Hudson N.H. –Meegan Lord showed the boys in the Thunder Light division that she is ready to challenge to be next year’s champion with an outstanding race win on Oct 9th at Hudson International Speedway. Carlos Esquivel led the opening lap or two before Lord got passed him and took the lead. With Lord passing Esquivel the door was open for Chad Wendell, Justin Beecher and Jarrod Soucy to get past Esquivel and they formed a four car battle for the lead. With Lord in the lead Wendell took to the outside of Lord and spent the last ten laps of the race on the outside trying to get past her. Wendell could get a nose in front of Lord going into the corners but Lord would battle back and stay in first. While the front two were battling side by side Beecher would get to Lords rear bumper but couldn’t get a good run to get past. Meanwhile Soucy wasn’t far back waiting for any of the top trio to make a mistake so he could move up. With the other drivers all over her Lord showed her mettle and held on for her second win of the season. Wendell was second followed by Beecher, Soucy and Austin Erickson. Wendell won the heat.
Ricky Woodside Jr. led the first few laps of the Outlaw feature. Peter Fiandaca was all over Woodside Jr. and finally made it past him in turn three. Woodside Jr. got beat around a bit as a few more drivers muscled their way by him and he went spinning into the infield on the front stretch bring out a caution. By this point Jay Maki had made his way to the front was challenging Fiandaca on every lap and made it by him before the halfway point. Maki made it look easy from that point and had a sizable lead by the drop of the checkered flag. Geoff Rollins made it past Fiandaca to finish second. After Fiandaca it was Derek Griffith in fourth and Dean Wendell in fifth. John Meany and Dean Wendell won the heats.
With his fifth place finish in the Outlaws Dean Wendell clinched the 2011 Outlaw Championship. It was the third straight championship for Wendell at Hudson International as he was Rookie Stock champion in 2009 and 2010. Dean shares his Outlaw ride with his dad Mitch Wendell who runs it at Star Speedway on Saturday nights. Mitch won the Star Speedway Outlaw championship the day before Dean won his. Dean’s brother Chad Wendell won last year’s Thunder Light championship and with his second place finish this week took over the points lead going into the last week of the season. Mitch’s wife Joy must be leading points somewhere too.
Roger Tanguay Sr. led most of the Rookie Stock Main. He kept his old Camaro going straight for the entire Rookie Stock feature and looked like he had a good shot at his first win but John Morin Jr. had other ideas for the outcome and passed Tanguay Sr. for his sixth win of the 2011 racing season. With the win Morin Jr. clinched the Rookie Stock championship with one week remaining in the season. Corrie Merritt beat his way to a second place finish. Scotty (I’m out of names) Duval was third. Jerry Lepage was fourth and Tanguay Sr. was fifth. Slika Ennis somehow managed to finish seventh. Tanguay Sr. and Duval won the heats.
Keith Caruso picked up another win in the New England V-6 Modifieds. Caruso took the lead real early and was chased the entire way by Allen Reiser Jr. Reiser Jr. closed the gap a few times but wasn’t able to get close enough to mount a serious challenge to Caruso. Reiser won the heat.
Next Sunday October 16th is the annual end of the season “Pumpkinfest” with Kids bike races beginning at 11.30am. Also for the kids there will be games, trick or treat and a costume contest. The Northeast Classic Lites make their only appearance of the season that day. Championships will be decided in the Roadrunners and Thunder Lights. Both divisions have tight points battles. The Rookie Stocks will also run but John Morin Jr. has clinched the championship in that division. Enduros are on tap and the Spectator Race, Spectator Drags and the Flagpole Race will also be run. For more info please visit www.hudsonspeedway.info.