TROMBLEY WINS FIRST FOR NEW CAR OWNER
After three straight rainouts, Fonda Speedway was able to get in some racing action with two drivers getting their first career wins in their respective divisions. It was also a great night for the two time defending modified track champion.
When the 2003 racing season began Jeff Trombley signed on with Jake Spraker to drive his big block modified at Fonda Speedway. The move paid off for both parties as Trombley brought the Spraker owned No. 1J to victory lane for the first time this season at Fonda surviving many yellow flags along the way.
“It seems as though the yellows always come out while you are in the lead,” Trombley said in victory lane. “I was actually glad that the yellow came back out the one time after Mike got by me on the restart. I chose the inside lane and he blew right by me on the outside. On the next restart I didn’t do that again because if he did get by me again I don’t know if I would have been able to get back by him.”
Trombley started off his evening setting a new track record in his heat race with a lap of 19.027. The old record was held by Tim McCreadie with a time of 19.158 which was set back on July 18, 2002.
Craig Hanson took the early lead at the start of the 30-lap Browns Ford/Wm. Larned & Sons feature event with Keith Shoemaker second. When the yellow came out at the completion of lap two Mike Romano was already in the third position after starting tenth.
The yellow flag was for four cars that were involved in a wreck on the frontstretch including Jack Johnson, Tony Pepicelli, Pat Ward, and Ryan Odasz. Only Odasz was able to continue but fortunately nobody was hurt. On the next lap Romano took over the lead from Hanson on the inside of turn two.
Trombley moved into the second position on lap four but Romano was up to the challenge early as Trombley tried to chase him down. When Romano got into lap traffic on lap twelve, a lap car blocked Romano’s lane allowing Trombley to get by for the lead.
That was when the series of yellow flags began, as there were four of them in a matter of two laps. Romano retook the lead on one of the restarts darting to the outside of Trombley only to have the yellow come out again. Trombley didn’t allow Romano to get alongside on this restart as Dave Lape was now in the number three position after getting by Ronnie Johnson.
Romano and Lape who are teammates in the Andy’s Speed Shop racing stable raced hard for the second spot swapping the spot back and forth twice before Romano finally settled into the position. The red flag was out with seven laps remaining for Johnny Marsh, Jr. who flipped in turn one. He was not injured in the wreck.
Nothing could stop Trombley on this night as he took the victory in convincing fashion over Romano. Lape who is now the new point leader finished third followed by Ronnie Johnson and Bobby Varin.
Bobby Hackel started the sportsman feature on the pole position and immediately took the lead at the drop of the green flag. It didn’t take long for Hackel to stretch out his advantage getting out to a straightaway lead before five laps were completed.
At that point Robert Perry and Jeremiah Munson were battling for the second position with Tim Clemons now fourth. Munson got by Perry for the second position on lap seven with Clemons also getting by Perry for third three laps later.
Clemons closed in quickly on Munson as the leaders were now in heavy lap traffic. Clemons tried a move between Munson and a lap car for the second spot on lap thirteen but Munson was able to hold him off.
With four laps to go the yellow flag came out closing up the field allowing Clemons to get by Munson for the second position. Could Clemons make it two wins on the night for car owner Jake Spraker after Trombley won the modified event? Not quite as Hackel was up to every challenge and won his third career sportsman feature at Fonda (the first one coming on 6/26/99 and the second one coming on 7/21/01) by a comfortable margin over Clemons, Munson, John McAuliffe, and Tim Dwyer.
Chucky Dumblewski took the lead at the drop of the green flag in the pro stock feature only to have the yellow come out before lap one was completed. On the original restart, Erik Nelson was the leader with another early caution out on lap two.
Rob Noviczski who started the event in the tenth position moved up to the third spot on lap three after getting by Dumblewski and Rob VanAernam. Next for Noviczski was Bobby Gile whom he got by for the second spot on lap four with the yellow coming out again.
On the restart Noviczski was the new leader with Kenny Gates and Chris Morris now second and third. Morris got by Gates for the second spot on lap ten just before Gates’ motor went up in smoke sending him to the pits.
Steve Welch who started nineteenth in the event battled side by side with Morris for one lap before taking over the second position on lap eleven as Noviczski was out to a comfortable lead. With three laps to go the yellow was out one more time giving Welch and Morris one final shot at the win. Noviczski was up to the challenge and won the event, his first of 2003 over Welch, Morris, Gile, and Jim Normoyle.
