Trenca Learns During Season-Opening Weekend In Central PA

Story By: SHAWN MILLER / MUCCI MOTORSPORTS – YORK HAVEN, PA – Joe Trenca is pleased with how his opening weekend of the season turned out.

The Mucci Motorsports competitor was slated to kick off the weekend on Friday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., but wet weather cancelled the race. The team then ventured to Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pa., for Trenca’s debut at the half-mile oval on Saturday.

He qualified 24th quickest and finished seventh in a heat race to narrowly miss locking into the main event.

“In our heat race we were dealt a pretty bad hand,” he said. “The guys who were in it have raced there forever. It was definitely tough, just like it is every time we go to Central Pennsylvania. But every time we hit the track we got better.”

Trenca placed third in the B Main to garner a transfer into the back of the main event, but unfortunately his night ended early. The team was preparing to push Trenca off to start the feature, but an official found a fuel leak that shut down the effort early.

“The fuel line fitting on inside of the fuel cell came loose and was leaking fuel when we were getting ready to push off,” Trenca said. “It was just a freak deal. We prepared all winter for this and it was just a stupid deal that really never happens. It was frustrating, but props to the safety personnel for doing a professional job.”

The team then headed to Susquehanna Speedway on Sunday for Trenca’s 410ci winged sprint car debut at the track. Trenca maneuvered from seventh to fifth place in a heat race, which locked him into the 15th starting position in the main event.

“We got a lot better and went forward so I was happy with that,” he said. “I was confident in the A Main we’d be able to go forward, but two laps in we lost brakes. It was not a track that would have been conducive to running well without brakes. I tried to run around and do my best. We passed a couple of cars and then fell back, passed a couple of cars and fell back.”

Trenca drove a safe race and battled around 15th most of the feature before ending 18th.

“I feel like it was a decent weekend,” he said. “The results didn’t show it, but our goal was to get a little better in the 410s. We just have to find a little more speed and fine-tune everything.”

The Mucci Motorsports team is scheduled to compete this Friday at Williams Grove Speedway and Saturday at Port Royal Speedway.