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Barney Continues Fulton Dominance; Wins ESS Opener

By Curtis Berleue (Fulton, NY) | The start of a new season brought a familiar face to victory lane Friday night at the Fulton Speedway for the Empire Super Sprints. Jason Barney picked up his first win of 2024 and fourth in his last five visits to the Oswego County oval after coming from his seventh starting position.

Pinnacle pole winner Davie Franek and Chad Phelps led the field to the initial start, though the field quickly slowed for a caution for the #68 of Aaron Turkey, a victim of circumstance from hard racing deep in the pack. On the ensuing restart, Davie Franek quickly jumped out to a sizeable lead over Matt Tanner and Phelps.

The field again slowed for a caution on lap 4, this time for Mike Bowman who found himself stopped facing the wrong way on the back stretch.

By lap 7, defending tour champion Jordan Poirier had entered the mix and was able to take the lead. For the next handful of laps, Poirier continued to grow the distance between himself and second place.

Jason Barney, who had moved into second on lap 8, began to close the gap between himself and Poirier on lap 11 when Poirier reached lap traffic. He was ultimately able to use lap traffic to take the lead as the field came to complete lap 19, and never looked back on his way to victory lane.

“I was running out of time and running out of chances as the race went on,” said Barney in victory lane. “Before that last restart I kind of found the middle, and I rolled by Jordan (Poirier) there. I knew he wasn’t going to let that happen again. He went right to the middle and I just had to keep searching around.”

“He made it interesting, I wasn’t sure what to do there, I could tell he wasn’t sure to do either and I just stuck it down on the bottom and hoped that we didn’t touch.”

Defending champion Jordan Poirier led a handful of laps early on, and was able to hold on for a second place finish.

“My car was really, really good. I just took a safe lap around a lap car, and Jason slid under me there,” said Poirier. “We struggle with these kind of conditions, so it feels good to have something to build on for the next few races for sure.

Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was hometown favorite Larry Wight.

“We were a little bit tight on the bottom, we just had to move around to find out what the car liked,” said Wight. “I don’t know, even if we had a caution, these guys were in clean air and setting a really good pace. We just needed the lap cars to fall my way a little better.”

36 cars signed in to the pits for the 2024 season opener. Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards went to Danny Varin, Jordan Thomas, Jonathan Preston and Jason Barney. E&V Energy heat race wins went to Matt Tanner, Davey Franek, Dylan Swiernik, and Kelly Hebing. The Lacaillade Masonry B-Main was won by Mark Smith, and the Cobra Coaches Dash presented by Dirt Track Digest was won by Mike Bowman.

The next scheduled event for the Empire Super Sprints is Friday May 24th at the Brewerton Speedway in Brewerton, NY. 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, 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:

Friday, May 24 – Brewerton Speedway – Brewerton, NY ($2,000 to Win Don Gillette Memorial)

Saturday, May 25 – Fulton Speedway - Fulton, NY ($2,000 to Win)

Friday, June 7 – Ransomville Speedway – Ransomville, NY ($2,000 to Win Ron Lux Memorial)

Full Results:

A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 87-Jason Barney[7]; 2. 28-Jordan Poirier[5]; 3. #99L-Larry Wight[9]; 4. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[11]; 5. 28F-Davie Franek[1]; 6. 90-Matt Tanner[4]; 7. #01-Danny Varin[12]; 8. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[3]; 9. 79-Jordan Thomas[6]; 10. 45-Nick Sheridan[20]; 11. 10-Kelly Hebing[8]; 12. 53-Shawn Donath[24]; 13. 0-Glenn Styres[15]; 14. #5H-Chris Hile[17]; 15. 10C-Mark Smith[21]; 16. 96X-Chad Phelps[2]; 17. #41-Dalton Rombough[22]; 18. 2-Dave Axton[14]; 19. 36-Logan Crisafulli[16]; 20. 68-Aaron Turkey[18]; 21. 13T-Trevor Years[23]; 22. 88C-Chad Miller[10]; 23. X-Dan Bennett[19]; 24. 71-Mike Bowman[13]; 25. 33-Lacey Hanson[25]

Lacaillade Masonry B-Main (10 Laps): 1. 10C-Mark Smith[2]; 2. #41-Dalton Rombough[1]; 3. 13T-Trevor Years[4]; 4. 53-Shawn Donath[14]; 5. 33-Lacey Hanson[3]; 6. 21P-Jonathan Preston[10]; 7. 77T-Tyeller Powless[8]; 8. 13E-Evan Reynolds[5]; 9. 21B-Blake Warner[6]; 10. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[9]; 11. 11J-Chris Jones[12]; 12. 29D-Dylan Menditto[11]; 13. 14B-Brett Wright[7]; 14. (DNS) 66-Jordan Hutton; 15. (DNS) 4P-Chase Moran; 16. (DNS) #17J-Kyle Smith

Dirt Track Digest Dash (4 Laps): 1. 71-Mike Bowman[2]; 2. 2-Dave Axton[4]; 3. #5H-Chris Hile[1]; 4. 68-Aaron Turkey[3]

E&V Energy Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 90-Matt Tanner[2]; 2. #99L-Larry Wight[1]; 3. #01-Danny Varin[5]; 4. #5H-Chris Hile[4]; 5. 0-Glenn Styres[3]; 6. #41-Dalton Rombough[8]; 7. 13E-Evan Reynolds[6]; 8. (DNS) 4P-Chase Moran; 9. (DNS) 66-Jordan Hutton

E&V Energy Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 2. 79-Jordan Thomas[6]; 3. #4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[9]; 4. 71-Mike Bowman[5]; 5. 36-Logan Crisafulli[2]; 6. 10C-Mark Smith[3]; 7. 21B-Blake Warner[7]; 8. (DNF) 11J-Chris Jones[1]; 9. (DNF) #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[8]

E&V Energy Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[5]; 2. 96X-Chad Phelps[1]; 3. 68-Aaron Turkey[4]; 4. 88C-Chad Miller[2]; 5. X-Dan Bennett[8]; 6. 33-Lacey Hanson[7]; 7. 14B-Brett Wright[9]; 8. 21P-Jonathan Preston[6]; 9. #17J-Kyle Smith[3]

E&V Energy Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Kelly Hebing[2]; 2. 28-Jordan Poirier[4]; 3. 87-Jason Barney[6]; 4. 2-Dave Axton[1]; 5. 45-Nick Sheridan[7]; 6. 13T-Trevor Years[3]; 7. 77T-Tyeller Powless[8]; 8. 29D-Dylan Menditto[9]; 9. (DNF) 53-Shawn Donath[5]

Awards & Contingencies:

Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): 01-Danny Varin; 79-Jordan Thomas; 21P-Jonathan Preston; 87-Jason Barney

E&V Energy Heat Winners ($25 each): 90-Matt Tanner; 28F-Davey Franek; 7C-Dylan Swiernik; 10-Kelly Hebing

Cobra Coaches / Dirt Track Digest Dash Winner ($100): 71-Mike Bowman

Lacaillade Masonry B Main Winner ($50): 10C-Mark Smith

PJC Spray Foam First Non-Qualifier ($50): 21P-Jonathan Preston

Pinnacle Pole Draw Award ($25): 28F-Davey Franek

A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): 45-Nick Sheridan

Pinnacle Investments Last Car Running ($30): X-Dan Bennett

Pinnacle Investments 11th Place (5 gallons fuel): 10-Kelly Hebing

Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): 87-Jason Barney; 28-Jordan Poirier; 99L-Larry Wight

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