By Paul Harkenirder
(Dundee, NY) The cream certainly rose to the top Saturday night at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, NY. With the facility receiving rain throughout the week, it resulted in an extremely fast and demanding racetrack.
New Jersey’s Davie Franek and Pennsylvania’s Jordan Thomas would bring the 21-car field to the green flag with Franek taking command early, but that did not last long. Lap traffic was already a factor by lap four as Franek got stuck behind a lap car which allowed Thomas to capitalize and take the race lead.
There was also an exciting four-car battle for the third spot which included Mark Smith, Jared Zimbardi, Jonathan Preston and Paulie Colagiovanni. This would continue for nearly the entire race.
After a couple of restarts due to cautions, racing resumed with Thomas still the race leader over Franek, Zimbardi and a charging Colagiovanni. However, A few laps later Colagiovanni found a run up getting by both Franek and Zimbardi and began battling for the race lead with Thomas. Colagiovanni would continue to race on the top side for multiple laps.
On lap 19, he would meet the leader but as Thomas entered turn one, he would hit a rough patch in the track which slid him up the track forcing Colagiovanni to go even higher and eventually had no where to go besides off the turn two banking near the pit entrance. Colagiovanni’s car would come to a stop bringing out another caution, he was however to continue and did not need to go the work area.
On the lap 20 restart, second place runner, Davie Franek was able to establish an excellent line on the bottom which once again forced Thomas to roll through an unpreferred line. Franek was able to get by and take the race lead. Jared Zimbardi was also contesting hard for second but could never complete the pass on Thomas.
Unlike the beginning of the race, lap traffic was not encountered at the end which allowed Franek to run his favored line. Thomas did everything he could but could not recapture the race lead. Jared Zimbardi and Jonathan Preston were also racing hard and it was Preston just getting low enough in turn three and he was able to grab third before the white flag came out, Mark Smith was also able to get on by Zimbardi at the end to finish fourth and Zimbardi would complete the top five. Despite causing a caution on lap 20, Paulie Colagiovanni was able to fight back and finish ninth in the A Main.
This was Franek’s 11th career PST win and second at Outlaw Speedway. Heat winners belonged to Matt Tanner, Jared Zimbardi, and Denny Peebles. Kyle Drum was the Bonnell’s Rod Shop Dash winner and was able to finish 6th in the A Main.
The Patriot Sprint Tour will be headed to Selinsgrove Speedway on Saturday May 8 and the Woodhull Raceway on May 15.
To view the complete race schedule, please visit patriotsprinttour.com and connect with PST on social by liking Patriot Sprint Tour on facebook and following @PatriotSprints on twitter and Instagram.
A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
A-Main 1) 28F-DAVIE FRANEK (1) 2) 79- Jordan Thomas 3) 22- Jonathan Preston 4) m1- Mark Smith 5) 35- Jared Zimbardi 6) 47- Kyle Drum 7) 14b- Brett Wright 8) 3- Denny Peebles 9) 10c-Paulie Colagiovanni 10) 00- Danny Varin 11) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 12) 5k- Jake Karklin 13) 2- Dave Axton 14) 21- Will Glover 15) 5-Craig Lane 16) 61- Parker Evans 17) 67- Steve Glover 18) 90- Matt Tanner 19) 98- Joe Trenca 20) 36b- Brian Preston 21) 36- John Trenca
Heat 1: 1) 90- Matt Tanner 2) M1- Mark Smith 3) 14B- Brett Wright 4) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 5) 00- Danny Varin 6) 61- Parker Evans 7) 36- John Trenca
Heat 2) 1) 35- Jared Zimbardi 2) 22- Jonathan Preston 3) 28f- Davie Franek 4) 79- Jordan Thomas 5) 21- Will Glover 6) 2- Dave Axton 7) 5- Craig Lane
Heat 3: 1) 3- Denny Peebles 2) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 3) 5K- Jake Karklin 4) 47- Kyle Drum 5) 67- Steve Glover 6) 36b- Brian Preston 7) 98- Joe Trenca
Bonnell’s Rod Shop Dash for Cash: 1) 47- Kyle Drum 2) 14B- Brett Wright 3) 00- Danny Varin 4) 5- Jake Karklin 5) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 6) 36b- Brian Preston