A historic night at Selinsgrove Speedway ended with Stewart Friesen reaching another Super DIRTcar Series milestone.
In the Series’ first visit to the Pennsylvania track, the Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON driver led the final 58 laps to win Wednesday’s Snyder County Showdown, becoming the sixth driver in history to earn 50 Series victories.
“This is my life,” Friesen said. “There’s so many great car owners over the years that gave me a shot, put me in their stuff, and took me down the road. I bounced around, and I was able to have really good people behind me. I finally got hooked up with Chris (Larsen) and the Halmar International group, and the last 10 years we’ve been rolling really good.
“It feels really special, and whenever we can come to Sprint Car country and get a big win, it’s even more special.”
Ryan Krachun, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, and Louden Reimert led the field to the green in the 75-lap Feature, with Reimert wrestling the lead away as they drove through Turns 1 and 2.
Behind them, Friesen, who started fifth, stormed toward the front of the field on the inside, passing Justin Stone, Matt Sheppard, and Krachun to reach second by the end of Lap 1.
Friesen chased Reimert around Selinsgrove’s red clay surface until the race’s first caution flew on Lap 10 for Tim Sears Jr, which proved to be the race’s turning point.
When the race resumed on Lap 12, contact between Sheppard and Ryan Godown sent the No. 9S into the outside wall, leading to both cars flipping down the front stretch. That started a chain reaction that led to more flips in Turn 1.
Eleven other cars were involved in the crash, including Sears, who collided with Sheppard and landed on his roof. Bob McGannon. Anthony Perrego, Jimmy Phelps, Todd Root, Darren Smith, Jack Lehner, Mike Mahaney, Matt Stangle, Marcus Dinkins, and Logan Watt were also involved.
Despite the wreck, all 13 drivers involved climbed out of their cars, and Phelps, Lehner, Stangle, Mahaney, and Dinkins rejoined the field.
Reimert continued his lead when the green came back out on Lap 13 but couldn’t pull away from Friesen, who gained momentum on the inside lane. That momentum carried Friesen to the inside of Reimert’s No. 58 car.
However, that momentum wasn’t enough for Friesen to take the lead, so he switched lanes. That change of pace was all he needed as Friesen powered around Reimert in Turn 2 to take the lead on Lap 18.
From there, Friesen went untouched in the final 58 laps despite several yellow flags in the final 20 laps to earn the $10,000 prize and his third Super DIRTcar Series win of 2025.
On those last few restarts, it was a familiar foe, Series points leader Alex Yankowski, who he had to hold off.
“He’s as aggressive as I am on these fast tracks,” Friesen said. “I just wanted to make sure I could enter (Turn 1) on the restarts hard enough. I kind of found a lane ripping the cushion above the cushion early, and then it finally cleaned up enough where I could enter with enough steam to throw a slider, and we were able to hold him at bay.”
The defending Billy Whittaker Cars 200 winner also became the first driver this season to earn a guaranteed starting spot at Super DIRT Week 53, a feat he accomplished for the second consecutive season.
“It’s something we think about all year long,” Friesen said. “It’s the biggest race of the year for a reason. We struggled there for a couple of years, got the first one there at Oswego in 2016, and struggled a little bit until last year to get a good balance.
“We got a good notebook now; we can fine-tune it a little bit. It’s definitely an exciting week for Modified racing, and we’re just thrilled to be part of it.”
Yankowski crossed the line second, earning back-to-back runner-up finishes and his fourth of 2025. The Covington Township, PA driver closed in on Friesen late in the race, but didn’t have enough momentum to catch the No. 44 before the checkered flag.
“Stew was just lights out,” Yankowski said. “When we got the lead down to a second, our lap times started to match, but when I was close to him, he would just creep away. He was flat-out the better race car tonight. Hats off to those guys.”
With another second-place finish, “Kid Rocket” extended his Series points lead for the second straight night to 24 points over Mat Williamson, who finished third.
“Money Mat” drove into a podium position after starting 10th and avoiding the Lap 12 crash.
“I didn’t get to see much of it,” Williamson said. “I was on the inside lane, and I just went to the guardrail and slammed the brakes and tried to go through it slowly and get out of the chaos. Luckily, I didn’t get piledrived from behind and got through it safely.
“Our guys are really good at making sure we finish races. I feel like it’s going to be our strong suit this year.”
Alex Payne finished fourth, earning his third top five in the last four Series races, and Jimmy Phelps rounded out the top five, after starting 25th, and being involved in the Lap 12 crash.
Reimert, who ran second until he got a flat tire on Lap 40, finished 13th.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series returns to Lebanon Valley Speedway on Thursday, June 19, for Mr. DIRT Track USA. The 100-lap, $15,500-to-win Feature will offer another guaranteed starting spot at Super DIRT Week 53.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all of the Super DIRTcar Series action on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
Snyder County Showdown (75 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 2. 66-Alex Yankowski[11]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[10]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[9]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[25]; 6. 21A-Peter Britten[8]; 7. 35L-LJ Lombardo[12]; 8. 2-Jack Lehner[17]; 9. 35-Mike Mahaney[16]; 10. 91-Felix Roy[22]; 11. (DNF) 51-Ryan Krachun[1]; 12. (DNF) 6D-Dillon Steuer[21]; 13. (DNF) 58-Louden Reimert[2]; 14. (DNF) 15X-Justin Stone[3]; 15. (DNF) 25-Erick Rudolph[6]; 16. (DNF) 20-Rick Laubach[23]; 17. (DNF) 6-Matt Stangle[20]; 18. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[18]; 19. (DNF) 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 20. (DNF) 26-Ryan Godown[7]; 21. (DNF) 4M-Logan Watt[13]; 22. (DNF) 4-Anthony Perrego[14]; 23. (DNF) 12-Darren Smith[19]; 24. (DNF) 21M-Bob Mcgannon[24]; 25. (DNF) 83X-Tim Sears Jr[15]; 26. (DNF) 15-Todd Root[26]
Contingency Awards:
JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap Award: Stewart Friesen ($100)
Billy Whittaker Cars Quick Time Award: Stewart Friesen ($100)
VP Racing Fuels Award: Jack Lehner ($50)
ARP Bolts Award: Jimmy Phelps ($50)
ASI Racewear Award: Ryan Krachun ($50)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Award: Stewart Friesen ($50)
Cometic Gasket Award: Justin Stone ($50)
Comp Cams Award: Felix Roy ($50)
DIG Racing Products: Jimmy Phelps ($50)
Fox Factory Award: Peter Britten ($50)
MSD Award: Jimmy Phelps ($50)
Swift Springs Award: Peter Britten ($50)
Weld Racing Wheels Award: Alex Yankowski ($50)
Hoosier Racing Tire Award: Alex Payne (Free Tire)
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award: Ryan Krachun ($100)
