VANINWEGEN SNAGS $4000 WITH RESTART PASS TO WIN NY 305 NATIONALS
Race Report By: Marty Czekala – September 14, 2025 – Photo By: Tyler Groescup
WOODHULL, N.Y. – A night Billy VanInwegen will remember forever.
Billy VanInwegen came into Woodhull Raceway with many top fives and waiting to score a win in 2025.
Car owner Mike VanDusen told him earlier in the week, "If we’re gonna win one, this is the one to get.”
The win may just be the biggest of VanInwegen’s sprint car career.
VanInwegen took advantage of a restart following a red flag with 11 to go to get past Mikey Smith and win $4000 to become the New York 305 Nationals presented by Dandy champion.
“Wow, that’s very cool,” said VanInwegen post-race. “I had my head down, really thinking hard during that long red. He gave me the top and I was able to get a really good run through the middle, clear him and set sail for third.”
VanInwegen and Smith brought the field to green for 30 laps. Smith grabbed the race lead early off a good start.
It was a yellow-plagued feature as the first caution flew on lap three as Keith Granholm spun.
Drivers would battle for the bottom step of the podium as Spencer Burley and Jeff Trombley battled for third with Dillon Paddock and Zach Sobotka on the attack.
With each and every restart, Smith kept holding serve on VanInwegen with various lane selections on each green flag. Just before halfway, Jeff Trombley would try to grab the runner-up spot, pulling even with VanInwegen down the back straight, but a "Billy V" slider would help the No. 56V defend.
With 11 to go, Matt Rotz spun in turn two in front of Scott Landers to bring out the race’s sixth yellow flag. Due to the time in the feature, officials called an open red flag to bring teams onto the track to add fuel only, giving drivers time to think about what to do in the final third of the feature.
VanInwegen took advantage as he was forced to take the top, but grabbed the lead on the outside to not back down and score the victory.
The win came in a different car he ran compared to August, when he finished third.
“Mike has two Panther cars and we were really torn," said VanInwegen. "We spent the last couple of weeks working on both of them to see which we wanted to bring for these big-money races. I think we made the right call.”
Just about the first two-thirds of the race belonged to Mikey Smith. The winner at Thunder Mountain back in July looked like he was in a position to grab the biggest win of his young career, but the restart changed everything. Regardless, Smith left with a big smile on his face, knowing he had a big chance to win.
“I was really happy that we can turn around,” said Smith after spinning in his Twin 20 Friday night. “I really think we were on rails tonight and it was just unfortunate that we caught those cautions and then we had the fuel stop. I’ve had a great season, it’s a great series. I love racing with these guys.”
Dillon Paddock rounded out the podium after a thrilling battle with Jeff Trombley for third. It was an excellent recovery for Paddock after spinning in his Twin 20 and finishing in podium spots in all three Woodhull races, including the win last May.
“That was a really tough race,” said Paddock. “People run the middle, bottom, it’s tight quarters racing and you can make your car as wide as you want when you know you have no one next to you, so it’s tough to pass. We were smooth and could move around. I honestly think we had a car to compete with, but just got stuck racing other guys. Going back and forth and a lot of fun.”
The New York State Stock Car Association (NYSSCA) gave out bonuses to the two highest finishing NYSSCA members and a wild card member. VanInwegen and Smith won $100 and $75, respectively, while the wild card was Dalton Herrick, receiving $50.
Two sets of Smith Ti Brake Kits were given away to a driver who competed in four or fewer CRSA events and five or more. Owen Dimm and Jordan Hutton won the brake kits.
Dandy also gave out $25 gift cards to heat winners Steve Glover, Billy VanInwegen, Jeff Trombley and Jerry Sehn Jr. In addition, a $75 gift card went to Brian Carber for the longest tow, having an over four-hour drive to get to Woodhull.
Josh Landers received a $25 gift card for being the hard charger. Dave Axton also received the same value for being the first one to not transfer to the feature.
The first driver to register was Jeff Trombley, receiving $100 courtesy of Mike Emhof Motorsports.
33 drivers signed in Saturday night.
CRSA takes the weekend of Sept. 13 off, then turns attention to a doubleheader at Land of Legends Raceway Sept. 27 to crown a DisBatch Brewing Company Challenge champion, then makes up its feature at Weedsport Speedway Sept. 28 to crown the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge champion.
