OSWEGO, N.Y. — On the first day of Super DIRTcar Series action at Super DIRT Week 52, history was made at Oswego Speedway.
After Stewart Friesen broke the Oswego Speedway track record to earn the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 pole, he joined Felix Roy and Mat Williamson as part of the first Canadian sweep of the Big-Block Modified heat races.
The three Canadian drivers also earned $4,000 and valuable momentum toward Saturday’s $52,000-to-win feature.
QUALIFYING
Despite winning the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 five times, Friesen had only started on the pole once in 2013.
That changed Thursday evening when he shattered Billy Decker’s previous track record of 20.316 set in 2019 with a 19.784 second lap — the only sub 20 second lap in the 87-car field.
His fast lap also earned him the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award worth $1,000.
Friesen said his team’s preparation was vital in laying down a fast lap on Thursday.
“We struggled on Hoosiers the last couple of years I felt like,” Friesen said. “We did a lot of homework coming into this week. This Halmar team worked really hard to prepare two really fast race cars.
“It’s been so far, so good. We’re checking off boxes. We just have to make the right adjustments the next two days, and I think we can have a good weekend.”
Super DIRTcar Series driver Darren Smith will start to his outside.
Rounding out the Super Six were Mat Williamson with a 20.170-second lap, SummerFAST champion Alex Yankowski with a 20.200-second lap, Felix Roy with a 20.213-second lap, and Peter Britten with a 20.214-second lap.
Heat Race 1
Friesen, the five-time Billy Whittaker Cars 200 champion, picked up where he left off after Qualifying, winning the first of three heats Thursday night.
Friesen grabbed the early lead in the first 25-lap Heat Race before Yankowski drove around the outside of the No. 44 as they completed Lap 2.
Yankowski controlled the race until lap traffic brought Friesen to the back bumper of the No. 66. As Yankowski tried to drive around Wally Wade, a lap car, Friesen found a burst of speed on the outside lane to take the lead as they entered Turn 3 on Lap 19.
From there, Friesen survived a late-race restart to earn the $4,000 victory.
“It was a lot of fun to battle with Alex there,” Friesen said. “The Halmar team brought a super-fast hot rod. We’ll see what transpires over the next two days and see what transpires on Saturday.”
Rounding out the top five in the first heat was Yankowski, three-time Billy Whittaker Cars 200 champion Matt Sheppard, current Super DIRTcar Series Rookie of the Year leader Alex Payne, and Justin Haers.
Rocky Warner, Marc Johnson, Erick Rudolph, Ryan Godown, and Todd Root also earned spots in the feature.
Heat Race 1 (25 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 66-Alex Yankowski[2]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 5. 3-Justin Haers[7]; 6. 98-Rocky Warner[6]; 7. 9-Marc Johnson[8]; 8. 25-Erick Rudolph[11]; 9. 26G-Ryan Godown[13]; 10. 15-Todd Root[14]; 11. 20-Rick Laubach[5]; 12. 07-Gary Tomkins[12]; 13. 62S-Tom Sears Jr[18]; 14. X-Chad Phelps[16]; 15. 44H-Chris Hulsizer[17]; 16. 2024-Tyler Trump[19]; 17. 22-Brandon Walters[9]; 18. 32R-Ronald Davis III[10]; 19. 18-Brad Rouse[21]; 20. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[27]; 21. 0-Glenn Styres[25]; 22. 82-Wally Wade[23]; 23. 27-Jason Reome[26]; 24. 8-Rich Scagliotta[20]; 25. (DNF) 39-Ryan Bartlett[24]; 26. (DNF) 66M-Corbin Millar[15]; 27. (DNF) 14J-Alan Johnson[28]; 28. (DNF) 01R-Robert Gage[29]; 29. (DNS) 7-Troy Sperring
Heat Race 2
Darren Smith took the lead in heat two of the evening, driving away from Felix Roy in the early part of the 25-lap race.
The Binghamton, N.Y., driver held that lead for the first 23 laps until a caution gave Felix Roy an opportunity he didn’t waste.
When the race resumed, “Hollywood” thundered ahead of Smith as they entered Turns 1 and 2. Then, Roy slid his rear bumper in front of the nose of the No. 12 in Turn 2 to take the lead as they raced down the backstretch.
