Gray Dominates JBH 100 at Monadnock, Becomes Sixth Different Winner in Six Races with Granite State Pro Stock Series
Winchester, NH – Barry Gray fought off multiple challenges from Matt Frahm, Tommy O’Sullivan, and Dillon Moltz to pick up his first victory of the season in the JBH 100 at Monadnock Speedway.
Gray’s Meadow’s Motor Cars/Hawley’s Auto Chevrolet shot out to the lead at the drop of the green flag, as the Belchertown, MA native took full advantage of his pole position starting spot after a strong heat race. Gray would face an early challenge from Matt Frahm and Tommy O’Sullivan, but seemed to be cruising before a caution on lap 26 for Fran Colson and Cory Robert bunched the field back together. Gray would pull away from O’Sullivan once more on the restart, and set a blistering pace, putting multiple cars a lap down before the halfway point of the race.
Point leader Larry Gelinas, who hadn’t finished outside the top 4 all season long, suffered a mechanical breakdown on lap 77, setting up a chance for Dillon Moltz to cut into his sizable lead in the standings. Moltz would restart on the outside of Gray on a lap 88 restart, but was involved in a caution on lap 96 with Adam Norton, taking him out of contention for the win. The final caution set up a four lap shootout between Gray and Derek Griffith, who fought his way back up through the field after suffering a flat right front tire. The veteran held off the youngster as Gray grabbed the checkers for the third time at Monadnock Speedway with the Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS). Griffith would settle for second, his best finish of the season. Frahm would rebound from an incident with Tommy O’Sullivan and fight his way back up to the third spot, with Russ Hersey and Josh King completing the top five.
Gray was quick to say his dominating performance did not come without worry, stating “There’s a lot of good competition, good cars here. Every time the caution came out, I knew it was going to be the restart of my life.” Gray’s three victories with the GSPSS have all come at Monadnock, but Gray says luck plays a huge part in picking up a victory. “We’ve run good at a lot of other places, and things happen. I’d rather be lucky than good. Tonight we were lucky, we held off challenges, they ran me clean, and it’s a nice thing.”
For Griffith, the second place finish is consistent with his stellar start to the 2014 season in the Motorcycles of Manchester Toyota, as the youngster has not finished worse than 8th. “We were lucky to make it up back through for a second place finish,” Griffith commented. “My friends and family made the trip up from Hudson (NH), so it was nice to have a good finish.”
Frahm also acknowledged his third place finish as a great point night for the Lambert Roofing Chevrolet, but felt he may have left a little something on the table. “Tommy O’Sullivan and I were racing really hard, and I got into the back of him by accident,” Frahm spoke. “Barry was solid. If we didn’t have a car that could’ve won, we could’ve certainly been a second place car. All-in-all, from what happened and how we had to work back through, it was a good night. Third place, we’ll take it for the points, and move on to Star (Speedway).”
Tommy O’Sullivan would climb back up to the sixth spot, with Bryon Baker, Dillon Moltz, Joey Squeglia, and Adam Norton completing the top 10. Moltz, via his 8th place finish, took the win in the GSPSS Tournament Challenge presented by Victory Lane Radio by beating out Larry Gelinas for the $250 top prize. Griffith tied his career best finish by grabbing second, as well as Russ Hersey with his fourth place finish. Josh King bested his career best finish by nabbing the fifth spot, as well as Adam Norton by recording a tenth place finish. Hersey and Mike Parks picked up heat wins.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series is back in action on August 16th at Star Speedway in Epping, NH. The second trip to Star in the 2014 season marks race number 7 of the year. For more information on the Granite State Pro Stock Series, contact Mike Parks at [email protected], visit our website www.gspss.net, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter @GSProStocks.
JBH 100 Results
8/9/14
POS (Start) Driver Hometown
1. (1) Barry Gray Belchertown, MA
2. (9) Derek Griffith Hudson, NH
3. (2) Matt Frahm Hampstead, NH
4. (4) Russ Hersey Swanzey, NH
5. (10) Josh King Vernon, VT
6. (3) Tommy O’Sullivan Wilbraham, MA
7. (16) Bryon Baker Claremont, NH
8. (11) Dillon Moltz Waterford, CT
9. (14) Joey Squeglia, JR Derry, NH
10. (15) Adam Norton Ludlow, MA
11. (19) Matt Zenisky West Springfield, MA
12. (17) Cory Casagrande Stafford Springs, CT
13. (18) Zig Geno Canterbury, NH
14. (5) Mike Parks Walpole, NH
15. (12) Larry Gelinas Buxton, ME
16. (7) Fran Colson Baldwinville, MA
17. (6) Ron Smith Oakham, MA
18. (13) Mike O’Sullivan Springfield, MA
19. (8) Cory Robert Canaan, NH
CONTINGENCY AWARDS Winner
AR Bodies (Hard Luck) Zig Geno
Bond Auto Parts (Last car on lead lap) Cory Casagrande
Crazy Ed’s Powersports (Hard Charger) Bryon Baker
Draco Springs Award (Most positions gained) Bryon Baker
Five Star Stock Car Bodies (5th place finisher) Josh King
MacLellan Metal Finishing (Heat #1 Winner) Mike Parks
MacLellan Metal Finishing (Heat #2 Winner) Russ Hersey
Racer’s Depot (Random drawing) Mike O’Sullivan
RB Performance (4th place finisher) Russ Hersey
RB Performance (7th place finisher) Bryon Baker
Sherwood Wheels (10th place finisher) Adam Norton
Sunoco Race Fuels (Heat #1 Winner) Mike Parks
Sunoco Race Fuels (Heat #2 Winner) Russ Hersey