Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – FONDA, NY – Brett Hearn once said race cars in front of you are obstacles. Just like a hole in the groove, you run where they aren’t.
Stewart Friesen used that logic on Saturday night at Fonda Speedway and there was no stopping him, en route to his third victory of the 2024 season in just six starts.
Friesen read the “Track of Champions” absolutely perfectly. While most, if not all, of his competitors used the inside line of the track, the Sprakers, NY driver found the outside to his liking, making moves with reckless abandon.
Just passed the halfway point of the 30-lap main event, Friesen drove around the 1 of Rocky Warner for the runner-up spot with his sights set on leader Tucker O’Conner.
Only a handful of circuits later, he found himself in the lead for good.
“The track kind of locked down on the bottom,” Friesen said. “I stayed out of it long enough to keep the right rear alive and was about to skip around on the top.”
Friesen was able to read the field in front of him, and he saw what he was liking from the drop of the green flag.
“Tonight, we had a pretty good curb in the heat race,” he said. “By the feature, that was a lot of fun. All of those guys committed to the low rubber line and it was a little abrasive. We stayed up top in the bite and let it eat and this thing seemed really good.”
With three point races left at the track, Friesen now sits fourth in the standings, just 52 behind Alex Yankowski who came home in the third position Saturday evening. Of those three events, Stewart will only be able to attend two as Championship night coincides with the NASCAR Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond.
While it doesn’t look like he’ll be in line for the ’24 title at Fonda, Friesen still has at least two races to make it exciting.
“Only a couple races left here and then my favorite time here at Fonda, the Fair,” he said. “I’m just proud of our whole race team. The guys put in a lot of hours in the shop when were away doing other stuff and they get both cars ready. It’s a ton of work thanks to them for putting in the hours as well as Halmar and all of our great sponsors. This was fun.”
Warner finished in the second spot with Yankowski third, Jessica Friesen in fourth and early leader O’Connor, hanging on for a fine fifth place finish.
In the 25-lap Sportsman feature, Tyler Peet made the move to the inside of Tanner Warner as the two powered through turns three and four coming to five laps to go and then went on to score his first career feature event win at the track.
Since calling Fonda home on Saturday nights in 2024, the Lake Ariel, PA driver has only missed one event but has really taken a liking to the historic oval and grabbing the victory on Saturday solidifies his decision to drive north every weekend.
“We’ve been struggling here at Fonda this year but have kept working hard,” Peet said. “This thing was good tonight.”
In addition to his racing at Fonda, Peet also makes the trek to Utica-Rome on Friday evenings. He’s had success there this year, winning two Sportsman features in four starts but Saturday night’s triumph is something he’s wanted.
“I’ve always been better at Utica than I have here,” he said. “Winning tonight means more to me.”
After starting in the tenth spot, Peet knew the competition he had around him, including current point lead and defending champion, Peyton Talbot. He understood if he wanted a chance to win, he had to be better than driver 14.
“I was struggling a little in the beginning and Peyton got by me,” he said. “I knew it was going to be tough to get back around him but got lucky and got under him. Once that happened, it seemed to be smooth sailing from there.”
Talbot did find his way to second at the finish to extend his point lead to 55 over Chad Edwards who came home sixth. In between those two was Warner in third, Stephen Gray in fourth and Ricky Quick in fifth.
In the 29-lap Hondo Classic for the Pro Stocks, an impressive field of 28 took the green with two former winners of the event, Beau Ballard and Luke Horning jumping out front.
Ballard held the top position for the first 10 circuits. That was, however, until a restart bunched up the field and put Horning and the 35 of Kenny Gates right with him.
One lap after the green flew once again, Ballard left the bottom side open off of turn two and “Cousin Luke” took advantage, powering to the top spot around the leader and that was it as Horning led the rest of the way to score his second win in the Hondo and the $1,300 payday.
However, he had a ferocious challenge from both Gates and Ivan Joslin over the last half of the event.
“You can’t get much better than the way the track was tonight,” Horning said. “Top to the bottom was as smooth as can be.”
For a good portion of the race, Horning was trying the high side but it just didn’t seem to pan out. Once he saw an opening to get inside of the leader, he jumped at it.
“Beau’s really good,” he said. “I felt like we were buzzing around on the top. You’d catch some bite and the car would get tight so you’d have to come into the corner loose. That’s when I knew I was probably chewing the tires up.”
That’s when Horning understood, if he wanted a chance to win, he had to adjust his line.
“I knew to be fast we’d have to tuck in and follow him,” he said. “I felt like I was good there on the bottom. Once I saw my chance and got the lead, I just tried to keep a good pace and not make any mistakes.”
