It was a battle down to the very end for The Big Show 11 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. A 111-lap thriller paying $11,111 was picked up by Stewart Friesen after a late race battle with the promoter himself, Brett Hearn.

“Brett is one heck of a race promoter as well as a race car driver,” Friesen said. “He hasn’t lost his touch. When him and Decker rubbed there, I was like ‘man these guys have been racing since the beginning of time, they have to be wearing themselves out.’ They were just fighting tooth and nail. It was a lot of fun to watch. It’s been a privilege to grow up watching those two guys.”

Hearn, who looked to be the man to beat was pleased with the outcome of his event. “Friesen is probably the most diverse driver we’ve seen in decades,” he said. “He’s definitely one of the best there is, no doubt about it. He always knows how to pull a little bit extra out in the last few laps. He knew what lap it was that he needed to pull it out.”

Mat Williamson and the Buzz Chew No.88 team posted a strong podium finish to round out the top-three.

IT WAS A BIG SHOW

You know it’s a big event when the cars are parked out by the road, the pits are full and the 50/50 is over $3,000. Hearn, the promoter of the event, never disappoints. He always makes sure to put on a fun atmosphere for the fans. There was an early meet and greet autograph session with the top-12 drivers in the Super DIRTcar Series where several fans got to get up close and chat with their favorites. They had the t-shirt alley stocked up with t-shirt karts and trailers with various drivers apparel as well as a DJ hyping up the event all evening long. Twelve lucky youngsters were chosen to do the top-12 redraw to lead into the 111-lap feature event.

43 Big Block Modifieds signed in for Tuesday nights competition and only 28 drivers qualified to take the green flag.

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

‘Lightning’ Larry Wight received the KSE Hard Charger Award after passing 10 cars. Wight started 22nd and finished 12th.

Mike Mahaney was the man to watch. After Mahaney and Rudolph came in contact running first and second at the beginning of the race, both wound up going pit side with flat tires. Mahaney made his way back through the field, clicking them off one-by-one on the top side of the track to climb his way back into the top-ten. Mahaney rebounded with a strong 8th-place finish in the No.35 car.

Hearn and Keith Flach were the hometown regulars who finished up front. Hearn finished second and Flach finished 11th after starting 18th.

BIG SHOW VICTORS

Hearn opened up the evening by collecting the fast time award with a time of 15.677 seconds in time trials.

Heat races were won by Jimmy Phelps, Billy Decker, Hearn, and Matt Sheppard.

The last chance showdowns were won by Anthony Perrego and Larry Wight.

A non-qualifiers event was held where Andrew Ferguson ran away with the victory. Ferguson had the choice of starting in the main event or taking home $750. Ferguson elected to take the $750 and call it a night.

FEATURE RUNDOWN

1. 44-Stewart Friesen [7]; 2. 20-Brett Hearn [4]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson [8]; 4. 6H-Max McLaughlin [10]; 5. 9s-Matt Sheppard [12]; 6. 91-Billy Decker [3]; 7. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [6]; 8. 35-Mike Mahaney [2]; 9. 26-Ryan Godown [13]; 10. 25-Erick Rudolph [5]; 11. 43-Keith Flach [18]; 12. 99L-Larry Wight [22]; 13. X-Chad Phelps [1]; 14. 27j-Danny Johnson [11]; 15. 42p-Pat Ward [19]; 16. 3j-Marc Johnson [24]; 17. 115-Kenny Tremont [20]; 18. 21A-Peter Britten [16]; 19. 19m-Jesse Mueller [17]; 20. 111-Demetrios Drellos [26]; 21. 2L-Jack Lehner [27]; 22. 60-Brian Berger [23]; 23. R2-Rusty Smith [28]; 24. 18-Anthony Perrego [21]; 25. 3d-Matt Delorenzo [15]; 26. 97-Bobby Hackel [9]; 27. 48T-Dave Rauscher [25]; 28. 2rj-Ronnie Johnson [14]

NEXT UP

Next on tap for the Super DIRTcar Series is their first double header where the series will be making their first trip of the season into Canada. This Sunday, June 30th the Series will head to Cornwall Speedway and will head back across the border into Plattsburgh, NY for their loan visit to Plattsburgh Airborne Speedway on Monday, July 1st to kick off the holiday week.