9.19.14 Empire Super Sprints Results
FONDA, NY – Steve Poirier captured his fifth career Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint series title on Friday night at the Fonda Speedway. The St. Mathieu de Beloeil, Que., driver started on the pole of the 25- lap E&V Energy Tour of the States A-Main and never relinquished the top spot while on his way to his sixth win of the 2014 season.
“Feels great to finish the season strong like that,” commented Poirier. “We had a good car and a good starting position. The track was so fast tonight and it was fun driving that car. Thanks to Kevin Loveys and Real Douville for preparing me a good car all year long. We didn”t have any failures this season. We had a lucky season, we always had a good car and it was fun to drive it.”
The Quebec star also secured the E&V Energy Tour of the States title as well making for a memorable season.
Poirier and Tommy Wickham started on the front of the 22-car starting field with Poirier getting the jump heading into the first turn. He outpaced Wickham down the backstretch to pull away allowing him to lead the first lap.
Before a second lap could be scored Russ Bennett dove low in turn four to avoid a sideways car in the middle of the corner. He made contact with an implement tire on the bottom of the speedway breaking the left side of his No. 65. He went back up the track and flipped over. It was a soft roll and Bennett was okay.
Green was shown a second time and the result was the same as the first with Poirier pulling away from Wickham. As those two paced the field Stewart Friesen was busy advancing from the 10th position into top five. By lap three he was already up to third.
The top three remained unchanged over the early stages of the race with Poirier continuing to dominate the race. With seven laps in, Matt DeLorenzo, driving Mike VanDusen’s No. 56, slowed in the third turn with brake issues necessitating another stoppage in the action.
Poirier had no troubles when the green lights came back on as he bolted away from Wickham again. Wickham on the other hand had his hands full with Friesen. Friesen was all over Wickham looking for a way to take over the runner-up spot.
Just before the halfway point on lap 11 Jessica Zemken came to a stop in turn four with an apparent left rear flat. As a result the caution lights came on for the final time during the event. She had been running in the top five at the time of the flat.
Poirier was flawless yet again on the restart as he shot away from Wickham. Wickham dove low in turn one as he made an attempt to get around Poirier. This opened the top lane for Friesen who took advantage of the open door and went on by for the second spot.
At the halfway point it was all Poirier with Friesen, Wickham and Jeff Cook with top four and Larry Wight advancing from the 19th starting spot up to fifth.
Poirier and Friesen were the class of the field out in front as the laps clicked off. They raced away from the third place battle that saw three cars all over each other. Wickham held the spot while Cook and Wight did all they could to wrestle the position away.
Over the final five laps Poirier found himself again in slower traffic. He battled his way through using both every inch of the racing surface.
“When I got to dirty air the front started to push a little bit,” said Poirier. “I didn’t know how close the second place car was and you don’t want to risk it and destroy the car. I tried to go a decent, careful pace. My car was so good. I think I was slower on the inside but I could still pass cars down there.”
At the conclusion it was Poirier earning the 46 win of his Empire Super Sprint career. Friesen, of Sprakers, N.Y., finished in the second spot aboard Doug Emery’s No. 33. He battled a tight race car in the final laps after his wing slider malfunctioned.
“The wing adjuster backed off and the wing buried itself all the way in the trunk,” commented Friesen. “It was a handful on track like this. We’ll salvage a second. I’m proud of that and proud of our guys tonight. I don’t know if we had anything for Steve (Poirier) anyway he was a rocket ship tonight. Congrats to them guys and running one – two with him is always a shot in the arm for us.”
Cook snuck by Wickham on the final lap in turns three and four to grab the third position at the checkered flag. He was the defending race winner and had a good car for much of the night allowing him to finish in the final spot on the podium.
“We’ll take it,” stated Cook about his third place finish. “This place had a lot of bite tonight. It was a good, fun, racey place. We had fun. We put the car up on the top because we knew that was the only way we were going to get by anyone.”
Wickham crossed the line fourth but was placed last in the run-down for not going to the scales after the race. This placed Wight in the fourth spot and moved Danny Varin into the fifth position.
ESS/Fonda Notes: For the first time, the year end weekend at the Track of Champions kicked off on Friday night and produced a nice field of 27 cars…Zach Weigand had engine woes during the heats as was done early…Jared Fink took a wild ride in his heat but came away unharmed…How fast was the ½ Mile? 15.415 was turned by Jessica Zemken during the heats which was a new track record.
LUCAS OIL EMPIRE SUPER SPRINT (ESS) FEATURE – 25-LAPS – STEVE PIORIER ($1,615), Stewart Friesen, Jeff Cook, Larry Wight, Danny Varin, Jason Barney, Shawn Donath, Matt Tanner, Paul Kinney, Dave Axton, Parker Evans, Joe Trenca, Kory Gurney, Mike Stelter, Rob Dietrich, Cory Sparks, Jessica Zemken, Matt DeLorenzo, Paul Habeck, Dane Lorenc, Russ Bennett, Tommy Wickham
Lap Leader – Poirier 1-25.
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 1 – Zemken, Donath, Cook, Kinney, Trenca, Gurney
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 2 – Stelter, Axton, Tanner, Poirier, Barney, Varin
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 3 – Friesen, Wickham, Evans, Dietrick, Sparks, Fink
Beard Sewer and Drain/Cobra Coaches Dash – Friesen
Lacaillade Masonry B-Main – Lorenc, Wight, Habeck, DeLorenzo.
Scratched – Fink, Added – Bennett.
Bonuses:
Westward Painting Company Halfway – Poirier $100
Insinger Performance Hard Charger – Wight (15 pos.) $50
Fondations 55 Pick 5 – Varin $50
Lacaillade Masonry In Memory of Kevin Ward Jr. – Gurney $50
Car Mate Trailers Heats – Zemken, Stelter, Friesen $25
Go Nuclear Late Models Go Fast – Poirier (16.055) $25
Bitner Automotive Blistering Fast Time Award – Zemken (15.415, NTR)- $25