Coleman Gulick Collects First ESS Victory Saturday Night At Airborne Park

Story By: ROBBY KNOWLES / AIRBORNE PARK SPEEDWAY – PLATTSBURGH, NY – Coleman Gulick led every lap of the Empire Super Sprints 25-lap main event at Airborne Park Speedway on Saturday.

The race wasn’t that simple, however. Gulick ran into heavy lap traffic on lap-20, which allowed Steve Poirier to pull even on the inside of turns three and four. Gulick took action and began working the top of the track to pull away.

Jason Barney rallied in the final five laps to pass Poirier and finish in the second spot. Poirier, Paulie Colagiovanni and Mike Mahaney completed the top five.

“I was worried early on because I’m not great on a slick track,” Gulick said. “Steve (Poirier) showed me the nose and I knew I had to pick it up.”

Bloomingdale’s Matt Woodruff collected his first win of the season in the Egglefield Ford 358 Modified division.

Woodruff started outside the front row, but held off challenges from Chris Raabe and Steve Bernier. Woodruff’s smallest lead was three car lengths over Bernier in the middle stages of the 30-lap race and he went on to win by 10 car lengths.

“My crew has worked so hard to get us here,” Woodruff said. “It’s been a long time.”

Ricky Thompson picked up his first win of the season in the Poirier’s True Value Sportsman Modified division.

Thompson took the lead on lap-17 by working the rim around the top of the track. Devin Willis closed in the final laps, but ran out of time in the 25-lap event.

Bucko Branham completed the podium with Jason Bruno and Justin Severance finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Tylor Terry became the first repeat winner in the Ernie’s Discount Tools Super Stock division. Terry worked under Michael Wright off turn two to take the lead for good. Jim McKiernan and Brent Jarvis completed the top three.

Jordan Poirier took home the victory for the Quebec Lightning Sprint feature event. Poirier made the winning pass on a lap-17 restart. Mathieu Bardier and Xavier Lauzon finished in the top three.

Racing action resumes next Saturday night with all five of Airborne’s regular racing divisions in action for a 7 p.m. post time. For more information visit airborneparkspeedway.com