Short Track Super Series holds annual banquet
Stewart Friesen wins STSS Bob Hilbert Sportswear North Region title
The Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP officially concluded its 2015 season on Saturday night in festive fashion.
For the first time, the STSS hosted an Awards Banquet at the Holiday Inn Conference Center of Breinigsville, Pa. A point fund of $59,700 cash was distributed to competitors, in addition to product and other certificates, before more than 150 attendees.
Stewart Friesen, who earned the STSS Bob Hilbert Sportswear North Region title and Ryan Watt, the Pioneer Pole Buildings Inc. South Region champion, led the list of honorees. Brian Carber was also in the limelight as the XCel 600 Modified mini-series champion.
Following a delicious buffet- style dinner and opening comments by series director Brett Deyo, the STSS announcing team of Jeff Ahlum and Leon Andrus took the podium to commence the awards ceremony. A multimedia presentation accompanied the point presentation.
Friesen, of Sprakers, N.Y., dominated the eight-race STSS Bob Hilbert Sportswear North Region en route to the $15,000 title. Driving the Jeff Daley-owned No. 44, Friesen started the season with a win at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y., in the ‘Hard Clay Open’ and scored three straight victories during the summer stretch with the ‘Crazy 8s Special’ at I-88 Speedway in Afton, N.Y., the ‘Hustlin’ the High Banks 51’ at N.Y.’s Woodhull Raceway and the Wade Decker Memorial at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, N.Y.
Four wins, plus a pair of runner-up finishes (at Pa.’s Big Diamond and Thunder Mountain’s June event) and a sixth in the I-88 Short Track SuperNationals finale allowed Friesen to accrue 790 points.
“The Short Track Super Series offers a great product,” noted Friesen upon collecting his championship hardware and embroidered American Racer jackets for both he and car owner Jeff Daley. “We really enjoyed getting out to some different places racing on the series this year; Woodhull comes to mind as a really cool event we were able to win.
“We started out with a win at Orange County and kept rolling from there. Jeff Daley gave us great equipment and Eric Mack my crew chief had us dialed in.”
Danny Johnson of Roch- ester, N.Y., earned secondplace laurels, having four top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes with the Chris Gennarelli No. 27J. Johnson totaled 656 points and also won the “post-season” ‘Gobbler’ event at Accord (N.Y.) Speedway. He received $7,000.
The 2014 champion Andy Bachetti of Sheffield, Mass., placed third in the standings with six top-10 finishes in eight events including a second in the July ‘Crazy 8s Special’ at I-88 (633 points - $3,500). Completing the top-five were Jeff Heotzler of Wallkill, N.Y., earning 584 points and $2,500 with four top-10 finishes in the Mel Schrufer No. 2A and Anthony Perrego of Montgomery, N.Y., with the New York Truck Parts No. 55, totaling 582 points with five top-10 finishes ($2,000).
Drivers finishing sixth through 12th, respectively, were I-88 Short Track SuperNationals winner Danny Creeden of Wurtsboro, N.Y. (574 points - $1,650); threetime top-10 finisher Mike Mahaney of King Ferry, N.Y., with 548 points ($1,550); Accord ‘Battle of the Bullring’ victor Jackie Brown Jr. of Hurley, N.Y. (484 points - $1,450); Tommy Meier of Waldwick, N.J., with a best finish of second at Accord (480 points - $1,350); Woodhull king Billy Van Pelt of Westfield, Pa. (460 points - $1,250); Jeff Strunk of Boyertown, Pa. (405 points - $750); and sophomore Modified driver Nick Nye of Groton, N.Y. (346 points - $650).
Eight drivers entered the STSS Pioneer Pole Buildings Inc. South Region finale at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway with a chance to win the champions. One driver, Boyertown, Pa.’s Ryan Watt, emerged with the crown. Watt demonstrated both consistency and perseverance in his run to the title, including fourth-place finishes at Bridgeport (N. J.), New Egypt (N. J.) and Georgetown (Del.).
Watt and his Ron Roberts-fielded team battled through mid-race skirmishes to finish seventh at Big Diamond and 11th at Delaware International to earn 437 points and the $7,500 title.
Watt received a trophy and American Racer jackets for car owner Roberts and wife Lesley.
“When this series came out last winter, we made it a priority for our team,” Watt said. “We’ve run well at all the tracks on the series. Bridgeport is our home track and we’ve won at New Egypt and Big Diamond. I haven’t been able to win yet in Delaware, but we run well when we race down there at Georgetown and Delaware International.
“The high-paying series races made it more attractive for us to go out and race. Ron Roberts gave us what we needed, big-block, small-block, we had it.”