BREWERTON, NY – Steve Poirier captured his seventh victory of the season on Friday night in the 25-lap Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint A-Main event at the Brewerton Speedway. It was his 37th career win with the series which places him behind only Mike Woodring on the All-Time Series win list.
Poirier started sixth in the field and got the front quickly taking the lead before lap 7 was complete from local favorite Shawn Donath. He then survived numerous late race restarts to make his way to Brewerton Speedway Victory Lane for the first time.
“This is an important win,” said Poirier. “We won races in Quebec but winning ESS races at different tracks is a really good thing and I’m really proud of my team. It means a lot to me and the team to move into second on the list.”
Donath started on the pole with Patrick Vigneault on the outside of the front row. Donath controlled the field as he dove to the bottom of the speedway in turns one and two allowing him to take the lead. He remained the leader while Poirier moved into second on lap three.
Donath and Poirier entered slower traffic on lap six. This slowed Donath’s pace and allowed Poirier to make his move. Poirier tucked underneath him in slower traffic in turn two to take the lead on lap seven. He made the pass even though he caught an implement tire on the bottom of the speedway and bounced the car in the air.
“I wasn’t proud of myself,” stated Poirier. “I hit the tire twice on the bottom. You had to be really close to it because there was a tacky portion there. The car was spinning and when you hit that part you are really flying. I wasn’t happy that I messed up that time.”
The pair continued to hold the top two positions with Poirier initially opening the gap until he too was slowed by slower cars battling for position. Donath was about to make his move to get back by Poirier in traffic when the red flag came out on lap 17 as Doug Emery go upside down in turn two. He was uninjured.
Poirier and Donath were together for the restart. Poirier left a small opening on the bottom and as Donath tried to drive through it he got into an implement tire himself, broke the front end bringing out another caution and sending him to the pits.
Once action finally resumed, Poirier maintained the lead with Chuck Hebing pulling into the second spot by driving around Jason Barney. They were the top two when the final caution came out on lap 22. Kevin Ward Jr. spun in turn four bringing out the race’s final caution.
“My car was pushing really bad at the end of the race and I saw the 45 (Hebing) outside of me,” said Poirier. “I thought oh no I’m in trouble. I tried to keep the car on the bottom but I knew he started way back and he must have had a super car. I just tried to hang on at the end.”
On the final restart Hebing drove into turns one and two on the outside and did all he could to get by Poirier for the win but he was unable to make a second strait dramatic late race pass forcing him to settle for second in the final rundown.
“Having all those restarts caused me to abuse my car pretty good,” said Hebing. “If one of them could have gone through I probably would have had a better chance. That last restart I got greedy down in one and two and I tried to get more than was on the track and I slid up and Steve (Poirier) got away.”
Hebing had a great car though as he moved from the 13th starting position in the field to score the second place tally.
“We had a real good car,” said Hebing of his Maxim mount. “I wouldn’t change anything about it. I just got too hot on one of those restarts. I tried but didn’t get it done. It’s feels good to though to keep getting good finishes.”
For the second consecutive race, Barney earned a third place finish in front of a large crowd of friends and family that had come out to support him at his home track.
“I’m happy to be down on the frontstretch and have everyone come down and see what it is all about,” said Barney who drives the Schneider Packaging #87. “I’m glad everyone came out. We had a great race car tonight but things just didn’t play out for us. I was really good on the long runs and with all those restarts I was just too tight.”
Charlie Donk earned his best ESS finish of the season as he crossed the line in fourth with Lance Yonge, of Penn Yan, N.Y., completing the top five. The next five was made up of Rick Wilson, who earned the hard charger bonus after starting in 18th, Vigneault, Tommy Wickham, Jeff Cook and Paul Habeck.
ESS/Brewerton Notes: A field of 23 sprints in the pits with a big crowd on hand at the famed d-shaped dirt oval…Tyler Rand had a week to forget, getting upside down Wed. at Utica-Rome and then blowing the motor just after warm-ups…A horrible night for the Donath/Emery/Sparks teammates. Donath hit the inside tire while in second, Emery flipped while in the top ten and Sparks found his car cartwheeling with three laps to go ending his night…Next up for the Lucas Oil Series will be the A-Main make-up at Canandaigua on Sept. 3, then to Utica-Rome the next night followed by the added event on Sept. 10th at Can-Am.
Lucas Oil/Schneider Packaging A-Main – Steve Poirier (37th Career win, second on all-time ESS list), Chuck Hebing, Jason Barney, Charlie Donk, Lance Yonge, Rick Wilson, Patrick Vigneault, Tommy Wickham, Jeff Cook, Paul Habeck, Mike Stelter, Matt Tanner, Michael Parent, Dave Wickham, Kury Gurney, Shayne Ely, April Wilson, Kevin Ward Jr., Shawn Donath, Doug Emery, Cory Sparks, Brandon Warner.
DNS – Tyler Rand
Lap Leaders – Donath 1-6, Poirier 7-25
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 1 – Donath, Habeck, Gurney, Donk, Hebing, T. Wickham, Sparks, A. Wilson
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 2 – Stelter, Ely, Tanner, Emery, Parent, D. Wickham, Warner, Ward Jr.
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 3 – Poirier, Yonge, Barney, Vigneault, Cook, R. Wilson, Rand.
ACR Race Products/X-1 Race Cars/Cobra Coaches Dash – Donath.
Westward Painting Corp Halfway – Poirier $100
WestFront Construction Hard Charger – R. Wilson (12 pos.) $50
Ohsweken Speedway Winners Bonus – Poirier $50
Mohawk Racing Parts Pick 5 – Yonge $50
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heats – Donath, Stelter, Poirier $25
HG Associates Fast Time – Donath (13.530). $25