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MIDDLETOWN, NY – Battle of the titans.
Stewart Friesen edged rival Matt Sheppard in Thursday night’s ‘Hard Clay Finale’ for the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco, earning a $10,000 payday after 50 laps around the historic Orange County Fair Speedway.
The event served as the final round of the STSS Modified River Valley Builders North Region and kicked off the 63rd running of Eastern States Weekend.
Sheppard, meanwhile, clinched the 2024 STSS Modified North Region title worth $15,000 by a margin of 66 points over Friesen.
The win for Friesen was No. 47 of his career with the series.
A season-high field of 72 STSS big-block/small-block Modifieds flooded the pit area for the sole ’24 STSS visit to the Legendary House of Power, which hosted the very first race for the series in 2014.
Friesen set the pace for the opening four laps after starting from the pole via the Beyea Custom Headers Redraw.
Sheppard, however, surpassed Friesen to take command on lap five. The Hurlock Auto & Speed No. 9s had rolled off from third position.
“That was pretty wild,” Friesen said. “I drew 1 and said, ‘This is gonna be tough, a lot of speed behind us there.’ I picked the bottom on the restart (lap four) and Matt (Sheppard) got a good launch in the brown there and I was kicking myself the rest of the time there.”
For much of the 50-lap contest, Sheppard appeared to have another $10k headed toward his bank account. That, however, changed dramatically as Sheppard began to negotiate slower traffic around the lap-30 mark.
Friesen, who at one point had been 1.6 seconds behind the leader, swept past Sheppard on lap 32 to take a lead he would not relinquish.
“We could kind of pace with him there,” Friesen said of Sheppard. “I figured in lapped traffic we could sneak up on him there. That top in three and four, I just hit it and I think he skated a little bit. I was able to get by. I beat on it as hard as I could the rest of the time. I didn’t know how close he was.”
Sheppard, meanwhile, sealed up his North Region championship with a runner-up finish after posting five straight victories with the series in the North.
“Stew was the class of the field all night tonight,” Sheppard said. “When we rolled by him, I felt pretty good there. I thought we had a shot. Halfway through the race, I kind of lost the balance on the car there a little bit. That really hurt me in traffic especially.
“I’ve run enough races to know these races are won and lost in traffic.”
The effort sealed up Sheppard’s fifth STSS North Region crown.
“It was a great season on the North series for us,” Sheppard surmised.
Anthony Perrego of Walden, N.Y., drove the Bob Hentschel-owned No. 4 to a podium finish. Billy Pauch Jr. of Frenchtown, N.J., in a rare New York State Modified start, drove his self-owned No. 1 to fourth and Alex Yankowski of Covington Township, Pa., completed the front five.
Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Jack Lehner of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., up from 17th in the Ollie’s No. 02; 15th-starter Danny Bouc of Pipersville, Pa.; Bohemia, N.Y.’s Dillon Steuer, recovering from a flat left-front tire during the race’s first half; Brian Calabrese of Johnstown, N.Y.; and Guilderland, N.Y.’s Marc Johnson.
Six heat races were run for the 72 cars on hand. Winners were Friesen, Perrego, Tanner Van Doren, Mat Williamson, Sheppard and Danny Johnson. The trio of B-Mains went to Danny Creeden, Peter Britten and Cody Higbie.
Friesen was the ATL Fuel Cells ‘Hot Lap Hero’ circling the oval at 20.221 seconds.
The final event of the ’24 STSS season is set for Del.’s Georgetown Speedway Friday-Saturday Nov. 1-2 with the NJ Quality Drywall South Region Modified and Belmont’s Garage South Region Crate 602 Sportsman titles decided.
To learn more about the Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco, visit www.shorttracksuperseries.com, e-mail bdmotorsportsmedia@gmail.com, check out ‘Short Track Super Series’ on Facebook, @ShortTrack_SS on Twitter or @ShortTrackSS on Instagram.