Gates came home in the second spot with Joslin in third. Ballard was fourth and AJ Walters completed the top five.
Bobby Rhinehardt led on the white flag lap of the Limited Sportsman feature with Walter Cook right on his back deck. As the two ran through three and four, Cook’s #47 went to the inside, slid up into Rhinehardt’s #618 and the two made contact.
Cook’s mount actually drove over the front of the leader’s machine and he crossed the finish line first. However, officials ended up penalizing Walter one position for the move and awarded the win to Rhinehardt.
Shawn Gibbons, Lance Hill and Kirsten Swartz completed the top five.
Ken Hollenbeck (Single) and Jay Ingersoll (Dual) were victorious in Four-Cylinders.
Modifieds
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[10]; 2. 1-Rocky Warner[7]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 4. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[5]; 5. 42-Tucker O’Connor[1]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[6]; 7. 85-Jack Lehner[9]; 8. 21C-Brian Calabrese[2]; 9. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[12]; 10. 34-Dave Constantino[3]; 11. 22W-Brandon Walters[14]; 12. 93-Ryan Odasz[11]; 13. 76-Jamike Sowle[4]; 14. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[13]; 15. 24P-Brian Pessolano[15]; 16. 21-Gary Edwards III[16]; 17. 7MM-Michael Maresca[19]; 18. 27-Jason Reome[18]; 19. 66-Don Bellen[17]; 20. 4-Cody Clark[20]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Dave Constantino[2]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[9]; 3. 21C-Brian Calabrese[1]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 5. 85-Jack Lehner[8]; 6. 93-Ryan Odasz[5]; 7. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[3]; 8. 24P-Brian Pessolano[6]; 9. 66-Don Bellen[10]; 10. 7MM-Michael Maresca[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[5]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[6]; 3. 42-Tucker O’Connor[1]; 4. 1-Rocky Warner[7]; 5. 76-Jamike Sowle[3]; 6. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[4]; 7. 22W-Brandon Walters[10]; 8. 21-Gary Edwards III[9]; 9. 27-Jason Reome[8]; 10. 4-Cody Clark[2]
Hot Laps: 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.141[19]; 2. 85-Jack Lehner, 00:18.240[10]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.289[7]; 4. 4-Cody Clark, 00:18.326[2]; 5. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:18.506[6]; 6. 93-Ryan Odasz, 00:18.607[13]; 7. 21-Gary Edwards III, 00:18.655[5]; 8. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:18.886[9]; 9. 76-Jamike Sowle, 00:18.901[16]; 10. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.920[8]; 11. 34-Dave Constantino, 00:18.988[3]; 12. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi, 00:18.993[4]; 13. 22W-Brandon Walters, 00:18.998[17]; 14. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:19.052[11]; 15. 42-Tucker O’Connor, 00:19.081[12]; 16. 24P-Brian Pessolano, 00:19.364[14]; 17. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:19.451[20]; 18. 66-Don Bellen, 00:20.573[1]; 19. 27-Jason Reome, 00:20.709[15]; 20. (DNS) 1-Rocky Warner
Crate 602 Sportsman
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12T-Tyler Peet[10]; 2. 14T-Payton Talbot[12]; 3. 78-Tanner Warner[6]; 4. 25-Stephen Gray[13]; 5. 84-Ricky Quick[5]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[14]; 7. 40D-Butchie Irwin[18]; 8. 63-Chip Constantino[8]; 9. B24-Brendan Gibbons[11]; 10. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[3]; 11. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[1]; 12. 12P-Connor Prokop[7]; 13. 164-Brock Miller[16]; 14. 8-Josh Kane[23]; 15. 1B-Brett Mortensen[2]; 16. 1M-Mark Mortensen[4]; 17. 99-Clyde Peek[19]; 18. 56-Vince Vitale[20]; 19. 89-Dylan Madsen[9]; 20. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[15]; 21. (DNS) 4-Al McCoy; 22. (DNS) 9K-Blaine Klinger; 23. (DNS) 1H-Harry Shaffer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[3]; 2. 84-Ricky Quick[4]; 3. 12P-Connor Prokop[5]; 4. B24-Brendan Gibbons[7]; 5. 25-Stephen Gray[6]; 6. 164-Brock Miller[8]; 7. 99-Clyde Peek[1]; 8. (DNS) 1H-Harry Shaffer
