by Jay | Aug 10, 2009 | Monadnock Speedway, New Hampshire
Ron Normandin Scores First Win of 2009
Winchester, NH: This past Saturday, Monadnock Speedway was filled with heroes of the past and present as they held the first annual Heroes of Yester-Year Celebration. The fans were able to mix and mingle with the former and present competitors during the very popular Open Track Party presented by Ford Brattleboro. Ron Normandin celebrated his first 2009 victory for Mini Stocks where he is now guaranteed a starting spot for the Stafford Motor Speedway Fall Finale. Kirk Alexander took the checkers in the Modified division after suffering several weeks of mechanical problems. Super Stock Bill Johnston topped the feature event as Mike Parks took back to back Outlaw Pro wins. Dick Houle and Rob Morton won the Enduro events.
Grand Marshall, Bob Whitcomb, waved the green where Beth Adams led the Mini Stock field early in their feature event. Ron Normandin, Jamey King, Chris McTaggart and Joey Kendall followed close behind battling for position. On lap seven, a caution came out as James Hancock and Derek Bergquist made contact. On the restart, Adams had a great start securing the top spot. On lap eleven, Normandin began to pressure Adams as the ran wheel to wheel. One lap later, Normandin took the lead as King went to the inside of Kendall for third. On alp thirteen, the caution flew again. On the restart, Normandin continued to lead as Adams felt Kendall and Jackson on her back bumper. Ten laps to go, Kendall tries the high side as Jackson attempted the low groove. Both were denied as Adams held strong in second. Five laps to go, Normandin showed the way as Kendall attempted the inside of Adams in turn one. Once again, Kendall could not make it and began to battle wheel to wheel with Jackson for third. One lap to go, Kendall gave one last attempt as Adams went high coming out of turn two. Adams scraped the back wall dropping out of the top five leaving Jackson to battle with Kendall for second. King moved into fourth. At the checkers, it was Normandin followed by Kendall, Jackson, King and McTaggart.
Super Stocks rolled onto the track with David Streibel setting the pace. Streibel was scored as the early leader but felt the presence of Bill Johnston on the high side. On lap three, the side by side battle was won by Johnston as he took over the lead. Johnston began to pull away as Streibel held off the challenges from Nancy Muni and Jeremy Sorel. On lap ten, Streibel pulled away in second as Muni held of the challenges from Jeff Wright for third. In the next lap, Sorel and Wright battled for the fourth spot. Ten laps to go, Johnston and Streibel distanced themselves away from the field as Muni, Wright and Sorel continued to run nose to tail for third. Five laps to go, as they entered turn one, Wright made contact with Muni resulting in both Muni and Wright dropping out of the top five. Muni got back on the gas and joined the back of the field with no caution. Sorel, Andy Brook and Nick Gravel took over in the top five. As laps winded down, Johnston remained to lead as Sorel began to gain ground on Streibel for second. On the final lap it was Joshnton followed by Streibel, Sorel, Brooks and Gravel.
Aric Blanchette and Steve Gauthier side by side brought the field to the green. On the start, Gauthier on the outside got the jump as the starter of the race brought the caution out. As the caution was displayed both Blanchette and Gauthier made heavy contact resulting in extensive damage to the Gauthier machine. On the restart of the start of the race, Barry Gray found himself in the number one spot. Bryon Baker, starting on the outside wasted no time to take the lead over as Mike Parks followed and moved into second. By lap two, Hersey went to the outside of Gray and settled in third. Baker continued to lead attempting to hold off both Parks and Hersey. Parks tried the high side but was denied as Parks and Hersey ran wheel to wheel for second. Lap seventeen, Parks had a good run of turn four and challenged Baker again on the outside. As they both came out of turn two, Parks took the lead as Hersey followed for second. The top three ran bumper to bumper as Gray and Brandon Ovitt battled for fourth. Ten laps to go, the top three began to approach lap traffic. Both Parks and Hersey maneuvered through the lap cars as Baker was held up. Five to go, Parks and Hersey continued to battle as Ovitt began to catch Baker for third. At the wave of the checkers, it was Parks for back to back victories followed by Hersey, Baker, Ovitt and Gray.
