NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS NORTH FOR MAY 21, 2015
Lou Modestino
Hudson, NH’s Joey Polewarczyk Jr. came out on top of a battle with St-Denis, QC’s Patrick Laperle to win the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Spring Green 115 at Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY on Sunday. Defending ACT Late Model Tour Champion “Joey Pole” took the lead from Laperle on lap 82 and led the rest of the way in the ACT U.S. and Série ACT combination event. Pole had lost the top spot to Laperle on a lap 44 restart, but stalked him for nearly 40 laps and eventually came away with his second win of the season and second straight ACT victory at Airborne.
“Anytime you have to battle Patrick, it’s tough,” Pole said. “He races me with so much respect and I try to give him the same. He got me on that restart on lap 44, and it was definitely nerve-wracking trying to get back by him…we got it inch by inch and kept working the inside and were finally able to get by.”
Bristol, VT’s Josh Masterson started on the pole and pulled away early as Pole got locked into a battle with Travis Stearns for second. Pole eventually cleared Stearns and reeled in Masterson, taking the lead for the first time on lap 25.
A trio of caution flags from laps 42 to 44 allowed defending ACT International winner Laperle to draw up to Pole, and the multi-time ACT champion got the jump off the outside on the race’s third and final restart. Pole dropped back a few car lengths initially, but then ran in Laperle’s shadow, looking first high and then low as the two drew away from the field.
Pole finally got underneath Laperle with 34 laps remaining. Although Laperle was able to close back in as they worked lapped traffic, Pole ran away in open race track in the final laps to take the win.
Laperle settled for second, with Stearns earning his first podium finish of the year in third. Bobby Therrien came in fourth, followed by Quebec’s Jean-Francois Dery in fifth. Wayne Helliwell Jr., Brian Hoar, Rowland Robinson Jr., Nick Sweet, and Jeff White completed the top-10.
The ACT Tour next heads to Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH on Saturday, May 30 for the Lil Joey Memorial/Generation Next 151. Post time for the track’s season opener is 5:30 pm. ACT returns to Airborne on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 for the 3rd Annual ACT International 500. Both the ACT Late Models and the Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models will run $10,000-to-win, 200-lap events as part of the doubleheader.
ACT Late Model Tour
Bill McBride Chevrolet Spring Green 115 presented by Interstate Batteries
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Pos Start Pos Driver Car # Hometown Laps
( 3 ) Joey Polewarczyk Jr. ( 97NH ) , Hudson, NH , 115 Laps
( 5 ) Patrick Laperle ( 91QC ) , St-Denis, QC , 115 Laps
( 2 ) Travis Stearns ( 16ME ) , Auburn, ME , 115 Laps
( 8 ) Bobby Therrien ( 5VT ) , Hinesburg, VT , 115 Laps
( 12 ) Jean-Francois Dery ( 21QC ) , Quebec, QC , 115 Laps
( 13 ) Wayne Helliwell Jr. ( 27NH ) , Dover, NH , 115 Laps
( 11 ) Brian Hoar ( 37VT ) , Williston, VT , 115 Laps
( 4 ) Rowland Robinson, Jr. ( 28ME ) , Steuben, ME , 115 Laps
( 14 ) Nick Sweet ( 40VT ) , Barre, VT , 115 Laps
( 7 ) Jeff White ( 50ME ) , Winthrop, ME , 115 Laps
( 6 ) Brandon Atkins ( 4NY ) , AuSable Forks, NY , 115 Laps
( 1 ) Josh Masterson ( 11NY ) , Bristol, VT , 115 Laps
( 16 ) Brad Babb ( 15NH ) , Windham, ME , 115 Laps
( 18 ) Kyle Welch ( 9NH ) , Newport, NH , 114 Laps
( 10 ) Emily Packard ( 9ME ) , E. Montpelier, VT , 114 Laps
( 24 ) Patrick Cliché ( 5QC ) , Levis, QC , 114 Laps
( 15 ) #Rich Dubeau ( 30NH ) , Plainfield, NH , 114 Laps
( 29 ) Dany Trepanier ( 19QC ) , St-Edourard, QC , 114 Laps
( 19 ) Mike Ziter ( 54VT ) , Barre Town, VT , 114 Laps
( 21 ) Claude Leclerc ( 11QC ) , Lanoraie, QC , 114 Laps
( 9 ) Karl Allard ( 48QC ) , St-Felicien, QC , 114 Laps
( 27 ) Gaetan Gaudreault ( 38QC ) , Quebec, QC , 113 Laps
( 25 ) Matt Anderson ( 49NH ) , Franklin, NH , 113 Laps
( 20 ) Bucko Branham ( 20NY ) , Plattsburgh, NY , 105 Laps
( 22 ) Larry Gelinas ( 91CT ) , Buxton, ME , 94 Laps
( 26 ) Charles Harvey ( 77QC ) , Terrebonne, QC , 80 Laps
( 23 ) Jonathan Bouvrette ( 41QC ) , Blainville, QC , 73 Laps
( 17 ) Jimmy Hebert ( 58VT ) , Williamstown, VT , 42 Laps
DNS ( 28 ) Martin Goulet Jr. ( 83QC ) , Mascouette, QC , 0 Laps
Lap Leaders: Josh Masterson, 0; Travis Stearns, 1; Masterson, 2-24; Joey Polewarczyk Jr., 25-44; Patrick Laperle, 45-81; Polewarczyk, 82-115. Five lead changes among 4 drivers.
