By Lou Modestino (for 9/19-9/21/08)
The 2nd Annual Fall Free For All, sponsored by John Christman
Construction is set to go green on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 1:30
pm, at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, New Hampshire. The open
competition style event will include a 100 lap main event for Late
Models paying a minimum of $1,000 to win. If you buy a minimum of four
new American Racer tires at the track and win the race, you will
receive $1,200. There will also be a Strictly Stock feature paying
$500 to win, a 4 cylinder Street Stock feature paying $250 to win, a
Tiger Sportsman 50 paying $500 to win, Daredevil Youth Racers features
for kids 10-14, and finally a combined four and six cylinder, 50 lap
enduro, that will pay $250 to win.
Stock car drivers from around New England and eastern Canada are
preparing for the 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl event at
Barre, VT's Thunder Road on the weekend of Sept. 27-28. The Milk Bowl
is a three-segment, cumulatively scored event that awards $10,000 to
the winner plus bonuses. And in a tradition that dates back to the
first running of the race in 1962, the winner gets to kiss a real
Vermont beauty, but with a twist – the lovely gal is a 1,000-lb
Ayrshire dairy cow.
Montréal driver Patrick Laperle has won two of the last three
Chittenden Bank Milk Bowls. "Her nose is usually a little wet, but I
don't mind kissing her if it means I've won the Milk Bowl," said
Laperle. The 2008 Milk Bowl queen will be announced in the coming
days. Harvest Hills Farm's "Dickens" was Laperle's leading lady last
year. Aside from the pageantry, the race is a prestigious, historic
event, and is the 12th and final race on the American-Canadian Tour
(ACT) Late Model Championship schedule.
In 2006, National Speed Sport News named the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl
the "Outstanding Annual Short Track Event" in the United States.
Legendary short track heroes including Robbie Crouch of Tampa, FL, the
late Butch Lindley of Greenville, SC, Dave Dion of Hudson, NH, and
Jean-Paul Cabana of Sherrington, QC have each triumphed in the event.
More recently, Brent Dragon of Milton, VT joined his father, Beaver,
and uncle, Bobby, as a Milk Bowl winner, taking the honors in 2006.
Local Vermont heroes Cris Michaud, Eric Williams, Dave Pembroke, and
Phil Scott have also kissed the cow.
The Milk Bowl is a 150-lap race broken into three 50-lap segments. The
winner of each segment is given one point, the second-place finisher
two points, etc., and the driver with the lowest overall score after
three rounds is declared the Milk Bowl champion. Booth Bros./H.P. Hood
time trials and "Triple 50" qualifying races, along with a last-chance
"B" Feature, determine the first-segment starting order.
Drivers expected to challenge Laperle at the 45th Annual Chittenden
Bank Milk Bowl include ACT Late Model Tour point leader Scott Payea
and seven-time ACT champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT, 2003 Milk
Bowl winner and 2008 Thunder Road Track Champion Williams of Hyde
Park, VT, New Hampshire stars Joey "Pole" Polewarczyk and Randy
Potter, Maine's Glen Luce, and as many as 50 more. Booth Bros./H.P.
Hood Qualifying Day begins at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 with
Time Trials. The driver with the fastest one-lap time will earn the
pole position for the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl and $1,000. The
last-chance "B" Feature begins at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28,
followed by opening ceremonies for the 45th Annual
Mother Nature carried the only checkered flag at the P.A.S.S.
sanctioned, Riverside Speedway in Groveton, New Hampshire this past
weekend, as Friday night's activities sponsored by Leo Enos
Landscaping were washed out.
Riverside Speedway will be back in action this coming Saturday,
September 20 at 2 p.m., as Budweiser presents a day at the races. On
the card will be championship events for the Outlaw Sportsman. The
card will also feature Late Models, Street Stocks, Daredevils, Angels
and Cyclones, all racing for their last race prior to their
championships on Saturday, September 27 at 2 p.m. Pits open at 9:30
a.m., grandstands at noon, and the first green flag waves at 2 p.m.