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Mark Mortensen[3]; 2. 78-Tanner Warner[4]; 3. 63-Chip Constantino[5]; 4. 14T-Payton Talbot[7]; 5. 10%-Chad Edwards[6]; 6. 4-Al McCoy[1]; 7. 56-Vince Vitale[8]; 8. 8-Josh Kane[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1B-Brett Mortensen[2]; 2. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[1]; 3. 12T-Tyler Peet[6]; 4. 89-Dylan Madsen[5]; 5. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[7]; 6. 40D-Butchie Irwin[4]; 7. 9K-Blaine Klinger[3]
Hot Laps: 1. 14T-Payton Talbot, 00:19.895[20]; 2. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:20.037[9]; 3. 1B-Brett Mortensen, 00:20.156[12]; 4. 84-Ricky Quick, 00:20.157[17]; 5. 40D-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.160[5]; 6. B24-Brendan Gibbons, 00:20.169[3]; 7. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.222[1]; 8. 1H-Harry Shaffer, 00:20.252[19]; 9. 1M-Mark Mortensen, 00:20.279[13]; 10. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.306[8]; 11. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell, 00:20.312[21]; 12. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.328[2]; 13. 7J-Dan Santabarbara, 00:20.395[18]; 14. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:20.470[4]; 15. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.581[23]; 16. 12P-Connor Prokop, 00:20.593[16]; 17. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner, 00:20.641[6]; 18. 8-Josh Kane, 00:20.727[7]; 19. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.735[15]; 20. 164-Brock Miller, 00:20.979[11]; 21. 56-Vince Vitale, 00:21.003[22]; 22. 4-Al McCoy, 00:21.037[10]; 23. 99-Clyde Peek, 00:21.061[14]
Pro Stocks
Hondo Classic Feature (29 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[2]; 2. 35-Ken Gates[9]; 3. 49-Ivan Joslin[7]; 4. 15-Beau Ballard[1]; 5. 22W-AJ Walters[6]; 6. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[16]; 7. 110-Devon Camenga[22]; 8. 8N-Nick Stone[19]; 9. 6-Shane Playford[5]; 10. 715-Jason Morrison[8]; 11. 28-Dave Emigh[11]; 12. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[13]; 13. 74N-Jim Normoyle[25]; 14. 13-George Cushman[17]; 15. 9B-Slater Baker[27]; 16. 15M-Mike Hill[3]; 17. 1D-Nick Santuccione[10]; 18. 35A-Steve Gates[4]; 19. 28G-Gus Gould[26]; 20. 44-Adam Warner[24]; 21. 62-Nick Danna[20]; 22. 75-Gary Silkey[14]; 23. 44R-Ray Richer[21]; 24. 23-Russell Alloggio[18]; 25. 4M-Jordan Modiano[15]; 26. 08-Doug Sheely[28]; 27. (DNS) 81A-Michael Achzet; 28. (DNS) 80-Dan Krajewski
BOBCO Dash (5 Laps): 1. 22W-AJ Walters[5]; 2. 15-Beau Ballard[3]; 3. 28-Dave Emigh[2]; 4. 35A-Steve Gates[1]; 5. 715-Jason Morrison[6]; 6. 81A-Michael Achzet[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81A-Michael Achzet[1]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[2]; 3. 35-Ken Gates[4]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[5]; 5. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[3]; 6. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[9]; 7. 8N-Nick Stone[8]; 8. 110-Devon Camenga[7]; 9. 74N-Jim Normoyle[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 715-Jason Morrison[2]; 2. 15-Beau Ballard[6]; 3. 2H-Luke Horning[9]; 4. 49-Ivan Joslin[5]; 5. 75-Gary Silkey[3]; 6. 13-George Cushman[1]; 7. 62-Nick Danna[7]; 8. 80-Dan Krajewski[8]; 9. 28G-Gus Gould[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35A-Steve Gates[1]; 2. 28-Dave Emigh[6]; 3. 15M-Mike Hill[3]; 4. 1D-Nick Santuccione[2]; 5. 4M-Jordan Modiano[4]; 6. 23-Russell Alloggio[9]; 7. 44R-Ray Richer[5]; 8. 44-Adam Warner[8]; 9. 9B-Slater Baker[7]; 10. 08-Doug Sheely[10]
