By Curtis Berleue
(Vernon, NY) | Defending CNY Speedweek champion found victory lane once again at the Utica Rome Speedway on Thursday night. The Port Leyden driver picked up $2,500 and valuable points in hopes of repeating his 2025 title.
Shawn Donath and Dalton Rombough led the field to green. Donath took the early lead on the bottom, with Davie Franek settling into second and Zach Sobotka in third.
Sobotka made quick work of Franek, and would then get by Donath at the line to lead lap two. Donath was not to be outdone, and he would get back by Sobotka again at the line to lead lap three.
The duo would swap places one more time, and Sobotka would take the lead, putting multiple car lengths between he and Donath quickly.
Behind Sobotka, Dylan Swiernik had worked his way to third, and then quickly got by Donath to move into second place.
As Sobotka caught lap traffic on lap 9, Dylan Swiernik had caught him and would slip by on the high side to take the lead. While Sobotka was stuck in traffic, Swiernik extended his lead to over a second within three laps.
With Swiernik mired in lap traffic, Dalton Rombough was able to catch Sobotka and challenge for second. Ultimately, he was unable to get by the number 38 of Sobotka.
A late race restart bunched the field back up, but Swiernik and Sobotka were able to maintain their positions. Wit five to go, Jordan Poirier moved into a podium position past the 41 of Rombough.
As the checkers flew, nobody was able to challenge Swiernik, who picked up his second win of 2026 and first of CNY Speedweek.
“That was pretty phenomenal,” said Swiernik in victory lane. “This thing, it felt great. I don’t know how far they were behind or how close they were, but regardless that was about as good a racecar as you can get.”
“It just got so slow around the bottom, we thought about it and wanted to try to roll the top and do what we could and it just felt great.”
Zach Sobotka came home second on the night.
“You can’t really complain about second,” said Sobotka. “The way we took off, I thought we had it there and got Dylan on the top. We were coming into lap traffic and I didn’t really know where to go there – that’s the bad pard about leading.”
“We were battling some overheating issues there in the middle of the race, I was thankful for that caution and got it cooled back down though.”
Roudning out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Jordan Porier.
“We threw the kitchen sink at it tonight,” said Poirier. “Were moving in the right direction. On these kind of conditions we struggle a little bit sometimes so starting 10th we had to try something and as soon as the race started we were really good.”
33 cars were on hand Thursday night at Utica-Rome, which would split the field into four timed hot lap groups. Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards were earned by Jordan Thomas, Larry Wight, Shawn Donath and Dylan Swiernik. Elab Smokers Boutique heats were won by DJ Christie, Dillon Paddock, Shawn Donath and Dylan Swiernik. The Donath Motor Worx Dash presented by Hidden Meadows Campground went to DJ Christie, and Larry Wight won the B-Main.
The Empire Super Sprints CNY Speedweek continues on at the Brewerton Speedway in Brewerton, NY, followed by a trip to the Fulton Speedway in Fulton on Saturday night to cap the week off. 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), X (@ESSprints) and Instagram (@empiresupersprints).
The Empire Super Sprints would like to thank the following series sponsors for their continued support: Rifenburg Contracting Corp, Hoosier Racing Tire, E&V Energy, A-Verdi Storage Containers, Elab Smokers Boutique, Pinnacle Investments, LLC, Wilwood Disc Brakes, FX Caprara, Ashley Lynn Winery, Slade Shock Technology, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Bicknell Racing Products, Swagger Factory, PJC Sprayfoam, Donath Motor Worx, Transport Benoit Lafleur, All Star Performance, Stirling Lubricants, Trenca & Co. Realty, Speedway Press, Primal Tee, and Glenn Styres Racing.
