WEEDSPORT, NY – When the Super DIRTcar Series visited Weedsport Speedway in May, Stewart Friesen said he lost the race because his car was too good too early. This time, he saved his tires until midway through the race, passing Jimmy Phelps on Lap 45 and leading the final 56 laps to win the Hall of Fame 100.
“We’ve had really good cars here in the past few years, just really haven’t been good in the long-distance races,” said Friesen. “We worked on our stuff to be good at the end and not at the beginning and it worked out.”
Phelps thundered ahead of SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner Alex Payne on the race’s opening lap, driving away from the No. 70A to lead Lap 1. The Baldwinsville, NY driver held the lead through the first 15 laps of the 100-lap feature until he reached the tail of the field. That allowed Payne, running inches from the outside wall, to close in on the No. 98H.
Payne’s momentum brought him inches away from Phelps’ back bumper twice before the Rookie of the Year contender found an opportunity to take the lead.
As Phelps tried to pass Daniel Johnson, a lap car, he slid up the banking in turns one and two; Payne then dove underneath Phelps as they battled down the backstretch. When the two drivers completed Lap 21, Payne wrestled the lead away from the series veteran. However, the Hopewell, NY driver’s lead was short-lived, as the race’s first caution flew on Lap 23 for Johnson, who slowed on the backstretch.
When the race resumed on Lap 28, Phelps reclaimed the lead and drove away from the field for the second time, aiming for his second consecutive series win.
Behind the “Baldwinsville Bandit,” Friesen, who started sixth, moved forward, trying to take the runner-up spot away from Payne. With Payne returning to the top, Friesen hugged his left-front tire on Weedsport’s inside wall. As Friesen drove on the bottom on Lap 38, Payne hit the outside wall in turn four, allowing Friesen to take over second as they completed the lap.
Six laps later, Friesen caught Phelps as the leader struggled with traffic. Johnson and Ronnie Davis III were side-by-side in front of Phelps on Lap 45, giving Phelps nowhere to go. With Phelps in the middle, Friesen dove underneath him as they entered turn two. Friesen nosed ahead of Phelps, taking a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.
The feature stayed green until Lap 64, when a part failure caused Payne to stop in turn three, costing him a top-five run.
On the Lap 66 restart, Friesen pulled away again. But two laps later, smoke started showing from the back of series points leader Mat Williamson’s car while running sixth, causing him to stop on the backstretch. The mechanical failure relegated him to a 23rd-place finish.
That brought out the caution for the final time in the feature, giving Phelps one more shot at Friesen. But Friesen was too strong on the restart, leading the rest of the way to earn his second $10,000 victory of the season and 46th Super DIRTcar Series win of his career.
“We had a really good racecar,” said Friesen. “The Halmar 44 was dialed in. It was a little bit too free. There were a couple more things I would’ve liked to have done…Jimmy (Phelps) and Alex Payne fired off good. Larry (Wight) fired off on the top and I just knew that wasn’t our play. It was just take care of the stuff, baby the tires, and start rolling around Weedsport.”
Friesen was already locked into the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 by winning at Big Diamond Speedway in June. That gave the guaranteed starting spot at Super DIRT Week to Phelps, who crossed the line second. Like Friesen in May’s Heroes Remembered 100, Phelps said he was too good too early.
“I was starting to hang a little bit in the middle of the corner,” said Phelps. “On the longer runs, especially when I started to move around in traffic, I would actually get free in the middle. I was almost driving the car straight to keep it underneath me. We’d pick up a shove from time to time, but if I went in right-rear first, I was going to hang for days and guys would drive right by me.”
Anthony Perrego crossed the line third, his fifth series podium of 2024. The Montgomery, NY driver gained nine spots in the feature, earning his tenth consecutive top-10 finish.
“The car took off really good,” said Perrego. “We were rolling there and, under green, our car was really good. We got to fourth, and that yellow came out, and our car just didn’t take off the same. Our right-rear seemed to be really hot, but that’s part of coming from 12th…I think if we start eighth, we get the lead.”
Erick Rudolph, the race’s Hard Charger, finished fourth after starting 19th. Tim Sears Jr. rounded out the top-five.
With a ninth-place finish, 10-time series champion Matt Sheppard took over the series points lead. The Waterloo, NY driver leads Perrego by two points and Phelps by three. Williamson dropped to fourth, 10 points behind Sheppard.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series begins a three-night swing in Canada with a visit to Autodrome Drummond July 22-23 for the King of the North. Then, the series moves to Brockville Ontario Speedway on Wednesday, July 24 for the Canadian Classic.
Hall Of Fame 100 Results (100 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[6]; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego[12]; 4. 25-Erick Rudolph[19]; 5. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 6. 21A-Peter Britten[15]; 7. 12-Darren Smith[3]; 8. 2-Jack Lehner[7]; 9. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 10. M1-Dave Marcuccilli[13]; 11. 34-Kevin Root[5]; 12. 7Z-Zachary Payne[16]; 13. 3RS-Dalton Slack[10]; 14. X-Chad Phelps[14]; 15. 91-Felix Roy[23]; 16. 35-Mike Mahaney[21]; 17. 99L-Larry Wight[8]; 18. 27J-Danny Johnson[20]; 19. 10C-Tanner Van Doren[22]; 20. 15X-Justin Stone[18]; 21. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[25]; 22. 14-CG Morey[26]; 23. (DNF) 88-Mat Williamson[9]; 24. (DNF) 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 25. (DNF) 28-Michael Trautschold[24]; 26. (DNF) 32R-Ronnie Davis III[17]
- By Mike Warren/Super DIRTcar Series
