Stewart Friesen Wins Jake Marine Memorial

Stewart Friesen and his son, Parker, in Victory Lane at Georgetown Speedway (Photo: Georgetown Speedway)

GERORGETOWN, Del. — After Mother Nature caused the Jake Marine Memorial race to be canceled on Saturday, the Short Track Super Series took to Georgetown Speedway’s ½ mile track surface on Sunday for the 40-lap main event.

Jordan Watson and Brandon Grosso were on the front row leading the 28 car field into Turn 4.  As the green flag flew and the Big Block Modifieds raced down the frontstretch and into Turn 1, Mike Maresca took over second with Ryan Krachun in third.  

On Lap 2, as Maresca and Krachun went into Turn 4, Krachun got a little bit too high and slightly drove over Maresca’s right front.  Then as they drove into Turn 1, Maresca went high allowing Krachun to pull a slide job on him.  When they exited Turn 2, Krachun pulled away in second.

Six laps in, Maresca would do the same thing in Turn 2, but this time Stewart Friesen would pull the slide job on him from the bottom instead of Krachun.  The top three would remain Grosso, Krachun and Friesen for the next eight laps.  

Coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 14, Grosso had caught up to lap traffic.  To get by Chris Curtis, Grosso gave Curtis a little nudge on the side, sending Curtis a little bit higher on the track, giving Grosso the small amount of room needed to get by and keep his lead ahead of Krachun.

Lap 15 saw Krachun and Friesen side-by-side going into Turn 3.  As they headed into Turn 4, Friesen got under Krachun and pulled a slide-job on him.  This put Friesen in second with 24 laps to go.

Mat Williamson competing in the Jake Marine Memorial at Georgetown Speedway (Photo: Mat Williamson Racing)

With ten laps to go, Friesen was gaining on Grosso.  As they hit the start/finish line symbolizing Lap 31, Friesen started to go low on Grosso going into Turn 1.  As they exited Turn 2, Friesen lost the momentum but kept his sights honed in on the leader.  As they headed into Turn 3, Friesen went low once again.  As they hit the curve connecting Turns 3 and 4, Friesen stuck his nose under Grosso, giving him the leeway needed to take over first.  As soon as the lap was scored though, Grosso got a right rear flat tire ending all thoughts of winning the $8,500 payday.

With six laps to go, Krachan started battling with Mike Gular for fourth.  As they shot out of Turn 2, they were side-by-side going down the entire backstretch.  As they came out of Turn 3, Gular went high and passed Krachun for fourth.

Crossing the start/finish line, Krachun had been passed by Tyler Dippel and would get Ryan Godown on his right side.  Wanting to take over sixth place, Godown went low as they raced into Turn 1.  By the time Godown and Krachun came out of Turn 2 they had swapped positions.  Godown in sixth and Krachun in seventh.

Four laps left in the race had Godown fighting with Bouc for fifth.  Going into Turn 1, Godown went on the low side of Bouc and made his appearance in the top five as they shot out of Turn 2.  Third place holder, Mike Mahaney, got a right-rear flat moving everyone up a spot.

On the restart, Gular began a battle with Maresca for second.  Going down the back chute they were neck-and-neck with each other and as they hit Turn 3 Gular went high, making it seem like he had Maresca.  As they entered Turn 4 though, Gular went too high and lost his momentum keeping his third place position and banging doors with Godown when he came back down.  

Krachun had moved up to fifth on the restart as well, but Mat Williamson was right behind.  Krachun would be bumped down to fifth by Williamson with three laps to go.  For the remainder of the race the top five would be Friesen, Maresca, Gular, Godown and Williamson, the latter moving up to fifth from 16th.

“It was a survival of the fittest, daytime, gnarly afternoon race,” said Friesen. “That’s how these [races] go this time of year. I’ve been through this game so many times.”