FONDA, N.Y. – Stewart Friesen may have had a bad day in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Pocono Raceway, but he felt a lot better Saturday night after notching a runaway win in Fonda Speedway’s 30-lap modified feature.
Adam McAuliffe beat front-row companion Bobby Varin to turn one when the modified finale went green and for much of the non-stop event, looked like he might lead it flag to flag.
Friesen had moved to seventh from his 12th starting spot by lap five but from there the sledding got tougher. At halfway, Friesen had climbed to third behind another multiple winner, Rocky Warner, and the two battled side by side for a few laps before Friesen finally prevailed on lap 18 by making an inside dive from his customary rim riding groove.
At the same time, McAuliffe got hung up in a gaggle of slower lapped cars running in a bunch, and on lap 23 the veteran caught him and split the leader and a lapped car to take command.
From there, Friesen drove off into the night and won by a straightaway on the big half mile, leaving McAuliffe to wrestle with Warner, who soon dropped the early leader to third. Jack Lehner came home fourth with Varin, Ronnie Johnson, Craig Hansen, Dave Constantino, Jessica Friesen and Pep Corradi trailing.
Friesen was joined in victory lane by 360 sprint star Paulie Colagiovanni, who claimed the Patriot Sprint Tour-sanctioned Earl Halaquist Memorial, run annually in memory of the many time United Racing Club champion from Sidney, N.Y.
Colagiovanni’s $3,000 score came at the expense of local favorite Danny Varin, who chased the reigning Empire Super Sprints champion early on, dropped back, then closed rapidly on the leader at the end but ran out of laps before he could make a serious challenge.
“I knew Danny was going to be fast, so I kept adjusting my wing back and the car got better and better,” tipped Colagiovanni. “Once I got the lead, I just kept putting as many lapped cars as I could behind me to keep Danny busy and it worked out.”
The duo had started side by side on the front row, with Cologiovanni getting the drop on Varin, who ran modifieds at Fonda for many seasons before turning his attention to sprint cars.
By lap 10, sixth-starting Davie Franek had dropped Varin to third, taking advantage of a restart precipitated by Mike Kiser’s hard flip on lap four to make progress quickly.
Franek then got close to the leader in traffic at the halfway point of the 30-lapper but as soon as he got back in the open, Colagiovanni again ran away and hid. Jordan Thomas dropped Varin another spot just before the night’s second and last caution on lap 22, when Brett Wright stalled on the backstretch.
From that point on, Varin went forward, and when Colagiovanni became mired in traffic with two to go, Varin made a final run on him but came up just short.
“We missed the setup,” said Varin. “The track was different tonight and it was hard to turn. Still, it was good to be home. I miss this place every Saturday night.”
Franek hit the stripe third ahead of Thomas, Chad Miller, Joe Trenca, longtime Fonda modified division regular Jeff Trombley, Josh Pieniezak, Chuck Hebing and Matt Tanner.
Hebing won the Patriot dash with Steve Glover leading the B-main field home.
Nick Stone claimed a hard fought Pro Stock win over Luke Horning, Josh Coonradt and Kenny Gates, while Brian Calabrese bested division kingpin Tim Hartman Jr. in the Sportsman feature with Aaron Burton and Chad Edwards close behind.