Bear Ridge Speedway
It was the last night of the regular season at Bear Ridge Speedway with the 100 lap Newport Chevrolet NE Crate Motor Nationals on tap for the Sportsman Modifieds. Other 99Rock weekly divisions in action included the Sportsman Coupes and the USAC Dirt Midgets. Joining them was the Sprint Cars of New England for their Championship Night and the evening concluded with an Enduro.
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The Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds went 100 laps with the field set by time trials with a redraw for the top six. Adam Pierson sat on the pole; he sat fast time and drew number one in the redraw. Pierson set sail at the drop of the green and looked to be invincible in the early going as after each of the restarts he would pull away. At the halfway point Pierson led Chris Donnelly with Jason Gray up to third, using the high side to get there. Gray took advantage of a lap 55 restart to take over second and started to challenge Pierson for the top spot, finally taking the lead after an extended battle. There were a couple more restarts along the way and after each one Jason Gray would use the high side to pull away from Adam Pierson. At the checkers it was Jason Gray with the impressive win. Adam Pierson was second and Robert Tucker came from the rear after being part of the first caution of the night to finish third. Chris Donnelly and Matt Lashua completed the top five. With his sixth place finish Kevin Chaffee was crowned the Sportsman Modified Champion
The Wells River Chevrolet DIRTcar Sportsman Coupes also ran an extra distance event, going 60 laps. Time Trials also set the field with the top eight doing a redraw that found Josh Harrington set on the pole and he bolted into the lead when the green flag flew. Harrington was first challenged by Chris LaForest and later Tad Kingsbury ran second for over 30 laps. Around lap 40 Todd Hayward took to the high side while fourth and started to gain ground on the lead trio, finally moving to second on lap 47. From there it took Hayward only three laps to take the lead from Harrington. From that point on it was all Hayward as he ran to the popular win. Jason Horniak also used the outside groove to make a late race charge to finish second. Josh Harrington was third with Brian Chaffee and Chris LaForest rounding out the top five. While Melvin Pierson didn’t have a great night, finishing eleventh, it was enough to be crowned the 2018 Sportsman Coupe Champion.
The Laquerre’s Sports USAC Dirt Midgets ran a 3 Segment event with the overall winner determined by the combined score of the three segments. Time Trials set the starting order for the first segment with the field inverted from the finishing order for segments two and three. Will Hull took the overall win by finishing second, first and fourth in the three segments. While Hull won the race, Jason Goff won the championship by finishing second overall on the night. Joe Krawiec was third with fast timer Seth Carlson fourth and Mike Chaffee completed the top five.
The WYKR Sprint Cars of New England also ran a segment race, but theirs was only two twenty lap races and both went green to checkers caution free. Dan Douville was fast timer and started on the pole of the first segment and rocketed out to the lead and took an easy win. Dylan Cook, making his first start of the season took the checkers first in the second segment but the overall winner was Will Hull, with finishes of second and third. Adam Pierson finished second overall with Matt Hoyt third. Jordan Fornwalt and Dylan Cook were fourth and fifth respectively. With the win Will Hull also took the Sprint Cars of New England Championship by a very narrow margin over Matt Hoyt.
Also on tap was a race for all the winners in both the Sportsman Modifieds and the Sportsman Coupes, the event is called “The Growler” and each winner takes home $500.00. They were 20 lap events with all teams having to pit and change a right rear tire after four laps, making it a live pit stop, which is not the normal in short track dirt racing. In the Sportsman Modifieds Todd Buckwold was first out of the pits but his car was too tight and Robert Tucker eventually made an on track pass to take the win and the money. In the Sportsman Coupes Tanner Siemons was first out of the pits, he held on to take the win but it wasn’t easy as he had to survive an encounter with a lapped car with only two laps remaining.
The evening concluded with a very entertaining event for Mike Estrada State Farm Insurance Enduro Division. Brandon Gray made a late race pass on Chris LaForest to take the win. LaForest finished right on his bumper for second with Jason Porter coming home in the third spot.
Bear Ridge Speedway’51st regular season has now concluded. The last event of the season at the track is the 2nd annual Family Fun Day on October 14th with a starting time of 1:00PM. The day will feature an Enduro, Chain Races, Backwards races, Blindfold Race, a Run-what-you brung event and more.
Bear Ridge Speedway is as an alcohol-free family friendly entertainment spot, with our goal to make each experience at the Ridge better than the last. Remember “Dirt where every lap is the last lap” we continue to offer the best source of good inexpensive high-quality entertainment for families.
Bear Ridge Speedway is located off exit 16 of I91 on to Rte 25 west 1 mile to South Road up the hill to Kidder Rd. Be sure to check the web www.bearridgespeedway.com Questions can be sent to [email protected]
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS – 51st Season of Racing-Newport Chevrolet Night
99ROCK Weekly Racing Series
Bear Ridge Speedway — Bradford, VT
Saturday, September 22nd, 2018
Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds (100 Laps)
Jason Gray
Adam Pierson
Robert Tucker
Chris Donnelly
Matt Lashua
Kevin Chaffee
Jordan Fornwalt
Terry Williams
Richie Simmons
Derek Graham
Tanner Siemons
D.J. Robinson
Mike Dunn
Todd Buckwold
Ryan Christian
Mike Ryan
Stephen Flint
Jeremy Huntoon
Stephen Lary
Chris Clark
Josh Morgan
Wells River Chevrolet Sportsman Coupe Feature (60 Laps)
Todd Hayward
Jason Horniak
Josh Harrington
Brian Chaffee
Chris LaForest
Jason Colbeth
Matt Ellsworth
Gene Pierson Jr
Bob Shepard
Earl Maxham
Melvin Pierson
Tanner Siemons
Bob Kilburn
Tad Kingsbury
Mike Stender
Tim Hodge
Tom Placey
Kevin Dickinson
Laquerre’s Sports USAC Dirt Midgets (Overall 3 Segment Finish)
1. Will Hull
2. Jason Goff
3. Joe Krawiec
4. Seth Carlson
5. Mike Chaffee
6. Derek O’Hearn
7. Tim Gallant
8. Dan Douville
9. Justin Phillips
10. Josh Harrington
11. Jeff Horn
12. Bobby White
13. Tim West
14. Alex Rose
15. Adam Whitney
WYKR Sprint Cars of New England –Overall Finish (2-20 Lap Segments)
1. Will Hull
2. Adam Pierson
3. Matt Hoyt
4. Jordan Fornwalt
5. Dylan Cook
6. Luke Greenwood
7. Mike Kondrat
8. Jake Williams
9. Dan Douville
10. Christine Boesch
11. Troy Comeau
12. Rick Stone
13. Tyler Austin
14. Lacey Hanson
15. Ron Giroux
