By Paul Harkenrider
(Brockville, ONT) In what has been considered a “down year” for five time Patriot Sprint Tour series champion, Jared Zimbardi, everything would fall into place for the Bradford, PA driver Saturday night leading the last 23 laps to pick up his first win of the season over Steve and Jordan Poirier at the Brockville Ontario Speedway.
“I knew from experience here, the track was probably going to take rubber” Zimbardi explained. “I said if I don’t get by Chris Jones on this restart, I am going to go to the top and I did, where from there it was really mine to screw up.
Chris Jones and Zimbardi were fortunate to start up front via the re-draw and they would bring the 20 car field to the green with Jones taking command in the first two laps. Zimbardi began to build momentum on the outside and was able to take the lead on lap three.
Sixth starter Steve Poirier was able to get by Paulie Colagiovanni and his nephew Jordan Poirier take over the third spot and would start to track down the 11J of Chris Jones. Poirier was able to get by Jones with ease on lap seven and start to track down the race leader in Zimbardi.
Jordan also began to pull away from both Jones and Colagiovanni to solidify himself in third. The lone caution came out on lap 13 due to a spinning Rick Wilson which would restack the field.
This would only help Zimbardi as he was able to get back in clean air on a far narrower race track than before with both Poirier’s behind him. Jones really wasn’t contested for fourth but the battle for fifth between Mark Smith and Paulie Colagiovanni as they swapped position in the second half of the race.
Zimbardi would really not be contested and take home his seventh career win at Brockville-Ontario Speedway and his 39th career with the Patriots.
This was Zimbardi first win since August 24, 2018 and he was very excited to return to victory lane. “This wins means a lot, we’ve been struggling” Zimbardi continued. “With a couple injuries that I have tried to get over, then we tried to figure out set ups and shocks and I think we have finally found something that really works.
Steve Poirier has also had a down year to his standards so he was happy to get back on the podium beating out his nephew, Jordan. “It was fun racing Jordan, at some point I thought I would be racing Jared for the front” Poirier mentioned. “On that restart, it took me two or three laps to get going but it was fun racing with Jordan, I had preferred lines early and was able to protect position.”
Jordan Poirier also had a lot of fun racing in the front, especially with his uncle Steve. “It was a lot of fun racing with Steve” Jordan explained “I thought at the beginning I had the preferred line but the rubber came in and I just couldn’t get by him.”
Chris Jones would finish fourth and Paulie Colagiovanni hung on for the top five. Colagiovanni, Jones and Mark Smith were the heat winners. Jason Barney would win the Bonnell’s Rod Shop Dash for Cash.
The tour heads to Cornwall Motor Speedway for Night Two of the PST Canadian Swing. Please be sure to www.patriotsprinttour.com and Like ‘Patriot Sprint Tour’ on facebook.
A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
A-Main: 1) 35-JARED ZIMBARDI (1) 2) 28fm-Steve Poirier 3) 28-Jordan Poirier 4) 11j-Chris Jones 5) 10-Paulie Colagiovanni 6) 55-Mark Smith 7) 53-Shawn Donath 8) 79-Jordan Thomas 9) 28f-Davie Franek 10) 87-Jason Barney 11) 67-Pete Richardson 12) 98-Joe Trenca 13) 01-Kyle Fraser 14) 88-Alain Bergeron 15) 99-John Trenca 16) 42w-Ricky Wilson 17) 98p-Paul Pekkonen 18) 9b-Scott Burk 19) 16L-Roger Levesque 20) 79x-Brian Zyck
Heat 1: 1) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 2) 53-Shawn Donath 3) 35-Jared Zimbardi 4) 79-Jordan Thomas 5) 01-Kyle Fraser 6) 98P-Paul Pekkonen 7) 42-Rick Wilson
Heat 2: 1) 11J- Chris Jones 2) 98-Joe Trenca 3) 99-John Trenca 4) 67-Pete Richardson 5) 9B-Scott Burke 6) 16L-Roger Levesque 7) 79x-Brian Zyck
Heat 3: 1) 55-Mark Smith 2) 28fm-Steve Poirier 3) 28-Jordan Poirier 4) 28f-Davie Franek 5) 87-Jason Barney 6) 88-Alain Bergeron
Bonnell’s Rod Shop Four Laps of Fame Dash: 1) 87-Jason Barney 2) 67-Pete Richardson 3) 28f-Davie Franek 4) 99-John Trenca 5) 01-Kyle Fraser 6) 79-Jordan Thomas