RPW Exclusive: L.J. Lombardo finishes Second in the Small Block Portion of the 57th Eastern States Weekend

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – The 22 year old driver from Danbury, CT. turned heads at Orange County Fair Speedway Saturday Night. When the day started for Hot Laps, Lombardo and Team were around 13th on the charts.

“We were good going out for hot laps and everything but we wanted more.” He said. “Pete from PMC along with Robbie Albreada made some big changes. We went out pretty early for time trials which actually hurt us but put it to the top of board and held it for a while. Once it was all said and done we were fourth.”

With the fourth place starting spot, L.J. was in good position to make moves and drive to the top spot.

“We rode around the first 40 laps and really just paced our-self” he said. “We got pressured a little bit from Sheppard but when I could hear him through the center of the corner I knew it was time to go.”

With just eight laps left to go, Lombardo was sitting in third as Anthony Perrego had trouble. On the ensuing restart he pulled off a move not many can do at the Hard Clay. He passed Brett Hearn.

“We got under Brett on the restart and I knew I had to glue to the bottom for the rest of the race but just one lap later we had another restart and we didn’t need that. He got under me coming off four and I know I had to stick it right behind him otherwise I would have been freight trained.”

Even Hearn knew that restart with eight to go could of been the last, with Stewart Friesen coming up light.”

“We had one more restart with seven to go.” Hearn said in victory lane. “If we didn’t have it, it would be Lombardo in victory lane and not us.”

With the driver of the No. 25 Frank Harper having back issues all year, he decided to step aside when points were settled at Lebanon Valley and let his Team Mate L.J. drive.

“This is such an awesome team.” He said. “We had a win at the valley and now second here. Frankie and Paul (Wehnau) we got together and they asked what we needed to run eastern states. We replaced everything we thought could break and it was all brand new”

For Driver Frank Harper it’s kind of bittersweet.

“It sucked at first to watch someone else drive your car to be honest.” He said “but I was hurt and I didn’t have a choice and with L.J. being a teammate, I had no problem stepping aside and letting him drive.”

The second place finish is what Lombardo and team may need to jump start the big Block program.

“I Love day racing at Eastern States” he said. “We have stuff up our sleeves for tomorrow to get in and you will see us in the front.”

The former track regular came on restart short to the biggest win of his career, if only not for the last restart, but he sure turned heads.