Rob Williams led the Modified field to the green for their 50 lap feature event. Williams quickly secured the lead as Eric LeClair and Marty Radewick ran close behind. On lap two, the field was slowed by a caution. On the restart, Williams again controlled the top spot as Radewick moved into second. Kirk Alexander sat in third followed by LeClair and Frank L’Etoile. The top three ran bumper to bumper as Alexander went to the outside of Radewick for second. By lap ten, the top three broke away as a huge battle for fourth and fifth developed between LeClair, L’Etoile, Dale Evonsion, Ed Reed and Dave Berube. Few laps later, Evonsion broke from the battle on made the pass on the outside of L’Etoile for fifth and worked on LeClair for fourth. Twenty laps in the book, the top three continued to stand on their own as the field maneuvered around heavy lap traffic battling for the top five. On lap twenty five, the caution was shown collecting Evonsion, Rusty Ball, Jim Boniface and Kevin Bolduc. On the restart, Alexander took the lead as Williams fought back. Radewick continued to run third followed by Todd Patnode and Berube. Ten laps to go, the top three again approached heavy lap traffic as L’Etoile and Ed Reed challenged each other for the sixth spot. Five lap to go, Williams again attempted to get back the top spot as fifth place Berube pulled off with a mechanical problem. At the wave of the checkers, it was Alexander with the victory followed by Williams, Radewick, Patnode and Bryan Shumway.
This Saturday, Monadnock Speedway will welcome back the Pro 4 Modified to the high bank ¼ mile oval along with Outlaw Pros, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks and 4-cylinder Enduros. Race Time is at 6pm.
Top Ten Modifieds: Kirk Alexander, Rob Williams, Marty Radewick, Todd Panote, Bryan Shumway, Frank L’Etoile, Dale Evonsion, Ed Reed Jr, Eric LeClair
Top Ten Outlaw Pros: Mike Parks, Russ Hersey, Bryon Baker, Brandon Ovitt, Barry Gray, Aric Blanchette, Eric Poulin, Adam Brooks, Steve Gauthier
Top Ten Super Stocks: Bill Johnston, David Streibel, Jeremy Sorel, Andy Brooks, Nick Gravel, Matt Mead, Bob Bedaw, Ed Brehio Jr, Kevin Ouellette, Jeff Wright
Top Ten Mini Stocks: Ron Normandin, Joey Kendall, Tim Jackson, Jamey King, Chris McTaggart, Chris Davis, Dennis Wallace, Beth Adams, James Hancock
Top Ten 4-cylinder Enduros: Dick Houle, Jonah Delgenio, Heath Reanud, Eric Pomasko, |CJ Johnson, Matt Gauffin, Scott Hatt, Fred Rogers, John Walker, Julia |Raymond
Top Ten Full Size Enduros: Rob Morton, Jared Edson, Dan Yagmin, Ryan Rivet, Barry Schonborg, Ed Lofland, Mike Petalas, Adam Gray, Randy Rameau, Trevor Dyer
by Jay | Aug 10, 2009 | NASCAR, New England, Thompson
Preece On A Roll Heading To Thompson
The 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season has reached its halfway point, and as the Tour heads to Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway this week, Ryan Preece is perhaps the hottest driver on the circuit.
Preece, from Berlin, Conn., has won the last two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races and is now just 27 points out of the championship lead thanks to top-10 efforts in six of the season’s seven events.
The last two weeks have been a constant emotional high for Preece, who recorded his first career win last year at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, but never got to celebrate in Victory Lane as Burt Myers was there originally, before being disqualified. His triumph at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway on Aug. 1 was the first time he got to pull into Victory Lane, and symbolically, it felt like his first win.
Last Friday at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway, Preece then got the first win of his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour career at his home track.
Preece had a stout car the last handful of races at Stafford, but the cards didn’t line up for a victory. The long wait ended in the Town Fair Tire 150 when he led the final 47 laps to take the checkered flag.