A Main (30 Laps): 1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[1]; 2. 4ST-Mikey Smith[2]; 3. 8-Dillon Paddock[6]; 4. 8C-Brian Carber[11]; 5. 38-Zach Sobotka[7]; 6. 3A-Jeff Trombley[4]; 7. 48A-Alysha Bay[12]; 8. 121X-Spencer Burley[3]; 9. 10-Nathan Pierce[18]; 10. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[9]; 11. 17-Owen Dimm[16]; 12. JD33-Joshua Landers[23]; 13. 29-Dalton Herrick[10]; 14. D9-Dustin Sehn[13]; 15. 77-Matt Rotz[17]; 16. 33-Scott Landers[8]; 17. 28-Ron Greek[19]; 18. 121-Steve Glover[5]; 19. 47-Kyle Drum[15]; 20. 81K-Dalton Martin[24]; 21. 13-Keith Granholm[22]; 22. 66-Jordan Hutton[20]; 23. 4S-Johnny Smith[21]; 24. 23-John Smith[14]
B Main (12 Laps): 1. JD33-Joshua Landers[1]; 2. 81K-Dalton Martin[3]; 3. 2-Dave Axton[4]; 4. 25NG-Nolan Groves[2]; 5. 25G-Tyler Graves[6]; 6. 10X-Vince Chicklets[5]; 7. 3-Bailey Boyd[10]; 8. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[8]; 9. 52-Jeff Weaver Jr[7]; 10. 25-Cameron Moss[9]
Pole Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[2]; 2. 121X-Spencer Burley[1]; 3. 121-Steve Glover[3]; 4. 38-Zach Sobotka[5]; 5. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[4]
Pole Dash 2 (6 Laps): 1. 4ST-Mikey Smith[1]; 2. 3A-Jeff Trombley[3]; 3. 8-Dillon Paddock[5]; 4. 33-Scott Landers[2]; 5. 29-Dalton Herrick[4]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 121-Steve Glover[1]; 2. 8-Dillon Paddock[4]; 3. 23-John Smith[8]; 4. 10-Nathan Pierce[6]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton[3]; 6. JD33-Joshua Landers[5]; 7. 10X-Vince Chicklets[2]; 8. 3-Bailey Boyd[7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[3]; 2. 8C-Brian Carber[1]; 3. 38-Zach Sobotka[4]; 4. 17-Owen Dimm[2]; 5. 13-Keith Granholm[6]; 6. 25NG-Nolan Groves[5]; 7. 25G-Tyler Graves[7]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 3A-Jeff Trombley[2]; 2. 48A-Alysha Bay[1]; 3. 47-Kyle Drum[3]; 4. 4ST-Mikey Smith[4]; 5. 28-Ron Greek[7]; 6. 2-Dave Axton[6]; 7. 52-Jeff Weaver Jr[8]; 8. 25-Cameron Moss[5]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[1]; 2. 29-Dalton Herrick[4]; 3. D9-Dustin Sehn[7]; 4. 77-Matt Rotz[6]; 5. 4S-Johnny Smith[2]; 6. 81K-Dalton Martin[5]; 7. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[3]; 8. 18-Timmy Lotz[8]
Group 1 (3 Laps): 1. 8-Dillon Paddock[7]; 2. 66-Jordan Hutton[3]; 3. 10X-Vince Chicklets[1]; 4. 23-John Smith[5]; 5. 121X-Spencer Burley[2]; 6. 121-Steve Glover[8]; 7. JD33-Joshua Landers[4]; 8. 10-Nathan Pierce[9]; 9. 3-Bailey Boyd[6]
Group 2 (3 Laps): 1. 33-Scott Landers[5]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[4]; 3. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 4. 17-Owen Dimm[3]; 5. 8C-Brian Carber[1]; 6. 25NG-Nolan Groves[6]; 7. 13-Keith Granholm[7]; 8. 25G-Tyler Graves[2]
Group 3 (3 Laps): 1. 4ST-Mikey Smith[5]; 2. 47-Kyle Drum[2]; 3. 3A-Jeff Trombley[3]; 4. 48A-Alysha Bay[4]; 5. 25-Cameron Moss[8]; 6. 2-Dave Axton[7]; 7. 28-Ron Greek[6]; 8. 52-Jeff Weaver Jr[1]
Group 4 (3 Laps): 1. 29-Dalton Herrick[4]; 2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[7]; 3. 4S-Johnny Smith[5]; 4. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[3]; 5. 81K-Dalton Martin[6]; 6. 77-Matt Rotz[1]; 7. D9-Dustin Sehn[8]; 8. 18-Timmy Lotz[2]
The CRSA Sprints are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2025 and are brought to you by A-Verdi Storage Containers. Associate sponsors include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, Dandy, Joe's Garage, Westward Painting Company, Elab Smokers Boutique, iFreeze Storage & Distribution Center, Maguire Automotive Group, Powdertech Powdercoating, Ruggles World of Auto Body, PJC Business Ventures, Profab Enterprises, Magsarus Ignitions, Highside Racewear, Hoosier Racing Tire, Insinger Performance with their Stinger Race Fuel, My Race Pass and is owned and operated by Mike Emhof Motorsports.
For more information on the series, results and points, please visit our website, www.crsa.myracepass.com.
Please like and follow the CRSA Sprints on Facebook and X @CRSASprints.