by Jay | Sep 6, 2016 | New, Thunder Road, Vermont
Scott Dragon of Milton shows off his “King of the Road” trophy in Victory Lane after clinching the Late Model Championship with a second-place finish in the 38th Coca-Cola Labor Day Classic. (Alan Ward photo)
Barre, VT – Nick Sweet of Barre continued his domination of the Coca-Cola Labor Day Classic, but it wasn’t enough to deny Scott Dragon of Milton his first Thunder Road Late Model track championship. Sweet led the final 117 laps on his way to his third straight win, and his fourth overall, in the 38th edition of the 200-lap holiday event, but Dragon’s runner-up finish was enough to give him the “King of the Road” crown by one point over Sweet.
Thunder Road crowned two other first-time champions in the final regular-season event of the year: Stephen Donahue of Graniteville won Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen title, while Jamon Perry of Hardwick took the Allen Lumber Street Stocks championship.
Dragon led Sweet by eight points in the overall Late Model standings after the qualifying heats. Once Sweet moved into the lead, Dragon had to finish second place to earn the title. He saved it until late in the event, passing Tyler Cahoon of Danville for the runner-up position on lap 195.
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by Jay | Sep 6, 2016 | Lee USA, New, New Hampshire
photo by Rich Hayes
Lee, NH – Lee USA Speedway celebrated “Kid’s Back to School Night” on Friday, and it was a homecoming party for former multi-time champ Tommy Tombarello, Jr., who made his 2016 debut with a sweep, winning both his heat and the feature event to once again stake his claim to the king’s throne in the EKeys4cars Supermodifieds.
Haverhill, MA’s Tombarello has been on the sidelines since a season-ending crash finished his 2015 championship campaign with a hard trip into the unforgiving Lee USA concrete, but his return to action reminded everybody in the house that he’s the man to beat.
Journeyman chauffer Mike Netishen of Auburn set the pace for the first several laps of the main, coming off a tough run a week earlier that saw engine issues cut his night short early in the feature event. This week, Netishen led the way until lap 17, when Tombarello made has way past, looking to regain his winning form.
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by Jay | Sep 2, 2016 | Granite State Pro Stock, New, Wiscasset Speedway
WALPOLE, N.H. – An inaugural trip to the 3/8 mile Wiscasset Speedway in Wiscasset, Maine is up next for the Granite State Pro Stock Series, this Saturday Sept. 3 and Sunday Sept. 4.
The 100 lap, $2,000 to win feature event will headline the Labor Day weekend celebration as Wiscasset starts a three races in three weeks stretch for the GSPSS. Following Wiscasset, the series will make a stop at Star Speedway for the Star Classic on Sept. 10, then visit Monadnock Speedway for the rescheduled JBH 100 on Sept. 17.
“I’m excited, we usually do really well at tracks we haven’t been to before,” reigning series champion Derek Griffith said.
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by Jay | Sep 1, 2016 | Maine, New, Oxford Plains Speedway
PR – Eric LaFleche Photo – Lindsay Ellison
(Oxford, ME) – Sometimes in a racers career, satisfaction comes with just being able to get into a race such as the prestigious HP Hood Oxford 250, for a racer such as Derek Griffith; qualifying for his first Oxford 250 was bittersweet.
Griffith, the 19-year-old Hudson, NH native was able to qualify for the main event through a Consolation race win. Griffith would roll-off in the 25th starting position. A lap-7 incident directly ahead of Griffith in turn three and four caused the driver of the No. 12 Hitman Industires/Provencher Insurance Toyota Camry to have to veer off of turn four; making contact with the front stretch wall.
“The lap 7 incident was caused by impatient people, it’s a shame. We had a very fast car all weekend long. The crew busted their tails and our expectations were being able to compete for a podium finish, I mean we know it was our first [Oxford] 250 but we can drive with these guys.” Says Griffith. (more…)
by Jay | Sep 1, 2016 | ACT, New, Oxford Plains Speedway, Touring Series News
photo by Norm Marx
By: Dick Casey
Second Place ACT Finish for Eddie MacDonald at Oxford Plains Speedway
For the fourth time this season Eddie MacDonald has posted a second place finish, this time in the American Canadian Tour’s Dave’s Small Engines/Ferris Mowers 100 at Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday, August 27. The action was relentless from green flag to checkered flag as Eddie Mac battled eventual winner Scott Payea and Brad Babb for much of the race.
The Exit Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy posted fast times in the three brief practices and scored a plus two for his second place run in the heat after starting fifth. Eddie Mac started in the sixth position for the 100 lap feature as part of the Oxford 250 weekend. It did not take the Rowley, Mass veteran long to move into contention when the green flag waved over the 26 car field. The Freddie Peterson owned ride jumped to third place as a result of some heads-up driving by the veteran shoe.
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by Jay | Sep 1, 2016 | ACT, New, Touring Series News
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Frustrated with contact from a lapped car late in the race and being sent to the rear of the pack for the restart, Emily Packard was able to channel that frustration and drive her 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car back up through the field to finish in eighth place at Oxford Plains Speedway this weekend. “We were just clearing a pack (of cars) and headed for the leaders,” said the 19-year old driver, “when a lapped car just drove right through us and spun us out. Unfortunately, ACT didn’t punish see the need to punish him, but instead I was sent to the back for the restart. Luckily there were enough laps for me to recover and get a top-10 finish.”
Earlier in the day, Packard and the team spent the morning preparing the car for practice, reviewing notes from their test and changing the car back from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway test. It was obvious when she hit the track for the first practice that the team had made all the right changes as Packard was the 6th fastest car on the track. “We were ok during practice, pretty quick actually” said Packard. “We ran some very consistent laps, within a tenth of each other every lap, whereas other guys were going out and running a fast lap and then would drop right off.” Packard would continue to get faster each practice, with her fastest lap in final practice when she went out to scuff in new tires.
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