Skip Pabis led the first lap of the IMCA feature event before Joe Williams flew by him on the outside of turn two on lap two. Kevin Buff started the event in the ninth position but at the completion of lap four he was already fourth. On the next lap Buff took over the top spot using the inside groove in turn three to get the job done.
Steve Bidwell started the event in the seventh position and moved up to second on lap eight after getting by Pabis. Bidwell’s car started smoking heavily at the halfway point and was black flagged on lap twelve handing the second position over to George Catanzano.
Catanzano closed in on the leader with four laps to go but despite heavy pressure just didn’t have enough to get by the leader. Buff won his second feature in a row and second of the 2003 season over Catanzano, George Proctor, Pabis, and Steve Vrooman.
The street stock “A” feature began with Joe Smith in the early lead until Mike Walters took over the position before lap one was completed. Dan Hartgraves took over the lead briefly on lap two with Ron Tollner also making his way to the front. Tollner was the new leader coming down the backstretch on lap three only to lose control of his car in turn three spinning the car out.
Walters inherited the lead with Bob VanAernam now second. It didn’t take long for VanAernam to get into the lead as he used the inside groove in turn one to take over the top spot on lap three. VanAernam held on the rest of the way winning the event over Rod Slater, John Bradt, John Babcock, and Brandon Lehr.
Lead changes were the name of the game in the street stock “B” feature as Roger Keeny and Luke Horning took their turns leading the first two laps. Steve Cosselman took over the lead on lap two after Keeny and Horning came together in turn four. Many yellows broke the momentum of the event with three restarts necessary to get lap three in the record books.
Horning was the leader when lap three was finally completed with Howard Smith now second. On the final lap Smith got by Horning for the lead and the win, the first of his career at Fonda. Keeny, Cosselman, Carol Parker, and Jeff Crosier completed the top five. Horning ended up tenth after spinning into the infield in turn four on the final lap. Guy Klob finished the event in the second position but was disqualified in post race inspection.
The street stock “C” feature began with Phil Pearson as the early leader as an early yellow came out and slowed the field before lap one was completed. Mike Frasier started the event in the twelfth spot but on the restart he was number one as Dave Horning, Jr. made his way to the front sitting in the second position on lap four.
Horning, Jr. caught the leader and got alongside Frasier on lap six on the frontstretch but Frasier came up on him and made contact as the cars continued down the front straightaway. Horning, Jr. ended up touching the wall but fortunately both drivers were able to keep their cars straight and kept racing hard right up to the checkered flag. Frasier won for the third time this season over Horning, Jr., Shawn Laport, Frank Guiffre, and Don Warner.
The Bev Caputo Memorial Pro Stock Dash found Chucky Dumblewski leading lap one of the event before Erik Nelson took over on lap two. Nelson led the rest of the way for the win in the five-lap event held each year for non-winners in the pro stock division. Karl Klob, Erik Yager, Dumblewski, and Dave Bayes completed the top five.
Laurie Fallis was the winner of the four-cylinder event.
Next Saturday Fonda Speedway will be back in action with the Mid Season Championships in all divisions. Starting time is 6:00 p.m.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 36 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Craig Hanson, Keith Shoemaker, Ronnie Johnson, Pat Ward, Ron Proctor
HEAT 2 – Mike Fusco, Dave Lape, John Marsh, Ryan Odasz, Wayne Figler
HEAT 3 – Jeff Trombley, Jack Johnson, Mike Romano, Tony Pepicelli, Jerry Pennock, Jr.
HEAT 4 – Bobby Varin, Alton Palmer, Robert King, Ray Zemken, Bobby Vedder
MODIFIED CONSOLATIONS – 3 qualify
CONSI 1 – Jeremy Matthies, Steve Akers, Erik Gall
CONSI 2 – Brian Borst, Kenny Hanson, A.J. Romano
MODIFIED FEATURE – 30 laps – JEFF TROMBLEY, Mike Romano, Dave Lape, Ronnie Johnson, Bobby Varin, A.J. Romano, Ray Zemken, Jerry Pennock, Jr., Brian Borst, Craig Criscone, Steve Akers, Keith Shoemaker, Robert King, Ron Proctor, Craig Hanson, Erik Gall, Wayne Figler, Bobby Vedder, Jeremy Matthies, Johnny Marsh, Mike Fusco, Jim Davis, Ryan Odasz, Ancel Collins, John Marsh, Pat Ward, Jack Johnson, Tony Pepicelli, Alton Palmer, Kenny Hanson
SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING – 32 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Tony Farone (DQ’D), Bobby Hackel, Drew Fallis, Jeremiah Munson, Jessica Zemken, John Johnson
HEAT 2 – Tim Clemons, Robert Perry, Jim Burton, Josh Pieniazek, Allen Powell, Jr.
