All-Star Speedway hosted the first big event of the 2008 season on
Saturday night, with the WaterSnoGo Modified Showdown 150 presented by
Laticrete took center stage. Many of the top names in the Modified
business were in the pits for the first round of the four-race
All-Star Modified Showdown, with Ted Christopher, Mike Stefanik, Jimmy
Blewett, Bobby Grigas, Ronnie Silk and a host of other big names
looking to take home the big bucks.
Last year's race winner, Rob Summers, was knocked out of action
during practice, when he made hard contact with the turn three wall to
end his day with a racer that was too heavily damaged to repair. Andy
Seuss got out of shape and drilled the front stretch wall a bit later,
putting his crew to work making repairs. But his night turned out a
whole lot better than Summers', as the crew got him back in action.
A trio of qualifying heats started out the night's action, and it
was Matt Hirschman, Jimmy Kuhn and Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro, MA
taking down the wins. Tony Ricci held of a persistent Jon McKennedy of
NH to pick up the win in the consolation round.
When the 30-car field thundered to the green flag, there was
some hot action throughout the field, but the early laps saw both Jim
Storace and Christopher headed to the pits for good on lap 13. By
that point, Louie Mechalides had moved to the front of the pack, and
he stayed there for nearly 50 laps. Matt Hirschman took over the point
from there, and Mechalides got tangled with a lapped car on lap 66 to
knock him from contention.
Mike Stefanik followed Hirschman to the front, and he soon moved
in to challenge for the lead. At halfway, it was Hirschman, Stefanik,
Kuhn, Seuss and Ronnie Silk sitting in the top five. Hirschman held on
to the point for another 35 laps, but Stefanik took over from there.
Seuss was running like a man possessed however, slicing his way up
through the field after starting 25th on the grid. He got to
Stefanik's back bumper at the white flag, but Stefanik held on to
score the win, and Seuss had to settle for runner-up honors. Silk was
scored with a third place finish for his efforts, followed by Tommy
Cravenho, Jon McKennedy, Chris Pasteryak, Hirschman, Kuhn, Jim
Boniface and Eric Beers filling out the top ten
All-Star's Super Streets were out in full force for the night's
action, with John Bourdelais and Tony Carroll leading the field down
to Mike Walker's green flag. Bourdelais moved immediately to the lead,
with Carroll and Randy Tetreault in hot pursuit.
Opening night winner George Baldwin was quickly on the move,
busting out of the pack to run down the leaders. Bourdelais and
Tetreault were battling hard for the top spot, and the two got
together, with Baldwin making a three-wide move to take over the lead.
Tetreault and Bourdelais both headed to the pits with tires down,
while Baldwin took control and cruised on to pick up his second win of
the year. Carroll came across the stripe with a strong runner-up
finish, and it was Tetreault, Chuck Dehney, and Russ Douphinette
rounding out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Sandy Lee, Rob
DeAlmeida, Lee Weldy, Bourdelais and Shaun Waites, Sr.
Stephen Dubois and Gary Beauregard brought the Strictly Stocks
around to the start, with Dubois keeping the lead for just a lap
before Beauregard got past. Rick Woodside, Jr. quickly joined the lead
battle, knocking Dubois back a spot when he took over second.
At halfway, it was Beauregard and Woodside still leading the way,
but opening night winner Steve Douphinette was coming, and coming
fast. He ducked under Woodside to take second just after the crossed
flags, and on lap 16, he made his move on Beauregard.
Douphinette took the lead and went on to post the win, with
Beauregard taking home runner-up honors. Woodside held on to post a
third place finish, with Paul Ranberg, Ken McIlvaine, Mike Asselin,
Dubois, Jared Mountain, Corrie Merritt and Mike Williams the rest of
the top ten.
Fast 8 action saw 2007 Howler winner Brian DeStefano taking down
the win over Christin Burns and Jeff Wheeler, while Shaun Waites, Jr.
made it two in a row in the Fast 4's over Billy Osborne, Timmy
Johnson, Jim Deveau, and Jeff James.
Race fans were greeted by hot weather and red hot racing at the
season opening events at the P.A.S.S. sanctioned Riverside Speedway in
Groveton, New Hampshire this past Saturday night, and scoring
victories on the evening were Mike Harnish, Mark Lucas, Brian
Gosselin, Shawn Swallow, Ernie Laplant, Benjamin Belanger and Jesse
Switser.
