Talbot Caps Off Title Season At Fonda With Short Track Super Series 200 Weekend Sportsman Win
News Director 
Story By: RON SZCZERBA / FONDA SPEEDWAY – FONDA, NY – Fonda Speedway Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Track Champion for 2024, Payton Talbot, took home $2,500 for the win in the 40-lap STSS Crate Sportsman feature.
The extra distance 40-lap feature saw pole position starter Blaine Klinger take the lead at the drop of Joe Kriss’ green flag. A red flag was thrown on lap four when Brett Mortensen got loose on the backstretch and spun after contact in the rear by Tyler Peet while Mortensen was running three wide with two other cars coming out of turn two. Cars behind the incident then piled in with Butchie Irwin flipping his car. Irwin was okay with all cars besides Irwin able to continue on at the rear of the field.
On the single file restart, fifth place starter Payton Talbot took over the second position from Stephen Gray and immediately started to pressure the leader. Another red flag was out on lap nine when Harry Shaffer went straight into the turn one wall head on. Fortunately, due to a well-built DKM racecar and the proper safety gear in place, Shaffer walked away from the wreck. Talbot got a run on the outside of Klinger on the outside lane coming out of turn four and took the lead at the line to complete lap 19.
Talbot went on to his fifth win of the 2024 season and the 16th of his career at Fonda in the division in the Belmont’s Garage #14T with Klinger, Gray, 10th place starter Peet, and eighth place starter Dylan Madsen completing the top five.
“I think that we were real fortunate to get the lead when we did,” Talbot said in victory lane. “Once we got the lead I think the track latched down around the bottom and the rubber came in. Blaine almost got me on that one restart, man he ran a heck of a race hats off to him. Restarts are so important in the crates; he did all he could.
“You don’t really get much closer than that,” Klinger said after his second place finish. I jumped the one restart on purpose, I wanted to get a good look at the outside of one and two. It stuck on the next restart, and I was going as fast as I possibly could as soon as I could. Getting second place to him, I couldn’t be happier.”
“It feels good, especially being my home track,” Gray said after his third place run “It feels good to at least be on the podium. Starting second, I was a little tight and I would get stuck on the outside in turns three and four When Payton got by me I just stuck it down to the bottom.”
Swagger Factory Apparel STSS 602 Sportsman Feature (40 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[5]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger[1]; 3. 25-Stephen Gray[2]; 4. 12T-Tyler Peet[10]; 5. 89-Dylan Madsen[8]; 6. 78-Tanner Warner[13]; 7. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr[12]; 8. 82H-David Hackett[15]; 9. 4-Cody Clark[6]; 10. 63-Chip Constantino[14]; 11. 14Z-Troy Zilles[4]; 12. 1D-Kyle Dingman[21]; 13. B62-Brendan Gibbons[29]; 14. 21C-Brian Calabrese[3]; 15. 12AJ-AJ Greco[22]; 16. 1M-Mark Mortensen[25]; 17. 03-Joshua Jock[27]; 18. 27-Michael Ballestero[19]; 19. 12-George Schweigart[28]; 20. 1JB-Jeff Bobilin[26]; 21. 00X-Josh Coonradt[11]; 22. 31J-John Dumond[18]; 23. 10%-Chad Edwards[16]; 24. 1B-Brett Mortensen[7]; 25. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[23]; 26. 1H-Harry Shaffer[9]; 27. 117-Butchie Irwin[17]; 28. 55-Jonny Feagles[20]; 29. 123-Dale Welty[24]
Swagger Factory Apparel STSS 602 Sportsman LCQ #1 (8 Laps): 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco[1]; 2. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[2]; 3. 123-Dale Welty[3]; 4. 1M-Mark Mortensen[5]; 5. 1JB-Jeff Bobilin[6]; 6. B62-Brendan Gibbons[9]; 7. 28D-Dylan Eldred[7]; 8. 797-Corky Warner[13]; 9. 24S-Kirsten Swartz[10]; 10. 6S-John Santolin[15]; 11. 12-George Schweigart[8]; 12. 307-Karl Barnes[12]; 13. 47-Walter Cook[17]; 14. 99-Clyde Peek[19]; 15. 52-Ron Proctor[14]; 16. 11-Josh Persse[20]; 17. 03-Joshua Jock[22]; 18. 19-Owen Lewis[18]; 19. (DNS) 71-Steve Cummings; 20. (DNS) 2-Brandon Tyler; 21. (DNS) 7J-Dan Santabarbara; 22. (DQ) 164-Brock Miller[4]
Hot Laps: 1. 4-Cody Clark, 00:19.665[5]; 2. 14T-Payton Talbot, 00:19.739[36]; 3. 1M-Mark Mortensen, 00:19.820[26]; 4. 82H-David Hackett, 00:19.830[18]; 5. 12AJ-AJ Greco, 00:19.847[17]; 6. 55-Jonny Feagles, 00:19.932[14]; 7. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:19.965[16]; 8. 1D-Kyle Dingman, 00:19.986[10]; 9. 31J-John Dumond, 00:19.991[11]; 10. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell, 00:20.001[38]; 11. 00X-Josh Coonradt, 00:20.013[8]; 12. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:20.014[23]; 13. 22H-Tim Hartman Jr, 00:20.041[19]; 14. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.054[28]; 15. 1B-Brett Mortensen, 00:20.078[25]; 16. 14Z-Troy Zilles, 00:20.100[42]; 17. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.170[21]; 18. 27-Michael Ballestero, 00:20.198[1]; 19. 164-Brock Miller, 00:20.212[24]; 20. 03-Joshua Jock, 00:20.231; 21. 1H-Harry Shaffer, 00:20.245[34]; 22. 24S-Kirsten Swartz, 00:20.252[35]; 23. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.268[12]; 24. 117-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.325[20]; 25. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:20.330[4]; 26. B62-Brendan Gibbons, 00:20.362[15]; 27. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.518[6]; 28. 123-Dale Welty, 00:20.576[41]; 29. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.589[40]; 30. 1JB-Jeff Bobilin, 00:20.607[3]; 31. 797-Corky Warner, 00:20.813[39]; 32. 19-Owen Lewis, 00:20.839[22]; 33. 99-Clyde Peek, 00:20.965[27]; 34. 47-Walter Cook, 00:20.994[7]; 35. 52-Ron Proctor, 00:21.060[30]; 36. 11-Josh Persse, 00:21.098[29]; 37. 28D-Dylan Eldred, 00:21.255[13]; 38. 12-George Schweigart, 00:21.370[33]; 39. 6S-John Santolin, 00:21.479[32]; 40. 307-Karl Barnes, 00:21.507[2]; 41. (DNS) 71-Steve Cummings; 42. (DNS) 7J-Dan Santabarbara; 43. (DNS) 2-Brandon Tyler
