By Paul Harkenrider (Canandaigua, NY) | 26 cars filed for entry for Night One of the New York Sprint Car Nationals at Land of Legends Raceway where it was Steve Poirier and Jason Barney taking home the two 15 lap qualifiers and locking themselves into the Saturday night pole dash. Jordan Thomas and Jonathan Preston also locked themselves in by finishing second in each of the qualifiers.
In the first qualifier, Poirier would lead all 15 laps and would not be contested at all during his event. The St. Mathieu , Quebec would start on the pole by virtue of being the highest in passing points during heat races. He would start along side Tyler Ross as the two would start the 12-car field. As Poirier began to pull away, Jordan Thomas who started fourth contested Ross for second in the opening laps. Finally on lap nine, Thomas would find some speed on the middle to top side of the race track and finally clear the Ross No. Five, who was making his first ever start at Land of Legends.
Poirier would cruise for the win while Thomas would happily settle for second putting him into the Saturday night dash for the pole.
In the second qualifier, Jonathan Preston who is coming off a fantastic month of August would start on the pole along side Jared Zimbardi. Preston would get out in clean air from the start and similar to Poirier, pull away from the rest of the field. The battle for second between Zimbardi and third starter, Jason Barney. Once Barney was able clear Zimbardi, he would start to track down Jonathan Preston with five laps to go. Preston would continue to ride the top side of the race track with Barney racing the bottom. With three laps remaining, Barney would catch Preston and get by him on the bottom and start to pull away from the rest of the field. Barney would win the second qualifier over Preston, Zimbardi, Steve Doell Jr, and Steve Glover the top five.
Heat race wins went to Dylan Swiernik, Steve Poirier, and Jason Barney. Alysha Bay would go onto win the CRSA 305 A-Main, which is also apart of the New York Sprint Car Nationals.
The series now focuses on Saturdays show which pays $5,000 to win, and $400 to start. Hot laps will begin at 6:00 p.m. with qualifying heat races beginning at 7:00 p.m. The CRSA 305 tour will also be on the card along with sportsman.
Please be sure to follow along on www.patriotsprinttour.com, and to connect with the Patriot Sprint Tour on facebook, twitter and Instagram.
Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
New York Nationals Night No. 1- Land of Legends Raceway
(Top Two Lock In into Saturday Pole Dash)
Qualifier No. 1: 1) 28FM-Steve Poirier 2) Jordan Thomas 3) 5t-Tyler Ross 4) 98-Joe Trenca 5) 5-Justin Barger 6) 3a-Jeff Trombley 7) 7c-Dylan Swiernik 8) 48jr-Darryl Ruggles 9) 2-Dave Axton 10) 36-Kyle Moffit 11) 58-Clay Dow 12) 3-Todd Gracey 13) 55-Mark Smith (DNS)
Qualifier No. 2: 1) 87-Jason Barney 2) 22-Jonathan Preston 3) 35-Jared Zimbardi 4) 36D-Steve Doell Jr 5) 121-Steve Glover 6) 9-Josh Pieniazek 7) 47-Kyle Drum 8) 67-Pete Richardson 9) 17z-Josh Azzi 10) 16L-Roger Levesque 11) 21-Will Glover 12) 99K-Dan Kuhn
Heat 1: 1) 7C-Dylan Swiernik 2) 79-Jordan Thomas 3) 5-Tyler Ross 4) 2-Dave Axton 5) 98-Joe Trenca 6) 16L-Roger Levesque 7) 67-Pete Richardson 8) 3-Todd Gracey
Heat 2: 1) 28FM-Steve Poirier 2) 22-Jonathan Preston 3) 121-Steve Glover 4) 36d-Steve Doell Jr 5) 47-Kyle Drum 6) 21-Will Glover 7) 58- Clay Dow 8) 99k-Dan Kuhn 9) 55-Mark Smith
Heat 3: 1) 87-Jason Barney 2) 35-Jared Zimbardi 3) 5-Justin Barger 4) 9-Josh Pieniazek 5) 3a-Jeff Trombley 6) 48jr-Darryl Ruggles 7) 36-Kyle Moffit 8) 17z-Josh Azzi