Kimball wins the Mini Stock Showdown at Monadnock Speedway
By Ryan Lawliss

Winchester, NH: A beautiful day welcomed races and fans alike to the High Banks of Monadnock Speedway. A full evening of racing featuring the NASCAR Whelen All-American series divisions plus Lightning Stocks and Young Guns would take place. The Mini Stocks would be racing an extended distance for extra cash in the Mini Stock Showdown; 21 Mini Stocks would take the green and it would be Matthew Kimball in the 50x that captured the win. The other feature winners would be Joel Monahan (Sportsman Modifieds), Tyler Leary (Super Stocks), Richard Vincent (Thunder Stocks), Matt Gauffin (after a post-race inspection in the Lightning Stocks), and Sammy Silva (Young Guns).

The first feature of the night to roll onto the High Banks would be the Young Guns. Taylor Striebel in the 57 led the field to the green and would lead the first 3 laps. On Lap 4 Striebel would bobble coming out of turn 2 and Sammy Silva in the 28 was there to capitalize and take the lead. Silva would check out on his way to capturing the win. The biggest battle on the track occurred on lap 8 when Chris Phelps in the 21 battled Cooper Roberge in the 96 for 3rd place and Phelps was able to take control of 3rd place on lap 9. Striebel attempted to run Silva down but was unable to. Striebel settled for 2nd and Phelps finished 3rd. Silva was nothing but professional in victory lane; sticking to the cue cards making sure he thanked everyone who helped him get to victory lane; especially his sponsors!

Super Stocks rocketed onto the track next for their 25 lap feature. Nancy Muni (96) and Justin Littlewood (37) made up the front row. Justin Littlewood wasted no time to jump into the lead. The rest of field was beating and banging thru turns 1 and 2; when the field came off turn 2 Solomon Brow in the 33 was running 2nd and the 12 of Cole Littlewood would find himself running 3rd. On Lap 4 Cole Littlewood found himself facing the wrong way on the track. On the restart Justin Littlewood and Brow would bring the field to the green. Brow took full advantage of the restart to take over the lead. By lap 6 Tyler Leary moved his #11 machine into 2nd and Dennis Stange (44) followed Leary around Justin Littlewood. Then on lap 10 Leary was knocking on the back door of Brow. Leary took over the lead a lap later and would never look back on his way to capturing his 5th victory of the season. Brow would come across the line in 2nd and Stange took 3rd. Leary was all smiles in victory lane. When asked if he had to work for this win a little more than the others Leary stated “You have to work for every win, they are never handed to you. It takes long hours in the shop.”

The Mini Stock Showdown would take to the track next with 21 Mini Stocks all looking for the extra money and the checkered flag. Tim Wenzel (83) and Cory Plummer (1) making up the front row and leading the field to the green; Wenzel took the lead at the drop of the green. Wenzel stumbled coming out of turn 4 on lap 4 opening the door for Shelby Avery (8) to take the lead but Avery’s time in the lead would be short lived as on lap 5 Avery spun coming out of turn 4 bringing out the first caution of the event. Jaret Curtis (33) would assume the top spot for the restart. Curtis wasted no time to get out front. Louis Maher (69z) worked thru the field and on lap 7 was able to make the pass for the lead. 2 laps later Matthew Kimball (50x) would get to the rear bumper of Maher and 1 lap later Kimball would drive under Maher to take the lead. The race would be slowed by one more caution just after the halfway mark. The 42 of Eric Aiken and 50 of Kevin Pittsinger came together in turns 1 and 2. Kimball and Maher brought the field back to take the green. Kimball fired back out to the lead like a ball shoot out of a cannon. Kimball would pull away but wouldn’t pull away along as Maher was in tow but Maher would be unable to find a way around Kimball. Kimball would take the win, Maher finished 2nd, and Ethan Marsh (97) captured 3rd. In victory lane Kimball commented on how much fun the race was. Kimball talked about how he is racing hard to get the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Youth Achievement Award and going into the night was 2nd in points.

Next on the track would be the Lightning Stocks for their 25 lap feature event. Jon Fulz (32) took the early lead followed closely by CJ Johnson (95). Johnson took the lead from Fulz on Lap 4 and the caution would fly on lap 5 for Fulz as he came to rest on the top of turns 1 and 2 bringing an end to Fulz’s night. Johnson in his Lightning McQueen tribute car would flash back out into the lead. On Lap 7 Gordon Farnum took the lead from Johnson. Then on Lap 9 Josh Carey (69) spun out bringing out the caution. During the caution Johnson would head to the pits for overheating ending his night early. Farnum was joined on the front row by the 603 of Matt Gauffin. Gauffin got the jump on Farnum but it would be short lived as the caution would fly again before a lap could be completed. Farnum and Gauffin would go at it again on the restart and Gauffin would find the same results as he would get a great restart allowing him to take the lead. Gauffin’s rear bumper would get a work out as Farnum was all over it. Then on lap 20 a lap car would get loose causing Gauffin to check up and Farnum to take the lead. Gauffin would throw everything at Farnum including the kitchen sink over the last 2 laps but would be unable to reclaim the top spot. Farnum captured the win; with Gauffin in 2nd and Carey in 3rd. Both Farnum and Gauffin commented in victory lane about how much fun they had racing this evening. In a post-race inspection, Farnum was penalized giving the win to Gauffin.

