Lee USA Speedway 08/28/15 Race Report
Lee, NH – Jay Sands of Hampton continued his impressive 2015 Late Model Sportsman campaign at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, capturing the win in the prestigious Lance Davis Memorial 50-lapper for the R & R Public Wholesale-sponsored division. Sands was just one of eight feature winners on another exciting night of racing action at New Hampshire’s “Center of Speed”.
Polesitter Nate Leavitt of Buxton, ME battled side by side with Newmarket’s Bryan Kruczek for the first several laps before finally giving up the lead and dropping back a couple of spots. A lap 10 caution for a spin by Jimmy Ryder saw Kruczek, Jay Sands, and Leavitt leading the way, with Sands quickly moving to the front when racing resumed.
At lap 20, it was Sands, Kruczek, former champ Grant Aither of Kingston, Leavitt, and Frankie Eldridge of Stratham filling the top five spots, and Aither was on the move. He slipped past Kruczek shortly after the restart to take over second, and immediately began to pressure Sands for the top spot.
On lap 39, Aither completed his charge to the front, but he fell on bad fortune during a lap 44 restart sequence, ending his night with a trip into the retaining wall. Sands once again took command of the race, holding the top spot for the final six circuits to collect the big win.
Brentwood’s Jimmy Russell was up to contend in the late going and eventually settled for runner-up honors, with Thomas Bennett, George Helliwell of Pelham, Frank Wear, Alby Ovitt of Barrington, Neil Evans, Jr., Kruczek, and Mike St. Pierre rounding out the top ten finishers.
The EKeys4cars Supermodifieds contested twin 25-lap feature events on the night, with two first time victors adding their names to the winners’ list, as rookie competitor Jarrod Soucy of Hudson, MA and veteran Moe Lattime of Kingston both made their first trips to victory lane for the season.
Soucy, the 15-year old freshman sensation, outran multi-time champion Tommy Tombarello, Jr. of Haverhill, MA, and Mike Murphy of Groveland, MA to collect the checkers in the first 25-lapper, picking up the win in just his fourth start at Lee USA.
Northfield’s Leslie Keyser, Kingston’s Kyle Sawyer, Mike Ordway, Jr. of Fremont, Moe Lattime of Kingston, Mike Spurling of Rochester, Artie Rousseau of Newmarket, and Tilton’s “Super Dave” Sanborn closed out the top ten.
In the nightcap, Lattime chased down early leader Sawyer to slip past in traffic to take the lead on lap 14, and he never looked back, running out front the rest of the way to take his first checkered flag of the 2015 season in the Dick Osborne entry.
Tombarello strengthened his points lead with just a single event remaining on the 2015 calendar when he scored his second runner-up of the night, followed by Sawyer, Ordway, Sanborn, Spurling, Soucy, Keyser, Meredith’s Jim Barker, and Lance Barthelemy of Fremont.
Another former champion made his presence known in a big way in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock feature event, as Jim Shorey ran the storied Doug Ricker machine to yet another feature win in the 25-lap main event.
Shorey got to the front early, and was easily the class of the field as he went the distance to collect his first feature win of the season by a comfortable 2.6-second margin. Paul Palen of Pelham scored a second place finish, with Brian DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA rounding out the podium in third.
2014 Rookie of the Year Zac Fraser of Nottingham posted a solid fourth place finish, followed by “Billistic Bill” Helliwell of Pelham, points leader Dennis Dumas of Nashua, Kenny Scott of Salem, Dave MacDonald of Tewksbury, MA, Chris Harding of Lebanon, ME, and Jay Avery of Berwick, ME.
Mike Farrington grabbed his first career win in the Tri-City Line-X Ironman feature event, holding off two-time 2015 winner and current points leader Troy Washburn of Farmington by just half a car length to collect the checkered flag and roll into the victory lane for the first time.
Shane Horvath of Nottingham was third, followed by Tyler Mitchell of Dracut, MA, Hannah Shaw of Chester, Evan Horvath of Nottingham, Wayne Osborne of Kingston, Zach Washburn of Rochester, Travis Hollins of Milford, and Greg Brannan rounding out the top ten.
Jesse Tellier of Dracut, MA scored the Pure Stock win over Tyler Mailhot and Jack Nicholson. The beautifully restored racers of the Senior Tour Auto Racers (STAR) were on hand as well, with Brian Robie of Charlestown, NH taking the Modified win over Scott Porier of Norwich, CT, Bobby Turner of Waterboro, ME, Darryl Dutch of Greenville, RI, and George Baldwin of Lowell, MA.
The Sportsman portion of the STAR program went to John Mulcahy of Lakeville, MA in his sharp 1965 Ford Mustang, followed by Richard Eastman of Merrimac, MA in his ‘71 Pinto Ollie Silva replica, Wade Worster of Berwick, ME, Frank Foley of Peabody, MA, and Joe Gausse of Londonderry.
The final regular Friday night event goes green on September 4, with the championships on the line for the EKeys4cars Supermodifieds, the R & R Public Wholesale Late Model Sportsmen, David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stocks, and the Tri-City Line-X Ironmen and Pure Stocks.