By Paul T. Harkenrider (Malta, NY) | Jared Zimbardi was racing third on lap 10 until a caution that involved the two race leaders of Chuck Hebing and Danny Varin. Zimbardi was able to hold off a very quick Stewart Friesen and a hard charging Cory Sparks to win his first Patriot Sprint Tour event of the year.
The 23 car starting grid was ignited by pole sitter Chuck Hebing and Tommy Wickham as Hebing would be challenged early by Steve Poirier and Danny Varin. Varin would put the slide job on Hebing a number of times in the opening laps but could not overtake the lead as the would hit the starting mark.
On lap 8, Steve Poirier who was running third at the time pulled it into the infield with a mechanical failure.
Varin and Hebing would continue to race hard for the next two laps but Varin hit the turn four wall that caused a safety tire to be put on the racing surface which caused the yellow flag. Hebing would try to avoid a slowing lap car but hit an inside implement tire and was forced into the infield.
Meanwhile Jared Zimbardi and Stewart Friesen were racing heavy for third as they were not too far behind and they were both able to avoid the turn four caution and they would then be scored as the two new race leaders.
Zimbardi was able to have great restarts and use the outside of the 4/10th mile oval where he would rarely be challenged by the weekly modified regular in Friesen. Cory Sparks used a lap 21 restart to get a good run on top of then third place runner Paul Habeck to come home with third place. Habeck would settle for fourth while Matt Tanner would complete the top five.
Dane Lorenc dominated all four laps in the Evingham Site Excavation ‘Four Laps of Fame’ Dash over Matt Tanner and Cory Sparks.
With the win, Zimbardi also picks up the Shuttleworth’s ‘Seals the deal’ winners bonus of $50.00. After a having a rough go of things for Warren Alexson who started 22nd in the A-Main, the Altamont, NY driver came ended up finishing 11th winning the Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the night’ award which is also a $50.00 bonus. Denny Peebles won the Stampede Steakhouse ‘Final Finisher’ award as he was the final driver to be scored in the main event.
The series heads to the historic Fonda Speedway tonight (May 28) for the first time in series history. Gates will be opening up at 5:00 p.m. with racing beginning at 7:30 p.m.
For more information about the Patriot Sprint Tour, be sure to visit patriotsprinttour.com. ‘Like’ Patriot Sprint Tour on facebook. You can also follow @PatriotSprints on Instagram and Twitter.
The Patriot Sprint Tour is a traveling 360 Sprint Car Series that visits tracks in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario.
Albany-Saratoga PST Results May 27, 2016
A-Verdi Storage Containers Night
Heat 1: Steve Poirier, Jeff Cook, Paul Habeck, Cory Sparks, Mike Kiser, Kory Gurney, Bob Grey, Justin Barger (DNS)
Heat 2: Chuck Hebing, Danny Varin, Tommy Wickham, Dane Lorenc, Steve Glover, Tyler Graves, James Hanson, Warren Alexson
Heat 3: Jared Zimbardi, Stewart Friesen, Matt Tanner, Paulie Colagiovanni, Denny Peebles, Dave Just, Pete Richardson, Jason Barney (DNS)
ESE Dash: Dane Lorenc, Matt Tanner, Cory Sparks, Mike Kiser, Kory Gurney
A Main: JARED ZIMBARDI (1), Stewart Friesen, Cory Sparks, Paul Habeck, Matt Tanner, Jeff Cook, Justin Barger, Paulie Colagiovanni, Tommy Wickham, Dane Lorenc, Warren Alexson, Steve Glover, Pete Richardson, James Hanson, Dave Just, Denny Peebles, Bob Gray, Mike Kiser, Tyler Graves, Korey Gurney, Chuck Hebing, Danny Varin, Steve Poirier
Shuttleworth’s ‘Seals the Deal’ Bonus: Jared Zimbardi ($50.00)
Stampede Steakhouse ‘Final Finisher’: Denny Peebles ($50.00)
Caseys Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the night’: Warren Alexson ($50.00)