RPW Column: Hebing Holds Off Colagiovanni At Weedsport On Final Night Of ESS CNY Speedweek

Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – WEEDSPORT, NY – The 4th of July holiday brought in beautiful fireworks, fans decked out in red, white, and blue, and phenomenal racing at the holy grail of DIRTCar NE.

The Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints concluded CNY Speedweek ’21 at Weedsport Speedway, and “The Cobra” Chuck Hebing took home his first win of the season.

However, he faced a strong challenge at the end from defending series champion Paulie Colagiovanni.

Jonathan Preston and Hebing made up the front row as the field took Dave Farney’s green for the 25 lap feature. Hebing had a start as close as you could get to get it waved off and having to reset, firing at the exact same time Preston got to the start cone and beating him to the line. Hebing led the opening lap, but a big wreck in turn two on the second lap brought out the lone yellow flag of the night (turned to red). Involved were Sammy Reakes, Dalton Herrick, Kelly Hebing, Ryan Coniam, Denny Peebles, and Chad Miller. The latter would end up on his side in the accident.

Chuck Hebing fired first and held serve on the restart, leaving Preston and Danny Varin battling for the runner-up spot.

Paulie Colagiovanni would begin to make a charge from the sixth position on the restart. He would advance a spot on Matt Farnham to return to his starting place of fifth. A lap later, he would make an outside pass in turn 3 on Larry Wight for P4. Immediately, the battle for third was up for grabs as Paulie attempted to slide job Danny Varin, but Varin defended on the outside. Championship points leader Jason Barney looked downstairs, but Colagiovanni held him off four laps in. Paulie took a peek inside of Varin for the final podium spot after the latter went up high.

Lap 10, leader Chuck Hebing encountered lapped traffic. Preston would close in and try to pull a 2-for-1 discount on the inside of turns one and two a lap later. Still, he would get caught in the ropes of Colagiovanni and Barney, nearly going three-wide at the stripe to put 11 laps in the books. Barney had a double kill on Colagiovanni and Preston for the runner-up spot inside of 1 and 2. Still, Paulie did the same thing to the other two and taking the second spot.

As Hebing was stuck in heavy-lapped traffic in the final five laps, Colagiovanni started to tick off faster laps and close in. With four to go, Hebing went high and struggled to get by Jeff Cook, allowing Colagiovanni to be within striking distance. The gap was about four car lengths with three circuits remaining, and both drivers kept working top shelf. Coming to the white flag, Colagiovanni sent it in on the bottom of 3 and 4, and the gap was two car lengths. Hebing had a smoother first set of corners to maintain his lead. Colagiovanni gave one final Hail Mary but could not pass Hebing to present “The Cobra,” the win in the last night of CNY Speedweek.

“At one point, I knew they had to be catching me because I was slowing down way too much for lapped cars,” Hebing told RPW. “Then I started getting more aggressive with lapped cars. Got me back away a little bit, but it was getting tight there when we were slowing down so much.”

“Definitely, the lapped traffic had to play in my favor a little bit. I think we were good as we can get with this car. I think if I had a different line, maybe a couple times in lapped traffic, I might have been able to get him, but he was pretty far out there,” Colagiovanni commented to RPW.

Jason Barney rounded out the podium, enough to clinch the CNY Speedweek Championship, getting a significant share of a $2000 point fund this week. He continues to lead the series point standings.

30 360 Sprints signed in at the pit gate tonight.

The Empire Super Sprints return to action on July 16th with a trip to Freedom Motorsports Park in Delevan. As for Weedsport is back on track July 25th with the Super DIRTCar Series’ Hall of Fame 100.

Interesting nugget from the pits; Larry Wight told RPW he is planning on making some 410 races at the end of the month. Those races will be big when the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars come to Ransomville Speedway and Weedsport Speedway on July 30th and 31st.

For the full interviews with Chuck Hebing and Paulie Colagiovanni, plus pre-race interviews with Jason Barney and Larry Wight, head to the RSN Trackside Facebook page.

Empire Super Sprints (25 Laps)
45 Chuck Hebing, 2. C10 Paulie Colagiovanni (0.241s), 3. 87 Jason Barney (2.865s), 4. 99L Larry Wight (6.358s), 5. 7ny Matt Farnham (6.881s), 6. 00 Danny Varin (7.336s), 7. 53 Shawn Donath (10.561s), 8. 7c Dylan Swiernik (11.125), 9. 5k Jake Karlin (12.846s), 10. 75 Tommy Wickham (14.039s), 11. 28f Davie Franek (15.056s), 12. 17 Sammy Reakes IV (16.060s), 13. 90 Matt Tanner (18.679s), 14. 56 Billy VanInwegan (-1L), 15. 10 Jeff Cook (-1L), 16. 49 Scott Kreutter (-1L), 17. 3z Bobby Parrow (-1L), 18. 91 Scott Holcomb (-1L), 19. 23 Tyler Cartier (-1L), 20. 98 Joe Trenca (-1L), 21. H10 Kelly Hebing (-1L), 22. 3 Denny Peebles (-1L), 23. C22 Jonathan Preston (-4L), 24. 46 Ryan Coniam (-24L), 25. 29k Dalton Herrick (-24L), 26. C88 Chad Miller (-24L)

Heat Winners: c10 Colagiovanni, 99L Wight, 87 Barney
Fastest Lap: 45 Hebing 15.452s