The ‘Sandlake Slingshot’ Scores his Sixth Victory of 2016 in Small-Block Competition at Lebanon Valley
Story and Photos By: MATT NOLES / RACERSGUIDE.COM
WEST LEBANON, NY- July 3, 2016- When you’re good, you’re good. But when you’re really good, you’re Kenny Tremont.
Fresh off his feature win last Saturday night on the highbanks of the Lebanon Valley Speedway, Tremont quickly discovered that if five victories in one season are good then six must be a whole lot better.
Tremont, who started eight rows deep last night in the 24-lap small-block modified feature, made quick work of his fellow competitors and drove to the lead by the seventh circuit of the event. From there, he easily cruised through the remaining circuits and added yet another notch to his belt for 2016.
For Tremont, who started 15th, getting to the lead in merely a handful of laps came as a pleasant surprise, even to him. “You never bank on getting to the front that quickly,” Tremont said after his win Saturday night. “You have to get them when you can. Sometimes you hit traffic just right and it works and sometimes you can follow someone all night long and never get by him. You have to take advantage when you can.”
With a few quick cautions early in the event, Tremont was able to plan out his next moves and used the restarts to his advantage. “Restarts let you regroup and rerack a little bit,” continued Tremont. “It helps me as long as I don’t get tangled up. Usually it gets tougher if there aren’t any cautions and the field gets strung out. Then it gets real tough.”
After picking up his sixth win of the season, Tremont was quick to point out that his success isn’t due solely because of his motor program. “Everybody points to the motor but it’s really all about the handling,” said Tremont. “I can drive this car deep in the corners and then pick up the throttle quickly and go. It really handles well.”
There is one noticeable difference between his title winning season in 2015 and his dominance thus far in 2016; he changed chassis’ from a Bicknell to a Troyer. Though that is the case, the driver of the infamous No. 115 was quick to shrug it off as a factor.
“The Bicknell car was a good car too,” Tremont stated. “We’re using that car at Devil’s Bowl [Speedway in Fair Haven, Vermont] but we really wanted to streamline the cars that we run on Saturday nights so I only have to carry one set of spare parts. Also, when we do chassis changes, I wanted it to carry through to all the cars we have rather than one being a little bit different than the other.”
With the 2016 season officially at the halfway point, there is still work to be done for the S&S Asphalt and Paving team. “There’s room for improvement for our Friday night program and our Saturday night big-block program definitely,” continued Tremont. “We still haven’t hit on a setup that I would call good.”
While most drivers would be satisfied with eight victories in a year let alone half of that, Tremont still feels like he’s a long way away from where he’d like to be. “It honestly feels like we’re a million miles away from where we want to be,” concluded Tremont. “Only because we’re trying a lot of things and really getting nothing for results; we’re in the top-five but the car isn’t capable of going forward but we’re not going to give up, we’re just going to keep getting after it.”
Matt Noles is a contributing writer for Racers Guide, Speedway Illustrated and Dirt Track Digest. He currently resides in Sprakers, New York and can be reached via email at matt_noles@yahoo.com.
