It’s a finish most won’t forget, especially for Matt Triola. He earned his first super pro truck win in spectacular fashion at Riverhead Raceway in New York.
Triola (middle) had to battle Ethan Brown (left) and Jack Handley Jr. (right) for that milestone victory.
“On the white-flag lap all three of us got loose coming out of turn two,” Triola, of Bay Shore, New York, said. “We were three-wide, sideways, and still racing to the finish.”
Brown lost traction in the marbles and dropped to eighth. Triola beat Handley in a photo finish. After the race, Triola raved about the respect he had for his fellow competitors.
“Jack was respectful on and off the track — he showed why he is a champion,” said Triola. “Ethan ran one of the best races of his career. He has a lot of talent, and this race proved it.”
Triola said the super pro trucks at Riverhead Raceway are essentially a “Nova-based street stock,” with an aftermarket truck body. The division tends to attract serious racers who want to only compete in 10 to 12 events, roughly half the season at the track. That works for Triola, an HVAC technician in Manhattan.
“I didn’t want to be racing with drivers who were inexperienced,” Triola said about choosing to race in the super pro trucks. “This division is stacked with talent. Competition and respect were as what I was looking for.
“I have a lot of friends in the super pro trucks. If anything happens out on the track, there is no fighting. We are a family. When I entered the family, the veteran drivers showed me how to earn their respect. Now, I will pass that along to the new drivers who want to race in the division.”
The super pro trucks have created many fond memories for Matt Triola, but one particular memory might stand out forever above the rest.
“It was my first win ever, in any division, in 20 years of racing,” said Triola. “It may not be how I wanted to win a feature, but it was an old-fashioned throw-down — it was very exciting.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
