Friesen Powers To Super DIRTcar Series ’25 Opener Win In Power In The Pines At New Egypt

Story By: MIKE WARREN / SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES – NEW EGYPT, NJ – There isn’t much left to accomplish on Stewart Friesen’s Big Block Modified resume. But he added a first Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway.

After passing two-time defending Super DIRTcar Series champion Mat Williamson on Lap 24, he dominated the final 52 laps to win the second annual Power in the Pines, earning his first Series win at the 7/16-mile oval.

“It’s awesome,” Friesen said. “Fred Vahlsing with Valco Wheels, who owns the track is a supporter of us and it’s cool. It feels good to get another win in Jersey.

“We have a pretty thick notebook here. There’s stuff that works track to track to track, and you just have to make some small changes from there. We had a really good time trial, and it kind of set the tone for the night.”

Friesen lined up beside Williamson, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, as the field took the green in the 75-lap Feature. Williamson gained the early advantage, pulling away from Friesen and Tanner Van Doren, who snuck by the No. 44 as they completed Lap 1.

The St. Catharines, ON driver led the first nine laps before the race’s first caution for Daniel Johnson, who stopped in Turns 3 and 4.

When the race resumed, Friesen snuck underneath Van Doren for second and set his sights on Williamson. The NASCAR Trucks Series star closed in on the Buzz Chew Chevrolet No. 88 and made his move once “Money Mat” clicked off Lap 23.

Williamson picked the middle lane as they drove into Turns 1 and 2, allowing Friesen room on the bottom. That’s when Friesen thundered down the backstretch, gaining momentum through the track’s dog leg, and passed Williamson as they entered Turns 3 and 4.

Despite several cautions in the race’s second half, Friesen went unchallenged to score the $7,500 victory, his 48th career Series win.

With two track prep sessions throughout the night, Friesen said it became a guessing game of which tires were the best to use.

“I think he was on a softer tire, and we went a little harder,” Friesen said. “We tried some stuff in the Heat Race, and it paid off. Then they did all the track prep, and we had an idea, but we weren’t sure which way it was going to go. It was a big guess. He guessed one way, and we guessed the other.

“We really didn’t touch it after the Heat Race at all. We waited for the track to come back to us, and it did. We were fortunate.”

UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series returns to action on Saturday, April 12, for Thunder in the Thousand Islands at Can-Am Speedway, along with the DIRTcar Sportsman North Region. The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series will also be in action at the LaFargeville, NY, oval on Friday, April 11, making it a two-day weekend of racing.

Power In the Pines (75 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 3. 4M-Logan Watt[4]; 4. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 5. 58-Louden Reimert[18]; 6. 4-Anthony Perrego[10]; 7. 25-Erick Rudolph[13]; 8. 26-Ryan Godown[16]; 9. 91-Felix Roy[5]; 10. 70A-Alex Payne[12]; 11. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[9]; 12. 12-Darren Smith[11]; 13. 9S-Matt Sheppard[25]; 14. 35-Mike Mahaney[6]; 15. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[22]; 16. 27-Tanner Van Doren[3]; 17. 21A-Peter Britten[24]; 18. 15X-Justin Stone[20]; 19. 28-Michael Trautschold[15]; 20. 2-Jack Lehner[14]; 21. 99L-Larry Wight[26]; 22. (DNF) 26R-Corey Cormier[23]; 23. (DNF) 16X-Danny Creeden[21]; 24. (DNF) 20-David Schilling[7]; 25. (DNF) 304-Ricky Wegner Jr[19]; 26. (DNF) 14-CG Morey[28]; 27. (DNF) 27JR-Daniel Johnson[27]; 28. (DNF) 29-Garrett Krummert[17]

Post-Race Tech: A durometer was used on each of the top three finisher’s tires. Their frames and nerf bars were also checked for proper thickness. All three passed.

Contingency Awards:
JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap Award: Danny Creeden ($100)
Billy Whittaker Cars Quick Time Award: Mat Williamson ($100)
VP Racing Fuels Award: Ryan Godown ($50)
ARP Bolts Award: Anthony Perrego ($50)
ASI Racewear Award: Tim Sears Jr. ($50)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Award: Stewart Friesen ($50)
Cometic Gasket Award: Darren Smith ($50)
Comp Cams Award: Felix Roy ($50)
DIG Racing Products: Felix Roy ($50)
Fox Factory Award: Logan Watt ($50)
MSD Award: Anthony Perrego ($50)
Swift Springs Award: Anthony Perrego ($50)
Weld Racing Wheels Award: Anthony Perrego ($50)
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award: Mat Williamson ($100)
Hoosier Tire Award: Alex Yankowski (Free Tire)

