It Was Another Exciting Season Of Action On The CRSA Sprint Car Series Trail In 2019

Story By: TOBY LAGRANGE / CRSA – SODUS, NY – The 2019 season for the SuperGen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprint Car Series was an exciting one with nine different drivers gracing victory lane. In all, 13 of the scheduled 14 events were completed with the one non-completed event being a rain out at the Land of Legends Raceway in August.

When all was said and done, Altamont, New York’s Jeff Trombley was crowned series champion for the third time in as many seasons. The now three time series champion also claimed the Kennedy’s of Troy Northway 90 Mini-Series and CRSA/Land of Legends Raceway Five Star Series championships.

Trombley, along with his fellow CRSA rivals were honored at the annual awards banquet on November 30th at the Vernon Downs Casino and Hotel in Vernon, New York.

It is never easy to repeat as champion and even harder to push that championship winning streak to three. In 2019, though Trombley was able to do just that when he claimed his third consecutive series title, worth a combined $3,000. The season was one of wins and consistency for Trombley. The Altamont, New York driver won four events (Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Fonda Speedway, Land of Legends Raceway, Afton Motorsports Park) and claimed ten top five finishes and 12 top ten finishes in the series 13 events. The only event that Warren Alexson owned team finished outside the top nine was in the season finale at Afton when mechanical issues plagued the team all evening long.

Since the 2017 season Trombley has won on average one out of every five CRSA events that the CRSA has held and has a 57 percent top five finishing percentage.

After claiming the 2018 Land of Legends Raceway Track Championship, Darryl Ruggles tackled the CRSA Sprint Car Series for the first time looking for the series championship. With six top five and nine top ten finishes along with a huge win at the Weedsport Speedway on Memorial Day, Ruggles would come close but fall a bit short in his bid for that first CRSA crown, finishing second. Ruggles did repeat as track champion at the Land of Legends Raceway.

One season ago Justin Mills not only was crowned CRSA Rookie of the Year but also finished fifth in the final point standings. With a pair of Powder Tech Powder Coatings Hard Chargers Awards under his belt and three top five and nine top ten finishes, the driver of the Bluestone Excavating number M1 improved on that fifth-place finish in 2019. Mills ended the season in the third position.

Finishing in the fourth position is Alysha Bay. The second-generation driver out of Canandaigua scored a pair of feature wins in 2019 (Land of Legends Raceway and Afton Motorsports Park) along with six top five and ten top ten finishes. The two feature wins pushed her career total to three with the CRSA.

Emily VanInwegen finished fifth in the overall final standings. The driver of the Mike VanDusen owned number 56 finished fourth a season ago and repeated as a top five finisher on the heels of two top five and eight top ten finishes. VanInwegen started 12 events in 2019 which pushed her unmatched total of events started since 2014 to 101.

The 2019 season kicked off at Paul Cole’s Land of Legends Raceway on Saturday May 18th. Trombley would pick up the win over Mills, Jason Whipple, Johnny Kolosek and Jesse Pruchnik. The series returned to action on Memorial Day, May 27th at the Weedsport Speedway. A stellar 24 car field unloaded pit side in front of a large, holiday crowd. When the checkered flag waved the Motorized Mad Man, Darryl Ruggles brought home the checkered flag over Billy VanInwegen, Alysha Bay, John Scarborough and Trombley.

The series would be back in action at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park on Sunday June 2nd. The track, which in the early years of the CRSA served as the home track for the series, would see a great crowd watch Cory Sparks pick up his only win of the 2019 season. Emily VanInwegen would finish a season high second in the Mike VanDusen owned machine while Trombley, Brett Jaycox and Johnny Kolosek rounded out the top five finishers.

Following nearly a month break, the series roared back to life at the Afton Motorsports Park for the first of two visits in 2019. The July 12th event would be the first of five scheduled events during the month. Trombley picked up the win over Dalton Herrick, Bay, Ruggles and Connecticut’s Peter Dance.

The final two weekends in July would see a pair of double headers scheduled. The first, the weekend of July 20th and 21st would see the series visit the Land of Legends Raceway and Thunder Mountain Speedway. Erik Karlsen took the checkered flag over David Ferguson and Pruchnik on Saturday night and then on Sunday, Herrick would claim the victory over Ruggles and Trombley. The Sunday night event at Thunder Mountain was a part of the annual Wade Decker Memorial.

July would come to a close with events at the Fonda Speedway and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. The July 27th event at Fonda would see Mike Kiser pick up the win over Sydney Prince and Thomas Radivoy. On Sunday Dana Wagner would take the checkers over Gerry Sehn and Herrick.

The month of August would see two events scheduled however the show scheduled for August 17th at the Land of Legends Raceway would be cancelled due to rain. The Albany-Saratoga Speedway hosted the CRSA on Friday night, August 9th with Trombley picking up the win over Brandyn Griffin and Kiser.

After a few weeks off, the series returned to the Land of Legends for the inaugural New York Sprint Car Nationals. The CRSA competed on both Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday night the win went to Bay over Dan Bennett and David Ferguson. On Saturday the $1,000 to win weekend finale would go to Kolosek over Dan Craun and Trombley.

A week later the CRSA returned to the Fonda Speedway for their first event after the annual Fonda Fair. Trombley would pick up the win over Kiser, Ruggles, Bay and Wagner and in the process nearly cement his third series title.

The series finale would take place on Friday October 11th at the Afton Motorsports Park. Alysha Bay and Emily VanInwegen led the field to the green after drawing the front row. VanInwegen looked to be on her way to the win however she would spin, forcing her to the rear of the field. In the end Bay would take the checkered flag for her first CRSA win away from the Land of Legends Raceway. Kiser finished second in the finale with Sehn third, Jaycox fourth and Wagner fifth.