By Gary Dutton
WINCHESTER, NH – Eddie Brehio III and Ed Lofland capped their championship seasons with feature wins Saturday, Sept. 28, at Monadnock Speedway. Brehio, in fact won twice at the high-banked speedplant’s season finale, topping the other four NASCAR Weekly Racing Series track champions in the traditional season-ending Great School Bus Race.
Other winners on the night included Sportsman Modified strongman Adam Norton; Mini Stock ace Mike Stebbins; Young Guns whiz Chris Lawrence; and Lightning Stock rocket Josh Houle.
Rob Richardi completed his perfect Monadnock season in the visiting Pro-4 Modifieds, sweeping all four events this summer on the high banks. Former Monadnock racer Ben Byrne thrilled the huge crowd as he won the Spectator Race in his souped-up 40-something pickup, and Paul Laplante topped the Vintage Outlaw 20-lapper.
Adam Norton, from the pole, led all the way in the Sportsman Modified 50-lapper, with rookie Alyssa Rivera chasing him around the track at a furious pace for the first seven laps, until 2013 track champ Bill Kimball rocketed into the deuce spot on lap eight.
For the next 42 laps, the two would battle, often bumper-to-bumper, until they clanged heavily on the final go-round, with Norton holding on to claim his sixth win of the season. Dan Stebbins was solid all night to claim a strong third-place finish, with Nathan Johnson and Steve Fifield coming home fourth and fifth.
Dave Striebel set the pace for the first eight laps of the Super Stock feature, giving up the point to Eddie Brehio III on a lap-nine restart. Brehio immediately pulled away from the field, with Striebel holding the deuce spot until Tom Carey III muscled past him on lap 26.
Striebel was a strong third until getting booted along the backchute on lap 29, with Geoff Rollins charging into second on the ensuing restart. With Rollins trying to reel Brehio in, Carey and John Lavoie battled wheel-to-wheel the final two laps, with Carey prevailing for third.
The win was Brehio’s second in as many events, and the third of his championship season. With Rollins and Carey rounding out the top three, Lavoie came home fourth, and Dennis Stange claimed the five-spot.
Mike Stebbins wired the caution-free Mini Stock 35-lapper, earning his fifth victory of the summer, and second in as many weeks. And like the previous one, he had track champion Beth Adams glued to his bumper much of the way.
Adams and Stebbins soared under the flags in a dead heat on lap 27, with Stebbins able to again gain a small advantage and hold Adams in his shadow the rest of the way. Eric Pomasko raced in the top three all night, claiming his second trophy in as many weeks in third. Julia Raymond and Kim Rivet rounded out the top five.
Chris Lawrence and Matt Kimball raced tight all the way in the Young Guns event, with Lawrence prevailing by half a length to claim his fourth win of the season. Cameron Sontag completed his good night’s work in third, with Joel Monahan and Dylan Stebbins rounding out the top five.
Dickie Houle led lap one of the Lightning Stock feature, then watching his nephew Josh rocket past him and check out on the field. The younger Houle won by half a lap, winning the only two events he entered this season. Tim O’Shea outran the rest of the 24-car field to come home second, followed under the flags by Dickie Houle, Craig Chaffee, and Matt Somerville.
Ed Lofland punctuated his Thunder Stock championship season by taking command on lap four and dominating the rest of the way to claim his sixth victory of the year. Newcomer Scott Vien was strong all night to claim second, with Bryan Town third, Joe Ethier fourth, and Paul Barnard fifth.
Rob Richardi wired the Pro-4 Modified feature. Andy Major and Robin Berghman were second and third on the night, with Derek Robbie taking the checkers first in the club’s Limited division.
Saturday’s event concluded the speedway’s 2013 oval track racing season. Monadnock Speedway’s final Mud Bog event of the year, the Mudslinger Spooktacular, will be held on October 20, with action beginning at noon.