Stewart Friesen Dominates To Win Short Track Super Series ’25 Sunshine Swing Opener

Story By: SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – LAKE CITY, FL – Friesen fast.  Stewart Friesen kicked off the 2025 season with a dominating victory on Wednesday night at All-Tech Raceway in the opener for the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco.

The Sprakers, N.Y., resident pocketed $4,000 for his efforts in the 30-lap STSS Modified event.

After drawing the pole for the 30-lap main, Friesen relinquished the lead at the outset to a rim-riding Alex Payne.

“A little bit of excitement the first couple laps,” Friesen said. “I didn’t get a good enough jump on the original start and let Alex (Payne) get in front of me. I did get a good jump on the second one (on lap three) and threw a little bit too hot of a slider in (turns) one and two. That bent up the front end a little bit.”

Friesen regained the lead on lap four and checked out on the field, lapping up to 15th-place in the final stretch of green-flag racing.

“The race car was really, really good,” Friesen said, adding “even bent up a little.”

The win for Friesen was his sixth in Florida competition with the series.

Canandaigua, N.Y.’s Payne settled for second place as he continues his quest for a first STSS-sanctioned victory.

Eighth starter Tanner Van Doren of Schnecksville, Pa., finished third, followed by Alex Yankowski of Covington Township, Pa., and Chris Curtis of East Canaan, Conn., who started 11th.

Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Bobby Hackel of East Greenbush, N.Y.; 21st-starter Matt Sheppard of Savannah, N.Y.; Danny Bouc of Pipersville, Pa; Tyler Siri of Horseheads, N.Y.; and Darren Smith of Binghamton, N.Y., up from 18th.

Friesen was the ATL Hot Lap Hero with a lap of 19.724 seconds.

Heat-race victories went to Larry Wight, Payne, Van Doren and Friesen. Sheppard and Anthony Perrego topped the B-Mains.

Racing resumes tonight (Thursday) with STSS Modifieds racing 35 laps for $5,000 to win and another 25-lap STSS Sportsman event offering $1,500 to the winner.

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[2]; 3. 27-Tanner Van Doren[8]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[5]; 5. 35-Chris Curtis[11]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[9]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard[21]; 8. 6B-Danny Bouc[10]; 9. 5*-Tyler Siri[4]; 10. 12S-Darren Smith[18]; 11. 25R-Erick Rudolph[15]; 12. 20-Rick Laubach[6]; 13. 4P-Anthony Perrego[22]; 14. 02-Jack Lehner[12]; 15. 38-Kevin Stevens[23]; 16. 99L-Larry Wight[3]; 17. 21A-Peter Britten[20]; 18. 11M-Matt Caprara[16]; 19. 3RS-Dalton Slack[17]; 20. 34-Rusty Smith[7]; 21. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[19]; 22. 47-Simon Perreault[24]; 23. 55J-Mario Clair[26]; 24. 19-Tim Fuller[13]; 25. 11T-Jeff Taylor[25]; 26. 16-Danny Creeden[14]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 2. 38-Kevin Stevens[2]; 3. 11T-Jeff Taylor[3]; 4. 28-Matt Smith[4]; 5. 6-Matt Stangle[9]; 6. 87-Jason Ingalls[6]; 7. 90-William Deckelman[8]; 8. 7-Zach Payne[5]; 9. 7P-Patrik Daniel[7]

B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4P-Anthony Perrego[2]; 2. 47-Simon Perreault[4]; 3. 55J-Mario Clair[1]; 4. 7M-Paul Mancini[3]; 5. 22L-Mike Engwer[8]; 6. 27X-Jason Reome[9]; 7. 35B-Francois Bellemare[6]; 8. R21-Tommy Rascoe[5]; 9. 11-Danny Hieber[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[3]; 2. 5*-Tyler Siri[2]; 3. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[5]; 4. 19-Tim Fuller[1]; 5. 3RS-Dalton Slack[7]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 7. 11T-Jeff Taylor[6]; 8. 7-Zach Payne[9]; 9. 7P-Patrik Daniel[8]; 10. (DNS) 4P-Anthony Perrego

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70A-Alex Payne[2]; 2. 6B-Danny Bouc[3]; 3. 20-Rick Laubach[4]; 4. 16-Danny Creeden[6]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith[5]; 6. 38-Kevin Stevens[7]; 7. 28-Matt Smith[8]; 8. 87-Jason Ingalls[9]; 9. 90-William Deckelman[10]; 10. (DQ) 6-Matt Stangle[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Tanner Van Doren[4]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[3]; 3. 35-Chris Curtis[1]; 4. 25R-Erick Rudolph[5]; 5. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[7]; 6. 55J-Mario Clair[8]; 7. 7M-Paul Mancini[6]; 8. R21-Tommy Rascoe[9]; 9. 11-Danny Hieber[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner[1]; 3. 34-Rusty Smith[2]; 4. 11M-Matt Caprara[4]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten[5]; 6. 47-Simon Perreault[6]; 7. 35B-Francois Bellemare[7]; 8. 22L-Mike Engwer[8]; 9. 27X-Jason Reome[9]; 10. (DNS) 4P-Anthony Perrego

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:19.913[4]; 2. 5*-Tyler Siri, 00:20.018[1]; 3. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:20.077[8]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:20.111[3]; 5. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:20.185[7]; 6. 11T-Jeff Taylor, 00:20.211[6]; 7. 3RS-Dalton Slack, 00:20.539[5]; 8. 7P-Patrik Daniel, 00:20.591[9]; 9. 7-Zach Payne, 00:20.670[2]; 10. (DNS) 4P-Anthony Perrego

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 6B-Danny Bouc, 00:19.853[5]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:19.969[2]; 3. 6-Matt Stangle, 00:20.062[1]; 4. 20-Rick Laubach, 00:20.068[4]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith, 00:20.330[6]; 6. 16-Danny Creeden, 00:20.457[8]; 7. 38-Kevin Stevens, 00:20.518[9]; 8. 28-Matt Smith, 00:20.584[7]; 9. 87-Jason Ingalls, 00:20.731[10]; 10. 90-William Deckelman, 00:20.894[3]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:20.336[6]; 2. 11-Danny Hieber, 00:20.457[4]; 3. 35-Chris Curtis, 00:20.523[8]; 4. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:20.614[1]; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 00:20.618[2]; 6. 7M-Paul Mancini, 00:20.824[7]; 7. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:21.036[3]; 8. 55J-Mario Clair, 00:21.111[5]; 9. R21-Tommy Rascoe, 00:21.532[9]

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:19.724[6]; 2. 34-Rusty Smith, 00:20.717[3]; 3. 02-Jack Lehner, 00:20.744[2]; 4. 11M-Matt Caprara, 00:20.792[9]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:20.975[8]; 6. 47-Simon Perreault, 00:20.986[4]; 7. 35B-Francois Bellemare, 00:21.221[1]; 8. 22L-Mike Engwer, 00:21.368[7]; 9. 27X-Jason Reome, 0:21.591[5]