“I’ve always wanted to win here, and I finally got it,” said an elated Preece following the win.
Both wins have been hard-earned for Preece. In the previous week’s win, he had to fend off a host of Riverhead regulars to get to the finish line first, and Friday’s win at Stafford featured a similar storyline as he had to outlast the winningest driver in the track’s storied history: Ted Christopher.
Christopher had led the first two-thirds of the race after starting first on the redraw, but after a restart, Preece was able to get past the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion on Lap 104 and hold off some hard charges from Christopher for the win.
As the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour now heads to Thompson for the Budweiser 150 presented by New England Dodge Dealers on Thursday, Aug. 13, Preece will have to turn the page quickly. The Tour is currently halfway through its busiest part of the 2009 schedule with four events in the span of 19 days. Fortunately for Preece and the No. 3 team, momentum is clearly on their side, for the time being.
“The month of August seems to be a real good month for me, and hopefully my luck will stay like this,” Preece said.
The 18-year-old driver knows that things can turn around quickly in auto racing, so he’s not going to get too caught up in the team’s current run.
“Who knows, I could be wrecking next week, so I’m living in the moment, and things are real great right now,” Preece said.
While he has traditionally been a front-runner at Stafford, Preece has yet to find much success at Connecticut’s biggest oval. In 10 career starts at Thompson, the third-year driver has an average finish of 15 with four top 10s. A fourth- place finish there in the season opener – the best of his career – should be encouraging.
While the season is only halfway over, it may be too early to hedge bets on the championship, but the consistency that Preece’s team has exhibited to this point indicates that they could be a legitimate title contender.
Preece and the rest of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitors will get the action going on race day at Thompson with practice at 2 p.m. Time trials are set for 5:30 p.m. and the 150-lap race is scheduled to go green at approximately 8:45 p.m.
Fast Facts
The Race: Budweiser 150 presented by New England Dodge Dealers
The Place: Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway
The Date: Thursday, August 13
The Time: 8:45 p.m. ET
The Distance: 150 laps / 93.75 miles
Race Purse: $84,168
2008 Winner: Ron Silk
2008 Polesitter: None-rain
Event Schedule: Practice 2 – 3 p.m.; Tire Scuff 5:15 p.m.; Qualifying 5:30 p.m.
by Jay | Aug 10, 2009 | Canada
Fredericton, NB – It was a beautiful day for racing at Speedway 600 as the first Enduro is finally in the books . This being the first event of the season for the Enduro drivers, everyone is starting out fresh. This was the first points week for the drivers and yet they still raced as if it was the final tell all race.
There were 15 cars that took the green flag as the first 75 laps got under way. The # 44 of Steve Seveck started on the pole. As the day went along and drivers got a feel for being back to the track, things really started to heat up. Pat Sharpe showed them how it was done as he drove his # 51 to victory lane. Sharpe was multiple laps ahead of #8 of Dale Hathaway and Benji Ruff who finished in second and finishing in third place the # 11 of Barney Jeffrey. Ruff and Hathaway are no strangers to Enduro driving as they have had a lot of previous success here at Speedway 660. This was the first race ever for Barney Jeffrey who used to work at the speedway.
One of the big stories of the day was Courtney and Kim Barton’s #21, which sparked a lot of excitement. The two sisters shared the driving. After each competition yellow, fans would wait to see who was in the white and black spotted cow car. Courtney Barton come out in the second 75 laps and made things very exciting as she showed how the race was supposed to go. Bumping and trading paint with drivers is exactly what she came to do. There was a huge bull’s-eye on the lead drivers and Courtney new exactly how to fix that. In the third and final 50 laps, Courtney’s sister, Kim came out until she was called in for a driver change late in the race. This really got everyone’s attention. Courtney made a last attempt to knock Pat Sharpe out of the top spot by giving him a bump but was unsuccessful is taking the win away. There were many lead changes and couple red flags but the first Enduro race was very exciting and fans will want to come back and see what happens in the next one.
