By Curtis Berleue
(Fulton, NY) | For the first time in his career, Dalton Rombough is a 360 sprint car feature winner. Leading all 25 laps of the Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular was the cherry on top of what could be described as both eventful and nearly perfect night for the Lowville, NY driver.
A mishap in hot laps between Matt Farnham and Rombough led to both drivers needing to make repairs before competition even started, though both were able to rebound and make it out for heat race action.
E&V Energy heat race wins went to Tyler Cartier and Dalton Rombough, with both drivers leading every lap of their respective heats.
By virtue of random draw, Rombough then went on to continue his perfect night by drawing the Pinnacle Pole award. Starting directly to his outside was the #10H of Kelly Hebing
On the initial green flag, Rombough jumped out to an early lead over Hebing while her father, Chuck, made the outside work and quickly moved to third from his 6th place starting spot.
While the top 3 rapidly approached lap traffic near the halfway mark, defending event winner Danny Varin was quietly making his way through the pack from his 7th starting position.
The lone caution of the race came on lap 18 as Jeff Cook and Tyler Cartier made contact on the front stretch. The ensuing restart bunched the field back up and gave Varin an opportunity to sneak onto the podium. After a few failed attempts to get by ‘The Cobra’ on the high side, Varin was able to sneak under Hebing entering turn 1 and take away the third position.
Ultimately, neither Varin or the younger Hebing would be able to catch Rombough and he parked the #41 in victory lane for the $4,000 top prize.
“This race is for a special person, I couldn’t ask for a better car and better people around me,” said an emotional Rombough in victory lane. “Before that final restart, I knew my car was nearly perfect, I couldn’t ask for a better car and was just hoping to be able to hit my marks.”
Kelly Hebing was able to fend off her father Chuck for the majority of the race and held on for a second-place finish.
“Four years ago in this race, I ran second the whole race and screwed up,” said Hebing. “The last two years I’ve been third, so hopefully next year we’re standing over there in victory lane.”
Defending winner and the nights PJC Spray Foam Hard Charger Danny Varin came home third.
“We had to make some big moves there, we just started too far back,” said Varin. “The draw is really what killed us today. We rebounded with a good finish, just trying to claw back from that draw.
The next scheduled event for the Empire Super Sprints is this coming Saturday June 24th at the Brockville Ontario Speedway in Brockville, ONT. For the latest news, information, and schedule updates regarding the Empire Super Sprints be sure to check the series website (www.EmpireSuperSprints.com) and follow along on Facebook (Empire Super Sprints), Twitter (@ESSprints) and Instagram (@empiresupersprints).
The Empire Super Sprints would like to thank the following series sponsors for their continued support: Rifenburg Contracting Corp, PJC Spray Foam, Hoosier Racing Tire, Cobra Coaches, E&V Energy, Fondations 4 Saisons, Pinnacle Investments, LLC, Lacaillade Masonry, Inc., FX Caprara, ASI Racewear, Lanes Yamaha, Ashley Lynn Winery, Bicknell Racing Products, DirtTrackDigest.com and LC Design.
The ESS Road Ahead:
Saturday, June 24 – Brockville Ontario Speedway – Brockville, ONT ($2,000 to Win)
Sunday, June 25 – Cornwall Motor Speedway – Cornwall, ONT ($2,000 to Win)
Wednesday, June 28 – Can-Am Speedway – LaFargeville, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Full Results:
A-Main: 1. #41-Dalton Rombough[1]; 2. #10H-Kelly Hebing[2]; 3. #01-Danny Varin[7]; 4. #45-Chuck Hebing[6]; 5. #7NY-Matt Farnham[4]; 6. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[5]; 7. #4P-Chase Moran[10]; 8. #3-Denny Peebles[9]; 9. 5Z-Zack Burd[12]; 10. #36-Logan Crisafulli[8]; 11. (DNF) #23-Tyler Cartier[3]; 12. (DNF) #10-Jeff Cook[11]; 13. (DNF) #90-Matt Tanner[13]
Heat 1: 1. #23-Tyler Cartier[1]; 2. #10H-Kelly Hebing[2]; 3. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[3]; 4. #01-Danny Varin[6]; 5. #3-Denny Peebles[5]; 6. #10-Jeff Cook[7]; 7. #90-Matt Tanner[4]
Heat 2: 1. #41-Dalton Rombough[1]; 2. #7NY-Matt Farnham[3]; 3. #45-Chuck Hebing[5]; 4. #36-Logan Crisafulli[2]; 5. #4P-Chase Moran[6]; 6. 5Z-Zack Burd[4]
Awards & Contingencies:
E&V Energy Heat Winners ($25 each): #23-Tyler Cartier, #41-Dalton Rombough
Pinnacle Pole Draw Award ($25): #41-Dalton Rombough
PJC Spray Foam Hard Charger Award ($50): #01-Danny Varin
Reverse Hard Charger Award: #36-Logan Crisafulli
Pinnacle Investments Last Car Running ($35): #36-Logan Crisafulli
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place (5 gallons fuel): #23-Tyler Cartier
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #41-Dalton Rombough, #10H-Kelly Hebing, #01-Danny Varin