Fonda Speedway - The Leader Herald

The Racing Insider - 12
Modified Race Report
Stewart Friesen poses in Victory Lane after winning the modified feature June 8 at Fonda Speedway.
Friesen records modified win
By RON SZCZERBA
Fonda Speedway
FONDA — The heavy rain that
drenched the Fonda area on Thursday
and Friday threw a curve ball
into track conditions
for all of the
racers on Saturday
evening but
the Fonda Speedway
track crew did a great job to
even get the track race ready for the
Saturday evening racing program.
When the checkered flag flew to
complete the modified feature event
defending track champion Stewart
Friesen was in victory lane for the
fourth time this season and the 14th
time in his career at the Track of
Champions and he gave a lot of
credit to the Fonda track crew.
"It was a very demanding race
track tonight but the track crew did
an amazing job to get it ready for
racing tonight as they needed to get
the show in," Friesen said.
Other winners at Fonda on Saturday
were Chris Schaffer (1st career
win in the 602 sportsman division),
Pete Broderson (pro stock), Rob
VanAernam (street stock), Ken Hollenback
(single cam 4-cylinder), and
Shaun Ryba (dual cam 4-cylinder).
Justin Boehler led lap one of the
modified feature from his outside
pole position start before modified
rookie Brian Gleason took over the
top spot on lap two after starting
alongside Boehler on the front row.
A.J. Romano started the event in the
sixth position and on lap three got by
Boehler for the second spot. Three
laps later the top two cars of Gleason
and Romano were a straightaway
ahead of third-place runner
Alton Palmer.
Jeremy Wilder and Friesen who
started 14th made up the top five in
the event by lap 12 with Friesen
going between the lap car of Ed Harris
and Wilder for the fourth position
one lap later. The yellow flag was
out on lap 17 and on the restart the
red flag was thrown after Danny
Varin ended up on his roof in turn
four with Todd Morey also involved.
Varin was not injured but
was very disappointed as he was
running 10th after starting 26th.
On the next restart, Friesen took
the third position away from Palmer
and a short time later was the new
second place car after getting by
Gleason on lap 18. Romano held a
comfortable lead at that point but
was showing signs of smoke as he
raced in lap traffic with Friesen closing
in quickly. With seven laps remaining,
Friesen was right on the
rear bumper of Romano but despite
the smoke coming from his car Romano
did not let off the gas.
With five laps to go in the event
Friesen made a bonsai move under
Romano in turn four and made contact
with Romano but let off allowing
Romano to recover and hold on
to the lead at that point. Romano was
three wide between lap cars to hold
on to the lead on lap 26 but one lap
later there was nothing slowing
Friesen's progress as he got by Romano
in turn four for the lead.
Friesen went on to his second win
in a row over Romano, Jeff Trombley,
Matt DeLorenzo, and Gleason.
In victory lane, Friesen dedicated
the win to Bill Anagnostopulos from
the Winners Circle who passed
away earlier that day.
"This one is for Bill and his family,"
Friesen said. "He was my extra
motivation tonight."
Complete heat race qualifying results
can be found by going to
www.fondaspeedway.com and
The Leader-Herald/James A. Ellis
clicking on the My Laps icon.
For complete coverage of all of
the weekly events at the Fonda
Speedway along with other tracks in
the Northeast you can go to
www.northeastracingvideos.com on
Wednesday at noon for a show
called “Inside Northeast Racing”
On June 15 will be New York
Stock Car Association ight with the
organization handing out their monetary
safety awards with all divisions
in action starting at 7 p.m.
For more information about the
Track of Champions you can go to
their website www.fondaspeedway.com.
MODIFIED
MODIFIED FEATURE – 30-LAPS
– STEWART FRIESEN, A.J. Romano,
Jeff Trombley, Matt De-
Lorenzo, Brian Gleason, Ronnie
Johnson, Jeremy Wilder, Craig Hanson,
Bodie Bellinger, Jim Davis,
Elmo Reckner, Mike Mahaney, Josh
Hohenforst, Justin Boehler, Darwin
Greene, Josh Flint, Ed Harris,
JaMike Sowle, Mark Kislowski, Ken
McGuire, Eric Stumpf, Alton Palmer,
Erik Nelson, Danny Varin, Todd
Morey, Jeff Rockefeller, Dave Lape,
Vinny Sangenetti (DNS)