VERNON, N.Y. — For the second time this year, Danny Varin found himself in Empire Super Sprints victory lane, this time at the Utica-Rome Speedway for the Bill Shea Memorial night as part of ESS CNY Speedweek.
Leading the field to the green flag in the 25-lap main event were Pinnacle Pole Award winner Chuck Hebing and Jeff Cook. As the field made their way through turns one and two, Hebing would jump out to an early lead over Cook and the No. 01 of Danny Varin.
The first caution of the event flew on lap three for the No. 22 of Jonathan Preston, who got over the bank in turn two while running in 12th. On the ensuing restart, Vain was able to slip by the No. 10 of Cook, and the following lap continued right by Hebing to take the lead.
As Varin pulled away, Cook fought his way back into the second spot past Hebing.
While Cook began to track down Varin for the lead, last nights winner Jordan Poirier was busy passing cars and had made his way into the top three from his seventh starting position by lap 15.
As the lead duo reached lap traffic, Varin was able to use the slower cars to his advantage and put some distance between himself and Cook. A caution for Lacey Hanson bunched the field up and gave the field one more shot at improving their finish.
As the green flag waved again, Hebing was able to get back by both Poirier and Cook and make a last-ditch effort to get by Varin, but ultimately he had nothing for the No. 01 and Varin would pick up his second ESS victory of the season.
“The track was tricky tonight, it was almost like you had something to lean on with your right rear, but the left rear was slick,” said Varin in victory lane. “When I got past Cobra, I moved down a lane and felt better there. Towards the end, I kept seeing Cook poke his nose under me, and I said, ‘I think the bottom is where we have to be’ and at the end it felt good down there.'”
Starting on the pole, Chuck Hebing led the first handful of laps before falling back as far as fourth before rebounding for a second-place finish.
“We had a good car all night,” Hebing said. “That restart helped me, nobody wanted the top so I gave it one more shot and it worked out.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was Jeff Cook.
“I was doggin’ him (Varin) pretty hard on the bottom there for a while,” Cook said. “Once he saw me keep coming to his inside, a good racer — which he is — will take care of that pretty quick. We’ve been working at our program really hard, hopefully it will come around our way soon.”
With 30 cars signed into the pit area, the field was split into three timed hot lap groups to start the night.
Feature Results (25 Laps)
1. #01-Danny Varin[4]; 2. #45-Chuck Hebing[1]; 3. #10-Jeff Cook[2]; 4. 28-Jordan Poirier[7]; 5. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[9]; 6. #87-Jason Barney[24]; 7. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[8]; 8. #90-Matt Tanner[5]; 9. 56-Billy VanInwegen Jr[16]; 10. #99K-Mike Kiser[6]; 11. #53-Shawn Donath[13]; 12. #28F-Davie Franek[11]; 13. #3-Parker Evans[15]; 14. #79-Jordan Thomas[20]; 15. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[10]; 16. #41-Dalton Rombough[17]; 17. #36-Logan Crisafulli[18]; 18. #13T-Trevor Years[3]; 19. #4P-Chase Moran[25]; 20. 9B-Bobby Breen[22]; 21. #33-Lacey Hanson[23]; 22. #7NY-Matt Farnham[12]; 23. #22-Jonathan Preston[14]; 24. #9-Josh Pieniazek[19]; 25. #23-Tyler Cartier[21]