By Marty Czekala
FONDA, N.Y. – At “The Track of Champions,” Jeff Trombley looked the part Saturday night.
The two-time track champion in a Big Block Modified and four-time CRSA champion went from ninth to first in eleven laps to win the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge opener by over five seconds over Dalton Herrick and Tomy Moreau.
With the win, Trombley ties Mike Kiser and Jordan Hutton for most wins at Fonda in CRSA history with four. He also broke the record for all-time top fives with 64.
As Trombley climbed atop the rear of his No. 3a Warren Alexson-owned car, the 67-year-old took a chance to reflect on the crowd going wild over his 17th career-leading CRSA victory.
“I love these guys,” said Trombley in Victory Square. “I miss this place. I have a lot of good times out here.”
Past winner at Fonda Tomy Moreau and past Fonda track champion in Sportsman and Crate 602s Johnny Scarborough brought the 20-car field to green for 25 laps with Scarborough pulling out to the early lead.
The field quickly went to yellow on lap two for Paul Colagiovanni Sr. spinning in turn two.
On the restart, Moreau made a move low on Scarborough just about touching off two to move “The Canadian Kid” out in front.
Dalton Herrick immediately moved up to second with a hard-charging Trombley, who started ninth after winning the Elab Smokers Boutique Scramble Dash, up to third after three laps.
With Trombley approaching, on lap nine, Herrick made a move low on Moreau in one to take the lead as the leaders approached lapped traffic.
But with Herrick not able to pass, Trombley used backmarkers as a pick, sending it low through three and four to lead at the end of lap 11.
A 2.2-second lead for Trombley would go away as Blake Warner stopped with 10 to go to bring the yellow out.
But the caution didn’t affect the No. 3a as Trombley put on a master class as the Fonda fan favorite took his 17th career A-Main, with moves on the bottom plus a new shock setup playing a factor.
“I could hook the bottom better than everybody else and I could get a good run off, so the guys that hang a little bit, I could drive right by him on the bottom,” said Trombley. “It’s the first time I got to run these Integra shocks, a whole new package they did for me and the car was really good.”
While not scoring the win, the finishes for Herrick and Moreau were big momentum shifts. It was podium finishes for the two in over a full season. Herrick his first since a win at Skyline in September of 2024, Moreau since a third at Cornwall in October of the same year.
“We had such a good car early, but when you come to Fonda, you’re here to beat Jeff,” said Herrick. “If we came out here without a top five, I’d be really disappointed because we run so good here. It’s a nice little rebound, get us a little momentum.”
“Damn, it’s been a while,” said Moreau. “I took time off from racing [last year], dealing with anxiety and a lot of stuff at home, so to come back happier in a better place and come back. Happy with it.”
In addition, Dave Axton recorded his best series finish in fourth, his maiden top-five in CRSA competition.
The Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger award went to Tyler Graves, gaining 14 spots to finish sixth.
After two overall races, Trombley leads the points by six on Moreau and nine over Herrick while Trombley and Herrick are tied for the lead in the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge.
Up next, CRSA hosts a doubleheader next Friday and Saturday at Ransomville Speedway and Land of Legends Raceway to kick off the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge. Action can be seen Friday night at Ransomville on Dirt Track Digest TV and Saturday on Land of Legends TV for free with a simulcast on DIRTVision.
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 3A-Jeff Trombley[9]; 2. 29-Dalton Herrick[3]; 3. 2-Tomy Moreau[1]; 4. 2A-Dave Axton[6]; 5. 18-Timmy Lotz[10]; 6. 25G-Tyler Graves[20]; 7. 99K-Mike Kiser[19]; 8. 88C-Chad Miller[17]; 9. 27W-Nick Webb[5]; 10. 61-Johnny Scarborough[2]; 11. 5T-Mark Taylor[12]; 12. 31C-Maverick Coffey[11]; 13. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[7]; 14. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[13]; 15. 55-Michael Hart[16]; 16. 21B-Blake Warner[8]; 17. D9-Dustin Sehn[14]; 18. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[18]; 19. (DNS) 28-Ron Greek; 20. (DNS) 3V-Zach Virkler
Elab Smokers Boutique Dash (4 Laps): 1. 3A-Jeff Trombley[2]; 2. 18-Timmy Lotz[1]; 3. 31C-Maverick Coffey[4]; 4. 5T-Mark Taylor[6]; 5. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[3]; 6. D9-Dustin Sehn[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Dalton Herrick[6]; 2. 2-Tomy Moreau[5]; 3. 21B-Blake Warner[3]; 4. 27W-Nick Webb[9]; 5. 61-Johnny Scarborough[10]; 6. D9-Dustin Sehn[1]; 7. 31C-Maverick Coffey[7]; 8. 88C-Chad Miller[4]; 9. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[8]; 10. (DQ) 99K-Mike Kiser[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-Dave Axton[1]; 2. 28-Ron Greek[2]; 3. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[8]; 4. 18-Timmy Lotz[5]; 5. 3A-Jeff Trombley[7]; 6. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[4]; 7. 3V-Zach Virkler[3]; 8. 5T-Mark Taylor[9]; 9. 55-Michael Hart[10]; 10. (DQ) 25G-Tyler Graves[6]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 88C-Chad Miller, 17.724[11]; 2. 3A-Jeff Trombley, 17.730[17]; 3. 61-Johnny Scarborough, 17.760[13]; 4. 29-Dalton Herrick, 17.863[8]; 5. 25G-Tyler Graves, 18.089[5]; 6. 31C-Maverick Coffey, 18.136[2]; 7. 28-Ron Greek, 18.253[6]; 8. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr, 18.256[3]; 9. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr, 18.260[15]; 10. 18-Timmy Lotz, 18.285[10]; 11. 2A-Dave Axton, 18.299[1]; 12. 5T-Mark Taylor, 18.300[16]; 13. 21B-Blake Warner, 18.301[19]; 14. 27W-Nick Webb, 18.353[20]; 15. 2-Tomy Moreau, 18.664[12]; 16. D9-Dustin Sehn, 18.845[14]; 17. 30-Kirsten Dombroski, 19.258[4]; 18. 3V-Zach Virkler, 19.517[18]; 19. 55-Michael Hart, 19.838[7]; 20. 99K-Mike Kiser, 19.838[9]