WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Memorial Day weekend is a significant weekend in motorsports, and that’s no different for the Super DIRTcar Series.
The Beasts of the Northeast are preparing for the first back-to-back of the 2026 championship season with two stops in Central New York.
First, the series heads to Weedsport Speedway for the Heroes Remembered 75 on Sunday, May 24.
Then, a Shower of Big Block Power heads to New York’s Southern Tier for a stop at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, N.Y., on Monday, May 25, for the Natural 77 honoring Dale Planck.
Red Hot Rocket
Entering this weekend’s doubleheader, no one has more momentum than Alex Yankowski.
The Covington Township, Pa., driver has won the last two Super DIRTcar Series Features and sits nine points behind Mat Williamson for the series points lead. He also has 12 top 10s in his last 13 points-paying races.
Yankowski made three series starts at Weedsport last year and never finished outside the top 10, earning an eighth, fourth, and third. He’s only made one series start at Thunder Mountain, finishing fifth.
“Kid Rocket” is searching for his seventh series victory.
Weedsport Success
Over the past three seasons of Super DIRTcar Series action at Weedsport Speedway, only three drivers have reached victory lane.
Williamson and Stewart Friesen each have three wins in that span, while Peter Britten earned the other last year during SummerFAST.
Out of those three drivers, Williamson has been the most consistent. The defending series champion finished on the podium in six of the seven features in the last three seasons, which included streaks of three consecutive victories and back-to-back runner-up finishes.
Friesen, like Williamson, also earned three consecutive wins in the span and has won his last four overall starts at the track.
Britten’s win last year was the first time he’s reached victory lane at Weedsport. However, the Brisbane, Quebec, driver has had mixed results there. Outside of his victory, he has five top fives and 10 top 10s in 33 starts.
Payne’s Redemption
Alex Payne has gotten off to a tough start to this year’s Super DIRTcar Series championship season with 17th, 16th, and 14th-place finishes. However, Weedsport may be the track where Payne can turn his luck around.
The Hopewell, N.Y., driver dominated the track’s Icebreaker 50 earlier this month, leading every lap to score the victory. He’s also looking for redemption in the Heroes Remembered 75, after getting a flat tire while leading the event last season.
Payne finished in the top five in all three series events at Weedsport last year and added a sixth at Thunder Mountain.
Quiet Success
Despite only having one top-five finish to start the 2026 championship season, Jack Lehner enters this weekend’s doubleheader third in the standings, 33 points behind Mat Williamson.
Lehner, from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., opened the season with fourth, seventh, and eighth place finishes, moving him into a podium position in the series points for the first time in his career.
The “Ginga Ninja” has found some success at Weedsport, earning five top 10s in 15 Super DIRTcar Series starts at the three-eighths-mile. While he’s only finished in the top 10 33 percent of the time at Weedsport, four of his five top 10s have come in the last six series events.
Meanwhile, he’s made two starts at Thunder Mountain in his career, finishing fifth in 2024 and 13th last year.
Back To The Mountain
Memorial Day’s Natural 77 at Thunder Mountain will be the series’ third stop at the Center Lisle, N.Y., oval, after the track’s debut on the schedule in 2024.
So far, the event has produced two different winners, with Jimmy Phelps winning the inaugural event in 2024, and 10-time series champion Matt Sheppard adding another track he’s won at to his resume last May.
Both drivers enter this weekend searching for their first series win of the season and have won at both tracks the aeries races at this weekend.
Along with a win at Thunder Mountain, Phelps is a two-time series winner at Weedsport, while Sheppard has reached the track’s “Victory Hill” on eight occasions in series events.
