Sanborn scores statement PASS 150 win ahead of Oxford 250

After the PASS 150 race at Oxford Plains Speedway in early August, Trevor Sanborn’s confidence was surging heading towards Oxford 250 weekend. That confidence increased even more on Friday night with an emotional PASS 150 win for Sanborn.

“It’s always nice to win and definitely boost everyone’s morale and confidence; it takes a lot to win,” Sanborn told Short Track Scene. “It was emotional last night. We’ve been struggling for a little bit. We’ve run the last three races. We finished fifth in both of them and then won this one, but it definitely makes you feel good going into the 250 or any, even any race after this. It just seems hopeful.”

Sanborn had to pit early in the race, as cooler weather settled in across the area changing the track and leading to a completely different feeling in the feature event.

“We were really tight and I think the car kind of swung because of the rain,” Sanborn said. “And we made some changes and it wasn’t where it needed to be. We went out with the feature and it was still on the tight side. So I radioed in and I said, ‘It’s doing this.’ And Kyle (DeSouza) said, ‘You need to pit the next yellow.’ So we pitted and he made some adjustments. I don’t even know what he did. He did something to free the car, make it looser. And it just came to life. It was a handful. It was loose in, loose middle, loose off. But I just kept kind of saving it and not driving, overdriving it. Just kept picking them off one by one. We caught the restarts at the right time and it was game on.”

Sanborn worked through the field, making his way into the top five with about 60 laps to go. Sanborn would get his chance late in the race to get to the front, with a yellow with 35 to go, restacking the field together. 

“When we restarted there behind Garrett in third, I knew that for a few laps, I knew that we were really good on the bottom and especially when coming up off of turn two and down the back stretch,” said Sanborn. “I looked under Garrett once and I was under him and he shut the door, which he has every right to do when you’re leading the race. You got to protect it and gamble on it a little bit. We made a lap or two and I got up in there the next time and I was kind of too deep in there for him to shut the door. I mean, he could have, but it probably would’ve wrecked us. But he did the smart thing and Garrett’s always raced me really clean and Jimmy raced me clean and then me and Jimmy were door to door there forever.”

With Sanborn’s win Friday night with PASS, it’s his 10th PASS win, but now his sights are set on Sunday, the Oxford 250.

“It would be unreal to do something like that in. It doesn’t really matter where you start, look what we just did,” Sanborn said. “We pitted, I don’t even know, 19th, 20th we restarted and drove to the lead.”

In recent weeks, Jimmy Renfrew Jr. has been a dominant car on PASS at Oxford and other tracks in New England, while Garrett Hall has been a force as well, win the Celebration of America 300 at Oxford in 2025.

Sanborn says beating Renfrew Jr. and Hall means that much more for the whole Richard Moody Racing team.

“Just shows how good our team is and how good Kyle DeSouza’s got the car for us and it’s always good to beat those guys that have been running upfront weekly,” Sanborn said “We’ve been on a struggle and now hopefully we’re on a better path of getting those good finishes.” 

Sanborn and the Richard Moody racing team will keep their car in the trailer for practice on Saturday.

“We aren’t there on Saturday, we don’t want to really change anything on it,” said Sanborn. “Just unload it Sunday and, we basically got what we got. We had a pretty good car. We don’t have to make many changes. Really no changes.”

The Pro All-Star Series will have a 90-minute practice Saturday morning, then will hit the track on Sunday for two hours of practice before drawing for their heat races.