BREWERTON, N.Y. — After a podium finish earlier in the week at Can-Am, Paulie Colagiovanni found himself in victory lane Friday night at the Brewerton Speedway, and at the same time took the lead in the week-long Empire Super Sprints CNY Speedweek point standings with just one race remaining.
Jason Barney and Jacob Dykstra would make up the front row and bring the field to green for the 25-lap A-Main event. Barney jumped out to the initial lead, but before a lap could be completed the caution was thrown for Chase Moran with a flat right rear tire.
When the green flag waved again, it was Dykstra who got to turn one first this time and proceeded to lead the next three laps until a red flag was thrown for the No. 33c of Lacey Hanson, as she got upside down in turn three.
Taking advantage of the ensuing restart, Colagiovanni was able to grab the lead from Dykstra and immediately began to pull away. As the laps ticked away, sixth-starting Chuck Hebing made his way up to third and began hounding Barney for second.
By lap 16, Colagiovanni reached lap traffic, allowing Barney and Hebing to make up some ground on the leader. A close call on lap 20 saw Dalton Rombough spin right in front of the leaders, but he was able to keep it going, avoiding another caution flag.
With one lap remaining, Hebing was able to slip past Barney for second, bringing Larry Wight along with him. Ultimately, neither driver had anything for Colagiovanni, and he was able to park his No. 10c on the front stretch for the $2,500 victory.
“We usually don’t run well here, we threw a curve ball at the car tonight though and did some pretty drastic stuff to this racecar and it showed,” said Colagiovanni in victory lane. “I was just trying to get through lap traffic as quick as I could and use those cars as a pick.”
For the second night in a row, Chuck Hebing finished just one spot short in second.
“I actually thought I had a chance tonight,” said Hebing. “We were close, just one lap car made a move that got me. We got lucky to not get crashed out. Our car has a good balance right now, and when your confidence it better that always helps too.”
Rounding out the Ashley Lynn Winery podium was the No. 99L of Wight.
“I think we made a mistake and put a new tire on the right rear,” said Wight. “It took about 15 laps to come in. When it started working the last 10 laps it felt good, we just needed about 5 more laps to get up to Paulie.”