Friesen survives 49-lap Melvin L. Joseph Memorial
GEORGETOWN, DEL. >> A field of 46 Modifieds filled the Georgetown Speedway pit area on Saturday and after an event-filled 49-lap main event, Stewart Friesen survived for a $6,949 payday.
Friesen, of Sprakers, N.Y., bested the 31-car field and a race of tire attrition to win the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial in front of a packed house at the Sussex County oval to open the campaign on the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco.
Friesen edged rival Matt Sheppard to open the STSS Velocita-USA South Region with a Sunoco checkered flag.
With strong winds and bright sun, an abrasive track surface was in place for the opening round of the Velocita-USA South Region presented by Design for Vision and Sunglass Central.
Joseph Watson and Ryan Krachun started on the front row as New Jersey’s Krachun took the lead and had opened a sizable advantage over the rest of the field. However, after a yellow on lap eight, Krachun chose the outside, and Anthony Perrego, in his new Gary Simpson No. 12 STSS South Region ride, gladly took the bottom and took the top spot.
Drivers continued trying to make the top side work, and right around the halfway point, tires began deflating. Pole starter Watson brought out the yellow due to a flat tire; H.J. Bunting and Krachun both visited the pit area to change tires as well. One lap later, following another yellow, Billy Pauch (second), Stewart Friesen (sixth), and Ryan Godown (seventh) all went to the pit area on lap 25.
Things began to look like the ‘Blast at the Beach’ from last August with Anthony Perrego and Craig Von Dohren running first and second. However, they both fell victim to the flat tire wrath shortly after. By lap 29, all but six cars had been in the pits.
After Friesen’s tire change, he was able to pick spots off one-by-one, combined with overtaking drivers who went to the pit area.
By lap 30, Friesen’s Halmar International-backed DKM No. 44 was back to the lead.
“It’s a weird deal when it comes to a tire game like that,” Friesen said, reflecting on his ascent through traffic. “It wasn’t an artistic success, but we got the win and we will take it. I was definitely nervous about making it to the end.”
On lap 33, defending STSS Halmar International North Region driver Billy Decker flipped on the backstretch. At that point, STSS and Georgetown officials opted to offer teams the opportunity to refuel due to the amount of caution laps run.
Following the fuel stop, Matt Sheppard and Ryan Watt began to climb their way through the field, eventually getting to second and third, respectively, within the final five laps.
Sheppard and Watt chased Friesen across the line at the finish.
The win for Friesen was the 13th of his career with the Short Track Super Series.
“Stew is too good; he’s not going to mess up,” Sheppard said. “We threw everything at him that we could. We just ran out of tires.”
Sheppard had led the race at the lap-27 mark prior to giving it up due to a flat tire.
The defending winner of the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial race, Boyertown’s Watt started 18th, climbed fifth, got a flat, and drove all the way back for a third-place finish.
“We got to third, I thought we had something for those two (Friesen and Sheppard), but we ran out of tires and I just had to hang on,” the Boyertown driver said.
Billy Pauch Jr. of Frenchtown, N.J., nursed the Pascual Motorsports No. 3 to a fourth-place finish, edging Milford, Del.’s Jordan Watson, who recovered from his own tire misfortune to finish fifth in the family owned No. 1J.
Jeff Strunk of Boyertown, drove Glenn Hyneman’s Keystone Racing No. 126 from 29th to finish sixth, earning the $249 cash Hard Charger from Ad-Art Sign Company and a $50 VAHLCO Wheels certificate. Duane Howard of Oley, Pa., in Norm Hansell’s No. 357 finished seventh, followed by Craig Von Dohren of Oley, Pa., in the Dick Biever No. 14s; David Van Horn Jr. of Phillipsburg, N.J., in Fred Vahlsing’s No. 323ov; and Sportsman graduate Alex Yankowski of Throop, Pa.
Sheppard was the Beyea Custom Headers Fast Timer at a lap of 19.213 seconds.
Heat winners were Sheppard, Bachetti, Krachun, Van Horn and Von Dohren. Wade Hendrickson, Ryan Godown and Mike Gular took the consolations.
Adam McAuliffe of Broadalbin, N.Y., put his name on the Georgetown Speedway win list, taking home the $1,490 top prize to open the six-race STSS Crate 602 Sportsman South Region. McAuliffe’s win came over a packed field of 53 Sportsman on hand for the opener.
The Crate 602 Sportsman feature had drama in its own right.
Pole starter Cole Stangle was sent back two after being called for jumping the start twice. Tighe Sherlock would inherit the lead and controlled most of the events.
Scott Hitchens, the alltime winningest 602 crate driver at Georgetown, quickly climbed from 10th to second and was pressuring Sherlock for the lead. All the meanwhile, Craig Whitmoyer, a Grandview (Pa.) Speedway regular, was making hay. After starting 19th, the man they call “Hook”, was working through the field and had gotten to third, right behind Sherlock and Hitchens.
Things all changed with five laps to go, as Scott Hitchens went to change a left-rear tire under yellow.
McAuliffe was the beneficiary as he shot through the top-five.
“I found out under one yellow the top was a little better, so I stuck with it,” McAuliffe said.
The Empire State driver made the trip down, and put on a show in the late race restarts, going to the top every time, and making passes every time. With three laps to go McAuliffe was third when the green flag dropped again. He went to the top, passed Whitmoyer and got under Sherlock. Sherlock got out of the groove off of four, and hit the outside wall hard, ending his story book night.
“I knew we’d be strong at the end,” McAuliffe.