By Curtis Berleue
(Granby, QC) | For the second time in two races, Jordan Thomas is an Empire Super Sprints winner. The Harding, PA driver picked up another win, $2,000 and extended his lead in the Transport Benoit Lafleur Canada Tour with just one race remaining in the miniseries.
Bryan Cloutier and Dale Curran led the field to green, with Curran taking the lead off of turn two. Cloutier fell into place in second, with Dylan Swiernik third. Swierink made quick work of Cloutier, moving to second on lap two. While Curran opened up his lead over the rest of the field, Swiernik would get by Cloutier for second a few laps later.
The first and only caution of the event flew on lap five for Billy VanInwegen in turn two. When racing resumed, Swiernik threw a slide job on Curran into turn one to take the lead. Jordan Thomas and Cloutier followed his lead, getting by Curran in the next set of turns to move into second and third, respectively.
By lap 11, Swiernik had caught the back of the field and started working his way through lap traffic. After clearing a lap car, he would make a mistake on the top of turn three that allowed Thomas to slip under him for the lead.
With clean air in front of him, Thomas quickly opened up the gap between himself and Swiernik. Behind the leaders, Cloutier was under attack from Quebec native Jordan Poirier, though he was able to fend off the charge and maintain a podium spot.
As the final laps clicked off, Jordan Thomas sailed into the sunset and picked up his second win of the season.
“Canada’s been treating me pretty good this year,” said Thomas in victory lane. “We got the win two weeks ago at Cornwall, I believe we’re leading the points for the Canadian Series so this just takes the cake.”
“After the heats, I was struggling with it being my first time here, but we got it figured out for the feature. The car was really good and I was really impressed with the track tonight.”
After leading laps through the middle of the race, Dylan Swiernik came home in second.
“Hats off to Jordan, he had the better car tonight for sure,” said Swiernik. “We had a good car here last year and we tried to replicate that. We were just too tight, pretty much the whole race.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Bryan Cloutier.
With 25 cars in the pits Friday night, the field was split into three timed hot lap groups. Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards went to Davie Franek, Alex Therrien and Dylan Swiernik. Elab Smokers Boutique heats were won by Franek, Therrien and Swiernik as well.
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, September 4 – Brewerton Speedway – Brewerton, NY ($2,000 to Win)
Saturday, September 5 – Fulton Speedway – Fulton, NY ($2,000 to Win)
Sudnay, September 6 – Utica Rome Speedway – Vernon, NY ($10,000 to Win Cole Cup)
Full Results:
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 79-Jordan Thomas[3]; 2. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[4]; 3. 93-Bryan Cloutier[1]; 4. 21-Alex Therrien[10]; 5. 87-Jason Barney[9]; 6. 61-Jordan Poirier[5]; 7. 38-Zach Sobotka[18]; 8. 98-Joe Trenca[6]; 9. 41-Dalton Rombough[12]; 10. 90-Matt Tanner[7]; 11. 28F-Davie Franek[11]; 12. 24-Jeremy Lafleur[13]; 13. 17-Kyle Smith[17]; 14. 31C-Dale Curran[2]; 15. 3G-Dale Gosselin[14]; 16. 8B-Alain Bergeron[16]; 17. 53-Shawn Donath[19]; 18. 33-Lacey Hanson[20]; 19. 19KC-Mathieu Bardier[15]; 20. 13T-Trevor Years[21]; 21. 44-Eric Boisvert[24]; 22. 84-Tyler Rand[22]; 23. 4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 24. 55-Guy Gosselin[23]; 25. 21L-Eric Laurendeau[25]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28F-Davie Franek[1]; 2. 90-Matt Tanner[2]; 3. 61-Jordan Poirier[7]; 4. 31C-Dale Curran[3]; 5. 24-Jeremy Lafleur[4]; 6. 8B-Alain Bergeron[8]; 7. 53-Shawn Donath[6]; 8. 84-Tyler Rand[5]; 9. 21L-Eric Laurendeau[9]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Alex Therrien[1]; 2. 79-Jordan Thomas[2]; 3. 4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[3]; 4. 93-Bryan Cloutier[5]; 5. 3G-Dale Gosselin[4]; 6. 17-Kyle Smith[6]; 7. 33-Lacey Hanson[7]; 8. 55-Guy Gosselin[8]
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[1]; 2. 41-Dalton Rombough[3]; 3. 87-Jason Barney[2]; 4. 98-Joe Trenca[7]; 5. 19KC-Mathieu Bardier[5]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka[4]; 7. 13T-Trevor Years[6]; 8. 44-Eric Boisvert[8]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 28F-Davie Franek, 16.161[6]; 2. 90-Matt Tanner, 16.197[1]; 3. 31C-Dale Curran, 16.512[7]; 4. 24-Jeremy Lafleur, 16.572[5]; 5. 84-Tyler Rand, 17.040[2]; 6. 53-Shawn Donath, 17.053[8]; 7. 61-Jordan Poirier, 17.099[9]; 8. 8B-Alain Bergeron, 17.367[4]; 9. 21L-Eric Laurendeau, 18.815[3]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 21-Alex Therrien, 15.966[1]; 2. 79-Jordan Thomas, 16.148[6]; 3. 4-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 16.208[8]; 4. 3G-Dale Gosselin, 16.558[2]; 5. 93-Bryan Cloutier, 16.567[5]; 6. 17-Kyle Smith, 16.622[3]; 7. 33-Lacey Hanson, 16.893[7]; 8. 55-Guy Gosselin, 18.961[4]
Rifenburg Contracting Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik, 15.875[5]; 2. 87-Jason Barney, 15.925[8]; 3. 41-Dalton Rombough, 15.926[1]; 4. 38-Zach Sobotka, 16.192[3]; 5. 19KC-Mathieu Bardier, 16.571[4]; 6. 13T-Trevor Years, 16.584[2]; 7. 98-Joe Trenca, 16.903[7]; 8. 44-Eric Boisvert, 18.794[6]
Awards & Contingencies (full members only eligible for payout):
Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): #28F-Davie Franek; #21-Alex Therrien; #7C-Dylan Swierink
Elab Smokers Boutique Heat Winners ($25 each): #28F-Davie Franek; #21-Alex Therrien; #7C-Dylan Swierink
Keizer Wheels 5th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #87-Jason Barney
King Motorsports 10th Place Finisher ($25 Certificate): #90-Matt Tanner
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place Finisher (5 Gal Fuel): #28F-Davie Franek
Swagger Factory 12th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #24-Jeremy Lafleur
Wilwood Disc Brakes 13th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #17-Kyle Smith
All-Star Performance 15th Place Finisher ($50 Certificate): #3G-Dale Gosselin
A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): #38-Zach Sobotka
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #79-Jordan Thomas; #7C-Dylan Swierink; #93-Bryan Cloutier