Friesen Wins Thriller at Penn Can

Stewart Friesen picked up his 20th win of the season in a thrilling battle with Al Rudalavage, Duane Howard, and Bobby Varin. Rudalavage led most of the event, and held off multiple challenges my Bobby Varin, before Duane Howard and Stewart Friesen snuck passed Varin with just a few laps to go. Brian Decker slowed to bring out the caution on lap 57, which bunched up the field. Rudalavage, Howard, and Friesen went three wide down multiple times over the final to laps, but Friesen used the high side to win by just a few feet over Rudalavage and Howard. Here was the top 5 finish in the RoC Dirt Tour event.

Penn Can Speedway (RoC Dirt Tour $5,000 to win)
1st 1 Stewart Friesen
2nd 145 Al Rudalavage
3rd 4 Duane Howard
4th 10 Bobby Varin
5th 5J Joey Grammes

Howard and Friesen tied for the Summer Shootout Mini-Series title, so both received half of the $1,000 prize. The top 4 in RoC Dirt Tour points were seperated by just 27 points heading into the event, Danny Johnson, who came in as the points leader dropped out with engine problems while running 2nd in the latter stages of the race. Pat Ward, who came into the event 2nd in RoC points was involved in multiple crashes and with a 10th place. The top 4 drivers in the standings have tightened the battle for the championship even more. Here's (what should be, according to my calculation) the new top 5 in the standings.

1st 1 Stewart Friesen 309
2nd 42p Pat Ward 294
3rd 4 Duane Howard 290
4th 27J Danny Johnson 288
5th 10 Bobby Varin 228

Just 2 races remain on the RoC Dirt Tour schedule, the top 5 are the only drivers with a mathematical shot at the championship, and Varin needs a lot of help to not be eliminated by the conclusion of the next RoC Race, which will be run at Accord Speedway. Duane Howard missed the race RoC race at Utica Rome Speedway, had he started that race and received last place points he'd be just 3 points out of the points lead. Had he showed up, and only received points for not qualifying, he'd still be in front of Pat Ward in the standings.