By Marty Czekala
FULTON, N.Y. – Late-race drama struck again at Fulton with three laps remaining.
Just like last year, when Zach Sobotka stole victory Bobby Parrow in a dramatic late-race pass, this time it was Spencer Burley who passed Dalton Herrick around the outside in breathtaking fashion.
Burley came back from 3.4 seconds down, using lapped traffic as a pick during a long run with three to go to secure his second win of the season and third career CRSA victory in the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge.
“I was running him down pretty good,” said Burley. “I needed a little bit of lapped traffic to help me out and got what I needed. I could tell I was running him down little by little and I didn’t know that was three to go.”
“I just gave it away,” said Herrick. “I had a car that should have won and it was on me to finish the job.”
Herrick and Scott Landers brought the field to the green for 25 laps. Herrick built a lead of up to 2.1 seconds over Landers. Tomy Moreau and Burley both tried to reel him in.
Herrick approached lapped traffic on lap eight before the yellow for Jordan Hutton, who spun in turn two.
On the restart, mayhem.
Moreau got sideways on the restart after contact with Mikey Smith, but was able to save it the first time. But off turn two, not able to, starting The Big One with numerous cars flipping.
Notable drivers involved included Tomy Moreau, Ron Greek, Dave Axton, Bailey Boyd, Dustin Sehn, Emily VanInwegen, Ethan Gray, Adam DePuy, David Ferguson, and Tyler Graves. All walked out safely.
After the big crash, Herrick maintained his lead on the next restart. He extended the gap in lapped traffic while Burley continued to close in after passing Landers for second past halfway.
With four laps remaining, Herrick led by two car lengths. Approaching three to go, both leaders caught up to Mike Stelter, creating a three-wide situation. Herrick chose the bottom, while Burley took the top line and passed for the lead, eventually winning by 2.8 seconds over Herrick.
“I probably should go buy Stelter a beer,” said Burley. “I was driving as hard as I could, trying to run him down. Sometimes it’s better to be in second than leading.”
On winning two races already, Burley said, “Hopefully we can keep this up. We’re going pretty good. The crew is busting their tails to get me here every weekend, so I just can’t do it without everyone that supports me.”
Tonight was Herrick’s best chance to end a 24-race winless streak. The streak dated back to Skyline in Sept. 2024. He had an incredible night, redrew pole and finished just three laps shy of the win.
“I was comfortable early,” said Herrick on his pace. “I got a little too complacent late and just backed it up a little too much. I just gave it away. I drove it as hard as I did from start to finish. The car was phenomenal, just driver error.”
Despite finishing second, Herrick now leads the overall points by six. He also tops the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge standings by 29.
“Yeah, that’s a positive,” said Herrick. “Points are always good, but we race for wins and it’s frustrating when you have a car that good all night.”
Completing the podium was Mikey Smith. Smith, fresh off a $4,000 Bridgeport win last week, moved to third by passing Landers low in turn three. He made contact, spun Landers, but continued on.
“We’ve been running pretty well,” said Smith. “I was looking to go home with the win, but we’re happy with it. That last restart, it was hanging on, trying to get that one more car and chase the leader, but it was a little bit too tight. Better than the car we had here last year. So happy we were able to make a podium and still continue our strong finishes.”
Paul Colagiovanni Sr. won the Elab Smokers Boutique Scramble Dash, picking up a $100 bonus courtesy of Elab.
The Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger award went to Jerry Sehn Jr., who gained 12 spots to finish 13th.
36 cars checked into Fulton Saturday night.
CRSA takes next weekend off but returns to Land of Legends Raceway July 2 for the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge, a part of the undercard to the Super DIRTcar Series. Action can be seen live on DIRTVision.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 15B-Spencer Burley[5]; 2. 29-Dalton Herrick[1]; 3. 4ST-Mikey Smith[10]; 4. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 5. 4S-Johnny Smith[7]; 6. 33-Scott Landers[2]; 7. 66-Jordan Hutton[9]; 8. 121-Steve Glover[6]; 9. 99K-Mike Kiser[12]; 10. 61-Johnny Scarborough[16]; 11. 18-Timmy Lotz[17]; 12. 36-Mike Stelter[23]; 13. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[25]; 14. (DNF) 81K-Dalton Martin[14]; 15. (DNF) 2-Tomy Moreau[3]; 16. (DNF) 28-Ron Greek[15]; 17. (DNF) 2A-Dave Axton[4]; 18. (DNF) 3-Bailey Boyd[18]; 19. (DNF) D9-Dustin Sehn[13]; 20. (DNF) 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[19]; 21. (DNF) 17E-Ethan Gray[20]; 22. (DNF) 99-Adam Depuy[21]; 23. (DNF) 45-David Ferguson[22]; 24. (DNF) 25G-Tyler Graves[24]; 25. (DNS) 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 17E-Ethan Gray[4]; 2. 99-Adam Depuy[5]; 3. 45-David Ferguson[9]; 4. 36-Mike Stelter[1]; 5. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[2]; 6. 25-Cameron Moss[10]; 7. 30K-Ken Klinkowsky[6]; 8. 10N-Nathan Pierce[14]; 9. 73-Scott Nash[3]; 10. 3V-Zach Virkler[12]; 11. 71R-Rachel Zacharias[11]; 12. 10-Vito Chicklets[7]; 13. 55-Michael Hart[8]; 14. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[13]; 15. (DNS) 18C-Dan Craun; 16. (DNS) 31C-Maverick Coffey
Elab Smokers Boutique Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[1]; 2. 99K-Mike Kiser[2]; 3. D9-Dustin Sehn[3]; 4. 25G-Tyler Graves[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[1]; 2. D9-Dustin Sehn[2]; 3. 121-Steve Glover[6]; 4. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[8]; 5. 81K-Dalton Martin[7]; 6. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[3]; 7. 25-Cameron Moss[4]; 8. 30K-Ken Klinkowsky[9]; 9. 3V-Zach Virkler[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Scott Landers[6]; 2. 25G-Tyler Graves[2]; 3. 2A-Dave Axton[8]; 4. 28-Ron Greek[3]; 5. 18-Timmy Lotz[5]; 6. 73-Scott Nash[1]; 7. 36-Mike Stelter[9]; 8. 71R-Rachel Zacharias[7]; 9. (DNS) 18C-Dan Craun
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Jordan Hutton[2]; 2. 4S-Johnny Smith[8]; 3. 2-Tomy Moreau[6]; 4. 99K-Mike Kiser[7]; 5. 3-Bailey Boyd[3]; 6. 17E-Ethan Gray[1]; 7. 45-David Ferguson[5]; 8. 10-Vito Chicklets[9]; 9. 10N-Nathan Pierce[4]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15B-Spencer Burley[1]; 2. 4ST-Mikey Smith[7]; 3. 29-Dalton Herrick[8]; 4. 61-Johnny Scarborough[2]; 5. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[3]; 6. 31C-Maverick Coffey[4]; 7. 99-Adam Depuy[6]; 8. 55-Michael Hart[9]; 9. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[5]
The CRSA Sprints are brought to you by A-Verdi Storage Containers. Associate sponsors include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, Stirling Lubricants, Dandy, Joe’s Garage, Westward Painting Company, Elab Smokers Boutique, iFreeze Storage & Distribution Center, Maguire Automotive Group, Powdertech Powdercoating, Ruggles World of Auto Body, PJC Business Ventures, Magsarus Ignitions, Hoosier Racing Tire, Bicknell Racing Products, 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 at www.crsa.myracepass.com.
Please like and follow the CRSA Sprints on Facebook and X @CRSASprints.