Smith’s attempt to regain the lead was denied, allowing Roy to drive to his first Super DIRT Week Heat Race victory in his second attempt to qualify for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
“Darren was fast, and I knew I’d have to try something on the restart,” Roy said. “I tried to slide job him, and it worked, and I’m happy.
“I’m super confident for Saturday. I’m up here with Williamson and Friesen so it’s huge.”
Smith settled for second, while Decker, Anthony Perrego, and Mike Mahaney rounded out the top five.
The five other drivers who transferred into Saturday’s feature were Tim Fuller, Zach Payne, David Schilling, Corey Cormier and Marshall Hurd.
Heat Race 2 (25 Laps): 1. 91-Felix Roy[2]; 2. 12-Darren Smith[1]; 3. 91D-Billy Decker[3]; 4. 4*-Anthony Perrego[4]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[12]; 6. 19-Tim Fuller[6]; 7. 7Z-Zachary Payne[8]; 8. Z1-David Schilling[11]; 9. 26R-Corey Cormier[5]; 10. 58M-Marshall Hurd[9]; 11. 10C-Tanner Van Doren[13]; 12. 15X-Justin Stone[7]; 13. 11-Matt Caprara[10]; 14. M1-David Marcuccilli[16]; 15. 7S-Shaun Shaw[22]; 16. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[17]; 17. 66X-Carey Terrance[18]; 18. 27B-Robert Bublak[20]; 19. 21R-RJ Tresidder[23]; 20. 32C-James Meehan[21]; 21. 0H-Dan Humes[25]; 22. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[15]; 23. (DNF) 22E-Mike Engwer[14]; 24. (DNF) 34-Kevin Root[19]; 25. (DNF) 16-Aaron Jacobs[27]; 26. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[24]; 27. (DNF) 66W-Derek Webb[29]; 28. (DNS) 48T-Dave Rauscher; 29. (DNS) 20B-Joey Bonetti
Heat Race 3
After dominating last year’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200, Mat Williamson wasted no time showing he’d be a contending car again by winning the third heat.
The St. Catharines, Ontario, driver took the lead on Lap 1 and never looked back, leading all 25 laps en route to the $4,000 victory.
Despite leading the whole race, Williamson said he didn’t feel his Buzz Chew Chevrolet No. 88 was dominant.
“I didn’t really get momentum,” Williamson said. “There were some really good race car drivers that were in the mix with me so I knew I had to be on my toes. My guys worked hard to try to be good when it gets slippery, but I’m not sure it’s going to get there. We’ll have to talk about what we need to do to get better for Saturday.”
Peter Britten finished second, with Jimmy Phelps rounding out the podium. World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series driver Max McLaughlin finished fourth, and Tim Sears Jr. rounded out the top five.
Gary Lindberg, Jack Lehner, Danny Johnson, Billy Dunn, and Jeremy Pitts will join those five drivers in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
Heat Race 3 (25 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[3]; 4. 8H-Max McLaughlin[8]; 5. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[6]; 6. 37S-Gary Lindberg[5]; 7. 2-Jack Lehner[10]; 8. 27J-Danny Johnson[4]; 9. 49-Billy Dunn[7]; 10. 27P-Jeremy Pitts[16]; 11. 1-Tyler Dippel[13]; 12. 5H-Chris Hile[12]; 13. 99L-Larry Wight[28]; 14. 28-Michael Trautschold[18]; 15. 21C-Brian Calabrese[19]; 16. 76-Billy Pauch Jr[22]; 17. 14B-Brendan Darrah[17]; 18. 26M-Michael Mandigo[29]; 19. 34S-Rusty Smith[14]; 20. 02-Roy Bresnahan[9]; 21. 27W-Nick Webb[23]; 22. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[25]; 23. 117JR-CJ Castelletti[26]; 24. (DNF) 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[15]; 25. (DNF) 14S-Brian Swarthout[24]; 26. (DNF) 26-Kyle Richner[21]; 27. (DNF) 3RS-Dalton Slack[11]; 28. (DNF) 14-CG Morey[20]; 29. (DNS) 44C-Ed Downing