Cavalcade 100

Over the past two seasons, no one has been able to beat Stewart Friesen in a Super DIRTcar Series event at Weedsport Speedway.

That didn’t change on Sunday night, either, as the Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON driver led the final 46 laps to win the Cavalcade Cup 100.

The $10,000 victory is Friesen’s seventh Series win of 2026, and 59th of his career.

“What a great racecar,” Friesen said. “Tommy (Conroy, his crew chief) has been busting his butt the last couple of weeks. He just puts together such a great racecar, and we work really well together. We’ve got a really good notebook for here.

“The track was really bottom-lane dominant. And then the more I rolled the middle, kept my momentum up and took care of the tires, the better and better it went.”

Tanner Van Doren, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, led the field to the green in the 100-lap Feature, gaining the early advantage over Tim Sears Jr. on the race’s opening lap.

The 18-year-old driver led until the first caution flew on Lap 11 when Peter Britten slowed in Turn 3. Restarts played a vital role in Sunday’s race, as the first double-file restart led to the first lead change. When the green came back out, Sears rolled the outside lane in Turns 1 and 2 to move ahead of the No. 27, taking the lead on Lap 15.

Sears quickly pulled away from the field, as Matt Sheppard, Alex Yankowski, and Zach Payne all snuck by Van Doren. That lead lasted until the next caution on Lap 45, when Brett Tonkin and Britten made contact on the front stretch.

That yellow also set up another double-file restart, where two of the best in Big Block Modified racing were ready to strike. When the race resumed, Sheppard, like Sears 30 laps earlier, rolled the outside line to try and move past the No. 83X. Once he built up his momentum, it didn’t take Sheppard long to wrestle the lead away, nosing ahead at the start/finish line on Lap 49.

However, as Sheppard took the lead, Friesen charged forward, driving past Sears for second on the outside lane two laps later. That pass set up another battle between him and Sheppard, after the NASCAR Trucks Series star outdueled the No. 9s for the win at Weedsport last month.

With Sheppard still running the outside, Friesen went to the bottom and tried to keep pace with the 10-time Series champion. And as the next few laps clicked off, Friesen inched closer to “Super Matt” as they exited Turn 2.

On Lap 54, Friesen’s momentum was finally enough, as he stormed past Friesen for the lead on the backstretch and drove away.

From there, not even a Lap 95 caution for Matt Stangle could stop Friesen, as he held off Yankowski on the restart to earn his fourth straight Series win at Weedsport.

“When Sheppard got the lead, he was pretty strong,” Friesen said. “And he was just kind of floating that middle, and I was able to stick a little bit better in the bottom and the middle and just kept my momentum up.

“Then we got into lap traffic there, and it showed me that middle, rub-rail to rub-rail, and keeping the guys pinned down so I could keep my momentum up. Once the track widened up, I could race all over it.”

Yankowski crossed the line second, increasing his Series points lead to 94 points over Mat Williamson, who finished sixth. It’s the Covington Township, PA driver’s best Weedsport finish.

“I think this is by far the best we’ve ever been here,” Yankowski said. “We’ve been really focusing on this track because we race it so many times with the Series. It’s the trickiest place that we go to. I feel like we learned a lot tonight. We got a lot more aggressive, and we’re getting a lot better.”

Sears held on for third, while Sheppard and Alex Payne rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series heads to Can-Am Speedway in LaFargeville, NY, on Saturday, Sept. 12, for the third annual R.D. Hutchinson Memorial. Joining the Beasts of the Northeast will be the DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series.

Where can you buy tickets to the R.D. Hutchinson Memorial? You can buy tickets online at www.racecanam.com/schedules.

Where can you watch the Super DIRTcar Series? Watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap Award: Erick Rudolph
Billy Whittaker Cars and Trux Quick Time Award: Matt Sheppard
Bicknell Racing Products Heat Race 1 Winner: Matt Sheppard
DIG Race Products Heat Race 2 Winner: Tim Fuller
Wix Filters Heat Race 3 Winner: Jack Lehner
The Greatest Store on Dirt Heat Race 4 Winner: Peter Britten
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award Winner: Tanner Van Doren
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse One Lap to Go: Stewart Friesen

Cavalcade Cup 100 (100 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[9]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[2]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne[15]; 6. 88-Mat Williamson[17]; 7. 7Z-Zachary Payne[5]; 8. 2-Jack Lehner[10]; 9. 25-Erick Rudolph[7]; 10. 19-Tim Fuller[6]; 11. 27-Tanner Van Doren[1]; 12. 91-Felix Roy[11]; 13. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[14]; 14. 12-Darren Smith[23]; 15. 29-Ryan Krachun[8]; 16. 35-Mike Mahaney[21]; 17. 21A-Peter Britten[12]; 18. 27P-Jeremy Pitts[24]; 19. 5H-Amy Buff[18]; 20. 7M-Paul Mancini[26]; 21. (DNF) 3M-Chris Mackey[20]; 22. (DNF) 6-Matt Stangle[25]; 23. (DNF) 32R-Ronnie Davis III[16]; 24. (DNF) 22-Brandon Walters[19]; 25. (DNF) 27K-Brett Tonkin[22]; 26. (DNF) M1-Dave Marcuccilli[13]