9.21.13 Empire Super Sprints Results
FONDA, N.Y. – Jeff Cook was very emotional Saturday afternoon after claiming his first Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint A-Main victory in over three-years. The Antwerp, N.Y., veteran had a little luck on his side as he drove the win the $2,000 victory for the Earl Halaquist Memorial at the Fonda Speedway.
“This is unbelievable,” said Cook. Whose prior best finish this year was a third place effort at I-88 Speedway. “It’s been a struggle this year. We finally did it. Just about when were ready to give up things finally went our way.”
Cook started the feature from the outside of the third row. He made a couple moves early to move up into the third position. He used a restart just after the halfway point to get into second then Steve Poirier made a mistake in traffic handing the lead to Cook and eventually the victory.
“I’d rather be lucky than good any day,” said an elated Cook in Victory Lane at the famed oval. “But I need to thank the girls that work on the car, especially my wife Lori. They are the ones that make me do this.”
Stewart Friesen took the lead early on in the affair after starting on the pole for the feature. He remained the leader over the course of the first five laps before caution was displayed as he slowed on the backstretch after losing the motor. This gave the lead to Poirier who had started third.
Poirier opened the advantage on Cook on the restart pulling away to a several car length advantage. By lap 12 Poirier started working his way through traffic with Cook on the back bumper. Two laps later another caution brought the action to standstill as Justin Barger spun in turn four.
Once Barger’s car was cleared away, racing resumed as Poirier again had the preferred line on the bottom to hold the lead with Cook dropping in line behind him. They stayed first and second as traffic again became an issue by lap 19. As Poirier worked in traffic he attempted to go to the outside of a slower car and got lose and spun getting into the wall handling the lead to Cook.
“I could not believe that I saw Steve Poirier spin out,” said Cook. “I looked up and thanked God.”
The ensuring restart saw contact between Josh Pieniazek and Paul Kinney start a several car melee as the field raced off of turn four. Both drivers fought for the bottom groove bringing about the contact. Kinney got hard into the inside wall while Pieniazek slammed the outside wall. Others collected in the incident included Warren Alexson, Kyle Dutcher and Kevin Ward Jr. All drivers were uninjured in the incident.
With two cautions on the same lap a single-file restart was called for allowing Cook to set the pace at the green. He got a great jump holding off Donath and led the final six laps for his first series win since August 27, 2010 at Autodrome Granby.
“Made me feel better that it was a single-file restart,” stated Cook. “There were six laps to go. I didn’t know where Shawn (Donath) was but I knew he was back there and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t make a mistake.”
Donath, of South Onondaga, N.Y., earned a second place finish. Donath always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for the restarts as he was in the outside groove.
“Congratulations to Jeff Cook, a well-deserved win for a great group of guys,” commented Donath. “Our car was good. We just kept getting hung out in the wrong lane on the restarts. I was happy to see that last restart go single-file.”
Lance Yonge, the 2012 winner of this event, drove up to third after starting the feature from the 13th starting position. He was patient on the bottom
of the speedway driving his way up through.
“I like this place,” said Yonge. “We knew what the track was going to be. We set the car up to run the bottom and made some moves early to get up through and here we are.”
Local favorite, Jessica Zemken, finished in the fourth position while weekly Modified driver, Danny Varin completed the top five.
Matt Tanner finished in sixth with Sam Reakes IV crossing the line seventh. Etienne Girard was the eighth place finisher and Jason Barney followed him to the line in ninth. Poirier recovered to finish in tenth which was good enough to propel him to his fourth series title.
“It was a marvelous year,” said the now four-time champion. “I wish today ended better. The year went prefect, only one dnf. We had a pretty good car all year long. At the end we got our fourth championship and that is pretty good.”
A very special dash was run in memory of Bill Anagonostopulos the owner of the Winner’s Circle Restaurant, a Fonda Favorite. $1300 was raised for the purse with Shawn Donath taking the win.
ESS/Fonda Notes: A total of 23 sprints made the two despite threatening weather conditions all over New York State…New Hampshire’s Shawn Walker made his first ever ESS start…With his tenth place finish, Steve Poirier also claimed the Today’s Options Stars and Stripes title…Thanks to the Fonda Speedway management for moving the A-Main up the order to beat the on coming weather…Next Sat. some of ESS’ best will be heading to Selinsgrove for the 360 National Open paying $8,000 to win.
Earl Halaquist Memorial – Jeff Cook ($2,300), Shawn Donath, Lance Yonge, Jessica Zemken, Danny Varin, Matt Tanner, Sam Reakes IV, Etienne Girard, Jason Barney, Steve Poirier, Joe Trenca, Paul Kinney, Kevin Ward Jr., Dylan Swiernik, Kyle Dutcher, Dave Axton, Warren Alexson, Justin Barger, Cory Sparks, Stewart Friesen, Chuck Hebing, Shawn Walker, Josh Pieniazek.
Lap Leaders – Friesen (1-6), Steve Poirier (7-19), Cook (20-25)
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 1 – Varin, Friesen, Tanner, Trenca, Yonge, Barney
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 2 – Poirier, Cook, Swiernik, Reakes IV, Zemken, Kinney
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 3 – Donath, Pieniazek, Sparks, Hebing, Barger, Ward Jr.
Winners Circle/Cobra Coaches Dash – Donath