October 27th would be a spooktacular day for Freisen. The Niagara Falls native had a smile a mile wide as he exited the X car of Xcel Chassis. "I've always wanted to try one of these machines and when the opportunity came up, why wouldn't I. I haven't had that much fun in a racecar in a long time".
Hurricane Sandy looked to put a crimp in the day but was kind to the 17 Xcel drivers and Five Mile Point as the rain would fall as the track closed. The track was tacky during the heat races and provided multiple grooves with Ritchie Hitzler taking the first heat running the outside groove, and Will Eastman running the low groove in the heat 2 win.
As the green flag dropped, the racing action started from the front to the back of the field. Ritchie Hitzler took the lead coming out of turn two and Freisen had already passed four cars. Spectators were anxious to see how Stewart would do since this was his first time in an Xcel modified.
Hitzler had a comfortable lead by lap 7 but didn't realize the #120 of Will Eastman had the low groove working and by lap 9 had come door to door with Hitzler closing the gap of a straightaway by 2 laps only to see the final caution flag wave it's ugly head. Just as the cars were lining up for the restart the left front shock on the Eastman power plant broke ending his night. By this time Freisen had the Xcel rental car in fourth place looking to challenge the popular #14 of Kailee Dimorier. She was having the best race of her career and looked to keep Freisen at bay and pull Hitzler in.
Coming into turn three, Freisen took to the outside and passed Dimorier and set his sights on Hitzler, By lap 14 Freisen caught Hitzler and the two raced side by side until lap 18 with Freisen taking the point.
Kailee Dimorier held off a charge by Jeromy Guistewite to finish a career best third place. "I can't believe I'm sitting in tech with my car. This is the top of my racing so far. I got to race with Stewart Freisen and finish in the top three. Now looking at my dad Mark, I don't know who is more excited" stated Kailee.
Everybody gathered around Stewart as he climbed out of the car in the tech area. " What a rush that was. I didn't know what to expect, and I wasn't expecting the power that the car had. You definitely need to feather the peddle in the turns to keep the momentum. No matter where I put the car it stuck. I talked to Doug before the race and he told me the series would be switching to Bilstein shocks next year and like I told him just now, I don't see how you can go wrong with Bilsteins. The only question I couldn't answer was if this would count to my overall wins for this season and career" laughed Stewart as he climbed into his modified.
The Xcel Chassis series will officially close the 2012 season December 1st at the Pole Township Firehouse with a banquet honoring the drivers from the tour division along with the Kutztown and Borgers Speedway top ten. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through Doug Borger. Deadline for the ticket sales is November 30th and can be purchased through the mail.
Plans for the 2013 season are already underway. Doug is holding a meeting on Sunday the 28th and will be announcing major changes to the series for next season. A press release will follow shortly and can be seen on the 600 modified forum board. You can the link found on the bottom left on the Xcel chassis website www.xcelchassis.com.
