Lee, NH - Over forty race teams hauled into the Lee USA Speedway over
the weekend, hoping to secure a starting spot for the prestigious
season-opening American Canadian Tour New Hampshire Governor's Cup
150.
Drivers from all over New England as well as two Canadian provinces
were on hand for the action, but when checkers waved, it was
home-stater Brad Leighton of Center Harbor taking home the Governor's
Cup win.
Defending race winner Joey Pole of nearby Hudson was in the hunt all
race long, but Leighton put him in his rear-view mirror with some 20
laps remaining, and he led the balance of the event to score the win.
The win also sent Leighton the first invitation to the big ACT
Invitational race to be held on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor
Speedway in September, a race that will feature the best ACT has to
offer.
Following Pole across the stripe, was Scott Payea, who ran a solid
race from flag to flag to grab third, with hometown favorite Eddie
MacDonald closing out the top five ahead of former Lee USA champion
Ricky Wolf, who wound up sixth.
John Donohue was scored seventh ahead of another former Lee USA champ,
Wayne Helliwell, Jr., followed by teammates Brian Hoar and Mike Olsen,
who started the race on the front row.
Defending champion Eddie Witkum, Jr. was a heavy favorite to win when
the Small Block Supers took to the asphalt for their feature event,
but he had a few problems and finished slightly off his usual
blistering pace.
Mike Netishen jumped out to the early lead when starter Bryon Callen
unfurled the green, but he quickly gave way to Justin Belfiore, who
moved the Tom Tombarello, Jr. machine to take a turn out front.
Just past halfway, Bowes made his move, and he never looked back on
the way to victory lane. Belfiore finished second, while Witkum
checkered third, with Danny Lane and Mike Spurling rounding out the
top five.
In Late Model Sportsman/Super Street main event action,
second-generation racer Nick Gravel bolted out to the early lead,
moving out to a healthy advantage while the pack sorted out behind
him.
Lee Weldy held down the second spot in the early going, but Grant
Aither took over that position before they reached the crossed flags,
and he was headed to the front.
Aither ran down leader Gravel and quickly completed the pass, and the
race was his to lose from there. Aither pulled away to a comfortable
lead, and he held it until the checkers to score the win.
Gravel held on for a solid runner-up finish, with Weldy, Sandy Lee,
Jimmy Renfrew, "Piranha Pete" Evans, Gary Beauregard, Cory Robert,
Jesse Bousquet, and Geoff Rollins the rest of the top ten.
Dennis Dumas led the Hobby Stocks around to take the green for their
feature event, but he was quickly knocked off the point by Eric
Hoffman, and Jimmy Renfrew followed him to the front.
At the end of the fourth lap, Renfrew made his move on Hoffman, and he
came away with the lead. Hoffman gave chase the rest of the way, but
Renfrew held on to score the inaugural win of the season.
Hoffman took home runner-up honors, with Chris Titcomb taking a
hard-earned third. Titcomb's car was badly damaged in qualifying on
Saturday, but his crew got it back in race shape in time for the
feature. Dumas and Bobby
Glass finished up the top five.
There was a strong field of Roadrunner/4 cylinder/Mini Stocks on hand
for their 20-lap feature event, but there was nobody stronger than
defending Roadrunner champ Ricky Porter, Jr.
Cris King led the first lap of the main, with veteran Loren Smith next
to take a turn out front. Emerson Cayer slipped past Smith to become
the third leader of the race, but he couldn't hold off the
hard-charging Porter.
Porter took it to the outside to make the pass on Cayer, and he was
off to the races after that. Porter pulled away by a couple of car
lengths, and he stayed out front the rest of the way to score the
victory. Cayer, Niko Manyati, Jim Piaseczny, and Smith were the rest
of the top five.
Next Saturday, April 25th is the final test and tune session for all
divisions with a rain date of Sunday the 26th, and the weekly Friday
night season gets underway a week later on May 1. For more
information, log on to www.leeusaspeedway.com, or call the speedway
office at 978-462-4252.
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