RPW Exclusive: Payton Talbot Wins Again At All-Tech; Takes STSS Sunshine Swing Sportsman Title; Three W’s & A Second

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – LAKE CITY, FL – Lost in the shuffle of Matt Sheppard’s three-straight wins during the 2024 Short Track Super Series ‘Sunshine Swing’ was the fact that, heading into Saturday’s 30-lap finale, Payton Talbot had captured two of the three Sportsman feature victories.

Now, you can say he’s won three-of-four as the South New Berlin, NY driver showed them how it was done in the Series finale, and made it look easy from the drop of the green.

“Honestly, after the redraw, starting on the pin (drawing the pole), I thank that’s what saved us tonight,” Talbot said. “The track really latched down in (turns) three and four. (Turns) One and two I really didn’t know if you could move around.”

Saturday night, it seemed as if Talbot’s #14 really had the All-Tech Raceway figured out.

“I felt really good on the bottom,” he said. “I’m not sure who was moving around behind me but in the Modified feature, those guys were really searching. It seemed like you could run momentum in (turns) three and four on the high side but by the time we got out there, it seemed like it was pretty much around the bottom.”

With extended time under green flag conditions during the 30-lap event, when he had to, Talbot did his best to work around lapped traffic, doing so with precision.

“When we got them, the yellows really helped, falling at the right time,” he said. “We maybe had to only work with three or four of them tonight and I feel lucky that we got through them pretty good. Nobody was really battling in front of us and I think if I got to the back of traffic, I could have used the diamond line in one and two.”

With his three victories this week, finishing second to James Friesen on Thursday in the only other main event and walking away with the Sunshine Swing Championship, it’s safe to say Talbot and the #14 team had the right setup for the track in Lake City, FL.

“Overall, this car was awesome this week,” he said. “I can’t Mike (Walton, Fastline Performance) enough. I can’t thank Travis (Welch, Ted’s Body Shop) enough for this motor. Everything went well and we look forward to being back next year.”

After a 2023 season that saw him become the NASCAR Weekly Series Division Two National Champion, Talbot is off to a great start this racing campaign with no finish worse than second in four Short Track Super Series starts.

“This is just awesome,” he said. “All we got to experience last year was awesome but I’m really looking forward to getting back to Utica-Rome and Fonda in ’24 but to kick things off as well as we’ve done here is just great.”

Second on the night was Tanner Warner, a driver who picked up a ride from EJ Gallup midway through the week, Warner drove the #5 to a fine second place finish on Saturday, finishing between two heavyweights of the sport, winner Talbot and third place’s Matt Janczuk.

“We get our asses kicked by these two weekly back home,” Warner said. “To finish between them down here is awesome.”

Warner knew it would be a tall order to catch Talbot on any night but gave it an amazing shot from his fifth starting position to come home right behind him.

“Obviously, it’s hard to catch that 14T but EJ gave us a very good piece,” he said. “I really just can’t thank him enough for this opportunity. This was fun.”

While only competing in half the races in Florida as Gallup ran the first two, grabbing two top 10’s with a ninth and a second is a big shot in the arm to the youngster.

“We just had fun down here,” he said. “This was the second night in the car and my second time here. Coming in second is just awesome.”

Picking up a ride for the 30-lap finale and parking it on the podium wasn’t a bad way to spend a Saturday night in Florida for Matt Janczuk.

Janczuk ran the Nick Zielinski #11 and drove it from ninth to third in the feature.

“Starting from ninth, we had our work cut out for us tonight,” Janczuk said. “This Teo Pro Car was good but I can’t thank the Zielinski’s for letting me drive this thing.”

Not only was this the first night Janczuk was racing, it was the first time seeing All-Tech, and he was impressed.

“What a fun place to race,” he said. “I wish I had raced all week here but it was fun to watch and great racing. The facility’s great and the track has been awesome. I’ve just had a lot of fun this week.”

From early on in the night until feature time, Janczuk was able to get a handle on the All-Tech surface and that helped in how he attached the main event.

“After the heat race, we tweaked on the car for the feature,” he said. “The track took rubber and we were able to hold the bottom. It allowed us to sneak under people when they made mistakes.”

Did Janczuk believe he could get around the top two with more laps?

“I thought we’d have more for Tanner and maybe catch Payton,” he said. “Obviously, that 14 was the class of the field all week.”

Dylan Madsen and Cedric Gauvreau completed the top five.

Feature Finish (30 laps): 1. 14T-PAYTON TALBOT[1]; 2. 5EJ-Tanner Warner[5]; 3. 11Z-Matt Janczuk[9]; 4. 89-Dylan Madsen[12]; 5. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[3]; 6. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[16]; 7. 14J-Joe Toth[7]; 8. 72-James Friesen[11]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[2]; 10. 49-Chris Jakubiak[14]; 11. 16S-Tom Moore Jr[15]; 12. 21B-Yan Bussiere[13]; 13. 5K-Kenny Peoples Jr[8]; 14. 61L-Donovan Lussier[22]; 15. 85-David Langlois[18]; 16. 23-David Dickey[21]; 17. 29-Matt Ellery[6]; 18. 813-Jason Quenneville[17]; 19. 27-Michael Ballestero[4]; 20. 28L-Eric Lauziere[23]; 21. 17T-Kris Thompson[24]; 22. 142-Justin Zook[25]; 23. 44-James O’Hara[26]; 24. 38-Kevin Stevens[19]; 25. 42-Darryl Nutting[20]; 26. 73-Paulie Hartwig III[10]

Did Not Qualify: 6-John Santolin; 26-Maddy Broedel; 30T-Robert Tete

Wegner Automotive ‘Sunshine Swing’ Crate 602 Sportsman Champion ($1,000): Payton Talbot

American Racer/Lias Tire Bonus (FREE Tire Certificate): Brian Calabrese (ninth)
Belmont’s Garage Hard Charger Award ($100): Ayden Cipriano (16th to sixth)
Beyea Custom Headers Redraw Bonus ($25): Dylan Madsen (Redrew 12th)
Brookfield Speedway Last-Place Bonus ($100): Paulie Hartwig III (26th)
Design for Vision/Sunglass Central Bonus (Oakley Sunglasses): Payton Talbot (Champion)
Fastline Performance Bonuses ($100 Certificates): Tanner Warner (second) & Yan Bussiere (12th)
Fastline Performance ‘Hot Lap Hero ($50): Tanner Warner (20.871 seconds)
Henry’s Exhaust Power Position ($50 Certificate): Tom Moore Jr. (11th)
TV 12 Race Products Bonus (Two Wheel Covers): Yan Bussiere (12th)