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| Adam Rubright Photo |
Bechtelsville, PA (April 14, 2018) It takes a tremendous amount of skill and determination to win on the high banks of Grandview Speedway without the benefit of a few cautions and restarts. And on Saturday night, Stewart Friesen brought both in a patient but determined victory in the inaugural Bruce Rogers Memorial.
The full time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver from Sprakers, NY needed only one open door in the waning moments and when he got it he made no mistake as he overtook race leader Jeff Gular en route to an emotional $7500 payday.
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| Adam Rubright Photo |
"I love everything here," Friesen said. "The fans are just second to none, you can see the support that this event had tonight, it's just great. I grew up here at 10 and 11 years old when my uncle promoted dirt races here in the 90's and knowing the Rogers family forever. They're an awesome bunch of promoters and they just do it the right way. There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears in this place."
It was a night where the typical fierce heat battles saw some fantastic late race heorics to make the field as Ryan Watt, Duane Howard and Friesen managed to make the 16 car redraw by coming up with late passes from deep in their fields to lock themselves in. It was also a night where Grandview legend Jeff Strunk's hopes were altered in a first lap jingle in his heat race, causing him to start on the tail of consolation race one where he came up just one position short and was unable to transfer.
Don Norris Jr. brought the field to the initial the green flag and bolted out to an early lead but he would not stay there long as Tim Buckwalter made his way around on lap two while Gular and Friesen took up the third and fourth spots in the early going as the top four cars gained some early separation from the field behind them. The red hot Ryan Watt wasted no time making his way towards the front from his 10th starting spot while engaging in a fierce battle with Meme Desantis and eventually made his way to the top five where he battled with Matt Sheppard who had made the long tow from central, NY and was a heavy favorite to win. However, Sheppard had a hard time catching the leaders from his sixth starting spot. He would advance just one position before a flat tire ruined his chances of winning with 24 laps in the books.
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| Adam Rubright Photo |
Meanwhile, Gular started applying pressure to Buckwalter as he challenged for the lead, sliding under the leader for total command on lap 12 when immediately afterwards, Buckwalter suffered mechanical difficulties and made his way to the pits where he was done for the night. The caution flag then waved with 22 laps in the books as Kevin Hirthler spun in turn four and on the ensuing restart, Gular elected the top side, putting Friesen on the bottom. Gular held the advantage when the final caution of the night came out for Sheppard, setting up a 26 lap battle for all the marbles with 2017 track champion Craig Von Dohren taking up the third spot having made his way around Norris Jr. earlier in the race.
Gular kept Friesen behind him on the restart once again as Billy Pauch and Frank Cozze continued their torrid paces in their charges to the front. Cozze was able to get underneath Watt on lap 29 however Watt as able to get back around as the two drivers spent several laps door handle to door handle.
Gular found himself with lapped traffic creeping up in front of him at the 35 lap mark when Friesen started to reel in the leader. with just six laps remaining, Gular moved his line down low to protect the lead and maneuver through the lappers. Despite giving the best defensive he could muster however, on lap 47, he left an opening that Friesen was able to make his way underneath with coming out of turn four as he took the lead and never looked back en route to victory lane.
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| Adam Rubright Photo |
"We were pacing with him for so long in that last run, it was amazing," Friesen said. "It was a grueling race. One caution here is like unheard of. We've been snake bitten lately, we've just had so many seconds and just hadn't been able to close it out so to come here to Grandview at a race in honor of one of the greatest promoters in the country in Bruce Rogers and to win it the first time is really special."
Mike Mahaney wound up being the hard charger of the night at he wound up making the top ten after starting 24th on the grid.
1. Stewart Friesen (4) 2. Mike Gular (3) 3. Craig Von Dohren (12) 4. Ryan Watt (10)
5. Frank Cozze (14) 6. Duane Howard (16) 7. Meme DeSantis (8) Rick Laubach (18)
9. Billy Pauch (20) 10. Mike Mahaney (24) 11. Matt Sheppard (6) 12. Jordan Henn (5)
13. Kyle Weiss (9) 14. Brett Kressley (13) 15. Louden Riemert (11) 16. Don Norris Jr. (1)
17. Kevin Hirthler (7) 18. Justin Grim (21) 19. Mike Lisowski (19) 20. Tim Buckwalter (2)
21. Brian Hirthler (15) 22. Kenny Gilmore (23) 23. Jared Umbenhauer (17) 24. Ryan Grim (22)
Heat Winners: Jordan Henn, Brett Kressley, Matt Sheppard, Craig VonDohren
Consolation Winners: Jared Umbenhauer, Rick Laubach
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