Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – DUNDEE, NY – Thursday night at Outlaw Speedway, you would have been hard pressed to find the winner of the 50-lap Short Track Super Series event not coming from the top 5 starters.
Starting on the pole was Mat Williamson. Starting third was Matt Sheppard. Starting fifth was Stewart Friesen.
While Williamson struggled to find the handling on his ride all feature long, eventually coming home sixth, Sheppard and Friesen ran one and two and waged war for the top prize for the entire event, trading turns in the lead in the process.
When the final caution waved with three laps remaining, it was almost assured that the fans were going to be in for a wicked battle to the finish between two heavy hitters.
That was, until leader Sheppard’s #9s was told to go pitside with a right rear American Racer that was going soft.
That put Friesen’s #44 in the number one spot for good and that’s where he finished, taking the win in the $7,078.78 Dave Machuga Memorial.
“Man, you hate to win them like that,” Friesen said. “We lost one last week, the Firecracker at Fonda, like that but what a real racy track tonight. Super cool to be back here at Outlaw.”
Friesen knew how good his number 44 was, but knew also how good Sheppard was as well and understood if he wanted to win, he had to engineer the perfect way by.
“Matt was really, really good on the restarts,” he said. “For a couple of laps, I could pace with him but then I found a different lane. Then, doing what he was doing, I could get back to him.”
Every time it appeared that Friesen had a run on the leader, Joe Kriss would unfurl the yellow silk from the flagstand.
“We kept getting the cautions and I was getting pretty frustrated with those,” he said. “However, this was just a great race car and it feels really good to get this one tonight.”
Even though he stood in victory lane at the end of the night, the Sprakers, NY driver knew it was going to be an all-out battle with Sheppard for the win until he was forced to the hot pit.
“It’s really unfortunate that Matt had his problems,” he said. “You don’t want to win them like that. You want to race side-by-side with the best in the business.”
Those are the breaks sometimes, though, and you not only have to be good to win in racing, you need luck on your side.
“I couldn’t believe when they came on the one-way and said 9 you have a tire going down,” he said. “I was just trying to focus on the restart (with three to go) but it’s happened to us. That’s how it goes sometimes and we’ll definitely savor this one.”
Through the long 24-lap opening stanza, Sheppard took the lead early but Friesen was able to run him down and actually take the lead away in lapped traffic. Unfortunately for driver 44, who was running the only spec Small Block in the field, Sheppard regained the top spot on the ensuing restart and it looked as if it was going to be a title fight to the end.
“This is just a great race car,” he said. “The entire Halmar team has worked hard on this package and thanks to Sy Murray for the smoke under the hood. We’ve got this spec motor tuned just as close as we could. We fought little bit of a stumble all night but tuned on it, working on the carburetor and got it better.”
It really does seem like Friesen and his team has found something in Short Track Super Series competition in 2024. Through five North Series events so far this season, they have two wins, have never finished out of the top 10, only once out of the top five and are now tied with Williamson for the point lead.
On this night, it appeared as if Friesen could run wherever he wanted on the Outlaw Speedway surface.
“Our race car was really, really good,” he said. “It was nimble and I could move around but it feels really good to get one with this car tonight.”
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner[10]; 3. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[6]; 4. 18-Bobby Varin[9]; 5. 4P-Anthony Perrego[15]; 6. 3W-Mat Williamson[1]; 7. 27-Tanner Van Doren[22]; 8. 35M-Mike Mahaney[18]; 9. 5*-Tyler Siri[19]; 10. 47-Kreg Crooker[8]; 11. 28T-Michael Trautschold[2]; 12. 27J-Danny Johnson[12]; 13. 7MM-Michael Maresca[14]; 14. 70-Brady Fultz[13]; 15. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 16. 35B-Francois Bellemare[26]; 17. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 18. 713-Tommy Collins[23]; 19. 70A-Alex Payne[11]; 20. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[7]; 21. X-Stacy Jackson[21]; 22. 82S-Will Shields[20]; 23. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[16]; 24. 58L-Jim LaRock[27]; 25. 23-Brandon Loucks[24]; 26. 222-Jeffery Daugherty[17]; 27. 01-Chris Raabe[25]
Did Not Qualify: 24-Jake Dgien; 23JR-John Michael Phillps; 29J-Chris Ostrowsky; 87.9-Darryl Mitchell; 3B-Scott Boudinot; 1B-Billy Paine; 14J-Alan Johnson; 45-Leslie McCann; 7X-Steve Paine; 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr; 21X-Eric Williams; 6-Tommy Paine; 84JR-Adam Coots; 21G-Aiden Grover
