Danny Varin & Rocky Warner Top ESS Legends Reunion Night At Weedsport

Stories By: DEAN REYNOLDS / ESS & DAN KAPUSCINSKI / WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY – WEEDSPORT, NY – For a weekend that almost didn’t happen, it turned out into a dream weekend for Fonda, NY’s Danny Varin. He led all 50 laps, collected two wins and took home over $4,000 backing up his Fonda victory by also winning Sunday night at the Weedsport Speedway.

The win came on the annual Legends Reunion night where Lance Yonge and Mike VanDusen were inducted into the ESS Hall of Fame earlier in the day.

Varin’s win also was a part of the NAPA Auto Parts US Tour where he has now shot up to fifth place in points.

“We were actually thinking of taking the weekend off with our engine issues after Canandaigua,” Varin reflected, “But, I said we have to do the work eventually so let’s get it done and race at least Saturday at Fonda. I joked that if we win we would then go to Weedsport…Well.”

Varin’s Dover Brake #00 was indeed in the field and was quick right out of the box. “The car felt really good from the start, it’s only our second time here in a sprint car so we were guessing a little bit,” he went on, “In the feature the draw of course was huge but I had a car that could go high or low and that was big with lap traffic.

“Last night the slower cars just seemed to be in the right lane for me to get around, tonight it was just the opposite so I had to change lanes quite a bit,” Varin continued, “When it’s like that you don’t know if anyone is closing in.”

Two cautions slowed the pace and enabled Central Pa and 12th place starting Lucas Wolfe to move into the runner-up slot and have a shot at the race long leader.

“Restarts were the best thing I had going, I was able to get a good lane whether top or bottom and then enabled me to get a group of cars at once,” he noted, “Unfortunately when he (Varin) got to open track he was real good.”

The final laps saw both in heavy traffic and produced a nail bitter of a finish. “I was in traffic and closed in but I just couldn’t get the good run to possibly have a shot to get by,” Lucas went on to thank folks, “I have to than R.C. Faigle, the Allebach’s for me to have an opportunity to race. We came in from Knoxville last night and had a good run tonight.”

At the double checkered flag waived by Dave Farney, it was Varin taking the win followed by Wolfe and 14th place starting Jason Barney who earned hard charging honors. It was also a memorable night for Jimmy D’s Engines as they powered the top three finishers. Rounding out the top five were Scott Kreutter and Jonathan Preston who had two top five finishes on the weekend.

A total of 30 sprints were in the pits in front of a big crowd at the Cayuga County oval.

Rocky Warner Collects $1,000 For Second Win Of Season Sunday

For the second consecutive event, Rocky Warner drove atop Victory Hill at Weedsport Speedway on Sunday, this time as the winner of the Beyea Custom Headers Sportman Shootout Series 1420 WACK AM ESS Legends Reunion special fueled by Pit Stop Convenience Stores.

Warner redrew the fourth starting position in his No. 1J and after falling back to fifth from his outside second row starting position, eventually found the outside of the Speedway to challenge early race leader Zach Sobotka passed the halfway point of the 25-lap feature go.

Sobotka, who started on pole position, led the first 19-laps of the feature event in spectacular fashion behind the wheel of the No. 38 before giving way to Warner by inches at the stripe as a caution flag fell on lap 20.

Warner was able to restart as the race leader with only five laps remaining, and drove away to a smooth victory over Sobotka and new Sportsman Shootout Series point leader, Kevin Ridley.

Starting 7th, Ridley put on a tremendous drive in the No. 20X as he battled Warner, Dave Marcuccilli, and Kevin Root for the majority of the race, eventually besting championship rival Marcuccilli to wind up on the podium.

The No. M1 of Marcuccilli, who led the series standings by two points coming into the night, now trails Ridley by two points after narrowly avoiding disaster on two separate occasions.

Early on Marcuccilli slapped the fourth turn wall battling on the high side and later collected a spinning Ron Davis III, who spun across the field after making a low side bid for the lead on Sobotka.

In each instance, Marcuccilli was able to continue on and fight for his fourth top five finish in four starts this season, chasing Kevin Root across the line in fifth position.

Matt Guererri, Corey Barker, Tyler Trump, Glenn Forward, and hard charger Jeremy Pitcher finished in the top ten. Pitcher came from 23rd to 10th after having to run the night’s B-Main.

A total of 32 Sportsman competitors were on hand Sunday with Matt Guererri, Warner, Root, and Will Shields winning heat races. Bob Henry Jr. took the checkered flag in the night’s B-Main.

Weedsport Speedway returns to action on Monday, September 4 with the Labor Day Double Play featuring the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds, the winged 360 Sprint Car Open, and the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series.

