RPW Column: Travis Green Delivers A Great Father’s Day Present To Dad, Robbie, Sunday At Glen Ridge
RPW Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – As everyone celebrated Father’s day on a hot blistering day at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, what better gift could third-generation driver Travis Green give his father, former Modified ace Robbie Green, than a win Sunday evening.
How about the fact that it was also his first win at the Ridge? So the checkered flag and the trophy were just perfect.
With a strong run in last weeks feature, finishing in the bridesmaid position, team Green went into Sunday night feeling confident. Their night started off in the right direction by winning the heat race.
With no handicapping yet in place, this put the young pilot in command of bringing the field to the green for the feature, along side last week’s winner, Tony Ferone.
Green fired into the lead and was looking fast and smooth right from the get-go. Tucker O’Connor took over second position and brought along Bill August, leaving Farone to settle into fourth.
With Green was in command of the race, the battle was heating up for the fourth and fifth positions. Andrew Buff wanted the spot but Farone was doing all he could to keep it.
There was also a three-way battle going on from sixth through eighth between Scott McCoy, Cody Ochs and Justin Buff. The trio all wanted the valued inside lane.
Just before the halfway mark, the leader encountered lap traffic, and that’s when the race could have gone south in a hurry for him. A lap car coming out of turn two hit the yuke tire and spun as Green was barring down on him. However, luck was on his side and made it through, along with the rest of the field.
With the double file restart, Green went back out in front and was gone. Farone, fighting a loose car, relinquished fourth, and then fifth, to both Buff and Ochs. Last week’s winner drifted high down the backstretch and on lap 21, pulled into the pits and called it a night.
Behind Green were second year driver O’Connor and Billy August, both of whom were having clean solid runs.
Race positions changed for the Buff brothers as the race went on…one gained late into the race while the other stumbled.
With three laps to go, the 92 of Andrew Buff broke a right rear suspension component coming out of turn four. That forced him to take his car behind the pit wall.
That aided his brother, Justin, who now entered the top five to be part of a three-lap shootout.
Green had his guns loaded and the field covered in the end, however. O’Connor tried to reel him in but had to settle for second. August came home in third with a great run followed by Cody Ochs and Justin Buff.
“It feel good being in victory lane,” Green said. “It was a little scary when the lap car hit the tire and came around. I was glad nothing happened there and the late cautions drove me nuts.”
Will the fans see the Wallkill, NY native back at the Ridge this season?
“Our plan wasn’t to run Glen Ridge in 2020,” he said. “However, being that no tracks were running yet in our area, we decided to come last week. We race at Accord on Friday’s and will now run Glen Ridge. We’ll probably give up Orange County on Saturdays. My brother, Randy, drove here last year and we enjoy the track and facility.”
I was able to ask his dad, Robbie, how it felt that your son just won on Father’s Day?
“Anytime you win is great but it makes me happy just being with my sons at a race track,” the elder Green said. “I really enjoy this place and glad we decided to come here.”
I had to ask him. Will the famous words that are known to many, “The Green Machine,” be on Travis’ #T69?
“I’Il have to see what he says,” he said with a chuckle. “We shall see.”
Those world were always emblazoned on Robbie’s cars over the years and it was cool to see.
That’s it for the Sportsman class. A full report of all other Divisions will be out soon, but the winners from those events included:
- Prostock: Nick Stone
- Limited Sportsman: Tony Zilles
- Allstar Slingshots: Mike Hill
- Jr. Slingshots: Lucus Duncun
- Street Stocks: Damon Andersen
- Mini Stock Dual: Josh Kane
- Mini Stock Single: Wayne Russell Jr
DIRTcar 602 Sportsman: Travis Green, Tucker O’Conner, Bill August, Cody Ochs, Justin Buff, Scott McCoy, Ryan Heath, Joe Orlando, Andrew Buff, Tony Farone, Brendan Gibbons.
DIRTcar Pro-Stocks: Nick Stone, Luke Horning, Justin Knight, Beau Ballard, Andy Graves, Buck Gasner, David Demorest, Tanner Warner, Matt Groncki, Ivan Joslin, John Linblade, Ken Griffin.
Limited Sportsman: Troy Zilles, Stephan Gray, Isaac Walker, Garrett Poland, Pete Lorenzo, Tim Billington.
Street Stocks: Damon Anderson, Adam Tranka, Jesse Murphy, Chris Murphy, Ken Allen.
Single Cam Mini Stock: Wayne Russell Jr, Dale VanAllen, Justin Bellinger, Zach McSpirit, Pat McSpirit, William Cook Jr.
Dual Cam Mini Stock: Josh Kane, Brandon Tyler, Billy Hillman DQ.
All-Star Slingshots: Mike Hill, Danny Ballard, Brett Putnam, Tyler Vadney, Darryn Fallis, Conner Hill, Jim Pollard, Bob Morey, Spencer Cherko, Tucker Jones, Andrew Millard, Scott Sprague, Jim Gaige, Nick Auspelmyer, Jim Mudge, Joe Smith DNS, Ryan O’Conner DNS.
Junior Slingshots: Lucas Duncan, Sloan Cherko, Gordon Smith, Frank Twing Jr, Corky Warner, Tavien Blowers, Ryan McCoy, Brock Pinkerous DQ.