American Racer/Lias Tire Bonuses (FREE Tire Certificate): Tyler Siri (ninth) & Alex Yankowski (15th)
ATL Racing Fuel Cells ‘Hot Lap Hero’ ($100): Brady Fultz (14.468)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Bonuses ($50 Gift Cards): Bobby Varin (fourth) & Tyler Siri (ninth)
Beyea Headers Redraw Bonus ($50): Danny Johnson (Redrew 12th)
Eibach Springs Bonus ($100 Certificate): Mat Williamson (sixth)
Elite Welder Training & Testing Halfway Leader Bonus ($150): Matt Sheppard Henry’s Headers & Exhaust Systems LLC Power Position ($50 Certificate): Michael Trautschold (11th)
PEM Engineering Bonus (Quick Change Gears): Ajay Potrzebowski II (third)
Penske Racing Shocks Bonuses: Stewart Friesen (first – $150 certificate); Jack Lehner (second – $75 certificate); Ajay otrzebowski II (third – $50 certificate); Bobby Varin (fourth – $25 certificate) Schultz Racing Fuel Cells Bonus ($100 Certificate): Kreg Crooker (10th)
Wilwood Disc Brakes ‘Lucky 7’ Bonus ($100 Certificate): Tanner Van Doren (seventh)
Consolation #1 (8 Laps): 1. X-Stacy Jackson[2]; 2. 713-Tommy Collins[1]; 3. 58L-Jim LaRock[3]; 4. 24-Jake Dgien[8]; 5. 23JR-John Michael Phillps[4]; 6. 29J-Chris Ostrowsky[5]; 7. 879-Darryl Mitchell[9]; 8. (DNS) 3B-Scott Boudinot; 9. (DNS) 1B-Billy Paine; 10. (DNS) 14J-Alan Johnson; 11. (DNS) 45-Leslie McCann
Consolation #2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Tanner Van Doren[1]; 2. 23-Brandon Loucks[2]; 3. 7X-Steve Paine[5]; 4. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[3]; 5. 35B-Francois Bellemare[4]; 6. 21X-Eric Williams[6]; 7. 6-Tommy Paine[9]; 8. 84JR-Adam Coots[7]; 9. 01-Chris Raabe[8]; 10. (DNS) 21G-Aiden Grover
Heat #1 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 2. 3W-Mat Williamson[1]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 4. 70-Brady Fultz[3]; 5. 222-Jeffery Daugherty[4]; 6. 713-Tommy Collins[6]; 7. 58L-Jim LaRock[9]; 8. 29J-Chris Ostrowsky[7]; 9. 1B-Billy Paine[8]; 10. 879-Darryl Mitchell[10]; 11. 45-Leslie McCann[11]
Heat #2 (8 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 2. 47-Kreg Crooker[4]; 3. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[2]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 5. 35M-Mike Mahaney[6]; 6. 27-Tanner Van Doren[5]; 7. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[8]; 8. 7X-Steve Paine[7]; 9. 84JR-Adam Coots[10]; 10. 6-Tommy Paine[9]
Heat #3 (8 Laps): 1. 28T-Michael Trautschold[1]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[2]; 3. 18-Bobby Varin[3]; 4. 4P-Anthony Perrego[5]; 5. 5*-Tyler Siri[6]; 6. X-Stacy Jackson[7]; 7. 23JR-John Michael Phillps[9]; 8. 3B-Scott Boudinot[10]; 9. 24-Jake Dgien[8]; 10. (DNS) 14J-Alan Johnson
Heat #4 (8 Laps): 1. 27J-Danny Johnson[2]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 3. 02-Jack Lehner[6]; 4. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[1]; 5. 82S-Will Shields[8]; 6. 23-Brandon Loucks[5]; 7. 35B-Francois Bellemare[7]; 8. 21X-Eric Williams[10]; 9. 01-Chris Raabe[4]; 10. 21G-Aiden Grover[9]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 1: 1. 70-Brady Fultz, 00:14.468[10]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:14.524[5]; 3. 3W-Mat Williamson, 00:14.550[4]; 4. 222-Jeffery Daugherty, 00:14.706[9]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:14.801[2]; 6. 713-Tommy Collins, 00:14.975[3]; 7. 29J-Chris Ostrowsky, 00:15.173[7]; 8. 1B-Billy Paine, 00:15.208[8]; 9. 58L-Jim LaRock, 00:15.235[1]; 10. 879-Darryl Mitchell, 00:15.828[6]; 11. 45-Leslie McCann, 00:15.828[11]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 2: 1. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:14.648[6]; 2. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II, 00:14.685[9]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:14.905[10]; 4. 47-Kreg Crooker, 00:14.938[5]; 5. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:14.995[3]; 6. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:15.022[8]; 7. 7X-Steve Paine, 00:15.037[2]; 8. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:15.148[4]; 9. 6-Tommy Paine, 00:15.306[7]; 10. 84JR-Adam Coots, 00:15.331[1]
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 3: 1. 18-Bobby Varin, 00:14.662[10]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:14.756[5]; 3. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:14.899[1]; 4. 14J-Alan Johnson, 00:14.912[4]; 5. 4P-Anthony Perrego, 00:14.939[3]; 6. 5*-Tyler Siri, 00:14.948[7]; 7. X-Stacy Jackson, 00:15.047[9]; 8. 24-Jake Dgien, 00:15.212[6]; 9. 23JR-John Michael Phillps, 00:15.326[2]; 10. (DNS) 3B-Scott Boudinot
Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 4: 1. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:14.747[8]; 2. 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:15.060[7]; 3. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr, 00:15.110[3]; 4. 01-Chris Raabe, 00:15.140[4]; 5. 23-Brandon Loucks, 00:15.197[2]; 6. 02-Jack Lehner, 00:15.209[6]; 7. 35B-Francois Bellemare, 00:15.263[9]; 8. 82S-Will Shields, 00:15.287[5]; 9. 21G-Aiden Grover, 00:15.436[1]; 10. 21X-Eric Williams, 00:16.097[10]