Stewart Friesen Scores Doug Hoffman Memorial Short Track Super Series Win At Bridgeport

Story By: SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – SWEDESBORO, NJ – Youth vs. experience. Before a packed house on Saturday afternoon at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Stewart Friesen and young gun Alex Payne thrilled the crowd with a cat-and-mouse battle for the lead in the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco ‘60 Over Special’ in memory of Doug Hoffman.

Friesen prevailed in the 60-lap main, collecting $6,060 for his efforts at the Kingdom of Speed.

“Alex (Payne) was setting a heck of a pace,” Friesen said. “I was trying to watch his tire and hoping he would wear it out, but he wasn’t slowing down. I had to pick it up a little bit.

“It was a great track for an afternoon show. We got to race all over it there.”

The win for Friesen was his 52nd on the series and first STSS conquest at Bridgeport since April 23, 2017 on the former five-eighths-mile layout.

Saturday’s STSS Modified event served as Round No. 2 of the NJ Quality Drywall South Region title chase.

Billy Pauch Jr., who picked the pole during the Beyea Custom Headers Redraw, led the opening six laps before New York’s Payne – making his Bridgeport debut for the STSS event – powered into the top spot following a double-file restart.

Payne established command of the event while Friesen – who started sixth – moved into the runner-up spot prior to the race’s one-third mark.

With that, the lead battle was on.

Payne – running masterfully around the South Jersey high banks – kept Friesen at bay until the 47th tour of the four-tenths-mile.

Friesen swept around the outside of Payne after a restart with 14 laps remaining.

“After those restarts, he (Payne) came down to protect the bottom and I was able to get my momentum up and drive around him,” Friesen added.

Matt Sheppard, who started 11th, emerged as a contender late in the main event, taking third with 10 laps to go and surpassing Payne for second on lap 57.

Sheppard, of Savannah, N.Y., trailed Friesen across the Sunoco checkered flag.

“I feel like we had a really good car again, especially on the longer runs,” Sheppard said. “The later the race went on, the better we got. We were passing cars pretty good at the beginning of the race, but it seemed like every restart I ended up in the wrong spot.

“It says a lot about this team that we were able to claw through all that and get up to second.”

Canandaigua, N.Y.’s Payne, with the newly acquired backing of Todd English for STSS competition, completed the podium.

“This place is really cool,” Payne offered. “I needed those (practice) laps last night. I got here and I was super uncomfortable and not very good. We kept picking away at it. Today, I got to where I could race.

“I really didn’t know what the race was going to do or anything about the surface and how it changes. I didn’t quite keep up as a driver with it.”

Alex Yankowski of Covington Township, Pa., drove the Millman’s NAPA Auto Parts No. 84Y to fourth, up from 14th, and Anthony Perrego of Walden, N.Y., climbed from 24th to finish fifth in Vinnie Salerno’s No. 4*, righting the team’s string of misfortune.

Completing the top 10 were 25th-starter Dillon Steuer of Bohemia, N.Y.; Justin Grosso of Belle Mead, N.J., moving forward from 21st; Modified rookie Logan Watt of Boyertown, Pa.; Brandon Grosso of Belle Mead, N.J., recovering from a mid-race flat left-rear tire; and Cale Ross of Lambertville, N.J., after starting 16th.

Danny Bouc was the ATL Fuel Cells Hot Lap Hero at 16.152 seconds.

Heat winners were Payne, Ryan Godown and Laubach. Joseph Watson scored the consolation triumph.

Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco Modified NJ Quality Drywall South Region Round No. 2 Feature Finish (60 laps): 1. 44- Stewart Friesen[6]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[14]; 5. 4P-Anthony Perrego[24]; 6. 6D-Dillon Steuer[25]; 7. J24-Justin Grosso[21]; 8. 4M-Logan Watt[10]; 9. 32-Brandon Grosso[18]; 10. 112-Cale Ross[16]; 11. 27-Tanner Van Doren[9]; 12. 58M-Marshall Hurd[26]; 13. 20C-Cole Stangle[28]; 14. 7M-Paul Mancini[13]; 15. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[27]; 16. 1D-Tyler Dippel[2]; 17. 26-Ryan Godown[5]; 18. 6B-Danny Bouc[20]; 19. 81-Billy Osmun[4]; 20. 6S-Matt Stangle[12]; 21. 126-Dominick Buffalino[8]; 22. 14W-Ryan Watt[17]; 23. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[1]; 24. 51-Ryan Krachun[29]; 25. 0-Neal Williams[15]; 26. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[19]; 27. 20-Rick Laubach[7]; 28. 30W-HJ Bunting[23]; 29. 9A-Craig Pellegrini Jr[30]; 30. 21W-Joseph Watson[22]

Did Not Qualify: Michael Franz; Billy Pauch Sr.