Time of Race: 51:37 Margin of Victory: 1.750 seconds
Cautions: 3 (laps 42, 44, 44)
Heat Winners: Patrick Laperle, Brandon Atkins, Jeff White
Consi Winners: Rowland Robinson Jr., Jean-Francois Dery
Reid Lanpher of Manchester, ME put the hammer down in the closing stages of Saturday night’s 50-lap Super Late Model main event, topping the Budweiser Championship Series card on Husqvarna Night presented by Dave’s Small Engines at Oxford Plains Speedway. Veteran Hebron racer Alan Wilson led most of the race, holding off several early challenges, most notably by reigning track champion TJ Brackett of Buckfield. Jeremy Davis of Tamworth, New Hampshire, who earlier in the racing card pulled off a three-wide pass to score a heat race win, started 18th and steadily blazed a trail through traffic, with 16th-starter Lanpher in tow.
Lanpher chased Davis until they were second and third in the running order, then drove around with just a few laps remaining to claim his first Super Late Model win at the historic oval. Davis managed to claim runner-up honors, with Wilson forced to settle for a third-place finish.
Current Super Late Model points leader and former track champion Timmy Brackett of Buckfield made a late charge past son, and reigning speedway kingpin, TJ Brackett by .042-second to round out the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Vanna Brackett of Buckfield, Shawn Martin of Turner, Spencer Morse of Waterford; Justin Gibbons of Bridgton and Auburn’s Kyle Treadwell. In addition to main event runner-up Davis, siblings TJ and Vanna Brackett scored heat race victories in Budweiser Super Late Model competition.
Corey Morgan of Lewiston made his first appearance of the season in the Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Street Stock division a triumphant ride in that division’s 30-lap feature race. Morgan drove by Lisbon’s Rick Spaulding, after the latter had claimed the top spot from Andrew Breton of Sabattus after contact with the early pacesetter. Spaulding went on to finish in second position, with Turner’s Calvin Rose, Jr. filling out the podium. Josh Childs of Oxford and Zach Emerson of Sabattus rounded out the top five. Spaulding and Childs posted heat race wins.
Spencer Robbins of Dixfield raced to his second straight win in the 20-lap finale for the OPS Mods. Brad Hammond of Turner was the best of the rest aboard the Billy Dixon 33, with Lovell’s Evan Armington beating out Lisbon’s Nik Coates for the final trophy. Armington won the heat race.
Jacob Hall of Oxford fended off all challengers to ace the 20-lap feature race for the Bandits class. Cam Childs sliced through traffic and caught Hall, but couldn’t get by and had to settle for runner-up honors. Points leader and opening day winner Shaun Hinkley bounced back from a half-lap deficit to finish in third position. Troy Smith of Bridgton and New Gloucester’s Dan Wade filled out the top five. Kyle Hewins of Leeds won the heat race, but lost laps changing a tire in the main event.
Budweiser Championship Series competition at Oxford Plains Speedway resumes Saturday night (May 23) at 7:00 p.m. for Motorcycle Highway Safety Night at the historic Route 26 oval.
Husqvarna Night presented by Dave’s Small Engines Budweiser Championship Series results from Oxford Plains Speedway; Saturday, May 16, 2015. (Finishing position, car number, driver’s name, hometown.)
Budweiser Super Late Model (50 laps) 1 59 Reid Lanpher, Manchester; 2 09 Jeremy Davis, Tamworth, NH; 3 53 Alan Wilson, Hebron; 4 60 Timmy Brackett, Buckfield; 5 61 TJ Brackett, Buckfield; 6 3 Vanna Brackett, Buckfield; 7 94 Shawn Martin, Turner; 8 0 Spencer Morse, Waterford; 9 96 Justin Gibbons, Bridgton; 10 44 Kyle Treadwell, Auburn; 11 33 Poncho Darveau, Chelsea; 12 03 Scott Moore, Anson; 13 72 Chris Coolidge, Bryant Pond; 14 24 Gunnar Rowe, Turner; 15 5 Dustin Bisson, Greene; 16 28 Mark Lundblad, Jr., Conway, NH; 17 113 Tommy Tompkins, Carthage; 18 36 Scott Robbins, Dixfield; 19 73 Adam Polvinen, Hebron; 20 71 Gary Chiasson, Peru.
Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Street Stock (30 laps) 1 26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston; 2 36 Rick Spaulding, Lisbon; 3 8 Calvin Rose, Jr., Turner; 4 3 Josh Childs, Oxford; 5 23 Zack Emerson, Sabattus; 6 24 Jonathan Emerson, Sabattus; 7 8 Keith Stuart, Naples; 8 33 Andrew Breton, Sabattus; 9 4 Jordan Russell, Norway; 10 7 Robbie Wentworth, Conway, NH; 11 99 Paul Harmon, Waterford; 12 05 Glen Reynolds, Greene; 13 39 Gerry Freve, Buckfield; 14 88 David Tripp, Oxford; 15 71 Jason LaValley, Auburn.
Mods (20 laps) 1 36 Spencer Robbins, Dixfield; 2 33 Brad Hammond, Turner; 3 9 Evan Armington, Lovell; 4 4 Nik Coates, Lisbon.
Bandits (20 laps) 1 5 Jacob Hall, Oxford; 2 56 Cam Childs, Leeds; 3 2 Shaun Hinkley, Oxford; 4 32 Troy Smith, Bridgton; 5 17 Dan Wade, New Gloucester; 6 25 Jess Campbell, n/a; 7 51 Kyle Hewins, Leeds; 8 39 Brent Freve, Buckfield.
Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, CT had the hot hand at the Lee USA Speedway Sunday afternoon when he drove to the Hoosier Tire East 100 feature victory. It was the first stop for the Tri-Track modified series.Besting a stellar field, Pasteryak qualified well enough to start from the third row and keep the leaders in sight. By lap 10 pole sitter Woody Pitkat of Stafford Springs, CT pulled out to an eight car draft lead, while the next 20 cars ran side-by-side, nose to tail. A lap 18 yellow flag for a scramble in turn one slowed the action briefly. On the restart, Pitkat and hard charging Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA led the field to green and Masse stalked Pitkat until lap 24, when Masse powered by on the inside to become the new race leader.
As Masse and Pitkat raced out to a comfortable lead, Mike Douglas Jr. flexed his muscle and drove from 7th to 3rd place in the next 10 laps.
The quick pace Masse was setting had him lapping slower cars by lap 40. At the half way mark Masse and Pitkat led a steadily gaining Douglas, Pasteryak and Ryan Preece.
By lap 60 Douglas’s aggressive style saw him start to fade, dropping him quickly back to ninth place. Not to be outdone, Richard Savary, a regular on the MRS tour, picked off cars with his march to the front. After restarting from the rear he found himself cruising inside the top 10.
With the laps winding down it was Pasteryak’s turn to make his move and he out drove Preece in turn three taking over third place, at the same time Pitkat ran on the outside of Masse. Pitkat couldn’t pull off the move for the lead, but it gave Pasteryak the opportunity to catch the leaders and pull off his own move putting both Masse and Pitkat in his rear view mirror on lap 89. It looked like it might be an easy run from there, but the second caution of the afternoon came on lap 97, just as Todd Annarummo got past Preece and Masse for third.
Now it was a three lap shootout for the victory between Pasteryak, Pitkat, Annarummo and Seuss. Masse and Preece pitted for tires, dropping them from contention.
Annarummo, who almost won this race one year ago, pulled off an outstanding restart to slip by Pitkat, but he could only follow Pasteryak to the finish line with Pitkat, Seuss and Anthony Nocella rounding out the top five. Driving a heads-up race, Richard Savary had to be the hard charger of the day coming from a last-place restart on lap 18 to finish sixth.
A jubilant Pasteryak said,”starting inside the top five helped us, I paced myself off Ryan Preece (race leader) and saved my equipment, you know, he’s usually around at the end of these things. And with no cautions the next thing I knew it was lap 75 or 80 and it turned into a track position race so I started charging and caught the leaders in a hurry. Then Steven (Masse) came off turn two, got a little loose, which killed Woody’s momentum leaving the bottom open. I expected caution at some point mid-race, but I’m happy it didn’t happen. I set a pace for myself and it’s just racing at Lee, it’s not the car, it’s not the tires, it’s the track, but it was certainly better to be towards the front. We’ve got four races on this new car with three good finishes and a tenth at Monadnock (speedway) with a slipping clutch, but we got that worked out. It wasn’t slipping today”
Runner-up Annarummo said “I was in a conservative mode from the start like everybody else, when it got late in the race and there were no cautions we turned up the wick a little bit and chased them down. We just missed the setup a little, and Chris (Pasteryak) was better than us, he could get off the corner better than us. We destroyed it in practice so I’ll take a second-place finish”.
