Sep 27, 2026 08:59 AM EDT
THE JUICE WAS ON THE LOOSE AS JARED ZIMBARDI FINALLY MAKES HIS WAY BACK INTO OUTLAW SPEEDWAY VICTORY LANE IN ESS 360 SPRINT CAR ACTION
The Allegany, NY 360 and 410 Sprint Car Veteran picks-up first Outlaw ESS win since July of 2023.
Super Matt Sheppard claims Gunslinger 35 lap Modified feature for sixth win of the season. Garrett Chillot makes it three wins on the campaign in Crate Sportsman action. CJ Guererri picks up first of the year in Street Stocks. Brighton Grant and Willy Easling both double up in Hobby and Mini Stock feature action.
Story by Kenny Shupp Jr.
(Dundee, NY) The 11th Annual Outlaw Speedway Fall Nationals was everything it was cracked up to be as the action was fast and furious all night long in the six- card program presented by Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram of Penn Yan.
The 360 Empire Super Sprints made their third trek of the 2026 season to the Yates County oval in Dundee, NY bringing along twenty-three of the absolute best the northeast has to offer.
In the 25-lap A Main Danny Peebles of Lowville and Shawn Donath from South Onondaga would bring the field to the opening green with Peebles getting the early jump and leading the opening five circuits before being overhauled by Wantage, NJ’s Davie Franek who would assume control on lap six.
Franek, who has pretty well owned Outlaw Speedway over the past several years was setting a torrid pace until the events only slowdown occurred on lap ten bringing out a full field red flag situation for a bone jarring crash eliminating three of the top contenders including Peebles, Donath and Dylan Swiernik.
After a lengthy clean-up and removal of the damaged machines it was back to green flag action with Franek once again leading the charge, however Jared Zimbardi was slowly closing in on Franek and on lap eighteen made his move and from there lead the final seven circuits in route to his first A Main ESS Feature win at Outlaw Speedway since he last visited victory lane on July 28, 2023.
No Panic Davie Franek would hold on for the runner-up spot with Matt Farnham completing the podium after beginning the twenty-five-lap feature in starting slot eight.
The past two 2026 Empire Super Srint Outlaw feature winners included Jordan Hutton in the Spring Nationals along with Franek’s Summer Nationals victory.
For Zimbardi of Allegany, NY the win was worth a hefty $4,011.
For a concise wrap up of the entire ESS program including qualifying, heats, dash and feature action as well as post-race contingencies, ESS journalist Curtis Berleue will have all the coverage and for more details simply log on at www.empiresupersprints.com.
The traditional Gun Slinger 35 for the Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Modifieds was part of the 11th Annual Fall Nationals with eighteen machines checking in for the night of competition.
In the $5,011 to win, thirty-five lap feature invader Danny Creeden along with track regular Alex Payne would bring the field to the opening green flag.
Payne would get the jump and lead through a trio of yellow flags until a lap fifteen restart when things got muddied up for the race leaders as confusion coming for green caused a chain reaction of cars playing bumper tag with Payne suffering a flat left rear tire ending any chance for the Hopewell speedster of finding victory lane for the fourth time in 2026.
Once things got sorted out and racing resumed it was newly crowned 2026 Modified Track Champion, Matt Sheppard of Savannah assuming control after dogging Payne for the first half of the event after starting sixth on the grid.
Once in front and in clean air Super Matt had his hands full with 2025 Outlaw Track Champion Michael Maresca as the Baldwinsville speedster was easily within striking distance of Sheppard over the remaining twenty circuits.
Two late race caution flags would slow the pace on laps twenty-five and thirty-three but on every restart Sheppard was able to hold off Maresca and a rapidly closing Hurricane Steve Paine who lined up fifth on the opening grid, but as the double checkered flags waved it was Sheppard picking up win six on the season as he was chased across the line by Maresca who once again had to settle for the bridesmaid position after coming from sixth on the opening grid.
Hurricane Steve Paine would once again show his muscle for the second consecutive week as the veteran Waterloo driver would complete the podium finishers.
The Genoa Giant, Pat Ward put on another one of his patented performances as he very quietly would advance from starting position nine to finish fourth piloting one of Tyler Siri Motorsports machines with Tommy Collins of Groton driving one of the Tim Gibson owned Big Boy Motorsports cars as he would complete the top five dropping one position from his original fourth place starting spot.
In the companion Knapp and Schlappi Lumber 602 Crate Sportsman Division $2,511 was up for grabs for which ever pilot could win the 11th Annual Fall Nationals and in their twenty-five lap feature it was Garrett Chillot leading from start to finish as the Springbrook, Pa young gun would keep all others at bay finding Outlaw’s Victory Lane for the third time in 2026 after winning the back to back early season wins on April 17 and 24.
Chillot was able to withstand three caution flags coming on laps seven, ten and twenty-four as he cruised to the popular win over a rapidly closing Josh Nobriga as the second gen Lindley driver was able to clear Tyler Peet in the late going and come home with a well-deserved runner-up finish after lining up tenth on the opening grid.
