Friesen Leads Pauch Jr. By 20 Entering Georgetown’s Mid-Atlantic Championship

Story By: BRETT DEYO / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – GEORGETOWN, DE – The championship battle is set! After a blockbuster ‘Speed Showcase 200’ weekend at Pa.’s Port Royal Speedway, the standings have shuffled and the race for the 2020 Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco Modified Velocita-USA South Region presented by Design for Vision and Sunglass Central hits the final stretch.

Stewart Friesen of Sprakers, N.Y., leads Milford, N.J., driver Billy Pauch Jr. by just 20 points entering the Mid-Atlantic Championship weekend at Georgetown Speedway Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31 (rain date: Sunday, Nov. 1).

With the late addition of the Port Royal 200-lap, $53,000-to-win event to the calendar, STSS officials opted to let competitors utilize the better of their two finishes during the weekend: either Thursday night’s ‘Speed Showcase 40’ or Saturday’s ‘Speed Showcase 200’ utilizing the standard 100-point structure.

Ultimately, the top-two point contenders earned second-place finishes, with Pauch Jr. marching from 22nd to second Thursday and Friesen muscling a back-up Halmar International No. 44 from 39th to the runner-up spot Saturday.

Drivers dropped their worst finish from the first seven South Region rounds and received 75 points for perfect attendance entering the finale at Georgetown.

The Georgetown event offers increased Championship Points on the 150-point structure, meaning there is a 90-point swing possible from first to last in the main event.

Three drivers are mathematically in the hunt for the title. Friesen leads Pauch by 20 points. Matt Sheppard of Savannah, N.Y., sits third, 65 points behind. Any of the three could emerge from the weekend’s STSS Modified main event with the $10,000 title.

The full standings after Port Royal have been posted on the Short Track Super Series website at the following link: https://stss.racestatcentral.com/?IDseries=2&IDseason=2020

A minimum point fund of $28,150 is earmarked for the top-12 finishers in the ’20 STSS Modified South Region, which has seen events in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Two full days of racing are planned for the Mid-Atlantic Championship Weekend. STSS Modifieds take part in heat races on Friday night (Oct. 30) with B-Mains and 44-lap feature (extended in memory of Tom Perrego) on Saturday (Oct. 31). The complete weekend breakdown is below.