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Friesen Finds Victory Lane in CNY Speedweek Night One

By Curtis Berleue (Vernon, NY) | Making a rare sprint car start, NASCAR Truck series driver Stewart Friesen picked up his fourth CNY Speedweek victory and first since 2015 on Thursday night at Utica-Rome Speedway. Driving for Glenn Styres, the now Sprakers, NY driver fended off multiple charges from Jordan Poirier for the $2,500 victory.
Pinnacle pole award winner Stewart Friesen brought the field to green with Jordan Poirier on his outside. Going into turn one, Poirier took the early advantage on the outside. Before a lap could be completed, however, the first caution flew for multiple slowing cars.
The ensuing restart saw another caution before the field could reach turn 3, this time for Josh Pieniazek in turn 1. The third restart was the charm, though, as a lap was able to be completed and Friesen was able to jump out to the lead.
As Friesen clicked off lap 5, he started navigating lap traffic, with Poirier, Billy VanInwegen, Danny Varin and Jordan Thomas in tow. The next lap, however, another caution flew, this time for a slowing Chris Hile.
Poirier was able to take full advantage of the restart, as he got a good run around the top and took the lead from Friesen. Behind the leaders, Matt Tanner was the star of the show as he had worked his way from the 22nd starting position to 9th in the first 10 laps.
Another caution on lap 12 slowed the field again, and it spelled heartbreak for Tanner as an issue under caution ended his march to the front.
Friesen was able to re-take the lead from Poirier on the restart, working the high side. Danny Varin followed in third, with Billy VanInwegen now in fourth and Joe Trenca rounding out the top 5.
With Friesen opening up his lead over Poirier, all eyes were on the battle for 5th as Trenca and Davie Franek would trade slide jobs on each end of the track.
Friesen was able to continue pulling away from the rest of the field and crossed under the checkers with over a 5 second lead.
“That was a blast, big thanks to Glenn and the whole GSR crew, they’re building these cars and motors in house now, and they were great” said Friesen in victory lane. “I didn’t fire off real good on the bottom on restarts. I would overshoot turn one and then Jordan would get me.”
“The track was great though, even with as slick as it was we could race all over it.”
Jordan Poirier crossed the line in second, a solid start to CNY Speedweek.
“I tried to start slow, I knew if I started slow I could have the momentum on the top side,” said Poirier. “I knew if he got out in front of me, it was going to be tough to pass him.”
“He was super fast in 3 and 4, and it seemed like my car was just a little bit tighter. Hopefully tomorrow will go just like tonight and we can finish up front.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Danny Varin.
“It was tough tonight,” said Varin. “When you start with those guys on the front row its going to be tough to beat them. Hats off to those guys, we made our car better all night but we were just off a little bit at the beginning of the night and were just trying to catch up a little bit.
With 37 cars signed in on the night, the field was split into four timed hot lap groups. Rifenburg Contracting fast time awards went to Joe Trenca, Jason Barney, Jordan Poirier, and Matt Farnham. E&V Energy heat race winners were Joe Trenca, Jason Barney, Jordan Poirier and Jordan Thomas. Shawn Donath picked up the Kinney’s Kar Kare dash, and Alex Therrien won the Lacaillade Masonry B-Main.