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 16X-Danny Creeden[1]; 2. 26R-Corey Cormier[2]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 4. 99L-Larry Wight[8]; 5. 35L-LJ Lombardo[5]; 6. 17-Marcus Dinkins[3]; 7. 4W-Brandon Watkins[7]; 8. 15-Todd Root[9]; 9. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[6]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 6-Matt Stangle[5]; 4. 7Z-Zachary Payne[6]; 5. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[3]; 6. 8-Rich Scagliotta[7]; 7. 14-CG Morey[4]; 8. 14B-Brendan Darrah[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Tanner Van Doren[2]; 2. 4M-Logan Watt[1]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 4. 25-Erick Rudolph[3]; 5. 29-Garrett Krummert[5]; 6. 16X-Danny Creeden[8]; 7. 17-Marcus Dinkins[10]; 8. 35L-LJ Lombardo[7]; 9. 4W-Brandon Watkins[9]; 10. 15-Todd Root[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Mike Mahaney[1]; 2. 20-David Schilling[3]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego[5]; 4. 2-Jack Lehner[2]; 5. 58-Louden Reimert[7]; 6. 26R-Corey Cormier[6]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 8. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[9]; 9. 99L-Larry Wight[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[2]; 3. 12-Darren Smith[3]; 4. 28-Michael Trautschold[4]; 5. 304-Ricky Wegner Jr[5]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]; 7. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[6]; 8. 6-Matt Stangle[9]; 9. 8-Rich Scagliotta[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 91-Felix Roy[3]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne[2]; 4. 26-Ryan Godown[5]; 5. 15X-Justin Stone[7]; 6. 21A-Peter Britten[4]; 7. 14-CG Morey[9]; 8. 7Z-Zachary Payne[6]; 9. 14B-Brendan Darrah[8]

Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 4M-Logan Watt, 00:18.722[13]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:18.748[7]; 3. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:18.808[4]; 4. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:18.879[2]; 5. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:18.890[19]; 6. 20-David Schilling, 00:18.906[9]; 7. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:18.928[11]; 8. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:18.964[15]; 9. 29-Garrett Krummert, 00:18.994[14]; 10. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:19.006[6]; 11. 15-Todd Root, 00:19.008[16]; 12. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:19.035[18]; 13. 35L-LJ Lombardo, 00:19.068[12]; 14. 58-Louden Reimert, 00:19.071[17]; 15. 16X-Danny Creeden, 00:19.072[3]; 16. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:19.074[5]; 17. 4W-Brandon Watkins, 00:19.441[8]; 18. 27JR-Daniel Johnson, 00:19.493[10]; 19. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:19.618[1]

Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:18.573[5]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.762[15]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.811[11]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:18.867[12]; 5. 12-Darren Smith, 00:18.883[10]; 6. 91-Felix Roy, 00:18.909[2]; 7. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:18.928[9]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:18.935[17]; 9. 304-Ricky Wegner Jr, 00:18.956[3]; 10. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:18.981[16]; 11. 21M-Bob Mcgannon, 00:18.983[7]; 12. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:18.996[1]; 13. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:19.033[8]; 14. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:19.075[4]; 15. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 00:19.114[18]; 16. 14B-Brendan Darrah, 00:19.160[14]; 17. 6-Matt Stangle, 00:19.191[6]; 18. 14-CG Morey, 00:19.837[13]

Hot Laps: 1. 16X-Danny Creeden, 00:17.835[3]; 2. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:17.970[6]; 3. 4M-Logan Watt, 00:18.078[13]; 4. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:18.112[4]; 5. 4W-Brandon Watkins, 00:18.216[8]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.263[30]; 7. 12-Darren Smith, 00:18.274[29]; 8. 15-Todd Root, 00:18.287[16]; 9. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:18.288[18]; 10. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:18.305[5]; 11. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.323[34]; 12. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:18.324[27]; 13. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:18.336[36]; 14. 27JR-Daniel Johnson, 00:18.379[10]; 15. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:18.386[20]; 16. 6-Matt Stangle, 00:18.387[25]; 17. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:18.392[1]; 18. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:18.445[28]; 19. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:18.448[31]; 20. 91-Felix Roy, 00:18.508[21]; 21. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:18.517[24]; 22. 304-Ricky Wegner Jr, 00:18.554[22]; 23. 21M-Bob Mcgannon, 00:18.586[26]; 24. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:18.598[23]; 25. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:18.698[35]; 26. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 00:18.976[37]; 27. 14-CG Morey, 00:19.112[32]; 28. 14B-Brendan Darrah, 00:19.124[33]; 29. 2-Jack Lehner[2]; 30. 35-Mike Mahaney[7]; 31. 20-David Schilling[9]; 32. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[11]; 33. 35L-LJ Lombardo[12]; 34. 29-Garrett Krummert[14]; 35. 9S-Matt Sheppard[15]; 36. 58-Louden Reimert[17]; 37. 25-Erick Rudolph[19]