For a full 2017 Weedsport Speedway schedule and detailed information on the September 4 Labor Day Double Play, be sure to visit online at www.weedsportspeedway.com. Fans can also FOLLOW on Twitter @WeedsportSpdwy and LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/weedsportspeedway.

Lucas Oil ESS A-Main – Danny Varin ($2,050), Lucas Wolfe ($1,125), Jason Barney ($925), Scott Kreutter ($680), Jonathan Preston ($765), Ryan Susice ($495), Matt Billings ($430), Chuck Hebing ($445), Dylan Swiernik ($410), Jeff Cook ($500), Paul Kinney ($385), Billy VanInwegen ($345), Brett Wright ($350), Dalton Herrick ($290), Steve Doell ($305), Matt Tanner ($275), Steve Hutchinson ($295), Yan Bilodeau ($315), Daryl Ruggles ($260), Chris Donnelly ($280), Tommy Wickham ($300), Kelly Hebing ($300), Dave Axton ($100), Paulie Colagiovanni ($250), Scott Holcomb ($250)

Did Not Qualify – Derrick Bragman, Derick Juliano, Scott Just, Dan Bennett, Scott Goodrich

Lap Leader – D. Varin 1-25

ESS Bonuses:
Hoosier Tires Bridesmaid Bonus – Wolfe $100
E&V Energy Fast Time – Kreutter, Susice, C. Hebing $25
Car Mate Trailers Heats – Kreutter, Kinney, VanInwegen $25
Engler Machine and Tool Halfway – Varin ($50)
Insinger Performace Fuels Hard Charger – Barney (11 Pos.) $50
Walt’s Hobby Town/Cobra Coaches Dash – Cook ($100), Barney ($75), Wickham ($50), Doell ($25), Hutchinson ($25), Donnelly ($25)
Laciallade Masonry B-Main – Wright ($50)
Ohsweken Speeway 22nd Anniversary – K. Hebing ($50)
Scorpion Security Products Last Car Lead Lap – Bilodeau $50
Scorpion Security Products 12 Redraw – Wolfe $25
Fondations 55 Pick 5 – Preston $35
Hoosier Tire – Preston $200

Beyea Custom Headers Sportsman Shootout Series

Feature (25-laps): 1. 1J – Rocky Warner, 2. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 3. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 4. 34R – Kevin Root, 5. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 6. 12G – Matt Guererri, 7. 31 – Corey Barker, 8. 9X – Tyler Trump, 9. 7C – Glenn Forward, 10. 14 – Jeremy Pitcher, 11. 32 – Ron Davis III, 12. 713 – Tom Collins, 13. 25G – Nick Guererri, 14. 52 – Jessica Power, 15. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 16. 60 – Jackson Gill, 17. 66W – Taylor Caprara, 18. 82 – Will Shields, 19. 18 – Tyler Singleton, 20. 9 – Brett Draper, 21. 1 – Jim Spano, 22. 4T – Bob Henry Jr., 23. 1X – Willy Decker Jr., 24. 33J – Robbie Johnston

Heat #1 (8-laps, 5-Qualify) 1. 12G – Matt Guererri, 2. 7C – Glenn Forward, 3. 713 – Tom Collins, 4. 9 – Brett Draper, 5. 52 – Jessica Power, 6. 4T – Bob Henry Jr., 7. 18P – Casey Pavlick, 8. 90 – Nate Peckham

Heat #2 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 1J – Rocky Warner, 2. 32 – Ron Davis III, 3. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 4. 31 – Corey Barker, 5. 18 – Tyler Singleton, 6. 33J – Robbie Johnston, 7. 49C – Carl Warren, 8. 21 – Jeff Davolli

Heat #3 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 34R – Kevin Root, 2. 25G – Nick Guererri, 3. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 4. 1 – Jim Spano, 5. 1X – Willy Decker, 6. 66W – Taylor Caprara, 7. 99C – Billy Clark Jr., 8. 7S – Troy Stougthenger

Heat #4 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 82 – Will Shields, 2. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 3. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 4. 9X – Tyler Trump, 5. 60 – Jackson Gill, 6. 14 – Jeremy Pitcher, 7. 15D – Kyle Demetro, 8. 66 – AJ Custodi

Consi (8-laps, 4-Qualify): 1. 4T – Bob Henry Jr., 2. 66W – Taylor Caprara, 3. 14 – Jeremy Pitcher, 4. 33J – Robbie Johnston, 5. 15D – Kyle Demetro, 6. 7S – Troy Stoughtenger, 7. 66 – AJ Custodi, 8. 49C – Carl Warren, 9. 18P – Casey Pavlick, 10. 90 – Nate Peckham – DNS: 21 – Jeff Davolli, 99C – Billy Clark Jr.