The P.A.S.S. Outlaw Late Models were the highlight of the
night. The 75 lap event was full of twists and turns, and wasn't
decided until the final laps of the race. Jimmy Renfrew jumped out to
an early lead, with Dale Shaw in tow. Renfrew led till the mid-race
point, when he stumbled going into turn one, letting Shaw and Mike
Harnish by. Harnish got the jump, and looked to pull away from the
field, leaving Shaw, Renfrew, Chris Staples and Scott Alexander to
battle for the remaining top five spots. Alan Wilson all of a sudden
appeared from nowhere, and started passing cars on the high side and
worked his way into second on lap 85. He then set his sights on
Harnish, and had reeled him in, when caution flew for the final time
on lap 98, setting up a green, white and checker finish. Harnish was
able to get the jump, and held on for the win. Wilson, Shaw, Renfrew,
and Staples rounded out the top five.
The P.A.S.S. Mods battled through several cautions in their
forty lap main event before Mark Lucas was able to nail down the win.
Andy Shaw recovered from an early race incident that sent him to the
rear and placed second, while Greg Ellis, Tom Oliver and Steve Bennett
Jr. completed the top five.
A pair of home towners, Brian Gosselin and Luke Shannon had
the crowd on the edge of their seat, as they battled for the top spot
the entire distance in the 30 lap Budweiser Super Stock main event.
When the checkers flew, Gosselin scored the popular win with Shannon,
Errol's, Ron Watson, Nathan Swallow and Brian Middleton all in tow.
Gosselin and Shannon won their respective qualifiers.
Stark's, Shawn Swallow grabbed the lead early in the River
Bend RV Street Stock feature, and never looked back. Island Pond's,
Tori Delabruere was running him down at the end, but ran out of time
and settled for second. Michael Smith, Cody Hodge and Alex Theroux
placed third through fifth. Smith and Hodge grabbed heat victories.
The Twisted Tea Dwarf Cars held one of the best races of
the night, with no less than six cars battling for the lead in the
final stages of the event. Lyndonville, Vermont's, Ernie Laplant took
over the top spot when leader Nathan Brown and Dana Huoppi tangled
with a lapped car with four laps to go. Huoppi headed to the pits,
while Brown was done for the night. Laplant edged out Lancaster's,
David Hartshorn for the win. Colebrook's, Eric Hall, Anthony Leary
and Toby Merchant filled out the top five. Qualifying wins went to
Huoppi and Hall.
The Kids Only Daycare Daredevils held two feature events,
one for the rookies and one for the veterans. The rookie main event
was a torrid affair as Whitefield's, Benjamin Belanger held off all
challengers to gin his first ever trophy. Groveton's, Nick Gilcris and
Littleton's, Jerrad Ainsworth placed second and third. Erin Hudson and
Nick Miller finished the top five. Lyndonville, Vermont's, Jesse
Switser won in a dogfight over Island Pond's, Brett Gervais in the
veteran's finale. Colebrook's, Brandon Lambert raced home third
followed by Dilyn Switser and Kyle Pembroke.
Riverside Speedway will be back in action this Saturday
night when the North Country Ford Late Models open their season at the
NAPA / Bobby Shores Memorial Classic. Joining the Late Models will be
the Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Angels, Daredevils and Cyclones. Pits
open at 2pm, practice starts at 3pm and racing gets under way at 6pm.
A washout last Friday night resulted in Lee USA Speedway in NH to
cancel the event. As a result the Triple Crown Series begins this
Friday night, May 16 at that southern NH oval at 7 p.m.
Late Model stock car driver John Donahue of Graniteville, VT
scored a popular victory in the 50-lap Harvest Equipment Mother's Day
Special at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre, VT on Sunday
evening. Donahue, who started seventh in the 28-car field, was in the
midst of a stellar battle for the lead with Trampas Demers before the
caution flag flew for a wreck on lap 40. During the caution period,
Demers' car suffered a driveline failure, ending his chances for the
night. Following the restart, Donahue was able to stretch his lead out
to a three car-length margin over Hyde Park's Eric Williams. Donahue
and Williams crossed the finish line in first and second,
respectively. Mike Bailey of South Barre posted a career-best
third-place finish after holding off Jeffersonville's Joe Becker.
Bailey demolished his car in a qualifying crash at last week's
Merchants Bank 150, and nearly crashed again in Harvest Equipment
qualifying. Becker and his team were instrumental in the repair of
Bailey's car. Jerry Lesage of Winooski finished in fifth place.
