Lee, NH – The Valenti Modified Racing Series was the added attraction to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series weekly program at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with Chris Pasteryak once again staking claim the his familiar spot in victory lane at “New Hampshire‘s Center of Speed“.
Pasteryak opened the season with a huge win in “Bullring Bash”, the first race of the Tri-Track Open Modified Series for 2015, and he proved that win was no fluke with impressive runs in both ends of the twin 50-lap segment event that made up the VMRS’ first visit to Lee USA of the 2015 campaign.
Steve Masse led them under the checkers in the Gary Casella entry in the first 50-lapper, followed by former series champion Jon McKennedy and Pasteryak, and after an invert of the lead lap finishers from the first segment put him 17th on the grid for the second half of the race, second-generation racer Pasteryak was quickly on the move.
Donnie Lashua, Mike Willis, Jr., and Joe Doucette led the way over the first half of the final segment, but as the crossed flags waved, Pasteryak was knocking on the door. He made quick work of the lead trio to get to the front, and eventually won both the segment and the overall victory. Masse and McKennedy shared the podium with Pasteryak.
Haverhill, MA ace Tommy Tombarello, Jr. was the class of the field in the EKeys4cars Supermodified main event, taking down his second win of the season in the 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature aboard his familiar black #98 machine.
The red flag flew with just a single lap in the record books, as a five-car wreck sent 2014 Rookie of the Year Lance Barthelemy of Fremont to the sidelines for the second week in a row. Bouncing back from a hard crash the week before, Moe Lattime of Kingston grabbed the lead when racing resumed, but he was no match for the hard-charging Tombarello as the race wore on.
Once he got to the front, Tombarello was never headed, easily leading them to the checkers to collect the win. Mike Ordway, Jr. of Fremont was up late to score runner-up honors, with Lattime, Leslie Keyser of Northfield, Mike Murphy of Groveland, MA, Rochester’s Mike Spurling, Kyle Sawyer of Kingston, Jim Barker, rookie Mike Keddy, and opening night winner “Super Dave” Sanborn closing out the top ten.
Jay Sands of Hampton made his first-ever visit to Lee’s victory lane just two weeks earlier in the R&R Public Wholesale Late Model Sportsman feature, but he wasted little time making a return trip to the winner’s circle, notching win number two of the 2015 campaign this week.
George Helliwell was first out to lead in the defending championship Rick Solt entry, but he lost the top spot to opening night winner Frankie Eldridge at the crossed flags. Eldridge was quickly knocked off the point by second-generation racer Geoff Rollins, but he had nothing for Sands, who slipped past on lap 26, and went on to post the win.
Rollins collected runner-up honors just over a second behind the winner, with Eldridge, Jimmy Russell, Helliwell, Ray Dinsmore, Mark Parenteau, Jason Ryan, Neil Evans, Jr., and Nate Leavitt, the winner a week before, finishing up the top ten.
Dennis Dumas of Nashua made it back-to-back wins in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock main, outrunning 2014 Rookie of the Year Zac Fraser of Nottingham to score the victory. Chris “Rooftop” Harding of Berwick, ME collected a solid third place finish, with Pelham’s Paul Palen and Dave MacDonald of Tewksbury, MA rounding out the top five.
Another new face showed up in victory lane after the Tri-City Line-X Ironman main event, as Adam Knowles picked up his first win of the season. Shane Horvath of Nottingham got his best result of the year in the runner-up slot, with Troy Washburn, Christin DeStefano, Hannah Shaw, Tyler Mitchell, 2014 champ Wayne Osborne, 2013 titleist Travis Hollins, Zach Washburn, and Luke Grammont closing out the top ten.
2014 champion Jesse Tellier of Pelham scored the Pure Stock 4-cylinder victory, with Robert Carleton second and newcomer Danielle Evans, daughter of longtime Lee racer Pete Evans, finishing up the podium with a third place run.