8.25.15 Empire Super Sprints Results
AFTON, NY – Everything went Matt Tanner’s way on Tuesday night at the I-88 Speedway in the Earl Halaquist Memorial for the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints. The Stephentown, N.Y., driver lost the lead early but later prevailed to win the $2,550 top for his third career series win the race presented by Mach-1 Chassis.
“This is great,” commented Tanner. “This year we haven’t been going that good. Not horrible, seventh and eighth. It isn’t the expectations we had going into the season. We thought we’d get more of these. This is a great time of the year to start running good.”
In an ironic twist, both Tanner and his girlfriend Emily VanInwegen redrew the pole for their respective events. VanInwegen went out and won the companion 305 feature in which she was aided by a caution that cleared the track of slower traffic allowing her to set sail for the win. Tanner was aided by a late race caution that saw the top two get together giving him the lead and the eventual win.
“Emily (VanInwegen) set the bar pretty high but we caught a few breaks in the feature and that really helped us out,” said Tanner. “I got the wing back late, it felt like a totally different car and that sealed the deal.”
Tanner was flanked by Chuck Hebing at the start of the 25-lap event with Hebing quickly making use of his front row starting position to secure the lead at the green flag. Tanner ran second as he pursued Hebing on the tight third-mile.
As Hebing worked traffic on lap eight he got together with Pete Richardson as they exited turn four. Richardson got out of shape on the front straightaway and Hebing had no place to go running over his right side. Richardson stopped to bring out the caution while Hebing remained on track and in the race lead.
After Richardson re-fired, the field was ready again to go back racing. Hebing blasted back to the front with Parker Evans now taking over the runner-up position. They remained first and second as Hebing entered traffic for a second time at the half-way point.
Evans began to reel in Hebing as the battled traffic. As the laps clicked off he moved closer and closer to the 45. On lap 18 he went for it and dove under Hebing entering into the third turn. Contact was made that sent both drivers up into the outside wall causing another yellow while handling the lead to Tanner.
After a couple attempts at the restart, Tanner drove out to the lead as Jason Barney and Chad Miller challenged one another for second. Barney was able to get by on lap 20 for second then he set his sights on Tanner as he looked for second Empire Super Sprint win of the season.
One more caution slowed the field on lap 23 as the front end of Jeff Cook’s car collapsed causing him to come to an abrupt stop on the backstretch. Tanner initially went low before settling on the outside lane for the restart. This proved to be the difference maker as he held off Barney and then Danny Varin to cruise to the victory.
“On the single-file restarts I had been starting on the top and I kept getting a real good run,” stated Tanner. “I saw it was Jason (Barney) next to me so I knew I couldn’t screw up at all. At the same time I was giving Jason Barney the bottom so it was a tough decision there but it worked out.”
Varin, of Fonda, N.Y., came home second after redrawing the 11th starting spot for the feature. Varin found a nice line on the outside of the speedway which allowed him to roll up through the field.
“It was real tough in the beginning because we really weren’t going that good, but once the fuel got burned off we started running better,” said Varin. “I made most of my passes up on the high-side. The car was good there, I just didn’t have enough on the bottom. I knew if we could get a good jump on that last restart we could make a race out of it.”
Barney settled for third. The Brewerton, N.Y., native gave it all he could in the final laps but he knew he was in trouble when Tanner elected to the outside groove for the restart.
“We really had a good car,” Barney said after the feature. “I really didn’t know what to do in the beginning. I just searched and searched and searched around with my wing and finally got it in the right spot. Matt (Tanner) pulled a great move by picking the outside lane. I was really going to feel bad for him if he didn’t because the outside was really good on restarts. He fired awesome and that allowed Danny to get outside of us and once he did he pinched us down a bit and we lost our momentum. It was a good race, we finally came here and ran decent.”
Former I-88 Speedway Modified track champion Mike Mahaney finished in the fourth position after he started 15th. He was followed to the checkered flag by 14th place starter Shawn Donath.
ESS/I88 Notes – A nice field of 23 cars made the tow on a Tuesday night…Making first ever ESS start was Doug Crews and first start of 2015 was Steve Hutchinson…Many Members from the Halaquist Family were on hand and they also sponsored the dash event…Tom Schmeh also came out from Knoxville, Iowa representing the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame….Next up are trips to Autodrome Granby and Le RPM Speedway for $2,000 to win, $500 to start events.
Earl Halaquist Memorial A-Main – Matt Tanner ($2,525), Danny Varin ($1,525), Jason Barney ($1,000), Mike Mahaney ($690), Shawn Donath ($650), Paul Kinney ($745), Chad Miller ($430), Thomas Radivoy ($445), Paulie Colagiovanni ($470), Kyle Pitts ($450), Tim Axton ($385), Steve Hutchinson ($355), George Suprick ($300), Denny Peebles ($290), Pete Richardson ($285), Jeff Cook ($330), Justin Barger ($275), Tommy Wickham ($380), Chuck Hebing ($315), Parker Evans ($260), Dave Axton ($255), Doug Crews ($250), Mike Stelter ($450)
Lap Leaders – Hebing 1-18, Tanner 19-25
Car Mate Trailers $25 to win Heats – D. Axton, Radivoy, Varin
Halaquist Family – Cobra Coaches Dash – Wickham $110
Bonuses:
Insinger Fuels Hard Charger – Kinney (12 pos.) $50
Engler Machine and Tool Halfway – Hebing $50
Ohsweken Speedway 20th Anniversary – Evans $50
SUNY Canton Smart Move – Cook $50
Beard Sewer and Drain Determination Award – Pitts $50
Fondations 55 Pick 5 – Donath $35
Bitner Automotive Blistering Fast Time – Tanner (13.898) $25
9/11 Restoration – Colagiovanni and T. Axton $25
Hoosier Tire – Stelter $200
Vahlco Wheels – Kinney $190