Speedwerks Sportbike Services announces the addition of young gun
James "the Rocket" Rispoli, formerly of NH, to their Moto-ST lineup
for the remainder of the 2008 season starting with the Road America
race on June 7. The 16-year old New York youngster who has an
extensive background in dirt track racing has raced in the ST class
and will be racing a Suzuki, which is the same brand, he is riding in
WERA 600 National competition.
James will be paired with veteran road racer Brian Kcraget where
they will be looking to remain fast, smooth and consistent in order to
finish on top at the end of the season. The Speedwerks team currently
leads the points after two rounds in the prestigious ST class
category.
"I think it's going to be pretty cool having James ride for us the
rest of the season, stated Steve Long. Everyone on the team is excited
and when I checked around the kid was highly recommended. Having him
paired up with Brian should be good too. I think James will be able
to learn a few things, have a lot of fun and help us run up front.
We're excited to get to Road America and get him on one of our bikes."
James has been making time to train on a SV650 in between WERA
nationals in preparation for his debut with the team. On a borrowed
bike James won the four light weight classes he entered recently at
Summit Point and Nelson Ledges.
In a combined session today a total of 23 teams from the NASCAR
Camping World Series East and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour tested at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Camping World Series East had a strong contingent of
teams taking advantage of the test opportunity with a total of 18
cars. The garage featured a mix of New Hampshire veterans like Steve
Park and Matt Kobyluck, as well as a host of rookies such as Austin
Dillon, winner of the season-opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on
April 19.
The test session was held in advance of races for both series in
June at the New Hampshire. The NASCAR Camping World Series East will
run at the 1.058-mile track in the Heluva Good! Summer 125 on Friday,
June 27 while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will take to the track
for the New England 100 the next day.
For Dillon, the test was all about getting familiar with the
track layout. "I'm getting used to the type of track it is — the paper
clip," Dillon said. "Being able to drive into the corner is what I'm
getting used to. We've been at big tracks before, but they've had
banking to hold you. It's tricky, but I'm getting there. We're just
trying to get as much experience as we can, because we're a little
behind on that right now."
Other drivers to test from the NASCAR Camping World Series East
on Monday included Jeff Anton, James Buescher, Ricky Carmichael, Byron
Chew, Dustin Delaney, Max Dumarey, Patrick Dupree, Craig Goess, Jamie
Hayes, Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA, Joe Masessa, Mike Olsen of N.
Haverhill, NH, Peyton Sellers, Jonathan Smith and Alan Tardiff.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had five teams participate in
the test on Monday, including 2003 champion Todd Szegedy and defending
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour titelist L.W. Miller. Also in
attendance from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour were James Civali,
Rowan Pennink and Glen Reen.
For the rookie Reen, it was his first time around the "Magic Mile" in
a Modified after previously running the track in shifters early in his
racing career. "It's definitely different," Reen said. "Todd [Szegedy]
and James [Civali] were both saying that when you're going into the
corner, and you think you need to lift, that you count five seconds.
By the time you count five seconds you think, 'I should have lifted.'
It's absolutely insane going in there, but the car sticks."
Next up on the NASCAR Camping World Series docket is a combined
race with the NASCAR Camping World Series West this Sunday, May 18, at
Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be
back in action on Friday, May 23 at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.
Let's check to see what's going on in northern New England for
racing action this weekend. On Friday night it's the Canaan (NH) dirt
track and the Lee Speedway in southern NH. Also, Twin State has a busy
program that night in Clearmont, NH. Saturday is very busy as usual
with Bear Ridge in Bradford, VT adding the Granite State Mini Sprints,
Canaan Fair hosts paved track action while it's dirt tracking at
Legion Speedway in Wentworth, NH. Monadnock in Winchester, NH offers a
five-card program as does Oxford Plains in western Me., White Mountain
in N. Woodstock, NH goes with six divisions that night. On the coast
of Maine, Wiscasset hosts the Bruce Kane Memorial and the USAC Ford
Focus tour.
On Sunday the PASS North Series will perform at Wiscasset, Maine
while Speedway 95 up in the Bangor, Maine area has a full card and
five classes are on the card at the Hudson (NH) Speedway. There's
also stockcar action at Bullwinkle Raceway in Moosehead, Jct., Maine
that day. For the draggers it's Import Wars at New England Dragway on
Saturday while Winterport in Maine offers a Sunday meet. The bikers
have flat track action at Wachusetts Valley in Winchendon, MA on
Saturday night while Sunday has the NCSC MotoX in Skowhegan, Maine.
and NESC at Bull Run in Greene, Maine. The Vintage Celebration at NHMS
in Loudon, NH winds up a busy week on Saturday and Sunday.
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