WERA road racer James "The Rocket" Rispoli, formerly of Londonderry,
NH, diced it up front and scores a second place finish at the
Legendary Indy Mile dirt track race. The 17-year old young gun rode
the wheels off his stock framed and motor ApriliaUSA/Lloyd Brothers
Motorsports/American AGIP SXV550 against a mixed grid of Harley
Davidson 750, Kawasaki 650, KTM 950 and Suzuki 650 motorcycles.
Rispoli ran his bike into the corners deeper and rode it harder
through the turns against his higher-powered competition showing that
it takes more than just a fast bike to get on the podium. The sell
out crowd at the famed Indianapolis Fairgrounds was attended by an
International crowd, many of whom were seeing dirt track racing at its
best for the very first time.
Patrick Laperle of Montréal served notice last Saturday evening that
he is ready to challenge Scott Payea for the 2008 American-Canadian
Tour Late Model stock car championship, following a dominant victory
in the New England Dodge Dealers 150 at Maine's Oxford Plains
Speedway. Laperle's Systèmes Intérieurs Descoste #91 Chevrolet charged
from 16th starting position to take the lead from Turner, ME's Glen
Luce on lap 50, then blitzed the 36-car field for his second ACT
championship event win of the year.
"That was a lot of fun," said Laperle. "We started 16th and took the
lead early, the car was awesome. We changed a lot of things just
before the race, I knew we had to make the car tighter, and it was the
right thing to do. We found something last week (in winning the
non-points all-star ACT Showdown at Quebec's Autodrome Chaudière) and
it's working."
How about Eddie MacDonald winning the Camping World East 125 at NHMS
in Loudon, NH for the second time this season! As a result, the
Rowley, MA driver is two-for-two in '08. In the process MacDonald
handed a lot of more well funded teams another defeat. His take for
that last Saturday morning run was $15,050.
Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH led 44 laps of the NASCAR Camping
World Series East's Heluva Good Fall 125 at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway Saturday morning, but fell off the pace with only three laps
remaining when his #55 Irving Oil Chevrolet seemingly ran out of fuel.
The four-time NHMS track champion was credited with a disappointing
22nd place finish.
"We didn't really run out of gas, it just didn't pick it up. We've got
gas in the tank," said Leighton. "We were a few laps short. It's
pretty frustrating, but the fact is these guys work hard and we were
competitive. It looked like we were going to pull it off. I thought I
had it in June and I thought we had it here today."
Joey Pole of Hudson, NH ended the morning in sixth place with Mike
Olsen of N. Haverhill, NH next. Not so fortunate was Mike Johnson of
Salisbury, MA 35th while Laine Chase of Beverly, MA was 38th. Both
drivers ran into problems.
All-Star Speedway in Epping, NH got its ISMA Classic in after the
second try last Saturday night, one week later. Chris Perley of
Amesbury, MA was the winner. NASCAR Craftsman Truck driver Johnny
Benson ended the night in sixth. Bobby Santos, III had better luck at
All-Star, after his problems at NHMS in Loudon in the NASCAR Modified
Tour race, earlier in the day, and finished eighth.
Here's what else is going on this weekend in the North Country.
Friday's offerings have the Canaan (NH)dirt track adding Granite State
Mini Sprints while Oxford Dragway in Maine has Final Point night while
Unity in Maine offers Last Call for '08.
Saturday is very busy with the True Value Modifieds, NEMA Midgets and
NEMA Lites added to the card at the All-Star Speedway in Epping, NH.
The Canaan NH dirt track comes back Saturday with the NEDTS Flat Track
motorcycles and Quads. Legion in Wentworth, NH schedules Open
Competition while it's dubbed Super Saturday at the Monadnock Speedway
in Winchester, NH. On the south side of Franconia Notch White
Mountain has five stockcar divisions. For the draggers it's another
busy weekend at New England Dragway in Epping, NH Friday night through
Sunday afternoon. Beech Ridge Motor Speedway is another busy venue
with the PASS 400 all weekend.
Sunday's northern schedule includes stockcar action at Hudson, NH,
Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine and Spud Speedway in Caribou, Maine.
Winterport Dragway on the coast of Maine offers dragracing all day
starting at 8 a.m.
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