By Mandee Pauch
After a long, wet, and dreary wait, the Super DIRTcar Series was finally able to kick off its 2018 season on Memorial Day with 80-degree weather and blue skies for the Heroes Remembered 100 at Weedsport Speedway in New York.
The driver out of Sprakers, NY, Stewart Friesen, proved his strength by leading the entire 100-lap main event flag to flag. Friesen was able to get an early jump and pull away from the 31-car field as soon as the green flag dropped.
Ripping around the outside, it looked like Friesen had the race covered until lap 75 when the 18-year-old out of Mooresville, NC, "Mad" Max McLaughlin, showed his nose under Friesen’s door.
“I was trying at the beginning to save my stuff but was pushing hard enough when I needed to,” Friesen said. “That top line that I was living on in three and four started going away. I just couldn’t hit a really good rhythm into three, but once I found that launch pad on the bottom of two I was able to get into three and the lapped cars just kept coming back to me.
“The lapped cars hurt until I caught them. Then once I got into lapped traffic I kind of liked it because I could fill some holes and at least try to stay side-by-side and break a run if someone was coming. It’s tough without knowing where he was coming. [Max McLaughlin] is a great kid and an even better driver. The improvement he’s made driving these cars over the last three years has been crazy.”
Making A Statement
McLaughlin showed a strong hand Monday night in his Textron Off Road No. 6h machine with his second-place finish in the Heroes Remembered 100. McLaughlin gave Friesen a hard-fought battle, running side-by-side for the remaining 25 laps of the main event. The young gun had all eyes on him as he kept everyone at the edge of their seat.
“It was a great way to start off the Super DIRTcar Series season,” he said. “We tried so much stuff this year just playing around, and we really haven’t been that good. We sat down and took everything we had learned and applied it all together and that’s what we put into our car for Weedsport. Hands down, it was the best car I’ve ever had. We can feed off of that baseline setup all year, so I think we can be pretty tough.”
Final @SuperDIRTcar heat win to @MaxMcLaughlin_ pic.twitter.com/xxynVSZSJs
— Weedsport Speedway (@WeedsportSpdwy) May 28, 2018
Backup Car
After making contact with another car during hot laps, Peter Britten’s Graham Racing No. 21a was seen getting towed back to his trailer. With heavy damage to the front suspension, the team wouldn’t have had enough time to get it turned around for group time trials. Luckily, the team had a backup car in the trailer and was able to roll it out and get it ready in less than 20 minutes for Britten to make it back out just in the nick of time for group time trials.
Britten went out and timed second fastest in his group with a car that hadn’t even seen the track yet, placing him second for his heat race. However, Britten lost a few spots and crossed the line in fourth, missing the top-12 redraw by one spot.
Britten rolled off 13th in the 100-lap main event and was able to close out the night with a 12th-place finish.
Guaranteed Starter For SDW
Friesen’s victory of the Heroes Remembered 100 guarantees him a starting position at NAPA Super DIRT Week. However, Friesen is no stranger at Super DIRT Week. Friesen holds five Super DIRT Week victories under his belt, with wins from 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Points Update
Friesen currently leads the way, but as a driver who also competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, his race schedules will conflict throughout the season.
The next SDS race takes place at Brewerton Speedway on Friday, June 15, but Friesen is scheduled to miss the event as he races in the NASCAR Truck Series at Iowa Speedway a day later.
Friesen’s next race with the Super DIRTcar Series will be at Albany-Saratoga Speedway for Brett Hearn’s Big Show on Tuesday, June 26.
With schedules conflicting, will Friesen be able to miss a race and still be a strong contender for the points chase?
2018 Super DIRTcar Series Points Chase
May 28, 2018
Place | No. | Driver | Series | Diff | Money |
1 | 44 | Stewart Friesen | 105 | 0 | $7,500 |
2 | 6h | Max McLaughlin | 100 | -5 | $4,000 |
3 | 98h | Jimmy Phelps | 93 | -12 | $2,500 |
4 | 25 | Erick Rudolph | 89 | -16 | $1,800 |
5 | 9s | Matt Sheppard | 85 | -20 | $1,600 |
6 | 19 | Tim Fuller | 79 | -26 | $1,400 |
| 7 | 99L | Larry Wight | 76 | -29 | $1,200 |
| 8 | 3rs | Billy Dunn | 72 | -33 | $1,000 |
| 9 | 14J | Alan Johnson | 67 | -38 | $800 |
| 10 | 20 | Brett Hearn | 66 | -39 | $700 |
| 11 | 5H | Chris Hile | 61 | -44 | $600 |
| 12 | 21a | Pete Britten | 60 | -45 | $500 |
| 13 | 42P | Pat Ward | 59 | -46 | $375 |
| 14 | 6m | Mat Williamson | 56 | -49 | $400 |
| 15 | 88 | Mike Mahaney | 54 | -51 | $350 |
| 16 | 27J | Danny Johnson | 53 | -52 | $325 |
| 17 | 91 | Billy Decker | 49 | -56 | $300 |
| 18 | 66x | Carey Terrance | 48 | -57 | $300 |
| 19 | 0 | Bobby Varin | 46 | -59 | $300 |
| 20 | 43 | Keith Flach | 45 | -60 | $300 |
Up Next
The Super DIRTcar Series will be back in action on Friday, June 15, at Brewerton Speedway for the Showdown at Sundown 100.