feature and we had the bigger motor,” Yankowski said. “That helped us work our way forward in the early going to get here.”
Schnecksville, Pa.’s Tanner Van Doren came from the 10th starting position to finish fourth in his family-owned No. 27 and Walden, N.Y.’s Anthony Perrego raced from 18th to finish fifth in the Vinnie Salerno-owned No. 4*, awarding him the Hard Charger Award in honor of Terry Fasnacht.
Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Montgomery, N.J.’s Brandon Grosso in his family-owned No. 32; Watt in the Roberts Watt Racing No. 14w; Frenchtown, N.J.’s Billy Pauch Jr. from 20th in the Kid Racing No. 1; Neshanic Station, N.J.’s Ryan Krachun in his family-owned No. 29; and Binghamton, N.Y.’s Darren Smith in the Jeremy Smith Racing No. 12.
Thirty-one STSS big-block/small-block Modifieds signed in for competition in the ‘Dirty Jersey 10.’
Heat winners were Van Doren, Matt Sheppard, and Mike Mahaney. Dillon Steuer won the consolation event.
The STSS now lays dormant for two weeks before firing off for a loaded month of July that kicks off on Wednesday, July 3 with the ‘Firecracker 50’ at N.Y.’s Fonda Speedway. The STSS Modifieds go for 50 laps and a $10,000 top prize in Round No. 4 of the River Valley Builders North Region and Round No. 9 of the Ollie’s Overall Championship. The STSS Crate 602 Sportsman are also on the docket for a 25-lap, $2,000 top prize in Round No. 3 of the Madsen Overhead Doors North Region.
Dirty Jersey Feature (50 Laps): 1. 6B-Danny Bouc[4]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 4. 27-Tanner Van Doren[10]; 5. 4P-Anthony Perrego[18]; 6. 32-Brandon Grosso[8]; 7. 14W-Ryan Watt[1]; 8. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr[20]; 9. 29-Ryan Krachun[9]; 10. 12S-Darren Smith[14]; 11. 3W-Mat Williamson[15]; 12. 35M-Mike Mahaney[12]; 13. 2A-Mike Gular[13]; 14. J24-Justin Grosso[21]; 15. 28T-Michael Trautschold[17]; 16. 6D-Dillon Steuer[19]; 17. 7M-Paul Mancini[27]; 18. 20C-Cole Stangle[23]; 19. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 20. 13T-Anthony Tramontana[3]; 21. 112-Cale Ross[11]; 22. 11-Danny Hieber[26]; 23. 6S-Matt Stangle[25]; 24. 323-Johnny Bangs[24]; 25. 24-DJ Hunt[22]; 26. 26-Ryan Godown[5]; 27. 28-Michael Storms[16]
Consolation (8 Laps): 1. 6D-Dillon Steuer[1]; 2. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr[3]; 3. J24-Justin Grosso[6]; 4. 24-DJ Hunt[9]; 5. 20C-Cole Stangle[2]; 6. 323-Johnny Bangs[4]; 7. 24M-Sammy Martz Jr[7]; 8. 6S-Matt Stangle[11]; 9. 7M-Paul Mancini[10]; 10. 24W-Sean Weiss[8]; 11. 11-Danny Hieber[5]; 12. 74W-John Willman[13]; 13. 7G-Chris Grbac[12]
Heat #1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Tanner Van Doren[1]; 2. 6B-Danny Bouc[4]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 4. 26-Ryan Godown[3]; 5. 2A-Mike Gular[5]; 6. 28-Michael Storms[6]; 7. 6D-Dillon Steuer[10]; 8. 323-Johnny Bangs[9]; 9. 24M-Sammy Martz Jr[8]; 10. 7M-Paul Mancini[7]; 11. 74W-John Willman[11]
Heat #2 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 2. 29-Ryan Krachun[2]; 3. 13T-Anthony Tramontana[1]; 4. 112-Cale Ross[5]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith[10]; 6. 28T-Michael Trautschold[7]; 7. 20C-Cole Stangle[8]; 8. 11-Danny Hieber[9]; 9. 24W-Sean Weiss[6]; 10. 6S-Matt Stangle[3]
Heat #3 (8 Laps): 1. 35M-Mike Mahaney[1]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 3. 32-Brandon Grosso[2]; 4. 14W-Ryan Watt[3]; 5. 3W-Mat Williamson[8]; 6. 4P-Anthony Perrego[6]; 7. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr[5]; 8. J24-Justin Grosso[9]; 9. 24-DJ Hunt[7]; 10. 7G-Chris Grbac[10]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 1: 1. 6B-Danny Bouc, 00:17.128[7]; 2. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:17.316[2]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:17.382[10]; 4. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:17.451[6]; 5. 2A-Mike Gular, 00:17.524[11]; 6. 28-Michael Storms, 00:17.525[8]; 7. 7M-Paul Mancini, 00:17.560[1]; 8. 24M-Sammy Martz Jr, 00:17.602[9]; 9. 323-Johnny Bangs, 00:17.650[5]; 10. 6D-Dillon Steuer, 00:17.690[4]; 11. 74W-John Willman, 00:17.939[3]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 2: 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:17.072[1]; 2. 6S-Matt Stangle, 00:17.365[7]; 3. 29-Ryan Krachun, 00:17.633[2]; 4. 13T-Anthony Tramontana, 00:17.715[8]; 5. 112-Cale Ross, 00:17.761[10]; 6. 24W-Sean Weiss, 00:17.773[4]; 7. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:17.828[5]; 8. 20C-Cole Stangle, 00:17.860[6]; 9. 11-Danny Hieber, 00:17.889[3]; 10. 12S-Darren Smith, 00:17.947[9]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 3: 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:17.367[7]; 2. 14W-Ryan Watt, 00:17.448[1]; 3. 32-Brandon Grosso, 00:17.450[8]; 4. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:17.543[4]; 5. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr, 00:17.547[10]; 6. 4P-Anthony Perrego, 00:17.592[6]; 7. 24-DJ Hunt, 00:17.627[5]; 8. 3W-Mat Williamson, 00:17.702[3]; 9. J24-Justin Grosso, 00:17.740[2]; 10. 7G-Chris Grbac, 00:18.014[9]