Friesen Captures King of the Big Blocks Title at Bridgeport

The Super Dirtcar Series opened their 2020 racing season with their first ever event on Doug Rose’s new high banked Kingdom of Speed in Southern New Jersey.  A strong contingent of New York’s best on dirt were greeted by a brand new racing surface and fans in the stands.

It was Stewart Friesen figuring out the fast way around the new 4/10 mile high bank track while managing his tires to run the entire 100 lap feature with no pit stops and take the first “King of the Big Blocks 100” title on the new Kingdom of Speed at Bridgeport.

Larry Wight and Billy Decker led the field to green with Wight jumping out to an early lead.  Decker closed in and overtook Wight for the lead on lap 20 only to have a flat tire on lap 24 bringing out the first caution of the night and giving the led back to Larry Wight.   Stewart Friesen took the lead on a lap 36 restart with an inside pass of Wight and showed his dominance by extending his led between each of the 7 restarts for flat tires in the next 64 laps.  The group behind Friesen was constantly changing as one by one they all dropped to the back of the field as flats ended their efforts to catch Friesen.  Sheppard, Wight, Godown and Pauch Jr would all fall to the back of the field due to flat tires.  Matt Sheppard went off with a flat tire on lap 29 and by lap 64 he was back in second chasing Friesen for the lead.  On lap 88 with Friesen’s tires fading; Sheppard caught Friesen and cleared Friesen for the pass into the lead and almost immediately Sheppard had his second flat tire of the night give the lead back to Friesen.  Friesen was able to manage his bald right rear to hold off a charging Billy Decker by a car length and take the “King of the Big Blocks” win.

In victory lane Friesen simply stated “I don’t know what happened but Danny Serrano was looking out for me tonight and lightning struck.  This one is for Danny, he was a good friend of mine and he would be proud of this grandstand and show tonight.”

The top ten was rounded out by Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Andy Bachetti, Mike Maresca, Peter Britten, Tim Fuller, Billy Dunn, Mike Mahaney and Matt Williamson in 10^th.

Heat races were won by Larry Wight, Stewart Friesen, Chris Hile and Demetrois Drellos.  Last Chance race was won by Jack Lehner.

SDS Pit Notes

Stewart Friesen continues his hot streak with his 17^th win of the season.  Friesen was fast from the start but most noticeable was when he picked up 2 tenths of a second in the heat race over his qualifying time.  Friesen’s restarts were second to none weather going high or low and his tire management was a key factor in getting the win.  Friesen was able to run up front for 100 laps on one set of tires while most drivers headed to the pits at least once for new tires with some going to the pits 4 times.

Matt Sheppard proved why they call him “Super Matt”.  A flat on lap 29 sent Sheppard to the pits and the rear of the 28 car field.  Sheppard quickly worked his way through the field and into second place by lap 64.  Sheppard battled with Friesen for the lead until lap 88 when he passed Friesen and was pulling away only to have his second flat of the night putting an end to his night.

Billy Decker took the lead on lap 20 only to draw the first yellow of the night with a flat right rear tire which send him back to the pits.  Decker methodically worked his way back through the field and battled Friesen for the lead in the final 10 laps only to fall short by a car length but secure a solid 2^nd place finish.

Andy Bachetti qualified in the last transfer spot from the last chance consolation race giving him the 24^th starting position in the feature.  Bachetti persevered through the field and on lap 80 broke into the top 10 and in the last 20 laps Bachetti was still charging and moving forward to come up with an outstand 4^th place finish from a 24^th starting position.

Mike Mahaney’s car quit on the track during hot laps and he had to jump into his backup car for qualifying and the heat race.  During the feature Mahaney had to deal with 2 flat tires and a total of 4 trips to the pits but was still able to secure a 9^th place finish.

Additional strong back to front runs were made by Jimmy Phelps with a 3^rd place finish from a 19^th starting position and Mike Maresca who finished 5^th from a 14^th place starting position.

Larry Wight, Billy Pauch Jr, and Ryan Godown all had flat tires take them out of the top 5 and to the back of the field for the night. 

Neil Williams had a strong heat race and qualified in the redraw but had tire issues retire him for the night on lap 53.

The best finish of the local drivers went to Brandon Grosso who used got a track provisional to start 27^th on the field.  Grosso had worked his way to 11^th by lap 80 but faded in the last 20 due to tires and came home with a 16^th place which was the best finish of the 9 local drivers in the event.

The question was asked of a few of the Super Dirtcar regulars “What track back home would you compare the new Kingdom of Speed 4/10 high banks to?” 

Demetrois Drellos – “It reminds me of Lebanon Valley and Charlotte with all the g force in the turns.”

Chris Hile – “It racey and multi groove like Saratoga, Fulton and Eldora”

Billy Dunn – “No comparison.”

Andy Bachetti – “Nothing around like this place.”