The Short Track Super Series is presented by Bob Hilbert Sportswear, FloRacing, American Racer, Lias Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, BDR Speed, NJ Quality Drywall, River Valley Builders, Ollie’s, Penske Racing Shocks, Saint Lawrence Radiology, Capitol Custom Trailers & Coaches, Bicknell Racing Products, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Madsen Overhead Doors, Belmont’s Garage, Wegner Automotive, DIG Race Products, ATL, Dirt Draft, Swagger Factory Apparel, F.X. Caprara Car Companies, Algonkin Motel LLC, Beyea Custom Headers, Design for Vision, Sunglass Central, Dirt Track Digest TV, DKM Fabrication, EIBACH, Fastline Performance, Flach Performance Products, Henry’s Headers & Exhaust Systems, JK Signworks, JLR Technologies, Dave Prime Jr. MAC Tools, PEM Engineering, Schultz Racing Fuel Cells, Superior Remodeling, TV 12 Racing Products, VAHLCO Wheels & Wilwood Disc Brakes.
‘HARD CLAY FINALE’ RESULTS SUMMARY – ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2024
Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco River Valley Builders North Region Championship Round Feature Finish (50 laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 3. 4P-Anthony Perrego[4]; 4. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr[6]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 6. 02-Jack Lehner[17]; 7. 6B-Danny Bouc[15]; 8. 6D-Dillon Steuer[9]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[8]; 10. 9J-Marc Johnson[2]; 11. 16X-Danny Creeden[19]; 12. 3W-Mat Williamson[12]; 13. 97-Cody Higbie[21]; 14. 21A-Peter Britten[20]; 15. 43-Keith Flach[22]; 16. 27J-Danny Johnson[11]; 17. 93X-Craig Mitchell[13]; 18. 280-Justin Holland[18]; 19. 35B-Francois Bellemare[26]; 20. 35M-Mike Mahaney[10]; 21. 27-Tanner Van Doren[5]; 22. 28T-Michael Trautschold[25]; 23. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[14]; 24. 98W-Rocky Warner[16]; 25. 21M-Bob McGannon[27]; 26. 97H-Bobby Hackel IV[23]; 27. (DNS) 97T-Danny Tyler
Did Not Qualify: 5L-Charles Loiodice; 35C-Chris Curtis; 7L-Rick Laubach; 19-Jackie Brown Jr. 53-Geoff Quackenbush; 98-Kevin Ward; 7-Michael Sabia; 55-Mike Schane; 28S-Jimmy Spellmon; 22E-Mike Engwer; 66P-Sean Mandell; 4A-Josh Allen; 88-Steve Dodd; 1J-Matt Janiak; 5-Tyler Johnston; 93-Danny Varin; 26-Ryan Godown; 21M-Bob McGannon; 555-Leo Fotopolous; 7M-Paul Mancini; Charlie Hendrickson Jr.; 84S-Melvin Schrufer; 24M-Sammy Martz Jr.; 83X-Kevin Stevens; 21L-John Lutes; 44C-Frank Cozze Sr.; 220-John Ferrier; 21-Shaun Walker; 78-Zachary Vavricka; 1A-Tighe Sherlock; 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr.; 26R-Corey Cormier; 25K-Mike Kolka; Shane Jablonka; 82S-Will Shields; Joey Coppola; 15S-Dylan Smith; 27M-Jared Miller; 24-Chris Shultz; 20B-Joey Bonetti; 19JR-Roger Henion Jr; 22-Billy Fiske; 1D-Tyler Dippel; 716-Corey Lowitt; 88T-Tyler Jashembowski
2024 River Valley Builders North Region Champion: Matt Sheppard
American Racer/Lias Tire Bonuses (FREE Tire Certificate): Danny Bouc(seventh) & Cody Higbie (13th)
ATL Fuel Cell ‘Hot Lap Hero’ ($100): Stewart Friesen (20.221 seconds)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Bonuses ($50 Gift Cards): Billy Pauch Jr.(fourth) & Brian Calabrese (ninth)
Beyea Custom Headers Redraw Bonus ($50): Mat Williamson (Redrew 12th)
Eibach Springs Bonus ($100 Certificate): Jack Lehner (sixth)
Henry’s Exhaust Power Position ($50 Certificate): Danny Creeden (11th)
PEM Engineering Bonus (Quick Change Gears): Anthony Perrego (third)
Penske Racing Shocks Bonuses: Stewart Friesen (first – $150 certificate); Matt Sheppard (second – $75 certificate); Anthony Perrego (third – $50 certificate); Billy Pauch Jr. (fourth – $25 certificate)
Schultz Racing Fuel Cells Bonus ($100 Certificate): Marc Johnson (10th)
Wilwood Brakes ‘Lucky 7’ Bonus ($100 Certificate): Danny Bouc(seventh)
