Empire Super Sprints Celebrate the 2025 Season at Annual Awards Banquet

Story By: BARBARA PATTERSON / EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS – VERNON, NY – On November 15, at the Vernon Downs Hotel, the Empire Super Sprints celebrated their 42nd season with the Chasing Neon band as entertainment. A familiar name was etched on the championship eagle trophy, as Jordan Poirier earned his fourth ESS Championship in back-to-back-to-back-to back years.

The highlight of the evening was the crowning of Jordan “The Canadian Cannon” Poirier as the 2025 Empire Super Sprints Champion. Jordan beat out runner up Dylan Swiernik, 3rd place Davie Franek, 4th place Jason Barney and 5th place Shawn Donath. Jordan earned 20 top 5s, 22 top 10s and led 98 laps. Out of the 23 races “the Canadian Cannon” finished outside the top ten only once and finished on the podium 16 times. During the season, he amassed 5 Rifenburg Contracting Corp. fast time awards, 9 Elab Smokers Boutique heat wins and 4 wins at Cornwall Motor, Brighton, Brockville Ontario and Albany-Saratoga Speedways. Jordan solidified the 7 race Canadian Series Championship by finishing in the top 10 for all of the races and winning 3 of them.

Dylan Swiernik had a banner year. He bettered his stats by finishing 2nd in points by earning 15 top 5s, 20 top 10s, 8 heat wins and 4 wins at Fulton, Can-Am, Utica-Rome and Autodrome Drummond Speedways. Dylan received the A-Verdi Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars, 91, throughout the season. The Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time Series went to Dylan for posting the fastest timed hot laps at 11 races. He was presented with the perpetual Speedweek championship belt for being the Pitre Painting CNY Speedweek Champion due to his 3 wins out of the grueling 5 race speedweek. His stats and numerous awards earned Dylan the Most Improved Driver.

Several special awards were handed out. ESS recognized the 13 different winners out of the 24 races, with 3 drivers earning their 1st victory. The Walt Throne Best Appearing Car was voted on by the fans. After over 1,000 votes the sharp looking green #7C of Dylan Swiernik’s team took home the honor. The peer-voted Mechanic of the Year award went to Cody Buhler, crew chief on the Swiernik race team. Dalton Rombough attained the Cobra Coaches Dash Series Championship by 1 point over Joe Trenca. He was presented with snake-skin cowboy boots by Cobra Coaches owner Chuck Hebing and Joe Trenca received baby pink snake-skin cowboy boots for his soon to be born daughter. The Lane’s Yamaha Rookie of the Year was Tyler Reynolds who moved from Sportsman to 360 sprints this year. Due to engine issues, he only competed in 14 races and scored his best finish of 14th at Autodrome Granby. The Outstanding Newcomer was Quebecois Alex Therrien who finished 8th in the points standings and earned his 1st feature win in front of a packed house of family and friends at Autodrome Granby. The “ironmen” drivers of Poirier, Swiernik, Franek and Barney, who competed in the entire tour, were applauded for their commitment and dedication.

ESS Technical Director Fred Shaughnessy was honored with the John Zentner Award. Fred displays the qualities of John Zentner: commitment, hard work, passion for the sport and a true friend to all in the pits. His attention to detail, work ethic, and willingness to step in wherever and whenever necessary is second to none. Congratulations to Fred who represents ESS in the best possible way.

Chuck “the Cobra” Hebing was inducted into the ESS Hall of Fame for his outstanding performance in sprint car racing. The Cobra has the most wins in ESS CNY Speedweek history with 6 and won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. This year Chuck came out of retirement to run 5 races and scored his 40th and final career win which moved him to 3rd place on the ESS All Time Win list. His total 360 sprint wins were 101 with multiple car owners across various sanctions at 33 different tracks. Congratulations to Chuck for his contributions as an ESS champion, competitor, sponsor and board of director.

ESS would like to thank Hoosier Tire Canada, FX Caprara, Cobra Coaches, Rifenburg Contracting Corp, Pinnacle Investments, A-Verdi Storage Containers, E & V Energy, Elab Smokers Boutique, Ashley Lynn Winery, Lacaillade Masonry, PJC Spray Foam, Slade Precision Shocks, Allstar Performance, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Primal Tee Shop, Speedway Press, King Race Products, Lane’s Yamaha, and numerous lucky giveaway and dash sponsors for their support throughout the season. ESS is grateful to the 16 promoters that bring “America’s Race Cars” to their tracks. A big thank you to the drivers, their crews and families, the staff, officials, Board of Directors and fans for a fantastic 2025 season!