DUNDEE, NY – Chuck Hebing continued his hot streak on Friday night at the Black Rock Speedway as the veteran driver from Ontario, N.Y., captured his third win of the season and his second consecutive Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint (ESS) victory in the 25-lap A-Main event.
Hebing drove his Roush-Yates powered Maxim car to the lead at the start of the event. Through heavy traffic and a few restarts Hebing was not to be denied as he went to ESS Victory Lane for the 15th time in his racing career with his first ever at Black Rock in ESS competition.
“Right now things are going real smooth for us,” said Hebing. “We had some trouble at Can-Am (Motorsports Park) but that wasn’t the cars fault that was the driver running into the yuke tire. The cars have been good and things have been going well.”
Hebing’s race to win was helped by the fact that he started on the pole of the feature thanks to his daughter’s luck during the redraw for the top four finishers from the heat race events. Hebing took the lead at the green by beating Steve Collins into the first turn.
Early on Hebing opened up a wide margin on the competition and by lap three he was already in heavy slower traffic on the four-tenths mile race track. As he worked this traffic, sixth place starter Alain Bergeron made his run up through the competition and worked into second on lap six.
With the race at the halfway point Hebing was working traffic with Bergeron and Scott Kreutter now beginning their charge to try and secure the top position. Hebing was undeterred as he navigated the traffic to near perfection and never gave an opening for Bergeron or Kruetter.
“Traffic can be brutal here,” stated Hebing. “You got to remember that someone is going to slide up in front of you off of turn two and if you are there you going to be put in the fence. I lifted a couple times and that comes from getting older and getting smarter. Staying out of that was the key.”
Lap 16 brought the races first caution as Mike Stelter went spinning in the fourth turn. He was able to get re-fired and join the tail of the field. The double-file restart now saw Hebing and Kruetter together on the front row as under the caution Bergeron headed to the pit area with a right-rear flat.
On the restart another quick yellow was displayed when Brad Knab made hard contact with the outside retaining wall on the back straightaway. A single file restart was then called with Hebing charging back to the lead.
The final incident of the race came only two laps later on lap 18 as Dylan Swiernik and Cory Sparks made contact in turn three breaking the front end of Spark’s ride while causing Swiernik to flip off the outside of turn three. Both drivers were uninjured but had severely damaged race cars.
Once both cars were cleared of the racetrack action resumed with another double-file restart and again Hebing got the lead but Kruetter challenged him every step of the way. On lap 20, Kruetter took his first stab at the lead as he pulled a slider in turns three and four but Hebing drove back by.
With three laps remaining, Kruetter pulled another slide job and again Hebing regained the lead exiting the corner. Then, Hebing moved his lane to the middle groove forcing Kruetter to stay low. Kruetter tried to sneak under Hebing in turns three and four but he got too low and hit a track marker on the inside. No damage was done to the car but Hebing pulled away.
“Scott (Kruetter) did a good job,” said Hebing commenting on the battle on the track. “That is how you are supposed to do slide jobs. He didn’t take my front end off. When I saw him getting too much room I made sure I covered the bottom and took that slide job away from him.”
Hebing went on to take the checkered while Kruetter crossed the line in the runner-up position. In post race inspection it was determined that Kruetter’s car was light and he was disqualified for the night moving up all competitors allowing Steve Poirier, the defending series champion, to finish in second.
“This isn’t something we want to see happen to anyone but we are happy for the points,” commented Poirier after moving up to second. “I had nothing for Hebing they were so good. We are struggling to get the car to hook up. I thought with restarts we would have had a chance at Chuck (Hebing) but we didn’t know how fast he was.”
The race for third was intense the entire distance of the race as well with Kevin Ward Jr. ultimately getting the position at the checkered flag. He held off the advances of Lance Yonge for the final five circuits of the race. Ward advanced 13 positions during the race to earn the WestFront Construction Hard Charger honors.
“It’s a lot of fun to run with Lance (Yonge),” said Ward. “I kind of look up to him and to race against him like that and end up ahead of him at the end of the race feels pretty good.”
Yonge, from nearby Penn Yan, N.Y., was forced to settle for fourth at his home track while Bryan Howland, of Auburn, N.Y., moved from the 11th starting position to finish in fifth.
Rounding out the top ten were rookie Steve Collins, Tim Kelly, who advanced 12 spots, Jared Zimbardi and Quebec mates Michael Parent and Alain Bergeron.
ESS/Black Rock Notes: A total of 25 sprints made the tow to the Yates County oval in ESS’ first full point event in three and a half years…making first starts in 2011 were Howland, Don Adamczyk, Brad Knab, Kreutter, Jeff Frasier and Dave Wickham…With the victory, Hebing now edged past Shawn Donath for the overall point lead…Six-time ESS champion Mal Lane sponsored the Cobra Coaches dash, it was a special victory lane as it was three generations of Lane’s.
Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints A-Main – Chuck Hebing, Steve Poirier, Kevin Ward Jr., Lance Yonge, Bryan Howland, Steve Collins, Tim Kelly, Jared Zimbardi, Michael Parent, Alain Bergeron, Shawn Donath, Shayne Ely, Don Adamczyk, Jeff Cook, Mike Stelter, Brad Knab, Matt Tanner, George Suprick, Cory Sparks, Dylan Swiernik, Paul Habeck, Tyler Rand, Scott Kerutter – DQ Weight.
Lap Leader – Hebing 1-25
Did Not Qualify – Jeff Frasier, Dave Wickham
Car Mate Custom Built Trailer Heat 1 – Kreutter, Sparks, Parent, Zimbardi, Rand, Ward Jr.
Car Mate Custom Built Trailer Heat 2 – Howland, Yonge, Hebing, Donath, Tanner, Suprick
Car Mate Custom Built Trailer Heat 3 – Poirier, Adamczyk, Bergeron, Collins, Ely, Habeck
Lane’s Yamaha/Cobra Coaches Dash – Sparks
Engine Research B-Main – Cook, Kelly, Swiernik, Knab
Added Starter – Stelter
Westward Painting Corp Halfway – Hebing $100
WestFront Construction Hard Charger – Ward Jr. (13 pos.) $50
Ohsweken Speedway Winners Bonus – Hebing $50
Mohawk Racing Parts Pick 5 – Howland $50
Engine Research B-Main – Cook $50
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers – Howland, Poirier $25