Next week fans can see Enduro cars back at the speedway. They will be racing front wheel drive cars. This is something new that is in the transition stage, as it is harder to find rear wheel cars for the Enduros. The hope is that by racing the front wheel drive cars it will draw more cars for the Enduros. If anyone wants to register their Enduro car for next weekend they can do so by calling Angela at the speedway office @ 454-RACE (7223). The final race for the Enduro division will be SPEEDWEEKEND on September 7th.
So don’t miss it next weekend race fans. There is a lot more racing to come in another Double Header weekend.
by Jay | Aug 10, 2009 | Maine, Unity
Unity, Maine — Burnham racers Frank Moulton and Carl McAlpine took different routes to victory lane, but both were on top of the official order of finish after double-point, 50-lap features, topping the Champions Appreciation Day racing card Sunday afternoon at Unity Raceway.
Moulton extended his lead in the Late Model division championship standings with his victory. Though he started on the front row and led the vast majority of the 50 laps, Moulton did not go unchallenged, and in fact yielded the top spot briefly on a couple of occasions to Winterport’s Joey Doyon, who roared from the back of the field into contention until electrical woes eliminated him from contention with ten laps to go. Palmyra racers Ajay and Louie Picard also challenged Moulton briefly following restarts, but the point leader prevailed. Ajay Picard finished in second position, with David Folsom II of Skowhegan claiming third-place spoils. Louie Picard was fourth, followed by Dylan Turner of Freedom. Moulton also won the heat race.
Defending Wildcat division champion McAlpine actually crossed the line in second position after a racelong battle with Winslow’s Andy Turbovsky, who has been his chief obstacle when it has come to dominating victory lane in the class. Turbovsky got to the checkered flag first, but the win was negated in post-race technical inspection for a carburetor violation. Apparent third-place finisher Mike St.Germaine of Auburn also ran afoul of the inspectors. In the official order of finish it became a podium sweep for Burnham racers, with McAlpin e getting the victory ahead of Brent Chase and Chris King. Luke Rickards of Anson and Ed Sleeper of Vassalboro. King was the first legal car across the finish line in the heat race.
The touring NELCAR Legends were on hand, and Max Zachem of Preston, Connecticut drove from the rear of the grid into the lead at the halfway point of a 20-lap feature race, then went on to win convincingly. Windham teenager Bobby Timmons put on a strong performance en route to a second-place finish. Topsham’s Bobby Weymouth claimed the third-place trophy. Tyler Jordan of Scarborough, who led the first half of the maine event, ended up with a fourth-place finish, followed by Lincoln’s Alan Smith. Terry Kirk, Kendall Curit, Ed Getty, Foret Boucher and Evan Beaulieu rounded out the top ten, followed by Brandon Ingalls and Tyler Braunschweig.
Brian Janik drove from the rear to the front to win the Wicked Good Vintage Race Car Association feature race. Bob Hill finished second, with Keith Fuller, Jr in third position. 70-year-old former track champion Dick McPhail led the first half of the race before yielding to the top three, driving under the checkered flag in fourth place. Norris Willette finished in fifth position.
David Folsom I of Skowhegan outran Madsion’s Mike Moore and George Fernald III of Benton in the Enduro race.
“Fernald Frenzy” special events were a part of Champions Appreciation Day, which also featured an on-track pit party where champions like Hall of Famer Blackie Hilliard – one of Unity Raceway’s earliest champions – was honored, as was the youngest champion on hand, current Late Model Pro Four competitor Ben Nile, a recent champion of the track’s Teen Thunder division.
The ‘Frenzy’ special events were capped by a Minivan Demolition Derby won by Skowhegan’s David Folsom II. Benton’s George Fernald III was the best of the rest, with the third-place trophy going to Justin Moore of Madison.
The always-entertaining Ramp Race was won by David Folsom I, in front of Shadow Folsom and Mike Moore.
David Folsom I of Skowhegan bested Lance Chapman of Benton in a best of three final in the Race Your Neighbor event, featuring street-legal passenger cars squaring off, one-on-one. Folsom drove his wife’s Impala to victory lane, thanked her, and told her from victory lane that she could have the $160 prize.
