VERNON — 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 on Sunday night. It was the first Super DIRTcar Series victory of the season for the Sprakers resident and the 24th of his career to give him sole possession of 11th on the Series all-time wins list.
“What a racecar, wow,” Friesen said in Victory Lane. “This Halmar team just worked so hard to be better on these slick tracks.”
Ward was satisfied with his second-place finish behind Friesen, his best result to date in 2017 with the Series.
“My crew guys made some adjustments after the heat and it took right off,” Ward said. “I thought we were pretty good and then Stewart drove around me, like he does a lot of times. He was good. I’m happy with second. We had a good car.”
Tim Fuller completed the podium with a third-place finish, his best finish of the campaign and his first top-five result.
“We had a good run,” Fuller said. “Thanks to Ray Graham. I had a good car. To finish in the top-three at Utica is pretty amazing.”
Earlier in the night, Wight, Matt Sheppard, Fuller and Friesen won qualifying heat races. Rob Bellinger and Keith Flach claimed wins in the last chance qualifiers.
The KSE Hard Charger was Gary Tomkins, who raced from 14th to the seventh finishing position.
Jimmy Phelps and Wight were the Dig Safely NY redraw bonus eligible drivers after starting eighth and 11th respectively. Phelps finished 14th while Larry Wight was scored in the 25th position after his wreck.
The Super DIRTcar Series returns to action at Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh on Thursday.
For additional event information, visit www.AirborneParkSpeedway.com.
New Yorker 100
at Utica-Rome Speedway
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].
