CENTER LISLE, N.Y. – Though he earned a series championship during the 2018 season, a victory with the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco had eluded Billy Decker.
Until Sunday night.
Decker thrilled a partisan local crowd at Thunder Mountain Speedway when he piloted the Jeremy Smith Racing No. 91 to a popular victory in the Lightning on the Mountain STSS Modified event contested on the eve of Memorial Day.
The defending Halmar International North Region champion achieved the conquest in style, marching forward from 13th starting spot in the 50-lap main before a standing-room-only crowd. He pocketed $5,000.
Decker picked the worst number available in the post-qualifying redraw. Twelve drivers had earned positions through the six qualifying heats Sunday evening and a 13th – Shayne Spoonhower – got in the draw following a Dash event on Saturday.
Decker’s unlucky hand left him inside the seventh row. But a strong racecar gave the veteran driver confidence.
“It’s about damn time,” Decker said of ending his winless drought with the STSS. “I had a heck of a race car under me tonight. It’s been a long time since I’ve had one this good. When you are comfortable like that, it makes you brave to make moves through traffic.”
Back at the controls of his family owned No. 97 on the series, Jerry Higbie launched off the pole at the start of the main. Higbie checked out during the early going, while Stewart Friesen settled into second with the Halmar International No. 44.
Decker found the outside of the banked three-eighths-mile oval to his liking and had cracked the top-three running order by the 20th circuit. Both Friesen and Decker were closing on Higbie.
Higbie led the $200 Superior Remodeling Halfway Lap but his lead had evaporated.
With Friesen on the bottom and Higbie rim-riding, Decker shot the middle gap exiting turn four to lead lap 26 at the line.
“I knew I had a car good enough to go through the middle,” Decker surmised.
The race’s first caution didn’t wave until lap 31. Despite three additional yellows before the Sunoco checkered flag flew, Decker was up to the challenge, turning back the relentless challenges – both high and low – from Friesen.
Friesen posted his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Halmar International North Region worth $3,225.
Ontario’s Mat Williamson drove the Behrent’s Performance Warehouse No. 3 from 11th to complete the podium. Ryan Jordan, a two-time winner on the Mountain this season, was a solid fourth in his No. R21 and Mike Gular drove Terry Fasnacht’s No. 2A to fifth. Gular has back-to-back North Region top-five finishes to start the ’19 season.
The finish:
Billy Decker, Stewart Friesen, Mat Williamson, Ryan Jordan, Mike Gular, Andy Bachetti, Mike Mahaney, Alan Barker, Shaun Walker, Billy Van Pelt, Anthony Perrego, Danny Johnson, Danny Creeden, Duane Howard, Matt Sheppard, Cory Costa, Michael Maresca, Craig Hanson, Tim Hartman Jr., Brent Wilcox, Mike Ricci, J.R. Hurlburt, Mike Kolka, Ken Titus, Allison Ricci, Jerry Higbie, Jeremy Smith, Shayne Spoonhower.