Sprints at Lebanon Valley

[Denman]

I would be remiss if I didn't write about the Empire State Sprints at the Valley. 30 cars at the track for 22 spots and 2 provisionals. Mostly upstate New York with quite a few Canadian entries. 3 heats, trophy dash , B main and A main. This was only the fourth appearance ever for this group at LVS since the groups inception. Winged Sprint cars at their competitive best. The roster in their program lists over 120 Sprinters who raced with the group last year including Tony Stewart. Looks like they have at least 33 races scheduled for this season between Canada, New York, & Pa. Great group of good looking winged sprints. Chuck "the Cobra" Hebing won the 25 lap A-main after starting outside row. Plenty of pressure put on him by several different drivers including Justin Barger, Jeff Cook and Steve Poirier. The battle for second ended with Cook #10 hard into the turn four wall and then rolling over. Re-start at lap 23 saw Hebing hold off the Canadian Poirier for the win. Poirier second, Barger was 3rd. My personal highlight of the night was watching Jessica Zemken win the first heat of the night. Boy can she drive. Although her career may have stopped at this level she is a great addition to this Sprint class. The B-main was a wild one with a wild two car flip coming down the front straight. Other highlights saw Hebing also win his heat as well as Donath. Jessica had car issues in the Dash and pulled to the infield. She came out for the main but the same issues ended in a 21st place finish. I learned many new names at the Valley and was surprised to see this Sprint organization doing as well as they are. Sorry for taking up board space but I believe there may be a few of you who enjoy hearing about the ESS Series and Sprint car racing.

[Winger]

I tried to follow the ESS series whenever they ran at a track near me. Always put on a good show. Mike VanDusen was a champion in the series at one time. He use to race in Fl also, and I believe his son does now, from time to time. I would rather watch a good ESS show than a WoO show. You may not have the big names but there were more than half a dozen drivers capable of winning on any given night. Tony Stewart ran some shows last year when he was gong with Jessica Zemken. He'd be visiting and decide to show up at a track unannounced. Jessica does seem to have reached the limits of her capabilities in the sprints. She did have the opportunity though. I remember seeing her get her very first modified wins.