The ESS Road Ahead:
Friday, July 3 – Brewerton Speedway – Brewerton, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Saturday, July 4 – Fulton Speedway – Fulton, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Friday, July 17 – Albany-Saratoga Speedway – Malta, NY ($2,000 to Win)
Full Results:
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[6]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[4]; 3. 61-Jordan Poirier[10]; 4. 53-Shawn Donath[1]; 5. 41-Dalton Rombough[2]; 6. 3-Logan Crisafulli[5]; 7. 01-Danny Varin[15]; 8. #99L-Larry Wight[21]; 9. 28F-Davie Franek[3]; 10. 5-DJ Christie[7]; 11. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[23]; 12. 31C-Dale Curran[13]; 13. 79-Jordan Thomas[25]; 14. 87-Jason Barney[19]; 15. 90-Matt Tanner[8]; 16. 21B-Spencer Burley[11]; 17. 66-Jordan Hutton[12]; 18. 98-Joe Trenca[22]; 19. 13T-Trevor Years[17]; 20. 17-Sammy Reakes IV[24]; 21. 21T-Alex Therrien[20]; 22. 8-Dillon Paddock[9]; 23. 7NY-Matt Farnham[16]; 24. 44-Chris Hulsizer[18]; 25. 33-Lacey Hanson[14]
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. #99L-Larry Wight[10]; 2. 98-Joe Trenca[3]; 3. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[4]; 4. 17-Sammy Reakes IV[1]; 5. 24-Jeremy Lafleur[11]; 6. 3A-Jeff Trombley[7]; 7. 739-Nicholas Kruger[2]; 8. 17S-Kyle Smith[5]; 9. 6-Ryan Coniam[6]; 10. 99K-Mike Kiser[12]; 11. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[13]; 12. (DNS) 0-Glenn Styres; 13. (DNS) 79-Jordan Thomas
Hidden Meadows Campground Dash (4 Laps): 1. 5-DJ Christie[2]; 2. 90-Matt Tanner[1]; 3. 8-Dillon Paddock[6]; 4. 61-Jordan Poirier[5]; 5. 21B-Spencer Burley[3]; 6. 66-Jordan Hutton[4]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-DJ Christie[3]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[2]; 3. 61-Jordan Poirier[5]; 4. 31C-Dale Curran[7]; 5. 13T-Trevor Years[6]; 6. 17-Sammy Reakes IV[9]; 7. 17S-Kyle Smith[4]; 8. 79-Jordan Thomas[1]; 9. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[8]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Dillon Paddock[3]; 2. 21B-Spencer Burley[4]; 3. 66-Jordan Hutton[5]; 4. 33-Lacey Hanson[8]; 5. 44-Chris Hulsizer[6]; 6. 739-Nicholas Kruger[7]; 7. 6-Ryan Coniam[2]; 8. #99L-Larry Wight[1]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Shawn Donath[1]; 2. 3-Logan Crisafulli[2]; 3. 41-Dalton Rombough[3]; 4. 01-Danny Varin[5]; 5. 87-Jason Barney[4]; 6. 98-Joe Trenca[7]; 7. 3A-Jeff Trombley[6]; 8. 24-Jeremy Lafleur[8]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[1]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[6]; 3. 90-Matt Tanner[3]; 4. 7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 5. 21T-Alex Therrien[7]; 6. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[5]; 7. 0-Glenn Styres[8]; 8. 99K-Mike Kiser[4]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 79-Jordan Thomas, 17.266[4]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek, 17.469[2]; 3. 5-DJ Christie, 17.566[7]; 4. 17S-Kyle Smith, 17.689[6]; 5. 61-Jordan Poirier, 17.840[1]; 6. 13T-Trevor Years, 17.941[3]; 7. 31C-Dale Curran, 18.207[5]; 8. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni, 18.268[9]; 9. 17-Sammy Reakes IV, 18.376[8]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. #99L-Larry Wight, 17.483[7]; 2. 6-Ryan Coniam, 17.720[8]; 3. 8-Dillon Paddock, 17.869[1]; 4. 21B-Spencer Burley, 17.985[3]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton, 18.020[2]; 6. 44-Chris Hulsizer, 18.364[6]; 7. 739-Nicholas Kruger, 19.101[5]; 8. 33-Lacey Hanson, 19.303[4]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 53-Shawn Donath, 17.898[7]; 2. 3-Logan Crisafulli, 17.976[1]; 3. 41-Dalton Rombough, 18.060[6]; 4. 87-Jason Barney, 18.155[5]; 5. 01-Danny Varin, 18.189[4]; 6. 3A-Jeff Trombley, 18.314[8]; 7. 98-Joe Trenca, 18.772[2]; 8. 24-Jeremy Lafleur, 19.250[3]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 4 (1 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik, 18.010[3]; 2. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 18.335[6]; 3. 90-Matt Tanner, 18.369[7]; 4. 99K-Mike Kiser, 18.501[5]; 5. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 18.564[4]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka, 18.642[1]; 7. 21T-Alex Therrien, 18.784[2]; 8. 0-Glenn Styres, 19.014[8]
Awards & Contingencies (full members only eligible for payout):
Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): #79-Jordan Thomas; #99L-Larry Wight; #53-Shawn Donath; #7C-Dylan Swiernik
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat Winners ($25 each): #5-DJ Christie; #8-Dillon Paddock; #53-Shawn Donath #7C-Dylan Swiernik
Donath Motor Worx / Hidden Meadows Campground Dash Winner ($125): #5-DJ Christie
Keizer Wheels 5th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #41-Dalton Rombough
King Motorsports 10th Place Finisher ($25 Certificate): #5-DJ Christie
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place Finisher (5 Gal Fuel): #4V-Billy VanInwegen
Swagger Factory 12th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #31C-Dale Curran
Wilwood Disc Brakes 13th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #79-Jordan Thomas
All-Star Performance 15th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #90-Matt Tanner
A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): #99L-Larry Wight (+13)
PJC Sprayfoam Reverse Hard Charger ($100): #8-Dillon Paddock (-13)
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #7C-Dylan Swiernik; #38-Zach Sobotka; #61-Jordan Poirier
Hoosier Tire Award (RR Hoosier tire): #7C-Dylan Swiernik
Slade Shock Tech ($50 Certificate): #53-Shawn Donath