Hot Laps: 1. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:23.103[26]; 2. 75-Gary Silkey, 00:23.342[24]; 3. 8N-Nick Stone, 00:23.491[25]; 4. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski, 00:23.757[9]; 5. 7C-Caden Dumblewski, 00:23.994[8]; 6. 715-Jason Morrison, 00:24.392[19]; 7. 35-Ken Gates, 00:24.567[11]; 8. 81A-Michael Achzet, 00:24.856[1]; 9. 80-Dan Krajewski, 00:24.990[17]; 10. 1D-Nick Santuccione, 00:25.057[23]; 11. 13-George Cushman, 00:25.058[6]; 12. 9B-Slater Baker, 00:25.091[3]; 13. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:25.154[5]; 14. 28-Dave Emigh, 00:25.192[10]; 15. 49-Ivan Joslin, 00:25.311[16]; 16. 35A-Steve Gates, 00:26.094[12]; 17. 23-Russell Alloggio, 00:26.632[2]; 18. 28G-Gus Gould, 00:28.215[13]; 19. 62-Nick Danna, 00:29.300[7]; 20. 4M-Jordan Modiano, 00:29.604[18]; 21. 44R-Ray Richer, 00:29.713[22]; 22. (DNS) 15-Beau Ballard; 23. (DNS) 15M-Mike Hill; 24. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning; 25. (DNS) 74N-Jim Normoyle; 26. (DNS) 6-Shane Playford; 27. (DNS) 44-Adam Warner
Limited Sportsm
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[1]; 2. 47-Walter Cook[2]; 3. 62-Shawn Gibbons[10]; 4. 22L-Lance Hill[3]; 5. 24-Kirsten Swartz[4]; 6. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[7]; 7. 12AJ-AJ Greco[5]; 8. 2-Brandon Tyler[12]; 9. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[6]; 10. 797-Corky Warner[8]; 11. 32-Steve Wagoner[15]; 12. 538-Gus Kamburelis[17]; 13. 26-Mason Gray[19]; 14. 11-Josh Persse[11]; 15. 216-Phil Arnold[9]; 16. 16H-Dylan Hutson[14]; 17. 26B-Maddy Broedel[13]; 18. 21-Destry Scribner[16]; 19. (DNS) 57-Ben Balzer
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[2]; 2. 22L-Lance Hill[3]; 3. 24-Kirsten Swartz[4]; 4. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[5]; 5. 216-Phil Arnold[8]; 6. 11-Josh Persse[1]; 7. 26B-Maddy Broedel[6]; 8. 32-Steve Wagoner[7]; 9. 538-Gus Kamburelis[9]; 10. 26-Mason Gray[10]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco[3]; 2. 47-Walter Cook[2]; 3. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[5]; 4. 62-Shawn Gibbons[8]; 5. 797-Corky Warner[6]; 6. 2-Brandon Tyler[7]; 7. 16H-Dylan Hutson[4]; 8. 21-Destry Scribner[9]; 9. (DNS) 57-Ben Balzer
Hot Laps: 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco, 00:21.350[8]; 2. 22L-Lance Hill, 00:21.711[9]; 3. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt, 00:22.496[13]; 4. 62-Shawn Gibbons, 00:22.717[6]; 5. 797-Corky Warner, 00:22.742[18]; 6. 26-Mason Gray, 00:22.782[7]; 7. 24-Kirsten Swartz, 00:23.005[15]; 8. 14W-Timothy Wilmot, 00:23.085[19]; 9. 2-Brandon Tyler, 00:23.108[16]; 10. 26B-Maddy Broedel, 00:23.118[4]; 11. 32-Steve Wagoner, 00:23.482[17]; 12. 538-Gus Kamburelis, 00:23.894[11]; 13. 16H-Dylan Hutson, 00:24.103[10]; 14. 1B-Jeff Bobilin, 00:31.846[3]; 15. 21-Destry Scribner, 00:33.825[14]; 16. 11-Josh Persse, 00:33.825[12]; 17. (DNS) 216-Phil Arnold; 18. (DNS) 57-Ben Balzer; 19. (DNS) 47-Walter Cook
Four Cylinders
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck[10]; 2. 97JD-Jay Ingersoll[8]; 3. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck[9]; 4. 42D-Hayleigh Gates[7]; 5. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[3]; 6. 223S-Josh Beals[5]; 7. 26D-Len St Andrews[12]; 8. 420XS-Tim Warner[1]; 9. 212S-TJ Marlitt[4]; 10. 29JD-John Ray[6]; 11. K1S-William Liberatore[2]; 12. 9D-David Frame[11]; 13. 666D-Rudy King Jr[13]
Hot Laps: 1. 9D-David Frame, 00:27.090[2]; 2. 42D-Hayleigh Gates, 00:27.968[3]; 3. 26D-Len St Andrews, 00:28.196[12]; 4. 29JD-John Ray, 00:28.952[10]; 5. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr, 00:28.983[11]; 6. (DNS) 223S-Josh Beals; 7. (DNS) 12S-Ken Hollenbeck; 8. (DNS) 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck; 9. (DNS) 97JD-Jay Ingersoll; 10. (DNS) 666D-Rudy King Jr; 11. (DNS) K1S-William Liberatore; 12. (DNS) 212S-TJ Marlitt; 13. (DNS) 420XS-Tim Warner