By Steven Ovens
(VERNON, NY) – In front of a great crowd of A-Verdi Storage Containers CRSA Sprints teams, crew, family and officials, Jordan Hutton was crowned CRSA Sprints champion for the first time in his career. 2023 was Hutton’s third season of competition in which was by far a breakout season and one that will be hard to rival in seasons to come.
Hutton started off his 2023 CRSA campaign with a huge win at Land of Legends Raceway on May 13. He would go on to win three of the first seven races on tour. In all, Hutton captured 5 CRSA checkered flags as he and runner up Dalton Herrick clashed for the title. When crunch time arrived, the combination of Hutton and Herrick would win five out of the last six points races.
The 2021 CRSA Outstanding Newcomer award recipient would finish the season with five wins, eleven top fives and twelve top tens in fourteen starts. The championship almost unraveled at Genesee Speedway in September when a low dollar part failed.
Hutton’s DNF that night was made worse by his rival championship contender Herrick scoring the win. That win closed the gap but would ultimately be the final point show as Short Track Supernationals Weekend at Afton was cancelled due to rain in October.
Hutton swept the season both with CRSA and at Land of Legends Raceway. The Hannibal, NY pilot won the CRSA Championship, LOLR weekly sanctioned points title, LOLR DisBatch Brewing Challenge Series and the Pit Stop Convenience Stores “I-90 Pit Stop Challenge” which saw races battled out along the New York State Thruway.
For their success as a team in 2023, Hutton’s father Jeremy was awarded Mechanic of the Year honors. Their one blemish on the season was a part failure as Jeremy had two able and willing cars available at all times to compete both on tour and weekly at Land of Legends Raceway.
By virtue of gaining 60 positions in A-Main competition over the course of 2023, Hutton was awarded the Powdertech Powdercoatings Hard Charger of the Year. In all prize categories combined Hutton took home the lion’s share of a record $18,400 point fund, with his share totaling $3,450. Twenty different drivers were awarded cash prizes from the record point fund thanks to the laundry list of CRSA marketing partners.
Runner up Dalton Herrick and third place points finisher Tomy Moreau shared their thoughts in front of the crowd while collecting their hardware and point fund earnings.
Rookie of the Year went to Deansboro, NY’s Dustin Sehn in what was a very close Rookie points battle with Kirsten Dombroski. Dombroski, a second-generation sprint car driver and niece of multi-time Empire Super Sprints champion Lance Yonge, was awarded with the CRSA Dedication Award for her team’s drive and never-give-up attitude at each tour event.
He’s still looking for his first 305 Sprint Car win but Dillon Paddock was absolutely the show in many of CRSA’s 2023 events. His always on the gas drives earned him the Outstanding Newcomer for 2023.
Tomy Moreau took a big step in 2023 with his first two CRSA wins at Outlaw Speedway and Fonda Speedway. The young driver from Sherbrooke, QUE, Canada was honored with CRSA’s Most Improved Driver.
John Cunningham is quiet, doesn’t make a lot of waves in the pits but puts forth incredible effort to support all of CRSA’s shows throughout the season. Cunningham from Pompey, NY was recognized with the CRSA Sprints Sportsmanship Award. A season with several nasty on-track incidents earned Tyler Chartrand the award no driver wants to receive at the banquet- the Tough Luck Award.
Spencer, NY’s Kyle Pierce was awarded Best Appearing Car for his green and purple No. 9K. What made his 2023 mount so unique was his popular graphic of Pierce half in his racing suit and half in his shirt and tie that he wears as a fourth grade teacher at Spencer-Van Etten Elementary. Pierce was recently recognized as the PEAK Performer of the Month in his classroom for his efforts in and out of the classroom- see the CRSA Sprints website for more details.
Matt Priscott Racing was recognized with the CRSA Sprints Perseverance Award for their never-wavering support to get to the track when they are able to. Driver Aaron Shelton would help the Priscott owned team score their first career Top 5 finish with a podium finish of third at Thunder Mountain Speedway on July 23.
Mike Emhof presented the CRSA Service Award to Gil Alexander who has been an asset to the CRSA Sprints and the Mike Emhof Motorsports parts trailer for the last eight years. Alexander is constant light at the races, always greeting customers and series supporters with a smile and great conversation.
In a twist of a driver giveaway, the Magsarus Magneto was awarded to Dalton Herrick. All eligible drivers were placed on an electronic wheel spin program and as the wheel landed on a driver’s name that driver was eliminated. The final two spin came down to Herrick and Dustin Sehn. Additionally, Paul Cole of Super Gen Products provided a Champion generator for a giveaway which was won by random draw by Tyler Chartrand.
Emhof concluded the CRSA portion of the banquet by informing the drivers and teams that a similar schedule of approximately 20 races is in the works for 2024. Weekly sanctioned competition will continue at Land of Legends Raceway on Saturday nights, with more information to come this offseason. Several tracks on the 2023 schedule have re-upped for 2024.
CRSA HISTORICAL SEASON: The CRSA Sprints started their 2023 campaign with a historical night at Weedsport Speedway as the tour matched the record of 33 entries which was set in 2022.
Billy VanInwegen Jr. and Cory Sparks now have tied Josh Pieniazek all-time with eleven seasons straight with at least one Top 5 finish.
Jordan Hutton becomes the twelfth different champion in CRSA Sprints history.
Tomy Moreau and Tim Iulg were first-time winners added to the CRSA Sprints history books in 2023.
New Top 5 finishers that were added in 2023 included Dillon Paddock, Blake Warner, Nathan Pierce, Timmy Lotz, Tim Iulg, Aaron Shelton and Tyler Graves.
Dalton Herrick moved into fifth place all-time with 49 career CRSA Top Fives.
Many thanks to Tom Skibinski for his efforts in compiling the overall statistics dating back to 2006.
The A-Verdi Storage Containers CRSA Sprints are powered by Super Gen Products. Associate sponsors for 2023 include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, the Maguire Family of Dealerships, Powdertech Powdercoating, PJC Sprayfoam, Profab Enterprises, Magsarus Ignitions, Hoosier Racing Tire, Insinger Performance with their Stinger Race Fuel, My Race Pass and is owned and operated by Mike Emhof Motorsports.
For more information on the series, results and points please visit our website www.crsa.myracepass.com
Please visit the Super Gen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprints on Facebook (@CRSAsprints) and on Twitter (@CRSAsprints).