FONDA, N.Y. – After starting from the fifth position, Stewart Friesen drove to the lead and a $10,000 payday in Sunday’s Short Track Super Series Firecracker 50 at Fonda Speedway.

It was his second win in as many days at Fonda Speedway and his second win in the Firecracker 50 in as many years.

From the luck of the redraw, Friesen would fire off from the fifth position after dominating his heat race and winning it hand over fist. As the green flag waved modified rookie Adam McAullife got the lead on lap one over Michael Maresca and looked to take a commanding lead.

McAullife would hold the lead for about a dozen laps until he encountered slower traffic, which let the hard charging Friesen close in and take the lead. A few laps later the caution flag waved for the first time. From there, it was no challenge for Friesen, the driver of the Halmar Int’l No. 44 despite a hard charging Larry Wight, who started ninth.

“It’s awesome.” Friesen said. “It’s our home track and to represent Halmar, all of our sponsors. It’s great for our race team. It was a little different this year with the slicker surface but with the same result. It was awesome to win this race in memory of Mike Cole who was a friend of Jess’s (Friesen) growing up and everyone at Fonda.”

Despite it being his second win in a row in the Firecracker 50 on the Short Track Super Series calendar, it came in a very different way when compared to 2019. Last year he had a flat tire with around 20 laps left, but still managed to win the race .

“We went to the lead and I wanted to take care of the right rear,” Friesen said. “I just did not want to kill it and it was slick. Once we caught lap traffic I was able to make a few moves on the top while everyone was on the bottom. I was trying to look ahead and while I could catch them I couldn’t do much with them.”

Fonda Speedway allowed fans the last two nights and Friesen was glad to see them in the stands.

“It felt awesome,” Stewart Said. “It’s so much better to have fans in the stands and hopefully this is a sign for things to come.”

The finish:

Stewart Friesen, Larry Wight, Michael Maresca, Adam McAuliffe, Jessica Friesen, Matt Shepaprd, David Schilling, Mike Gular, Matt DeLorenzo, Craig Hanson, Tyler Dippel, Josh Hohenforst, Andy Bachetti, Brian Pessolano, Peter Britten, Billy Pauch Jr., Danny Creeden, Mike Mahaney, Dave Constantino, Brian Calabrese, J.R. Hulburt, Brian Gleason, Allison Ricci, Billy Decker, Jimmy Horton, Danny Varin, Rocky Warner.