By Curtis Berleue
(Delevan, NY) | After out dueling defending champion Jordan Poirier, Davie Franek is $4,000 richer for winning the Julia Horton Memorial at Freedom Motorsports Park. It is Franek’s first Empire Super Sprints triumph of the 2024 season.
Pinnacle Pole winner Joe Trenca opted to start at the rear of the field, so Jordan Poirier and ‘No Panic’ Davie Franek brought the field to the initial green flag of the 25-lap A-Main event. Poirier jumped out to an early lead, though the field was slowed after just a few circuits when the first caution of the night flew.
On the ensuing restart, Poirier again jumped out to the lead over Franek, but a red flag for the #7C of Dylan Swiernik after making hard contact with the wall in turn 3 would slow the field’s progress again.
Through multiple restarts, Poirier was able to jump out to an advantage over Franek, while the #4P of Chase Moran, #53 of Shawn Donath and #3Z of Johnny Smith traded spots multiple times for positions 3-5.
With just a handful of laps remaining, Franek was able to finally clear the #28 of Jordan Poirier for the lead and opened up about a half-straightaway margin en-route to victory lane.
“It was elbows-up track for sure,” said Franek in victory lane. “He (Poirier) was changing his line up throughout the race, the way that the apex of the corner here is tough. The guy that is leading has a little bit of and advantage and I was trying to time it right.”
“He hit a little slick spot coming off of turn four and I was just able to clear his bumper by a little bit and then cross him over down here in turn one.”
After leading the majority of the race, Jordan Poirier had to settle for a second-place finish.
“With all of those restarts, I was just trying to survive, go late,” said Poirier. “Second sucks, but its still better than nothing. After our poor run last night, we decided to switch cars so we worked all night and all morning, but it seems like it paid off.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was the #53 of Shawn Donath.
“It was tough to pick your own lane, everyone was bouncing a little from lane to lane, just a challenging track tonight. Overall, it was a solid finish for the team though,” said Donath.
Finishing in fourth was Jonathan Preston, who also earned the A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger coming from 15th, and Chase Moran rounded out the top 5.
With 24 cars signed into the pits, the field was split into three timed hot lap groups. Earning Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards were Davie Franek, Jared Zimbardi and Dylan Swiernik. Jordan Poirier, Johnny Smith and Matt Farnham picked up E&V Energy Heat wins, and Jared Zimbardi won the Cobra Coaches dash presented by IndyKart Raceway.
After his hard hit into the turn 3 wall, Dylan Swiernik was transported to a local hospital where it was determined he had multiple compression fractures in his back. He is sore but recovering and wishes to thank all the track safety staff, ESS officials and EMTs that helped get him to the hospital.
The next scheduled event for the Empire Super Sprints is this coming Saturday June 15th at the Evans Mills Raceway Park in Evans Mills NY for the annual $4,000 to Win Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular. 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, A-Verdi Storage Containers, 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 15 – Evans Mills Raceway Park – Evans Mills, NY ($4,000 to Win Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular)
Saturday, June 22 – Brockville Ontario Speedway – Brockville, ONT ($2,000 to Win)
Sunday, June 23 – Cornwall Motor Speedway – Cornwall, ONT ($2,000 to Win)
Full Results:
A-Main: 1. 28F-Davie Franek[2]; 2. 28-Jordan Poirier[1]; 3. 53-Shawn Donath[3]; 4. 21-Jonathan Preston[15]; 5. 4P-Chase Moran[6]; 6. 35-Jared Zimbardi[12]; 7. 87-Jason Barney[14]; 8. 66-Jordan Hutton[18]; 9. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[20]; 10. 90-Matt Tanner[4]; 11. 36-Logan Crisafulli[13]; 12. 13T-Trevor Years[5]; 13. #79-Jordan Thomas[9]; 14. #25G-Tyler Graves[16]; 15. X-Dan Bennett[19]; 16. #3Z-Johnny Smith[7]; 17. #5H-Chris Hile[22]; 18. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[11]; 19. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[8]; 20. #7NY-Matt Farnham[10]; 21. 98-Joe Trenca[23]; 22. 47-Kyle Drum[17]; 23. 42-Jeffrey Holliday[24]; 24. (DNS) 13E-Evan Reynolds
IndyKart Raceway Dash: 1. 35-Jared Zimbardi[2]; 2. 36-Logan Crisafulli[4]; 3. 87-Jason Barney[6]; 4. 21-Jonathan Preston[3]; 5. #25G-Tyler Graves[5]; 6. 47-Kyle Drum[1]
E&V Energy Heat 1: 1. 28-Jordan Poirier[2]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 3. 13T-Trevor Years[1]; 4. 4P-Chase Moran[7]; 5. 47-Kyle Drum[3]; 6. 36-Logan Crisafulli[5]; 7. 66-Jordan Hutton[8]; 8. (DNF) 13E-Evan Reynolds[6]
E&V Energy Heat 2: 1. #3Z-Johnny Smith[2]; 2. 53-Shawn Donath[5]; 3. 90-Matt Tanner[1]; 4. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[3]; 5. 35-Jared Zimbardi[4]; 6. #25G-Tyler Graves[6]; 7. X-Dan Bennett[7]; 8. 42-Jeffrey Holliday[8]
E&V Energy Heat 3: 1. #7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 2. 98-Joe Trenca[1]; 3. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[4]; 4. #79-Jordan Thomas[3]; 5. 21-Jonathan Preston[7]; 6. 87-Jason Barney[5]; 7. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[6]; 8. #5H-Chris Hile[8]
Awards & Contingencies:
Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): #28F-Davie Franek; #35-Jared Zimbardi; #7C-Dylan Swiernik
E&V Energy Heat Winners ($25 each): #28-Jordan Poirier; #3z-Johnny Smith; #7NY-Matt Farnham
Cobra Coaches / IndyKart Raceway Dash Winner ($125): #35-Jared Zimbardi
Pinnacle Pole Draw Award ($25): #98-Joe Trenca
A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): #21-Jonathan Preston
Pinnacle Investments Last Car Running ($30): #36-Logan Crisafulli
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place (5 gallons fuel): #36-Logan Crisafulli
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #28F-Davie Franek; #28-Jordan Poirier; #53-Shawn Donath