By CURTIS BERLEUE
FULTON, NY – In the tours 40th anniversary season opener, ‘Racin’ Jason Barney took the lead on lap 6 at Fulton Speedway and never looked back on his way to victory lane and a $2,000 payday.
For the 25-lap main event, Dylan Swiernik and Joe Trenca would lead the 25-car starting field to the green flag. Swiernik jumped out to the early lead on the initial start only to see an immediate caution for a spinning Jordan Thomas in turn 1.
On the ensuing restart, Swiernik would again take command of the field and lead the first 6 laps until Jason Barney was able to sneak by him on the inside of the speedway and pull away. Through a handful of cautions, Barney never saw a serious challenge for the lead and held on for his first win of 2023 and 31st career ESS victory.
“I was happy to end up starting the season here (at Fulton) and get a little comfortable at a place your familiar with and confident in,” said an elated Barney in victory lane. “There’s a lot of good guys here, Dylan (Swiernik) was good, and on that last restart when the 01 (Danny Varin) rolls up next to you – he’s the man. I was just thankful to get a good start and get out front of him.”
5th-starting Danny Varin had slowly worked his way into the top 3 by lap 11 and moved into second on lap 20. With two laps remaining, Varin made a valiant effort on the high side of the track but was unable to get past Barney and ultimately settled for a runner-up finish.
Polesitter Dylan Swiernik completed the Ashley Lynn Winery podium in 3rd. Jordan Poirier came home 4th and Shawn Donath rounded out the top 5.
With 31 cars signed in, the field was split into three hot lap/time trial groups to start the night. Matt Farnham, Paulie Colagiovanni and Danny Varin picked up the Rifenburg Contracting fast time award in their respective groups. E&V Energy Heat wins went to Matt Farnham, Jason Barney and Danny Varin.
The Cobra Coaches Dash presented by Cartier Motorsports was won by Johnny Smith, who collected a cool $100 for his efforts in the 6-lap affair. Sammy Reakes IV won the Lacaillade Masonry B-Main followed by Dalton Rombough, Steve Glover, Billy VanInwegen, Travis Cunningham and Kelly Hebing, all of whom transferred to the A-Main.
Pit Notes:
- Kelly Hebing suffered a mechanical failure in her time trial group, resulting in her not recording a time. She was able to recover and transfer through the B-Main into the A-Main later in the night
- Big Block Modified driver Max McLaughlin made his sprint car debut aboard the Cartier Motorsports 23 machine
- Jason Barney’s win moves him into 5th on the all-time ESS win list
The next scheduled event for the Empire Super Sprints is this coming Saturday May 6th at the Fonda Speedway in Fonda, NY. For the latest news, information, and schedule updates regarding the Empire Super Sprints be sure to check the series website (www.EmpireSuperSprints.com) and follow along on Facebook (Empire Super Sprints), Twitter (@ESSprints) and Instagram (@empiresupersprints).
The Empire Super Sprints would like to thank the following series sponsors for their continued support: Rifenburg Contracting Corp, PJC Spray Foam, Hoosier Racing Tire, Cobra Coaches, E&V Energy, Fondations 4 Saisons, Pinnacle Investments, LLC, Lacaillade Masonry, Inc., FX Caprara, ASI Racewear, Lanes Yamaha, Ashley Lynn Winery, Bicknell Racing Products, DirtTrackDigest.com and LC Design.
