TROMBLEY WINS POINT TITLE
FONDA - Alton Palmer finally proved he can run with the big dogs, A.J. Romano stole a victory and Jeff Trombley ascended to the throne on Championship Saturday at Fonda Speedway.
Palmer and Romano won the twin 20-lap modified features, but the night belonged to Trombley, who wrapped up his first modified point championship anywhere.
Driving the FAF Racing/Bez Electric Teo Pro car, Trombley finished sixth in the first feature and fifth in the second to knock Bobby Varin off the throne. “We’re been focused on this all year,” said Trombley, who only had one win during the season, but was never had the one bad night that would have spoiled his season.
Other champions who were crowned Saturday night were John McAuliffe in the sportsman division and Rob Noviczski in the pro-stock class. The title was also McAuliffe’s first, while Noviczski won the pro-stock title for the second year in a row.
Palmer shook a gorilla off his back in the first feature. The veteran driver had dominated the sportsman division, winning 56 features and five track championships, before moving up to the modified division last season.
But the last two years have been a struggle for Palmer in the JM Jewelers/Lombardi car, and it got so bad that he ever began to doubt himself. But Saturday night, he started on the front row and led all 20 laps to add his name to the list of modified winners at the Track of Champions.
“When you switch from small blocks to big blocks, you have to pick yourself up 30 percent,” said Palmer. “These guys don’t give you any breaks.”
Matt DeLorenzo, who started next to Palmer, also ran a strong race and came across the finish line second, the best finish of his two-year modified career. Varin finished third, with A.J. Romano fourth and Craig Criscone fifth.
The top 10 drivers were inverted for the start of the second feature, which put Mike Romano on the front row, and he was off and running from the drop of the green flag. With the first 17 laps being run under green, Romano and the rest of the lead pack got into traffic quickly, but no one could touch Romano’s 2002 Bicknell chassis, which had already been to victory lane once this season.
While Romano was on the point, all of the attention was focused on his younger brother, who was putting on a late charge on top of the speedway. Although the younger Romano was fast, he couldn’t gain on his brother or the second-place car of Jack Johnson.
But on the 18th lap, Ansel Collins hit the barrier in the third turn, bringing out the only caution of the race. The next time around, A.J. Romano rocketed past Johnson for second, and then followed his brother under the checkered flag.
The pass of Johnson on lap 19 proved to be crucial minutes later. When Mike Romano went across the scales, he came up light, giving the victory to his brother. The win was A.J. Romano’s fourth of the season, making him the winningest modified driver at the speedway.
The disqualification moved Jack Johnson to second, with Tony Pepicelli third, Ronnie Holmes fourth and Trombley fifth.
Tony Farone and Mike Ballestero won the twin features in the sportsman class, but McAuliffe put the lid on his championship season by finishing second in both features. Like Trombley, McAuliffe also drove a Teo Pro car chassis to his championship.
Farone led all 15 laps of the first feature to get his first win of the year and the second victory of his career. McAuliffe charged from the middle of the pack to finish second, Mike Frasier was third, Bob Perry finished fourth and Bobby Hackel finished fifth.
McAuliffe only had to finish 14th or better in the second feature to wrap up the title, and did even better than that, again finishing second, this time to Ballestero, who picked up his second victory of the season in his Farrell Oil-sponsored small block. Frasier capped off a good night with his second third place finish, Farone was fourth and Ryan Odasz finished fifth in the second event.
Rob Noviczski secured his second straight championship by finishing fifth in the first pro-stock feature, and than put the icing the cake with his fourth victory of the season in the nightcap.
Chris Morris got his fourth win of the season in the first 15-lap pro-stock feature. He was running second when a caution came out on the eighth lap, and then inherited the lead when Nicky Stone, who was leading the race, had a tire go flat while the field was under caution.
The restart saw the worst wreck of the night, as Dave Bayes got pushed into the backstretch wall, and got turned over onto his roof. Before the car stopped spinning, he was hit first by Frank Guffrie and then by Brent Hollenbeck. Although the car was wrecked, Bayes walked away from the incident. Morris easily held off Jim Normyle to get the win, with Mark Sullivan third, Hondo Carpenter fourth and Noviczski fifth.
Because the top eight cars were inverted for the second feature, Noviczski started in the second row, and put on a move to get the lead that fans will be talking about for years. On lap six, the top three cars went down the backstretch three-wide, looking like a World of Outlaws formation lap, and Noviczski, running the bottom, never backed out going into the third turn and came out with the lead. Noviczski went on to victory, with Normyle second again. Scott Govertsen was third, after moving Steve Vrooman out of the No. 3 position with the front bumper of his car on lap 12, Carpenter finished fourth and Dave Viall was fifth.
Joey Williams, the 17-year-old sensation, picked up his third win of the season in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature, which was run without a caution. For the second time this season, Williams led all 20 laps of the feature to dominate the field. Travis Stevens was second, George Catanzano finished third, Keith Ackerknecht was fourth and Steve Bidwell finished fifth.
Bidwell and Cory Fachini, who finished seventh, are still locked in a tight race for the point title, which won’t be decided until the 50-lap championship race on Sept. 22.
Randy Moore picked up his first victory of the season in the street stock A main, while Dave Horning racked up win No. 8 in the street stock B feature. Moore used a restart on the sixth lap to get the lead away from Rick Anderson, and Moore went on to record a relatively easy victory. Shawn Simmons put on a late charge and passed Anderson on the last lap to finish second. Following Anderson across the finish line were Buck Gasner and Luke Horning.
The street stock B feature got off to a bad start for the Horning family. Dave Horning Sr. spun out coming out of the second turn and although most of the cars in the field avoiding his car, the final car in the field, driven by Scott Wells, slammed into Horning’s machine.
