Stock car racing: Trombley returns to victory lane

Earlier this year after a long absence from victory lane, Jeff Trombley took a big win at Fonda Speedway. He followed that up Saturday by winning the 40-lap $4,000 victory at the Track of Champions.

“The motor ran great, and the car went real good tonight,” Trombley said in victory lane. “We had motor problems the last time we raced, and John Grant and my crew have been working real hard to get the motor and the car straightened out so this was a great win for us.”

The victory was the 34th of Trombley’s career at Fonda.

After a redraw to determine starting positions for the feature event, Trombley started on the outside pole with A.J. Romano alongside in an experimental Troyer car. At the drop of the green flag Trombley took off in the lead, leaving Romano and Tim McCreadie fighting for the second spot.

It took until lap 15 for the first caution flag to come out, and on the restart the top three of Trombley, Romano, and McCreadie stayed the same while 2011 modified track champion Ronnie Johnson and Matt DeLorenzo moved into the top five.

With only 10 laps to go the caution was outfor Romano, who slowed in turn four while running second and was out of the event at that point. On the restart Trombley caught a glimpse of McCreadie, who was the new second place car, but didn’t lose his focus at that point.

“When I saw McCreadie under me on the restart I thought that he was going to give me a run on the bottom, but my car was real good and I was able to hold on to the lead,” Trombley said.

Trombley went on to win over McCreadie, Johnson, Stewart Friesen, Matt Sheppard, Danny Varin, Ryan Odasz, DeLorenzo, Brett Hearn who started 19th, and Danny Johnson who started 23rd.

The 602 sportsman feature saw a great battle coming right down to the checkered flag, with John Scarborough taking the win.

Other winners were Steve Poirier (Empire Super Sprints), Cassidy Wilson (street stock), Kerrie Hollenbeck (4-cylinder), and Aaron Jacobs (crate late models). The ESS sprint feature was the final point race of the season, with Chuck Hebing crowned the champion at the completion of the event.