Nobriga had won a single feature event earlier in the season on Friday, July 9.
Peet of Lake Ariel, Pa, who was looking to attain his second Outlaw win of 2026 after winning the season opener on April 4 would hold on to finish third dropping one position from his outside front row starting slot.
Brent Ayers and Daryl Krebs would both maintain their opening event starting positions as they completed the top five finishers.
The heart break of the event had to be for Chris Darling who had masterfully worked his way from starting position eight into the runner-up position and looked poised to challenge Chillot for the win until he was forced pit side on the white flag lap ending any chance of the teenager finding victory lane for the second time in 2026.
In Swarthout Recycling Street Stock twenty-lap $2,011 to win feature action Hobby Stock regular Danny Kerrick found himself in one of Jimmy Grant’s potent machines as the 2026 SS Track Champion decided to take the night off and put Kerrick in the car and he would not disappoint at the young Stanely, NY third generation pilot would lead the opening three circuits before giving way to eventual winner, CJ Guererri who was looking to add his name into the Outlaw Speedway’s record books as a first time 2026 feature winner.
Once clear of Kerrick, Guererri who started on the pole position was able to put distance between himself and Willy Easling who was not up to second after starting outside row two on the opening grid.
Three caution flags would wave on laps nine, eleven and eighteen but on each restart, Guererri was up to the challenge as he was able to hold off Easling who was looking to back up his lone feature win coming back on April 17.
Jerry Lobdell Jr. capped off another stellar performance as the Freeville speedster would advance from his opening fourth starting spot to complete the top three podium finishers.
Kerrick would drift back but still maintain a solid top five feature finish coming home in fourth with Ely Mangiarelli of Canandaigua completing the top five advancing five positions from start to finish driving the famed Schuylar Family Racing 57j grocery getter.
Addison, Corning, Hornell, Wellsville NAPA Hobby Stocks were up to bat next on the Fast 4/10 of a Mile oval with Jason Rhodes of Berkshire and local Dundee favorite Jake Karlnoski bringing the field to green for their twenty-lap $1450 to win feature event.
Jared Hill of Dundee would wrestle the lead away early on and hold court at the top for the opening dozen circuits before being overhauled by eventual race winner Brighton Grant of Penn Yan and once in control Grant would go on to his second win of the season after hitting pay dirt on July 17.
In a division once again primarily dominated by Mr. Smooth Marc Minutolo and Danny Kerrick, Grant was the only other feature winner during the entire 2026 Hobby Stock campaign so his victory on this night was well deserved as he was able to hold off a pair of invaders with Brian and Jason Rhodes finishing second and third respectively.
Fourth place went to newly crowned 2026 Hobby Stock Track Champion Minutolo with true Rookie of the Year competitor and third generation Corning High School Student, Jackson Dunning putting on yet another head turning performance in completing the top five finishers.
Wrapping up the long night of competition in the 11th Annual Fall Nationals presented by Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram of Penn Yan was the super competitive MR Grafix 4 Cylinder Mini Stock Division with all sixteen drivers that reported in for the night all looking for the $1450 winner’s check.
Collin Mills of Deposit and Prattsburgh’s Mike Ayers would bring the field to green with Mills taking control in the early going , but everyone in the joint knew this event would eventually become a three-horse race as Willy Easling and Michael Dickerson were both in the starting field.
Easling of Beaver Dams who was doing double duty on the night competing in both Street and Mini Stock action would begin the twenty-lap feature inside row two and once he cleared Mills in his potent Cody Morehouse owned 4 T 4 machine would go on to making it back-to-back feature wins after claiming his first MS feature win on 2026 last week during the MacMillan Memorial Event.
Mills, who is a journeyman competitor racing at numerous venues throughout the northeast was looking to make it three wins on the season, but he will have to wait another month for the running of the Dutch Hoag Memorial.
As predicted Michael Dickerson of Elmira who was recently crowned the Mini Stock Track Champin at Woodhull Raceway was looking for win number one on the season and he would definitely be a player, but his drive from position five was derailed by Easling and Mills as he would have to settle for a solid third place run.
Fourth and fifth were claimed by Jack Ormsby who lined up outside row three on the start as he was chased across the line by August 28 feature winner, Kenneth Evans who like Dickerson also hails from Elmira.
Congratulations to all 11th Annual Fall Nationals competitors.
Outlaw Speedway will now lay silent for the next three weeks before returning for the two-night October 16-17, 2026, Dutch Hoag Memorial which will wrap up the 2026 season for eleventh year track owner/promoter, Tyler Siri.
RESULTS. 11th Annual Fall Nationals presented by Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram.
Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Modifieds. 18 cars
Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 2. 7MM-Mike Maresca[7]; 3. 7X-Steve Paine[5]; 4. 42P-Pat Ward[9]; 5. 1-Tommy Collins[4]; 6. 63-Byron Worthing[15]; 7. 21P-Derrick Podsiadlo[17]; 8. 007-Marshall Hurd[12]; 9. 6-Tommy Paine[18]; 10. 84-Colton Coots[3]; 11. M13-David Matwiejow[13]; 12. 19G-Alex Payne[2]; 13. 70-Brady Fultz[11]; 14. 18V-Bobby Varin[10]; 15. 1P-Billy Paine[14]; 16. 16X-Dan Creeden[1]; 17. 5*-Tyler Siri[8]; 18. 41-Josh Nobriga[16]
Knapp and Schlappi Lumber Crate Sportsman Modifieds. 22 cars
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 349-Garrett Chillot[1]; 2. 41-Josh Nobriga[10]; 3. 9G-Tyler Peet[2]; 4. 5-Brent Ayers[4]; 5. 13K-Daryl Krebs[5]; 6. 55X-Carter Crooker[15]; 7. 123-Dale Welty[6]; 8. 36-Brandon Grover[13]; 9. 37-Chris Fisher[7]; 10. 181-Justice Mayo[22]; 11. 25-Braden Buchanan[14]; 12. 88T-Scot Torbitt[16]; 13. 72-James Friesen[20]; 14. 20G-Nick Galusha[17]; 15. 20-Andrew Clark[9]; 16. 714-Chris Darling[8]; 17. 87-Collin Brown[19]; 18. 17-Mikenna Buchanan[18]; 19. 06-Tim Guild[12]; 20. 84-Colton Coots[11]; 21. 55-Blake Parsons[3]; 22. 1-Steve Lead[21]
Swarthout Recycling Street Stocks. 12 cars
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. CJ1-CJ Guererri[1]; 2. 28-Willy Easling[4]; 3. 2L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[3]; 4. 36-Danny Kerrick[2]; 5. 57J-Ely Mangiarelli[10]; 6. 25J-Joe Giardina[8]; 7. 9-Aksel Jensen[7]; 8. 88-Doug Webster[9]; 9. 22-Dave Roberts[12]; 10. 2-Cody Baker[11]; 11. 15-Glenn Whritenour[5]; 12. 8-Brett Crawford[6]
Addison, Corning, Hornell, Wellsville NAPA Hobby Stocks. 19 cars
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 36X-Brighton Grant[6]; 2. 37-Brian Rhodes[5]; 3. 57-Jason Rhodes[1]; 4. 25B-Marc Minutolo[7]; 5. 21-Jackson Dunning[9]; 6. 89-Damon Decker[3]; 7. 9X-Josh Towner[8]; 8. 57JR-Tyler Burnell[10]; 9. 83T-Richard Sharpsteen[13]; 10. 115-Buck Mills III[11]; 11. 03-Keaton Doyle[14]; 12. 3-Jesse Ballance[12]; 13. 21B-William Bradley[17]; 14. 30X-Don Slover[19]; 15. 93-Jared Hill[4]; 16. 1-Carl Cleveland[16]; 17. 57B-Frank Burnell Jr[18]; 18. 3X-Kaiden Dgien[15]; 19. (DNS) 4-Jake Karlnoski
MR Grafix 4 Cylinder Mini Stocks. 16 cars
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4T4-Willy Easling[3]; 2. 23X-Collin Mills[1]; 3. 00-Michael Dickerson[5]; 4. 52J-Jack Ormsby[6]; 5. 15-Kenneth Evans[11]; 6. 67-John Decker[8]; 7. 8-Jayson Smart[9]; 8. 8X-Jock Symonds[12]; 9. 24-William Sincerbeaux[4]; 10. 926-Michael Abbey[14]; 11. 18-Blake Snyder[13]; 12. 40-Ricky VanZile[16]; 13. 2B-Joe Boylan[10]; 14. 88-Marvin Jenkins[7]; 15. 21X-Mike Ayers[2]; 16. 22C-Craig Decamp[15]
ESS 360 Sprints. 23 cars
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 35-Jared Zimbardi[5]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 3. 7NY-Matt Farnham[8]; 4. 87-Jason Barney[7]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton[3]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka[10]; 7. 28-Jordan Poirier[9]; 8. 79-Jordan Thomas[11]; 9. 25G-Tyler Graves[14]; 10. 21B-Dillon Paddock[13]; 11. 29-Dalton Herrick[16]; 12. 90-Matt Tanner[18]; 13. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[20]; 14. 3E-Parker Evans[15]; 15. 41-Dalton Rombough[12]; 16. 13T-Trevor Years[23]; 17. 77-Matt Rotz[19]; 18. 33-Lacey Hanson[17]; 19. 739-Nicholas Kruger[21]; 20. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[22]; 21. 3-Denny Peebles[1]; 22. 53-Shawn Donath[2]; 23. 7C-Dylan Swiernik[6]
Dash 1: 1. 87-Jason Barney[1]; 2. 7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[3]; 4. 38-Zach Sobotka[4]; 5. 79-Jordan Thomas[5]; 6. 41-Dalton Rombough[6]