The next scheduled event for the Empire Super Sprints is tonight, July 5 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, A-Verdi Storage Containers, 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, July 5 – Brewerton Speedway – Brewerton, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Saturday, July 6 – Fulton Speedway – Fulton, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Sunday, July 7 – Weedsport Speedway – Weedsport, NY ($2,500 to Win CNY Speedweek)
Full Results:
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 0F-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 28-Jordan Poirier[2]; 3. #01-Danny Varin[4]; 4. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[3]; 5. 28F-Davie Franek[11]; 6. 98-Joe Trenca[10]; 7. #79-Jordan Thomas[8]; 8. 87-Jason Barney[5]; 9. 4P-Chase Moran[9]; 10. 53-Shawn Donath[13]; 11. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[16]; 12. 21T-Alex Therrien[21]; 13. 0-Glenn Styres[19]; 14. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[18]; 15. #5H-Chris Hile[25]; 16. 17J-Kyle Smith[20]; 17. 36-Logan Crisafulli[15]; 18. 13T-Trevor Years[26]; 19. 10-Kelly Hebing[14]; 20. 3-Parker Evans[23]; 21. #7NY-Matt Farnham[12]; 22. 90-Matt Tanner[22]; 23. 21-Jonathan Preston[7]; 24. #41-Dalton Rombough[6]; 25. #9-Josh Pieniazek[17]; 26. 13-Keith Granholm[24]
Lacaillade Masonry B-Main (10 Laps): 1. 21T-Alex Therrien[1]; 2. 90-Matt Tanner[5]; 3. 3-Parker Evans[2]; 4. 13-Keith Granholm[10]; 5. 46-Ryan Coniam[3]; 6. #5H-Chris Hile[13]; 7. 13T-Trevor Years[6]; 8. #4-Emily VanInwegen[4]; 9. 84-Tyler Rand[9]; 10. #88C-Chad Miller[17]; 11. 11J-Chris Jones[7]; 12. 6K-Kyle Dutcher[14]; 13. 33-Lacey Hanson[15]; 14. X-Dan Bennett[8]; 15. 13E-Evan Reynolds[11]; 16. 23-Eric Cartier[16]; 17. 29-Dylan Menditto[12]
Kinneys Kar Kare Dash (4 Laps): 1. 53-Shawn Donath[3]; 2. 10-Kelly Hebing[1]; 3. 36-Logan Crisafulli[4]; 4. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[2]
E&V Energy Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 98-Joe Trenca[2]; 2. #01-Danny Varin[1]; 3. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[6]; 4. 10-Kelly Hebing[4]; 5. #9-Josh Pieniazek[7]; 6. 21T-Alex Therrien[10]; 7. 90-Matt Tanner[9]; 8. 84-Tyler Rand[8]; 9. #5H-Chris Hile[3]; 10. #88C-Chad Miller[5]
E&V Energy Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Jason Barney[2]; 2. #41-Dalton Rombough[5]; 3. 4P-Chase Moran[1]; 4. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[4]; 5. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[3]; 6. 3-Parker Evans[6]; 7. 13T-Trevor Years[7]; 8. 13-Keith Granholm[8]; 9. 6K-Kyle Dutcher[9]
E&V Energy Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Jordan Poirier[2]; 2. 0F-Stewart Friesen[1]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek[5]; 4. 53-Shawn Donath[4]; 5. 0-Glenn Styres[7]; 6. 46-Ryan Coniam[3]; 7. 11J-Chris Jones[6]; 8. 13E-Evan Reynolds[9]; 9. 33-Lacey Hanson[8]
E&V Energy Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. #79-Jordan Thomas[1]; 2. #7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 3. 21-Jonathan Preston[4]; 4. 36-Logan Crisafulli[3]; 5. 17J-Kyle Smith[5]; 6. #4-Emily VanInwegen[7]; 7. X-Dan Bennett[6]; 8. 29-Dylan Menditto[9]; 9. 23-Eric Cartier[8]
Awards & Contingencies:
Rifenburg Contracting Fast Time ($25 each): #98-Joe Trenca; #87-Jason Barney; #28-Jordan Poirier; #7NY-Matt Farnham
E&V Energy Heat Winners ($25 each): #98-Joe Trenca; #87-Jason Barney; #28-Jordan Poirier; #79-Jordan Thomas
Cobra Coaches / Kinney’s Kar Kare Dash Winner ($125): #53-Shawn Donath
Lacaillade Masonry B Main Winner ($50): #21T-Alex Therrien
PJC Spray Foam First Non-Qualifier ($50): #46-Ryan Coniam
Pinnacle Pole Draw Award ($25): #0X-Stewart Friesen
A-Verdi Storage Containers Hard Charger Award ($50): #5H-Chris Hile
Pinnacle Investments Last Car Running ($30): #3-Parker Evans
Pinnacle Investments 11th Place (5 gallons fuel): #17-Sammy Reakes IV
Ashley Lynn Winery Podium Finish (bottle of wine): #0X-Stewart Friesen, #28-Jordan Poirier; #01-Danny Varin

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