From Curtis Berleue
VERNON, N.Y. (June 29, 2023) — For the second time in 2023, Danny Varin found himself in Empire Super Sprints Victory Lane, this time at the Utica-Rome Speedway for the Bill Shea Memorial night as part of the 2023 ESS CNY Speedweek.
Leading the field to the green flag in the 25-lap main event were Pinnacle Pole Award winner Chuck Hebing and Jeff Cook. As the field made their way through turns one and two, Hebing would jump out to an early lead over Cook and the #01 of Danny Varin.
The first caution of the event flew on lap 3 for the #22 of Jonathan Preston, who got over the bank in turn 2 while running in 12th.
On the ensuing restart, Danny Vain was able to slip by the #10 of Cook, and the following lap continued right by Hebing to take the lead. As Varin pulled away, Cook fought his way back into the second spot past Hebing.
While Cook began to track down Varin for the lead, last nights winner Jordan Poirier was busy passing cars and had made his way into the top 3 from his 7th starting position by lap 15.
As the lead duo reached lap traffic, Varin was able to use the slower cars to his advantage and put some distance between himself and Cook.
A caution for Lacey Hanson bunched the field up and gave the field one more shot at improving their finish. As the green flag waved again, Hebing was able to get back by both Poirier and Cook and make a last-ditch effort to get by Varin, but ultimately he had nothing for the #01 and Varin would pick up his second ESS victory of 2023.
“The track was tricky tonight, it was almost like you had something to lean on with your right rear, but the left rear was slick,” said Varin in victory lane. “When I got past Cobra, I moved down a lane and felt better there.”
“Towards the end, I kept seeing Cook poke his nose under me, and I said, ‘I think the bottom is where we have to be’ and at the end it felt good down there.
Starting on the pole, Chuck Hebing led the first handful of laps before falling back as far as 4th before rebounding for a second-place finish.
“We had a good car all night,” said Hebing. “That restart helped me, nobody wanted the top so I gave it one more shot and it worked out.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Jeff Cook.
“I was doggin’ him (Varin) pretty hard on the bottom there for a while,” said Cook. “Once he saw me keep coming to his inside, a good racer – which he is – will take care of that pretty quick.”
“We’ve been working at our program really hard, hopefully it will come around our way soon.”
With 30 cars signed into the pit area, the field was split into three timed hot lap groups to start the night. Earning Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time Awards were Shawn Donath, Jordan Thomas and Chuck Hebing. E&V Energy heat race wins went to Dylan Swiernik, Danny Varin and Paulie Colagiovanni, while the Cobra Coaches/Kinney’s Car Care dash was won by Shawn Donath.
In B-Main action, Logan Crisafulli picked up the win and punched his ticket into the A-Main along with Josh Pieniazek, Jordan Thomas, Tyler Cartier, Bobby Breen and Lacey Hanson.
Central New York Speedweek
Empire Super Sprints
Utica-Rome Speedway
Vernon, New York
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Qualifying Flight A
1. #53-Shawn Donath, 16.068[3]
2. 28-Jordan Poirier, 16.232[9]
3. #3-Parker Evans, 16.326[1]
4. #7NY-Matt Farnham, 16.328[6]
5. #28F-Davie Franek, 16.396[4]
6. #7C-Dylan Swiernik, 16.457[5]
7. #36-Logan Crisafulli, 16.562[8]
8. #4P-Chase Moran, 16.706[7]
9. 29-Dalton Herrick, 16.853[10]
10. #33-Lacey Hanson, 17.007[2]
Qualifying Flight B
1. #79-Jordan Thomas, 16.048[1]
2. #99K-Mike Kiser, 16.063[2]
3. #01-Danny Varin, 16.467[5]
4. #41-Dalton Rombough, 16.549[10]
5. #17-Sammy Reakes IV, 16.683[9]
6. #13T-Trevor Years, 16.698[7]
7. #88C-Chad Miller, 16.755[4]
8. #23-Tyler Cartier, 17.069[6]
9. #13-Keith Granholm, 17.156[3]
DNS: 5Z-Zack Burd, 17.156
Qualifying Flight C
1. #45-Chuck Hebing, 16.113[8]
2. #22-Jonathan Preston, 16.262[9]
3. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni, 16.281[3]
4. #87-Jason Barney, 16.391[7]
5. #90-Matt Tanner, 16.430[10]
6. #10-Jeff Cook, 16.475[5]
7. #9-Josh Pieniazek, 16.682[4]
8. 56-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 16.689[2]
9. 9B-Bobby Breen, 16.738[6]
DNS: #10H-Kelly Hebing, 16.738
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. #53-Shawn Donath[1]
2. #22-Jonathan Preston[3]
3. #3-Parker Evans[4]
4. 56-Billy VanInwegen Jr[6]
5. #41-Dalton Rombough[5]
DNS: #88C-Chad Miller
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[1]
2. #7NY-Matt Farnham[3]
3. #28F-Davie Franek[2]
4. 28-Jordan Poirier[5]
5. #53-Shawn Donath[6]
6. #3-Parker Evans[4]
7. #36-Logan Crisafulli[7]
8. #4P-Chase Moran[8]
9. #33-Lacey Hanson[10]
10. 29-Dalton Herrick[9]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. #01-Danny Varin[4]
2. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[2]
3. #13T-Trevor Years[1]
4. #99K-Mike Kiser[5]
5. #88C-Chad Miller[7]
6. #41-Dalton Rombough[3]
7. #23-Tyler Cartier[8]
8. #13-Keith Granholm[9]
9. #79-Jordan Thomas[6]
DNS: 5Z-Zack Burd
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[4]
2. #10-Jeff Cook[1]
3. #45-Chuck Hebing[6]
4. #90-Matt Tanner[2]
5. #22-Jonathan Preston[5]
6. 56-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]
7. #9-Josh Pieniazek[7]
8. 9B-Bobby Breen[9]
9. #87-Jason Barney[3]
DNS: #10H-Kelly Hebing
B-Main (10 Laps)
1. #36-Logan Crisafulli[1]
2. #9-Josh Pieniazek[3]
3. #79-Jordan Thomas[8]
4. #23-Tyler Cartier[2]
5. 9B-Bobby Breen[6]
6. #33-Lacey Hanson[7]
7. #4P-Chase Moran[4]
8. #13-Keith Granholm[5]
9. 29-Dalton Herrick[10]
DNS: #87-Jason Barney
DNS: 5Z-Zack Burd
DNS: #10H-Kelly Hebing
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. #01-Danny Varin[4]
2. #45-Chuck Hebing[1]
3. #10-Jeff Cook[2]
4. 28-Jordan Poirier[7]
5. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[9]
6. #87-Jason Barney[24]
7. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[8]
8. #90-Matt Tanner[5]
9. 56-Billy VanInwegen Jr[16]
10. #99K-Mike Kiser[6]
11. #53-Shawn Donath[13]
12. #28F-Davie Franek[11]
13. #3-Parker Evans[15]
14. #79-Jordan Thomas[20]
15. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[10]
16. #41-Dalton Rombough[17]
17. #36-Logan Crisafulli[18]
18. #13T-Trevor Years[3]
19. #4P-Chase Moran[25]
20. 9B-Bobby Breen[22]
21. #33-Lacey Hanson[23]
22. #7NY-Matt Farnham[12]
23. #22-Jonathan Preston[14]
24. #9-Josh Pieniazek[19]
25. #23-Tyler Cartier[21]