Lance Chapman and Samantha Letourneau won the Jack & Jill race, which needs to be seen to be understood. Cody Sleeper and Mika Wilson teamed up to finish second, ahead of Ben Nile and his young partner.
Chapman and Letourneau went on to provide the biggest crowd thrill of the day when they crashed in spectacular fashion during the Bag Race. After a red flag period prompted by that incident, Justin Moore and David Folsom II teamed up to win the event in front of Shadow Folsom and George Fernald III.
And Fast Freddy Landry was best in the Longest Ramp Jump competition, beating out the event’s most recent champion, Mike Moore.
Weekly competition resumes with all nine regular classes in action beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. August 21 Unity Raceway hosts NWA on Fire Wrestling & Racing, with a full professional wrestling card and nin feature races scheduled. For more information call (207) 453-2021 or visit unityraceway.info
by Jay | Aug 9, 2009 | New England, Thunder Road
Barre, VT – Bill Davis of Monson, MA earned $5,000 with his win in the 250 lap 25th Annual M&M Beverage Enduro. Davis along with over 150 other cars from all over the northeast attempted to snag the big pay check. Long time leader Adam Gray of Belchertown, MA dropped out with less than 30 laps remaining and handed the victory to Davis. The event saw lots of action including several pile-ups and even a roll over.
Williamstown’s Michael MacAskill took home his second career Allen Lumber Street Stock win and first of the season in a special 50 lap event. MacAskill took the lead from Dave Whitcomb with two laps to go and survived a green-white-checkered finish. Whitcomb finished second followed by Tommy “Thunder” Smith, Tucker Williams and Jason Corliss. Forty cars started the fifty lap feature.
Bunker Hodgdon of Hardwick made a return to the Power Shift Junkyard Warrior division and won the Monza style two segment event. Hodgdon finished third in the first segment and won the second segment, both from the rear of the fifteen car field. Lance Donald also finished with a third and a win but lost the tie breaker because Hodgdon beat him in the second segment. Donald finished second followed by Kevin Dodge who compiled six points with a second and a fourth.
The 50th Anniversary Season at Thunder Road will continue with a double header this Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 14. Thursday will be the Vermont ACE Hardware dealers event featuring the third and final Tiger Sportsmen Tri-State Series 100 lap event. Thunder Road Late Models, Allen Lumber Street Stocks and Power Shift Junkyard Warriors will join the card. Friday the action will continue with the rescheduled Pepsi Night. It will be a regular event for all four divisions with a 50’s/60’s themed sock hop in the pit area immediately following the racing. There will be a live DJ, a hoola-hoop contest and a costume contest. Post time on Thursday will be 6:30pm and Friday’s post time is set for 6:00pm.
Allen Lumber Street Stocks Unofficial Top Five – 1. Michael MacAskill (3) Williamstown, VT, 2. Dave Whitcomb (77) Elmore, VT, 3. Tommy Smith (50) Williamstown, VT, 4. #Tucker Williams (99) Hyde Park, VT, 5. Jason Corliss (61) Danville, VT.
Power Shift Warriors Unofficial Results – 1. Bunker Hodgdon (20) Hardwick, VT, 2. Lance Donald (52) Williamstown, VT, 3. Kevin Dodge (8) Barre, VT, 4. Keith Fortier (35) Hinesburg, VT, 5. Ken Christman (4) Cabot, VT, 6. Kevin Streeter (61) Waitsfield, VT, 7. John Prentice (87) Northfield, VT, 8. Donny Yates (05) N. Montpelier, VT, 9. Mark LaFleche (63) Williamstown, VT, 10. Thomas Elwood (33) Morrisville, VT, 11. Cheryl Kingsbury (13) Waitsfield, VT, 12. Alex Whitcomb (78) Montpelier, VT, 13. Matt Monaghan (11) Colchester, VT, 14. Justin Town (53) E. Barre, VT, 15. Bryan Nykiel (80) Berlin, VT.