HEAT 3 – John McAuliffe, Billy Osta, John Constantino, John Cefala, Dennis Pennock
SPORTSMAN CONSOLATION – 9 qualify – Tim Dwyer, Kenny Martin, Dave Peek, Elmo Reckner, Floyd Billington, Tony Farone, Frank Greco, Mark Mortensen, Jeff Holt
SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20 laps – BOBBY HACKEL, Tim Clemons, Jeremiah Munson, John McAuliffe, Tim Dwyer, Billy Osta, Drew Fallis, Robert Perry, Allen Powell, Jr., Jessica Zemken, Josh Pieniazek, Tony Farone, Michael Ballestero, Jeff Holt, Dave Peek, Elmo Reckner, John Johnson, Mark Mortensen, Dennis Pennock, John Constantino, John Cefala, Kenny Martin, Floyd Billington, Frank Greco, Randy Meka
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 22 total cars – 6 qualify
HEAT 1 – Hondo Carpenter, Chris Morris, Rob VanAernam, Dave Bayes, Randy Cannell, Tom LaPlante
HEAT 2 – Erik Nelson, Chucky Dumblewski, Luke Klob, Bobby Gile, Kenny Gates, Rob Noviczski
PRO STOCK FEATURE – 20 laps – ROB NOVICZSKI, Steve Welch, Chris Morris, Bobby Gile, Jim Normoyle, Erik Nelson, Rob VanAernam, Joey Duncan, Dave Bayes, Wayne Patrick, Chucky Dumblewski, Karl Klob, Erik Yager, Tom LaPlante, Jerry Pepper, Hondo Carpenter, Randy Cannell, Kenny Gates, Nick Stone, Luke Klob, Dan Rickard, Kevin Waring
IMCA QUALIFYING – 19 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Skip Pabis, Joe Williams, Steve Vrooman, Kevin Buff, Dennis Vroman
HEAT 2 – Danny Ballard, JoJo Donato, Steve Bidwell, George Catanzano, Shawn Simmons
IMCA FEATURE – 20 laps – KEVIN BUFF, George Catanzano, George Proctor, Skip Pabis, Steve Vrooman, Dennis Vroman, JoJo Donato, Shawn Simmons, Chris Reckner, Eric Stumpf, Randy Moore, Tom Funk, Jeff Davis, Billy Ward, Justin Labombard, Curt Olsen, Steve Bidwell, Joe Williams
STREET STOCK “A” – 10 laps – BOB VANAERNAM, Rod Slater, John Bradt, John Babcock, Brandon Lehr, Ron Tollner, Dan Clemens, Neil Cosselman, John Anderson, Joe Smith, Dan Hartgraves, Justin Knight, Mike Walters, T.J. Marlitt
STREET STOCK “B” – 10 laps – HOWARD SMITH, Roger Keeny, Steve Cosselman, Carol Parker, Jeff Crosier, Paul Hughes, Howie Clark, Kathy Bellen, Luke Horning, Mike Budka, Jr., Mike Burton, Guy Klob
STREET STOCK “C” – 10 laps – MIKE FRASIER, Dave Horning, Jr., Shawn Laport, Frank Guiffre, Don Warner, Chris McMurray, Brian Cosselman, Denver Wilson, Phil Pearson, Norman Lamphear, Jr., Justin Labombard, Ed Bradt, Sandy Ferrara, Mike Tholin
BEV CAPUTO MEMORIAL PRO STOCK DASH – 5 laps – ERIK NELSON, Karl Klob, Erik Yager, Chucky Dumblewski, Dave Bayes, Rob VanAernam, Randy Cannell, Wayne Patrick, Joey Duncan, Luke Klob, Dan Rickard, Kevin Waring, Tom LaPlante
4 CYLINDER FEATURE – 10 laps – LAURIE FALLIS, Johnny Duncan, Roger Newkirk, Jr., Tracy Newkirk, car #02, Crystal Seaburg