Pitkat was happy with his third place finish and commented “Car’s in one piece and we can go on to Stafford and see what we can do there. Here it was a pretty good race except for some lapped cars that held me up for a while, and its competitors I race with in another division, so I’ll just put that in the back of my head. Now I’d like to go on to Stafford (Springs Motor Speedway) and see if we can get an MRS win.”
Savary’s hard charge netted him a sixth place finish. “Because we had to start towards the back, our strategy was to ride and stay in the back saving the tires. A couple of drivers at mid-pack were running side-by-side conserving their equipment and I was disappointed with the officiating that allowed those people to ride like that for so many laps, which eventually led to the incident I was involved in with three or four other cars. After a tire change, I started in the rear and luckily I picked the right lane and took a car at a time, until I was 10th and I started to wait for a yellow so we could change the right rear, but yellow never came and I went back on aggressive mode and started passing again. Today we had a good car and maybe I could have had a better finish, if I didn’t conserve so much at midpoint of the race, but we’re still good with a sixth place.”
Another driver who needed a caution flag for a tire change was Mike Douglas, Jr., but that cautioned never came and Douglas finished 15th. “I never thought we’d go as green as long as we did here, it’s hard to say, maybe I was driving 60% throttle and dad (crew chief) said if you want to go- go. I was actually getting bored running where I was so I decided to go. I got to third for some lap money, but I guess I used up the tires at that point, but I enjoyed running flat out and what you got is what you’ve got at the end.”
Bullring Bash 100 Unofficial Results
Lee USA Speedway – May 17. 2015
1 5ct Chris Pasteryak
2 12 Todd Annarummo
3 42 Woody Pitkat
4 70 Andy Seuss
5 92 Anthony Nocella
6 99 Richard Savary
7 53 Norm Wrenn
8 85 Todd Szegedy
9 05 Todd Patnode
10 6 Ryan Preece
11 22 Rowan Pennink
12 29 Brendon Bock
13 28 Dwight Jarvis
14 13 Steve Masse
15 23 Mike Douglas, Jr.
16 27 Andy Jankowiak
17 76 Zane Zeiner
18 16 Jon McKennedy
19 20 Doug Coby
20 79nh Garrison Grubisa
21 36 Dave Sapienza
22 7ma Kurt Vigeant
23 50ma Carl Medeiros, Jr.
24 79 Spencer Davis
25 6ma Dennis Perry
26 41 Dan McKeage
27 50 Matt Hirschman
28 43 Kirk Alexander
This past Saturday, Monadnock Speedway cancelled the Saturday race event early due to the forecast of unsettled weather throughout the day and evening. The speedway however was able to host their first MudBog of the season for the Mudslinger Series on Sunday. The winners included Paul Wagner (Opens), Jason Haber (Pros), Leo Barnett (Modifieds), Dean Card (8 Cylinders) and Matt O’Brien (4/6 Cylinders). Monadnock Speedway hosts the MudBog Mudslinger Series once a month with the next one scheduled on June 14th.
The speedway will be back into the action for the Memorial Weekend 100 on Saturday, May 23rd featuring the Granite State Pro Series competing in a 100 lap special event plus Sportsman Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Thunder Stocks, Lightning Stocks, Young Guns and Vintage Outlaws. Race time is at 6 pm.
Chris “Moose” Douton made history by winning the inaugural North East Street Stock Tour event at Lee USA Speedway, fending off Geoff Rollins at his home track.
Rollins and Douton started on the pole for the 35-lap feature event, and quickly flexed their muscles, pulling away from the pack, before a spin on lap 4 brought out the caution flag, when Anthony Belfiore lost grip off turn 2. Douton and Rollins flipped positions on the grid for the restart, and Douton put his Stebbens Discount Stump Grinding/A-1 Auto Center Ford Thunderbird to the front, opening up a gap between the first and second spots.
Mechanical problems brought the second caution out, as Robbie Bodwell’s ride began to overheat, creating an incident involving Bodwell, Bryan Town, and Matt Morrill on lap 14. Rollins would, once again, start on the outside of Douton, but Douton proved to be too strong, powering his way to victory.
