VERNON, NY – July 2, 2017 – Stewart Friesen took the lead from Pat Ward on lap 55 with a pass in the slick outside lane after a lap 45 restart and withstood a fury of action, including a pair of red flags in the final 25 laps to win the New Yorker 100 at Utica-Rome Speedway. It was the first Super DIRTcar Series victory of the season for the Sprakers, NY native and the 24th of his career. Ward kept Friesen honest as he raced within 1.5 seconds until the checkered flag and finished ahead of Tim Fuller, Danny Varin and Billy Decker, who led laps 38 to 45.
Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 44-Stewart Friesen [7]; 2. 42p-Pat Ward [5]; 3. 19-Tim Fuller [4]; 4. 93-Danny Varin [18]; 5. 91-Billy Decker [3]; 6. 20-Brett Hearn [10]; 7. 84-Gary Tomkins [14]; 8. 25-Erick Rudolph [9]; 9. 14j-Alan Johnson [16]; 10. 21a-Peter Britten [13]; 11. 49-Billy Dunn [6]; 12. 6h-Max McLaughlin [2]; 13. 76-Bobby Varin [20]; 14. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [8]; 15. 109-Billy Whittaker [12]; 16. 3-Justin Haers [17]; 17. 88m-Mike Mahaney [15]; 18. 3j-Marc Johnson [19]; 19. 11r-Rob Bellinger [21]; 20. 19w-Justin Wright [23]; 21. 8-Rich Scagliotta [24]; 22. 43-Keith Flach [22]; 23. 7m-Mike Maresca [26]; 24. 9s-Matt Sheppard [1]; 25. 99L-Larry Wight [11]; 26. 27w-Nick Webb [28]; 27. 84jr-Claude Hutchings Jr. [25]; 28. 1s-Beth Bellinger [27]; 29. 22-Brandon Walters [29]; 30.19m-Jessey Mueller [30].
Qualifying Group 1 – 1. 99L-Larry Wight, 21.532; 2. 25r-Erick Rudolph, 21.692; 3. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 21.760; 4. 21a-Peter Britten, 21.813; 5. 19m-Jessey Mueller, 21.821; 6. 19w-Justin Wright, 22.015; 7. 3-Justin Haers, 22.018; 8. 35-Alan Barker, 22.096; 9. 34-Rusty Smith, 22.449; 10. 88a-Joe August, No Time.
Qualifying Group 2 – 1. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 21.042; 2. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 21.615; 3. 42p-Pat Ward, 21.640; 4. 84jr-Claude Hutchings Jr., 21.703; 5. 84-Gary Tomkins, 21.720; 6. 11r-Robbie Bellinger, 21.780; 7. 22-Brandon Walters, 21.800; 8. 1s-Beth Bellinger, 21.816; 9. 93-Danny Varin, 21.845; 10. 14-CG Morey, 22.564.
Qualifying Group 3 – 1. 109-Billy Whittaker, 21.564; 2. 19-Tim Fuller, 21.605; 3. 3j-Marc Johnson, 21.656; 4. 49-Billy Dunn, 21.873; 5. 43-Keith Flach, 21.883; 6. 88m-Mike Mahaney, 21.097; 7. 23-Kyle Coffey, 22.035; 8. 10-Jim Nagle, 22.426; 9. 88-David Allen, 22.473.
Qualifying Group 4 – 1. 91-Billy Decker, 21.462; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen, 21.509; 3. 20-Brett Hearn, 21.693; 4. 14j-Alan Johnson, 21.740; 5. 7m-Mike Maresca, 21.919; 6. 76-Bobby Varin, 22.059; 7. 27w-Nick Webb, 22.113; 8. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 22.158; 9. 1g-Darwin Greene, No Time.
Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top-5 Qualify – Top-3 Redraw) – 1. 99L-Larry Wight [1]; 2. 25r-Erick Rudolph [2]; 3. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [3]; 4. 21a-Peter Britten [4]; 5. 3-Justin Haers [7]; 6. 19w-Justin Wright [6]; 7. 19m-Jesey Mueller [5]; 8. 35-Alan Barker [8]; 9. 34-Rusty Smith [9]; 10. 88a-Joe August [10].
Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top-5 Qualify – Top-3 Redraw) – 1. 9s-Matt Sheppard [1]; 2. 42p-Pat Ward [3]; 3. 6h-Max McLaughlin [2]; 4. 84-Gary Tomkins [5]; 5. 93-Danny Varin [9]; 6. 11r-Robbie Bellinger [6]; 7. 84jr-Claude Hutchings Jr. [4]; 8. 1s-Beth Bellinger [8]; 9. 22-Brandon Walters [7]; 10. 14-CG Morey [10].
Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top-5 Qualify – Top-3 Redraw) – 1. 19-Tim Fuller [2]; 2. 109-Billy Whittaker [1]; 3. 49-Billy Dunn [4]; 4. 88m-Mike Mahaney [6]; 5. 3j-Marc Johnson [3]; 6. 43-Keith Flach [5]; 7. 88-David Allen [9]; 8. 23-Kyle Coffey [7]; 9. 10-Jim Nagle [8].
Heat 4 (8 Laps – Top-5 Qualify – Top-3 Redraw) – 1. 44-Stewart Friesen [2]; 2. 91-Billy Decker [1]; 3. 20-Brett Hearn [3]; 4. 14j-Alan Johnson [4]; 5. 76-Bobby Varin [6]; 6. 8-Rich Scagliotta [8]; 7. 7m-Mike Maresca [5]; 8. 27w-Nick Webb [7]; 9. 1g-Darwin Greene [9].
Last Chance Qualifier 1 (10 Laps – Top-3 Transfer to A-Feature) – 1. 11r-Rob Bellinger [2]; 2. 19w-Justin Wright [1]; 3. 84jr-Claude Hutchings Jr. [4]; 4. 1s-Beth Bellinger [6]; 5. 35b-Allan Barker [5]; 6. 22-Brandon Walters [8]; 7. 19m-Jessey Mueller [3]; 8. 34-Rusty Smith [7]; 9. 88a-Joe August Jr. [9].
Last Chance Qualifier 2 (10 Laps – Top-3 Transfer to A-Feature) – 1. 43-Keith Flach [1]; 2. 8-Rich Scagliotta [2]; 3. 7m-Mike Maresca [4]; 4. 27w-Nick Webb [6]; 5. 88-David Allen [3]; 6. 23-Kyle Coffey [5]; 7. 1g-Darwin Greene [8]; 8. 10-Jim Nagle [7]; 9. 14-CG Morey [9].
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: VP Racing Fuels ($50 Cash): Erick Rudolph; Pole Position Raceway Fast Time ($100 Cash): Matt Sheppard; Bicknell Racing Products ($100 Product Certificate):Stewart Friesen; Cometic Gasket ($50 Cash): Rich Scagliotta; Comp Cams ($50 Cash): Peter Britten; Comp Cams ($50 Product Certificate): Stewart Friesen; Edelbrock ($50 Cash): Peter Britten; Fox Racing Shocks ($50 Cash): Brett Hearn; JE Pistons ($50 Cash): Billy Decker; JE Pistons (Product Certificate): Rich Scagliotta; JE Pistons (Product Certificate): Keith Flach; KSE Racing Products Inc. ($50 Product Certificate): Gary Tomkins; MSD Ignition ($50 Cash): Stewart Friesen; MSD Ignition ($25 Cash): Matt Sheppard; SuperFlow Dynos & Flowbenches ($50 Cash): Mike Mahaney; Wrisco Aluminum (Product Certificate): Stewart Friesen; JRI Shocks ($50 Cash): Jimmy Phelps; Dig Safely 811 Redraw Bonus ($100 Cash): N/A; Speedy First Aid Hard Luck Award (Product Certificate): Claude Hutchings Jr.; ASi Racewear ($50 Cash): Gary Tomkins.
SEASON WINNERS
- Billy Decker – 2 (Fulton Speedway on April 29; Outlaw Speedway on June 20)
- Ryan Watt – 1 (Bridgeport Speedway on May 16)
- Matt Sheppard – 1 (Five Mile Point Speedway on June 11)
- Tim McCreadie – 1 (Albany-Saratoga Speedway on June 27)
- Stewart Friesen – 1 (Utica-Rome Speedway on July 2)
