Stebbins and Stebbins Visit Victory Lane at Monadnock Speedway
[nggallery id=72]
WINCHESTER, NH – Sophomore open-wheel pilot Dan Stebbins wired the Sportsman Modified main event Saturday, April 27, at Monadnock Speedway, scoring the second Modified win of his career at the high-banked speedplant.
Stebbins was one of five drivers winning their first feature race of the year Saturday at Monadnock. Former Super Stock champion Bill Johnston rocketed to victory in his main event, and Mini Stock strongman Mike Stebbins rebounded from a week one wreck to top his hotly contested feature.
In the Lightning Stock 30-lapper, former speedway Mini Stock champion Chris Davis roared to his first win of the young season, while Young Gun Chris Lawrence – who had trophied a week earlier, topped the youth division 15-lapper.
In the Sportsman Modified feature, Stebbins seized control at the drop of the green, but had his mirror overflowing with Joe Kendall and Bill Kimball. When the second lap was completed, Kimball held the deuce spot, while Kendall was under fire from Keith Carzello.
A lap-five caution would shuffle the chief pursuit cars, as both Kendall and Russ Hersey were shuffled backwards on the restart. Kimball would hold the second spot until giving way to Carzello on lap 13.
Stebbins held a two-length lead with five laps to go, but Carzello was glued to his bumper by lap 28, looking high and low as the lead pair blistered the track. At the checkers, it was Stebbins winning by a carlength, Carzello, and Kimball completing his steady night’s work in third.
Kendall, strong all night, came home fourth, with week one winner Brian Chapin claiming the fifth-place finish. Hersey, juggled around twice during the event, rebounded for sixth.
Nancy Muni Ruot grabbed the opening lead in the Super Stock main, until giving way to Tyler Lescord on a lap-three restart. Lescord would hold the point until lap seven, under heavy fire from Bill Johnston.
When Lescord found the wall on lap seven as the two leaders battled for turf, it was Johnston claiming the top spot, with Eddie Brehio III moving up to second. Two-time champion John Lavoie – from next-to-last on the starting grid – was already up to fourth.
Lavoie would grab second from Brehio on a lap-11 restarted, then gluing himself to Johnston’s bumper. Try as he would to find a way around Johnston, Lavoie would settle for a hard-earned second on the night, finding solace in the fact he’d passed every car on the track except one.
Brehio’s bid for third came up short as he slowed ever so little on his final trip around the south end of the track, watching both Craig Smith and Tom Carey pass him in the final turn of the event. With week-one winner Smith coming home third, Carey and Brehio completed the top five.
The Mini Stock feature belonged to Mike Stebbins from green to checkers, with the hometown pilot firing from the pole and notching the win 15 carlengths ahead of week-one winner Chris McTaggart 25 laps later.
With the event run caution free, McTaggart would gain the most spots, coming from the fourth row to grab second on lap 19 but too far back by then to run down the flying Stebbins. With McTaggart second, Beth Adams ended her strong night’s work in third, Adam Manley was fourth, and Julia Raymond fifth.
Sonja Carey led the first five laps of the Young Guns event, with Chris Lawrence then taking charge and outrunning Cameron Sontag to score his first win of the year. Sontag and Carey were second and third, with week-one winner Joe Collins fourth, and Cole Littlewood fifth.
Tim Leblanc set the pace in the Lightning Stock feature for 22 laps, with Chris Davis then grabbing the point and Craig Chaffee moving up to second. The trio would run nose-to-tail the next two trips around, with Davis and Chaffee then opening up space on the field.
With Davis scoring his first-ever Lighting Stock victory, Chaffee lost his clutch in the final turn, watching Leblanc edge past him at the stripe as he coasted home third. Gary Johnson, strong in the top five all night, earned the fourth-place finish.
This Saturday, May 4, Monadnock Speedway will host its annual Eve of Cinco De Mayo Celebration, with the Sportsman Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Classic Lites, New England Race Trucks, Thunder Stocks, and Young Guns all in action. Post time is 6 p.m.