After his victory, and emphatic Douton exclaimed “This Ford was on today! Our Crew Chief had gone a different direction two years ago, and today was his first race back with the team, and look what happens. I’m just at a loss for words, this is great.”
Rollins would nurse an injured car to the second spot, as his Bill Clement-owned automobile blew a water hose in victory lane after the race. Rollins claimed “I thought we had something for him, but that Ford makes some power. When we get a better motor, we’ll have something for him.”
Larry Barnett battled back throughout the weekend, as his Oldsmobile Cutlass was not to his liking after unloading on Saturday, but the crew worked hard, and Barnett earned a third place finish. Barnett added “We just kept picking away at it, making adjustments, moving lead, making more adjustments. We just kept piecing away one thing at a time.”
Joe Arena quietly earned a fourth place finish, with Charlie Beal crossing the line fifth. Jim Boyle, Patrick Tanguay, David Brannon, Corey Morgan, and Robbie Bodwell completed the top 10 for the non-championship points event. Douton and Anthony Belfiore picked up heat wins.
The North East Street Stock Tour will run the first event in the championship season, May 30, at Seekonk Speedway.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Lee USA Speedway
5/17/15
Pos (Start) Driver Hometown
1. (2) Chris Douton Waterford, CT
2. (1) Geoff Rollins Groton, MA
3. (7) Larry Barnett Moosup, CT
4. (3) Joe Arena Bristol, CT
5. (8) Charlie Beal Ledyard, CT
6. (4) Jim Boyle Waterford, CT
7. (11) Patrick Tanguay Lebanon, ME
8. (12) David Brannon Lisbon, ME
9. (7) Corey Morgan Lewiston, ME
10. (9) Robbie Bodwell Sanford, ME
11. (10) Matt Morrill Moultonborough, NH
12. (13) Bryan Town Charlestown, NH
13. (6) Anthony Belfiore Haverhill, MA
The Granite State Pro Stock Series will travel to Monadnock Speedway for the third event of the championship series, on May 23.
The Memorial Day 100 will be the seventh time the series has run at the Winchester, NH ¼ mile, and has seen three different winners (Barry Gray, Matt Frahm, Mike O’Sullivan).
One of the three drivers who have experienced Victory Lane at Monadnock Speedway, Barry Gray, has carried the checkered flag three times. On his success, Gray says “I guess I like the bullrings, and driving in traffic.”
Gray is aiming for his fourth win at the track; a track he has picked up numerous victories outside the series, and is a former track champion. The Belchertown, MA driver explains the key to success at Monadnock Speedway, explaining “You just need to run smooth, and keep it in one piece. To finish first, you must first finish.”
A driver having the best start of his Granite State Pro Stock Series career, Derek Griffith is carrying strong momentum into the Memorial Day 100. Griffith has two top 2 finishes to begin the season, nabbing second at the opening event, the Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, and earning his first-ever series victory at Claremont Speedway.
The point leader entering the Memorial Day 100, Griffith is quick to give credit to his car owner, Louie Mechalides, and his crew, stating “My plan is to push myself, and with my team behind me, I think we will come out very good this season. We just need to keep up the good work.”
Cory Casagrande returns to the series, and will attempt to make his fourth start on the tour. Casagrande is a former Stafford Motor Speedway Limited Late Model Champion, and Late Model Rookie of the Year. Casagrande finished 12th in the JBH Memorial at Monadnock Speedway in 2014.
Also entered into the event, 2013 Champion Mike O’Sullivan, and all-time series wins leader Matt Frahm look to add to their win totals at the track. Add Larry Gelinas, Mike Parks, Tommy O’Sullivan and host of other teams it has the making of a fantastic event.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series will run the Memorial Day 100, May 23, at Monadnock Speedway. Post time for the event is 6PM, with Sportsman Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Lightning Stocks, Thunder Stocks, Young Guns, and Vintage Outlaws on the card, as well.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) is proud to host the inaugural race for the Formula Lites on its 1.7 mile road course, as part of a double race-weekend on May 29-30. The newly formed Formula Lites series represents the future of open-wheel racing for developing drivers. Featuring the very latest technology and engineering, and powered by a 2.4-liter, 16-valve Honda engine, these cars provide an avenue for drivers looking to climb the open-wheel ladder to series such as IndyCar or Formula 1.
The Formula Lites will be joined by the longest running Formula racing series in the country, the Formula Vee’s who continue to race under SCCA sanction. Spec Racer Fords and the INEX Legend Cars will also join the action on Friday and Saturday. TSMP will be only the second road course included in the Legend Cars 2015 racing schedule.
Don’t miss out on the exciting open-wheel action at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park! For more information about the event.