Freehold, NJ — A big night on Thursday (Dec. 15) buoyed Trae Porter in the inaugural Rosecroft/Freehold Driving Challenge, as he took home the title and the $1,000 first prize after Saturday’s (Dec. 17) second leg, at Freehold Raceway.

The series consisted of four races at Rosecroft Raceway on Thursday and four races at Freehold Raceway on Saturday, pitting four Rosecroft drivers against four Freehold drivers. Porter won three of four races on Thursday, taking race five with Select Friday, race six on Homestretch Wes, and race nine with Son of the Lynx. Along with a seventh-place finish in the other challenge race, that gave him 153 points going into Freehold on Saturday.

Porter finished no better than fifth in the four Freehold races on Saturday, but he built up an insurmountable lead and finished with 167 points. Russell Foster finished second with 157 points. Eric Abbatiello performed the best of the Freehold contingent with 124 points, including a trio of second-place finishes on Saturday. Tyler Miller, Jonathan Ahle and Vinny Ginsburg also represented the Freehold contingent, while Declan Donoway and Eric Davis drove for the Rosecroft side.

Saturday’s festivities at Freehold also featured a bouncy reindeer race and a bicycle race, with the bicycles being donated to Habcore, a 501(c) charity which provides housing to veterans, low-income residents and special-needs residents in Monmouth County, N.J.

Live racing at Freehold resumes on Friday (Dec. 23) starting at 12:30 p.m.