photo by Rich Hayes
Lee, NH – The battles for the 2014 season championships rolled on at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Supermodifieds taking center stage with the running of the Supermodified Shootout, a three-segment race with best combined finished determining the winner.
Rookie Lance Barthelemy of nearby Fremont was first to step up, dominating the action in the first EKeys 4cars-sponsored 25-lap segment and holding off a late-race challenge from Jake Stergios of Candia to grab the victory, making him the first two-time winner of the 2014 campaign.
Stergios inched ahead of Barthelemy in the high groove to lead lap 19, but he couldn’t complete the pass and fell back in line behind the freshman sensation, settling for runner-up honors at the finish. Defending champ Tommy Tombarello, Jr. of Haverhill, MA rounded out the podium with a third place run.
Making his first start of the year as teammate to Tombarello aboard the second Witkum Brothers Racing entry, Danny Lane came across the stripe in the fourth spot. Fifth through tenth went to Sandown’s Sparky MacIver, Mike Spurling of Rochester, Kingston racer Kyle Sawyer, third-generation Super competitor Bobby Timmons of Windham, ME, Jim Barker, and Bobby Webber of Topsfield, MA.
The action was halted before the green had even waved to start the second segment, when Webber’s car caught fire at the entrance to pit road during hot laps. Four laps in, rookie contenders Barthelemy and Sawyer got the worst of a multi-car incident that brought out another red, and Tombarello completed the red flag hat trick when something broke and sent him into the turn three wall on lap 21.
Comfortably ahead of all the trouble, Spurling was the man to beat in the second segment, and MacIver did just that, motoring past in the late going to score his second win of the season in the Bob Chabot entry. Lane, Spurling, Stergios, and Leslie Keyser rounded out the top five.
In the ten-lap shootout that closed out the night’s action, it was all Stergios, as he blasted past polesitter Keyser to grab the lead. He went on to collect not only the checkers, but the overall win for the night. MacIver, Lane, Keyser, and Spurling were the rest of the top five.
Jesse Bousquet of Pittsfield was first out to the lead in the Prime Storage and Warehouse Late Model Sportsman 30-lap main event, setting the pace for the first seven laps. Niko Maniatis was challenging for the top spot at that point, and before he could make it past, contact between the two resulted in both drivers heading to the rear.
Mark Parenteau of Groveland, MA picked up the lead on the restart, but fellow Bay Stater Geoff Rollins of Groton moved past just a lap later to take over the point. Looking to make it two wins in a row, Rollins stayed at the head of the field for the next six circuits, but he was no match for the hard-charging Jimmy Russell, who powered past to grab the lead at the crossed flags.
Brentwood driver Russell was all but gone from there, opening up a nearly six second lead when the checkers waved over his third win of the year. Rollins took second over Alby Ovitt of Barrington, Epping’s Ricky Porter, Maniatis, Parenteau, Kyle Roy of Barrington, Ray Dinsmore of Alfred, ME, Patrick Stewart of Beverly, MA, and Jason Ryan.
Rookie Jay Avery of Berwick, ME led the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock 25-lapper to green, but he was only out front for a lap before defending Hobby Stock champ Patrick Tanguay slipped past to take over the lead.
After getting his first victory of the 2014 season via a disqualification the week before, Tanguay did it the old-fashioned way this time, leading the rest of the way to take down the win. Three-time Dennis Dumas of Nashua was hot on his heels at the checkers, losing out by just .217 second for a runner-up finish. Billy Clement, Jr. of Manchester filled out the podium in the third spot.
Brian DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA rebounded after a tough outing the week before to checker fourth, followed by Avery, Tewksbury’s Dave MacDonald, Chris Harding of Lebanon, ME, rookie Zac Fraser of Nottingham, Jim Piaseczny of Merrimack, and Kingston’s Torrey Kovalesky.
Austin Elliott of Epping quickly jumped out to the lead in the Benson Lumber and Hardware Ironman main, and he set the pace for the first 13 trips around “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed”. Jeff Bennett moved in to challenge for the lead at that point, and Elliott’s night got worse in a hurry.
The youngster spun between turns one and two, collecting Evan Horvath of Nottingham, who had no place to go and t-boned Elliott in the driver’s door. Bennett picked up the lead when racing resumed, and he led the rest of the way to post his first win of the year.
Two-time winner Adam Knowles of Seabrook finished second, and Christin DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA collected her second straight podium in third. Fourth went to Tyler Mitchell of Dracut, MA, followed by fellow Dracut driver and 4-cylinder winner Jesse Tellier.