~ By Tom Boggie

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Remember the 2019 racing season? Cars at Albany-Saratoga Speedway parked out to Route 9 on a Friday night. A record 22 consecutive nights of racing.

The biggest race of the season was the 160-lap “Centennial” at Orange County Speedway in Middletown, which paid $100,000 to win. The top three finishers were Mat Williamson, Stewart Friesen and Matt Sheppard.

Fast forward to the 2020 racing season. The COVID-19 pandemic cut the racing season in half. No fans were allowed in the stands at New York tracks, forcing many to shut their doors early.

The biggest race of the season was last weekend’s Speed Showcase 200 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, which paid $53,000 to win. The top three finishers were Mat Williamson, Stewart Friesen and Matt Sheppard.

Oh, and just for fun … Sheppard won the preliminary modified race at both events.

Friesen, who spent the majority of his Friday nights at Albany-Saratoga Speedway this season, finishing with six victories, was the story at Port Royal. During qualifying last Friday, Friesen blew his primary motor in the Halmar 44, and had to take a provisional starting spot. The Halmar team dropped the team’s 360 cubic inch engine, which Friesen has used at Fonda Speedway for the last four years, into its Bicknell chassis, and when the field lined up for the feature on Saturday, Friesen was staring 39th.

He quickly found a groove he liked, and worked his way up into the top five. The field was going to make a group pit stop at the halfway point of the race, but when a caution came out on lap 88, Friesen ducked into the pits for fresh tires.

Friesen, who skipped the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race in Kansas to race at Port Royal, rode around near the back until lap 100, when most of the front-runners pitted. When the field cycled through after the pit stop, Friesen was near the front, and ahead of most of the cars that he had battled with for the first 100 laps.

But a restart with 18 laps left spoiled his night. Williamson was second at that time. Friesen, who had taken the outside lane on previous restarts, picked the bottom, trying to break Williamson’s momentum, but Friesen couldn’t hold the bottom, allowing “Money Mat” to take the lead and go on for the victory.

It wasn’t a terrible day for Friesen, who earned $21,000, which included the Hard Charger bonus, but it was less than half of what he hoped to take home.

Anthony Perrego, another transplanted Albany-Saratoga regular, finished fourth, which was worth $7.000.

Included among the other Capital Region drivers who competed at Port Royal were Lebanon Valley champion Andy Bachetti, who finished eighth ($2,250), Albany-Saratoga modified champion Mike Mahaney, who finished 12th ($1,300) and Ronnie Johnson, who finished 13th ($1,200).

The Speed Showcase 200 card also included a 50-lap sportsman race, which paid $2,500 to win. Orange County regular Brian Krummel got the win. The top area finisher was Albany-Saratoga champion Tim Hartman Jr., who was fifth ($400). Payton Talbot crossed the finish line seventh ($275), while Mike Ballestero, who sits at the top of the all-time sportsman win list at Albany-Saratoga, was ninth. He earned $725, which included the Hard Charger bonus, as he started 30th in the field.

This weekend, the focus shifts to Orange County Speedway for the annual Eastern States Weekend. After qualifying Friday, all features are scheduled to be run Saturday. They will include a 50-lapper for sportsman ($5,000 to win), a 75-lapper for small block modifieds ($10,000 to win) and the Eastern States 200 for big blocks ($25,000 to win).

Friesen had won three of the last four Eastern States 200s, but I’m going with an upset and picking Mahaney to take the top prize.

The final standings for the Hoosier Tire Weekly Racing Series Championships came out this week. Friesen won the big block title, while Andrew Buff was second in the sportsman point race. The Big Three of Luke Horning, Josh Coonradt and Nick Stone swept the top three in the pro stock series.