The ESS Road Ahead:
Saturday, May 6 – Fonda Speedway – Fonda, NY ($2,000 to Win)
Friday, May 12 – Utica Rome Speedway – Vernon, NY ($2,000 to Win)
Friday, May 26 – Brewerton Speedway – Brewerton, NY ($2,000 to Win Don Gillette Memorial)
EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS
A Feature 1: 1. #87-Jason Barney[4]; 2. #01-Danny Varin[5]; 3. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[1]; 4. 28-Jordan Poirier[12]; 5. #53-Shawn Donath[8]; 6. #98-Joe Trenca[2]; 7. #28F-Davie Franek[6]; 8. #23M-Max McLaughlin[16]; 9. #22-Jonathan Preston[11]; 10. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]; 11. #10-Jeff Cook[17]; 12. #45-Chuck Hebing[9]; 13. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[22]; 14. #90-Matt Tanner[10]; 15. #3-Parker Evans[15]; 16. #41-Dalton Rombough[20]; 17. 90T-Travis Cunningham[23]; 18. #3Z-John Smith IV[13]; 19. #33-Lacey Hanson[25]; 20. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[14]; 21. #36-Logan Crisafulli[18]; 22. #10K-Kelly Hebing[24]; 23. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[19]; 24. #21-Steve Glover[21]; 25. #79-Jordan Thomas[7]
B Feature 1: 1. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[6]; 2. #41-Dalton Rombough[2]; 3. #21-Steve Glover[3]; 4. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[5]; 5. 90T-Travis Cunningham[1]; 6. #10K-Kelly Hebing[9]; 7. #4P-Chase Moran[4]; 8. #66-Jordan Hutton[10]; 9. #33-Lacey Hanson[8]; 10. 5H-Chris Hile[13]; 11. #13-Keith Granholm[7]; 12. #14B-Brett Wright[12]; 13. 5Z-Zack Burd[11]
Dash 1: 1. #3Z-John Smith IV[3]; 2. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[5]; 3. #3-Parker Evans[4]; 4. #23M-Max McLaughlin[2]; 5. #10-Jeff Cook[6]; 6. #36-Logan Crisafulli[1]
Heat 1: 1. 7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 2. #53-Shawn Donath[1]; 3. #22-Jonathan Preston[6]; 4. #90-Matt Tanner[4]; 5. #36-Logan Crisafulli[7]; 6. #3-Parker Evans[8]; 7. 90T-Travis Cunningham[5]; 8. #4P-Chase Moran[11]; 9. #13-Keith Granholm[9]; 10. #66-Jordan Hutton[10]; 11. 5H-Chris Hile[3]
Heat 2: 1. #87-Jason Barney[1]; 2. #45-Chuck Hebing[3]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[5]; 4. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[4]; 5. #23M-Max McLaughlin[6]; 6. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[2]; 7. #41-Dalton Rombough[7]; 8. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[9]; 9. #33-Lacey Hanson[8]; 10. 5Z-Zack Burd[10]
Heat 3: 1. #01-Danny Varin[2]; 2. #79-Jordan Thomas[1]; 3. #28F-Davie Franek[3]; 4. #98-Joe Trenca[5]; 5. #3Z-John Smith IV[6]; 6. #10-Jeff Cook[4]; 7. #21-Steve Glover[8]; 8. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[7]; 9. #10K-Kelly Hebing[10]; 10. #14B-Brett Wright[9]
Qualifying 1: 1. 7NY-Matt Farnham[7]; 2. #53-Shawn Donath[1]; 3. 5H-Chris Hile[5]; 4. #90-Matt Tanner[8]; 5. 90T-Travis Cunningham[2]; 6. #22-Jonathan Preston[10]; 7. #36-Logan Crisafulli[9]; 8. #3-Parker Evans[6]; 9. #13-Keith Granholm[3]; 10. #66-Jordan Hutton[11]; 11. #4P-Chase Moran[4]
Qualifying 2: 1. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[1]; 2. #87-Jason Barney[4]; 3. #45-Chuck Hebing[5]; 4. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[10]; 5. 28-Jordan Poirier[3]; 6. #23M-Max McLaughlin[2]; 7. #41-Dalton Rombough[9]; 8. #33-Lacey Hanson[6]; 9. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 10. 5Z-Zack Burd[7]
Qualifying 3: 1. #01-Danny Varin[5]; 2. #79-Jordan Thomas[2]; 3. #28F-Davie Franek[3]; 4. #10-Jeff Cook[4]; 5. #98-Joe Trenca[8]; 6. #3Z-John Smith IV[7]; 7. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[1]; 8. #21-Steve Glover[6]; 9. #14B-Brett Wright[9]; 10. #10K-Kelly Hebing[10]