Dave Horning Jr. and Dick Nichols locked into a good battle for the lead when the green came back out, but after one more lap, the yellow was out again, this time for Rod Slater,. who had lost a wheel after hitting the wall in the front stretch. Horning got the lead from Nichols on lap five, but couldn’t pull away, and for the final laps of the race, had Dave Hewitt banging on his rear bumper. But because both Horning and Hewitt were fast on the same part of the track, Horning hung on for the win, with Hewitt second, Ken Barth third, Jeff Davis fourth, after starting dead last, and Steve Cosselman fifth.
Fonda Speedway will be dark until Sept. 15, when it runs an abbreviated card featuring an open sportsman race, street stocks, IMCA modifieds and a $500-to-win powder puff race. Racing on Sept. 15 will start at 4 p.m.
MODIFIEDS (20 LAPS), First feature: ALTON PALMER, Matt DeLorenzo, Bobby Varin, A.J. Romano, Craig Criscone, Jeff Trombley, Jack Johnson, Ronnie Holmes, Mike Romano, Tony Pepicelli, Bob Vedder, Ron Proctor, Brian Borst, Ken Hanson, Dave Lape, Jerry Pennock Jr., Rich Pennock, Brian Purdy, Harry Shaffer, Randy Hotaling, Dave Sanchez, Craig Hanson, Chip Mitchell, Craig Cirincione, John Kollar, Mike Fusco.
MODIFIED FEATURE, Second Feature: A.J. ROMANO, Jack Johnson, Tony Pepicelli, Ronnie Holmes, Jeff Trombley, Bobby Varin, Alton Palmer, Craig Criscone, Ken Hanson, Matt DeLorenzo, Dave Lape, Ron Proctor, Brian Borst, Bob Vedder, Brian Purdy, Rich Pennock, Harry Shaffer, Dave Sanchez, Randy Hotaling, John Marsh Jr., Craig Cirincione, Brent Cross, Chip Mitchell, Rob Enright, Craig Hanson, Ansel Collins, John G. Wolfe, Jerry Pennock Jr. DQ: Mike Romano.
SPORTSMAN (15 laps): First feature, TONY FARONE, John McAuliffe, Mike Frasier, Bob Perry, Bobby Hackel, Ryan Odasz, Mike Ketchum, Mike Ballestero, Jimmy Davis, Drew Fallis, Jimmy Burton, Joe Rando, Steve Akers, Billy Osta, Jef Jones, David Towns, Jeff Holt, Josh Pieniazek, John Constantino, Dennis Pennock, Doug Hutchinson, Bob Rees, Jeremiah Munson, Jason Otty, Paul Dunham Jr., Tim Clemons.
SPORTSMAN, Second feature: MIKE BALLESTERO, John McAuliffe, Mike Frasier, Tony Farone, Ryan Odasz, Jimmy Davis, Mike Ketchum, Bob Perry, Jimmy Burton, Joe Rando, Billy Osta, Drew Fallis, Tim Clemons, Steve Akers, David Towns, Jason Otty, Jeff Jones, Jeff Holt, Josh Pieniazek, John Constantino, Steve Jaszeboski, Paul Dunham Jr., Dennis Pennock, Doug Hutchinson, Bobby Hackel, John Delap, Bob Rees.
PRO-STOCKS (15 laps): First feature, CHRIS MORRIS, Jim Normyle, Mark Sullivan, Hondo Carpenter, Rob Noviczski, Bob Gile, Dave Viall, Steve Vrooman, Steve Burega, Ray Resch, Luke Klob, Kenny Gates, Scott Govertsen, Nick Stone, Dave Tediman, Mark Lighthall, Mike Fritz, Kerry Jordan, Ed Bradt, Jeff Sukup, Phlan Hart, Chuck McSpirit, Dave Bayes, Frank Guffrie, Brent Hollenbeck, Evan Gahan.
PRO STOCKS, Second feature: ROB NOVICZSKI, Jim Normyle, Scott Govertsen, Hondo Carpenter, Dave Viall, Jay Resch, Mark Lighthall, Chris Morris, Nick Stone, Luke Klob, Kenny Gates, Steve Vrooman, Kerry Jordan, Mark Sullivan, Chuck McSpirit, Dave Bayes, Ed Bradt, Bob Gile, Dave Tediman, Steve Burega, Phlan Hart, John Johnson.
IMCA MODIFIEDS: JOEY WILLIAMS, Travis Stevens, George Catanzano, Keith Ackerknecht, Steve Bidwell, Kevin Buff, Cory Fachini, Willie Reed, Dan Ballard, Jim Rajczi, Steve Hough, Darcy Volans, Lou Gancarz, Kevin Priest, Dennis Vrooman, Pete Knapp, Jimmy Duncan, Kurt Olsen, Aaron Jacobs, No. 69, Steve Healey, Jason Miller, No. 7
STREET STOCK A: RANDY MOORE, Shawn Simmons, Rick Anderson, Buck Gasner, Luke Horning, Chris Reckner, Jeff Crosier, Mike Walters, Glenn Evans, Joe Smith, Don Warner, Ken Connors, John Ketchum, Tim Smith, T.J. Marley, Bill Karp, Jeff Carpenter, No. 72.
STREET STOCK B: DAVE HORNING JR., Dave Hewitt, Ken Barth, Jeff Davis, Steve Cosselman, Dick Nichols, Jimmy Olsen, Bob Van Aernam, John Johnson, Dave Horning Sr., John Babcock, Wayne Gaige, Rob Van Aernam, Rod Slater, Scott Wells.