American Racer/Lias Tire Bonuses (FREE Tire Certificate): Justin Grosso (seventh & Tanner Van Doren (11th)
ATL Fuel Cell Hot Lap Hero ($100): Danny Bouc (16.152 seconds)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Bonuses ($50 Gift Card): Alex Yankowski (fourth) & Brandon Grosso (ninth)
Beyea Custom Headers Redraw Bonus ($50): Matt Stangle (Redrew 12th)
Henry’s Exhaust Power Position ($50 Certificate): Tanner Van Doren (11th)
MD3 Most Laps Led ($100 Certificate): Alex Payne (39 laps)
Penske Racing Shocks Bonuses: Stewart Friesen (first – $150 certificate); Matt Sheppard (second – $100 certificate); Alex Payne (third – $75 certificate)
Swift Springs Hard Luck Award (FREE Spring Certificate): Billy Osmun III
Wilwood Brakes ‘Lucky 7’Bonus ($100 Certificate): Justin Grosso (seventh)

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21W-Joseph Watson[2]; 2. 30W-HJ Bunting[1]; 3. 4P-Anthony Perrego[6]; 4. 6D-Dillon Steuer[3]; 5. 58M-Marshall Hurd[5]; 6. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[8]; 7. 2F-Mike Franz[9]; 8. 51-Ryan Krachun[4]; 9. 20C-Cole Stangle[7]; 10. 9A-Craig Pellegrini Jr[11]; 11. (DNS) 1P-Billy Pauch

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 2. 6S-Matt Stangle[2]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 4. 7M-Paul Mancini[4]; 5. 112-Cale Ross[8]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[6]; 7. 30W-HJ Bunting[5]; 8. 51-Ryan Krachun[7]; 9. 20C-Cole Stangle[10]; 10. 1P-Billy Pauch[11]; 11. 81-Billy Osmun[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Ryan Godown[7]; 2. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[1]; 3. 1D-Tyler Dippel[5]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 5. 14W-Ryan Watt[4]; 6. 6B-Danny Bouc[3]; 7. 21W-Joseph Watson[8]; 8. 58M-Marshall Hurd[9]; 9. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[10]; 10. 9A-Craig Pellegrini Jr[11]; 11. 4M-Logan Watt[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Rick Laubach[2]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 3. 27-Tanner Van Doren[5]; 4. 0-Neal Williams[1]; 5. 32-Brandon Grosso[6]; 6. J24-Justin Grosso[8]; 7. 6D-Dillon Steuer[10]; 8. 4P-Anthony Perrego[7]; 9. 2F-Mike Franz[9]; 10. 126-Dominick Buffalino[3]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:16.256[8]; 2. 6S-Matt Stangle, 00:16.287[5]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:16.343[4]; 4. 7M-Paul Mancini, 00:16.357[9]; 5. 30W-HJ Bunting, 00:16.527[10]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:16.577[3]; 7. 51-Ryan Krachun, 00:16.588[2]; 8. 112-Cale Ross, 00:16.699[6]; 9. 81-Billy Osmun, 00:16.726[11]; 10. 20C-Cole Stangle, 00:16.782[7]; 11. 1P-Billy Pauch, 00:17.295[1]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 6B-Danny Bouc, 00:16.152[8]; 2. 4M-Logan Watt, 00:16.284[11]; 3. 1-Billy Pauch Jr, 00:16.363[3]; 4. 14W-Ryan Watt, 00:16.372[9]; 5. 1D-Tyler Dippel, 00:16.376[10]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:16.390[1]; 7. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:16.592[2]; 8. 21W-Joseph Watson, 00:16.740[5]; 9. 58M-Marshall Hurd, 00:16.940[7]; 10. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:17.178[6]; 11. 9A-Craig Pellegrini Jr, 00:17.632[4]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 126-Dominick Buffalino, 00:16.303[10]; 2. 20-Rick Laubach, 00:16.334[3]; 3. 0-Neal Williams, 00:16.493[4]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:16.553[7]; 5. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:16.565[8]; 6. 32-Brandon Grosso, 00:16.567[6]; 7. 4P-Anthony Perrego, 00:16.593[9]; 8. J24-Justin Grosso, 00:16.722[1]; 9. 2F-Mike Franz, 00:16.732[5]; 10. 6D-Dillon Steuer, 00:16.787[2]