Story By: CURTIS BERLEUE / EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS – BREWERTON, NY – After a handful of strong runs in the month of August, including a podium last weekend at Autodrome Drummond, Logan Crisafulli has finally broken through to Empire Super Sprints victory lane.
After setting Rifenburg Contracting quick time in his timed hot lap group and drawing the Pinnacle Pole, Jonathan Preston led the field to the initial green flag, but it was outside pole sitter Trevor Years who would lead the first two laps.
Preston was able to get by Years to take the lead on lap three, where he would stay for the next handful of laps. Lap 9 saw Dalton Rombough inherit the lead from Preston, with 7th starting Logan Crisafulli hot on his heels in second.
After stalking Rombough for 5 laps, Crisafulli was able to sneak by him for the lead on lap 15. While perennial Brewerton favorites Larry Wight and Danny Varin were chasing Crisafulli, they weren’t able to get past the driver of the #36 and he was able to hang on for his first Empire Super Sprints victory.
“Theres not a whole lot of brown down there (on the bottom),” said Crisafulli in victory lane. “I knew it worked, so I had to try it, and it continued to work if I hit my marks.”
“I knew I could at lead come side by side with the guys behind me out of the corner, so I knew that if they were able to get by me on the high side, I could at least try something different.”
Larry Wight came from the 12th starting spot to finish second.
“I just tried to hit my marks, hit my marks,” said Wight. “The bottom was fast, but you had to hit it right. If you missed it a little bit then you’d be spinning off, but if you could keep the car straight you could use a little throttle.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Danny Varin.
“I just think we were too good way to early,” said Varin. “Great job by them (Crisafulli), they’ve been fast the last couple of races, just ran out of time.”
With 27 cars pit side for the first of three nights of action on the Labor Day triple header weekend, the field was broken into three timed hot lap groups to start the evening. Jonathan Preston, Jordan Thomas and Sammy Reakes IV earned Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards in their respective groups, while Davie Franek, Larry Wight and Sammy Reakes IV picked up E&V Energy heat race wins. Joe Trenca won the Cobra Coaches dash, and Chris Hile picked up the victory in the Lacaillade Masonry B-Main.
Empire Super Sprints A Feature 1: 1. 36-Logan Crisafulli[7]; 2. #99L-Larry Wight[12]; 3. 01-Danny Varin[10]; 4. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[5]; 5. 5H-Chris Hile[19]; 6. 22-Jonathan Preston[1]; 7. 98-Joe Trenca[13]; 8. #41-Dalton Rombough[3]; 9. 4P-Chase Moran[17]; 10. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[11]; 11. #79-Jordan Thomas[21]; 12. 87-Jason Barney[9]; 13. 90-Matt Tanner[20]; 14. 28-Jordan Poirier[8]; 15. 53-Shawn Donath[22]; 16. 66-Jordan Hutton[23]; 17. 13E-Evan Reynolds[15]; 18. 23-Eric Cartier[18]; 19. 13T-Trevor Years[2]; 20. 63-Josh Weller[24]; 21. #25G-Tyler Graves[6]; 22. 10-Kelly Hebing[14]; 23. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 24. 33-Lacey Hanson[25]; 25. 29-Dalton Herrick[16]
Awards & Contingencies:
Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): #22-Jonathan Preston; #79-Jordan Thomas; #17-Sammy Reakes IV
E&V Energy Heat Winners ($25 each): #28F-Davie Franek; #99L-Larry Wight; #17-Sammy Reakes IV
Cobra Coaches Dash Winner ($125): #98-Joe Trenca
Lacaillade Masonry B Main Winner ($50): #5H-Chris Hile
PJC Spray Foam First Non-Qualifier ($50): #19E-Emily VanInwegen
Pinnacle Pole Draw Award ($25): #22-Jonathan Preston
A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): #5H-Chris Hile (+14)
Pinnacle Investments Last Car Running ($30): #13T-Trevor Years
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place (5 gallons fuel): #79-Jordan Thomas
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #36-Logan Crisafulli; #99L-Larry Wight; #01-Danny Varin
Hoosier Tire Award (RR Hoosier tire): #90-Matt Tanner
B Feature 1: 1. 5H-Chris Hile[1]; 2. 90-Matt Tanner[7]; 3. #79-Jordan Thomas[5]; 4. 53-Shawn Donath[9]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton[2]; 6. 63-Josh Weller[4]; 7. 33-Lacey Hanson[3]; 8. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[8]; 9. X-Dan Bennett[6]
Dash 1: 1. 98-Joe Trenca[4]; 2. 10-Kelly Hebing[2]; 3. 13E-Evan Reynolds[1]; 4. 29-Dalton Herrick[3]; 5. 4P-Chase Moran[5]; 6. 23-Eric Cartier[6]
Heat 1: 1. 28F-Davie Franek[3]; 2. #41-Dalton Rombough[5]; 3. 01-Danny Varin[2]; 4. 22-Jonathan Preston[6]; 5. 13E-Evan Reynolds[1]; 6. 98-Joe Trenca[9]; 7. 5H-Chris Hile[7]; 8. 63-Josh Weller[8]; 9. 90-Matt Tanner[4]
Heat 2: 1. #99L-Larry Wight[5]; 2. 87-Jason Barney[1]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[4]; 4. 36-Logan Crisafulli[3]; 5. 10-Kelly Hebing[2]; 6. 4P-Chase Moran[8]; 7. 66-Jordan Hutton[7]; 8. #79-Jordan Thomas[6]; 9. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[9]
Heat 3: 1. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[6]; 2. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[5]; 3. #25G-Tyler Graves[2]; 4. 13T-Trevor Years[3]; 5. 29-Dalton Herrick[1]; 6. 23-Eric Cartier[7]; 7. 33-Lacey Hanson[9]; 8. X-Dan Bennett[8]; 9. 53-Shawn Donath[4]
Qualifying 1: 1. 22-Jonathan Preston[8]; 2. #41-Dalton Rombough[3]; 3. 90-Matt Tanner[9]; 4. 28F-Davie Franek[6]; 5. 01-Danny Varin[2]; 6. 13E-Evan Reynolds[5]; 7. 5H-Chris Hile[4]; 8. 63-Josh Weller[7]; 9. 98-Joe Trenca[1]
Qualifying 2: 1. #79-Jordan Thomas[8]; 2. #99L-Larry Wight[6]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[4]; 4. 36-Logan Crisafulli[2]; 5. 10-Kelly Hebing[7]; 6. 87-Jason Barney[9]; 7. 66-Jordan Hutton[1]; 8. 4P-Chase Moran[5]; 9. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[3]
Qualifying 3: 1. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[3]; 2. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 3. 53-Shawn Donath[8]; 4. 13T-Trevor Years[1]; 5. #25G-Tyler Graves[9]; 6. 29-Dalton Herrick[5]; 7. 23-Eric Cartier[4]; 8. X-Dan Bennett[6]; 9. 33-Lacey Hanson[2]