Lance Yonge holds off Tony Stewart team for ESS win

On Friday June 25 at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was the talk of the crowd, but Penn Yan’s Lance Yonge had the last word.

The former series champion captured the first ever 25-lap Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint A-Main event at the Montgomery county oval.

“I love it down here,” stated Yonge about the Mohawk Valley.  “They are two different style tracks (Glen Ridge, Fonda) and I love it at both of them.  We’ll write this one down in the notebook for next year and hopefully we’ll be back here.”

Yonge’s win was aided by watching local modified driver Bobby Varin.  At the start of the race Yonge went to the outside and watched Varin drive by on the inside.  Fortunately for Yonge the red flag came out immediately as Bobby Breen rolled in turn three.  He was uninjured.

“I went into turn three on the first lap and Bobby Varin went to the bottom and stuck it,” commented Yonge.  “The red came out and I said that it wasn’t happening again.  I have to credit Varin for that because if it wasn’t for him, I would have tried to roll the top and it wouldn’t have gone as well.”

The A-Main got underway with Zach Weigand and Tommy Wickham starting on the front row.  Wickham grabbed the lead on the start and was able to lead the first several circuits.

On lap six Jessica Zemken made her move to the front as she drove to the inside of turns three and four to get around Wickham for the lead.

Zemken showed the way with Yonge moving into second on lap 13.  The pair remained the top two cars as they battled slower traffic.  Zemken struggled to get through traffic.

She made the decision to move off the bottom groove and when she did, it opened the door for Yonge to slide by down low for the lead on lap 17.

“I can’t believe she (Zemken) got off the bottom,” commented Yonge.  “She was having a tough time getting by those guys.  I think with her going to the outside it kind of spooked those guys, they moved off the bottom and it opened the lane up for me. I was lucky that she moved off the bottom.”

Yonge was the leader when the lone caution of the event came out on lap 21.  Jami Russell spun to a stop in turn four.

On the restart, Yonge enjoyed a clear track and a wide open bottom groove as he drove in his Castner Performance-powered Maxim away from Zemken and Stewart for his 33rd career series victory.
Zemken finished in second in her Tony Stewart Racing mount after she made a mistake in slower traffic, allowing Yonge to get by for the lead.

“They were kind of blocking me there and I didn’t want to get off the bottom because I knew it was the place to be,” stated Zemken.  “I had to try something and I knew I needed to do something.  I wanted to win but we’ll take a second place finish.”

Stewart, of Columbus, Ind., crossed in third after starting the main-event in the ninth starting position.

Stewart challenged Zemken in the closing laps but he wasn’t able to get by her to earn a second place run.

“She’s (Zemken) my ride to the airport, so if I crashed her I was screwed,” joked Stewart after the main.  “Plus I got to pay for both of them if I tear them up. I’ve learned a lot from her about running these winged cars the last few years.  She’s pretty good in these things.”

This past weekend, Zemken took the wins at Can-Am and Utica-Rome Speedways, but Yonge, who finished fifth at Can Am and fourth at Utica-Rome, took over the Lucas Oil Tour Points lead with 884 points.

For more details about the ESS series, visit www.empiresupersprints.com.