The Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour took a right turn this weekend as 16 of the best Legends drivers in the Northeast competed on the 1.6 mile road course at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The first of two road course races for the tour came during the popular 21st Annual Vintage Celebration week at NHMS. While the drivers were used to only making left turns, the added challenge of turning right, and the over 100 mph speeds, made it a very exciting race.
The field was set through practice speeds, and Shaun Buffington, who has been dominant at the Speedway so far this year, and the defending winner of this race, was on the pole with his teammate Tom Gray on the outside. At the drop of the green flag, the two battled hard and going into the tricky first corner, Buffington was able to edge Gray and get out to the lead. On lap two, the 20 of Taylor Martin broke a rear end and went off course, ending first attempt at road racing early and bringing out the first caution of the race. On the next restart, Buffington once again kept his lead, while Bob Weymouth in the 399 drove up to second. The 33 of Alan Smith and the 81 of Dan Winter got together, resulting in Winter to spin, but it only brought out a corner caution as the field kept racing. Going into the closing laps, the 8 of Matt Chagnot, who was also making his first road course start, spun and got stuck in the tire barriers, resulting in the second full course caution. On the final restart, Buffington once again was able to get away, and drove off with his fourth win of the season, continuing his solid performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Weymouth would finish second with Matt Bourgoine in the 38 finishing third for his first career top three finish. Tom Gray in the 18 and Mike Alton in the 99 rounded out the top five.
With another great run, Weymouth holds his points lead in the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour standings by 49 points over Terry Kirk. Buffington meanwhile leads the NHMS Legends points by just 16 points over Weymouth. Next weekend on Saturday, May 28th, the Tour will travel up to the challenging Unity Raceway. The rough and unique surface at Unity always brings great action when the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour comes to the track, and next weekend will be no exception. Racing starts at 6PM. For more news, info and how you can get behind the wheel of a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.