Sportsman Modifieds roared onto the track for their 35 lap main event. Eric LeClair in the 52 and Alyssa Rivera in the 5A led the way to the green flag. LeClair thundered his way into turn 1 with the lead. On lap 2 Joel Monahan took the lead on a great pass on the inside. Lap 3 would see the first of many cautions as Rivera spun out. Monahan quickly made it back into the lead on the restart. On Lap 6 LeClair spins on the front stretch as the 25NH of Brian Robie came to rest on the top of turn 1. Both drivers would retire to the pits for the evening. On the ensuing restart the 99 of Kim Rivet would spin bringing the caution back out. On the next restart attempt the 14RI of Jessica O’Leary and the 27NH of Mike Smith found themselves tangled together on the front stretch ending both of their nights. Monahan would waste no time on the next restart and would start to pull away from the field until the caution would fly again on lap 8 for Rivera spinning in turns 3 and 4. To help move the race along the decision was made for a single file restart. At the drop of the green Monahan took off in the lead and set a blistering pace as he pulled away from the pack to capture the win. Keith Carzello (8) finished 2nd and Tyler Jarvenpaa (98) finished 3rd. In victory lane Monahan was asked if all of the restarts started to get him nervous at all to which he answered “I try to not let that stuff get to me, but the single file restart let me settle down a little bit.”

The Thunder Stocks thundered onto the track for the last feature of the evening. Hillary Renaud (88) and Joshua Nutter (11) brought the field to the green. Renaud took the lead early as Nutter stuttered at the start allowing numerous cars to get past him including Dan Comeau (09) who took over 2nd. On Lap 4 Comeau made contact with Renaud as they battled for the lead causing both cars to spin out bringing the first caution of the race out; this would put James Nowakowski (9) into 1st and Rich Vincent (4) into 2nd for the restart. Vincent used the outside groove to get a great restart to take the lead. Vincent would pull away with the lead and Nowakowski would give chase. The battle for 3rd would keep the fans on the edge of their seats for the rest of the feature event. Bruce Clark (39) and Chase Curtis (88x) would go back and forth numerous times for the rights to third place. The last of which occurred on lap 18 when Curtis drove around the outside of Clark to take 3rd. Vincent took the win, Nowakowski settled for 2nd and Curtis rounded out the top 3 with a 3rd place finish. In victory lane Vincent relished in the fact he was able to use the outside on the restart to take the lead.

Next race is on Saturday, June 23, 2018 when the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is joined by the Genden Auto Parts ISMA 75. Two weeks ago the fans got a taste of what to expect as 2017 ISMA Champion Jon McKennedy took to the track for some practice laps and was able to turn an average of 11 second laps and numerous individual stop watches even had sub 11 second lap times on numerous occasions. Come out to see these amazing machines tackle the High Banks starting at 4pm.

Sportsman Modifieds: Joel Monahan, Keith Carzello, Tyler Jarvenpaa, Geoff Rollins, Brian Chapin, Matt Kimball, Kim Rivet, Alyssa Rivera, Jason Barden, Brian Robie, Mike Smith, Jessica O’Leary, JT Cloutier, Eric Leclair, Ben Byrne

Super Stocks: Tyler Leary, Solomon Brow, Dennis Stange, Cole Littlewood, Geoff Rollins, Justin Littlewood, Mike Heffernan, Nancy Muni-Ruot, Bill Lambert

Mini Stocks: Matt Kimball, Louis Maher, Ethan Marsh, Jaret Curtis, Tim Paquette, Devin Guy, Kevin McKnight, Desmond Skillings, David Elliott, Tim Wenzel, Cory Plummer, Pat Houle, Billy Osborne, Kyle Robinson Newell, Eric Aiken, Justin Littlewood, Nadine Coates, Cole Littelwood, Shelby Avery, Kevin Pittsinger, Peter Koch Jr

Thunder Stocks: Richard Vincent, James Nowakowski, Chase Curtis, Chris Buffone, Bruce Clark, Dan Comeau, Hillary Renaud, Jeff Staiti, Joshua Nutter, Doug Mclean, Craig Chaffee, Nathaniel Nunez

Lightning Stocks: Matt Gauffin, Josh Carey, Chris Davis, Kyle Currier, Chris Fultz, Leon Keniston, Ernie Coates, Darin Briggs, Randall Phillips, CJ Johnson, Eric Banks, Jon Fultz, Bill Arsenault, Gordon Farnum

Young Guns: Sammy Silva, Taylor Striebel, Chris Phelps, Cooper Roberge, Nathan Wenzel, Gage Coates, Jake Puchalski, Chloe Wright, Burch Mclean