Canaan, NH. — Three races remain on the Valenti Modified Racing Series and the series championship could go right down to the wire.
The first event takes place this weekend, Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, at Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford, CT. The two-day event sets the stage for another season ending showdown for the title.
After thorough research by Rockford Speedway tech officials and parts manufacture engineers, parts under the hood of Casey Johnson’s Super Late Model car were found to be not within the rules laid out for the 200 lap National Short Track Championship, meaning the Edgerton Wisconsin driver is not able to claim a second win in as many days at Rockford Speedway during the 49th annual event and has been disqualified from the Sunday afternoon feature.
BRADFORD, VT – What a night of racing it was for the final event of the 2014 racing season at the ridge with an over flowing pit area providing edge of your seat racing for the fans on Crate Motor Nationals Spencer Rocke Memorial night sponsored by Shaker Valley Auto
The DIRTcar Bond Auto Sportsman Modifieds ran their 100 lap event with a big win at the line. Time trials set the field, with Tim Tucker once again setting fast time at 13.857. A couple of cautions slowed the pace early taking out Adam Pierson and later Bob Shepard who hit the back stretch wall hard. When racing resumed the stretch of green flag racing had every fan catching their breath. Donnelly found himself on the last restart having some company to contend with, as Kevin Chaffee started pounding on his door. The two would swap positions for the next 50 laps as they worked their way thru lapped cars. Two more cautions late in the race gave Chaffee the advantage he needed as Donnelly had a tire going. Chaffee was able to hold on for the win with Donnelly saving second. Third went to Jason Gray with TC Forward and Josh Sunn rounding out the top five. Trevor Rocke, Spencer Rocke’s son came home 17th in only his second appearance at the Ridge in 2014.
DOVER, Del. – Dover International Speedway officials announced today that the track will install a new catch fence that will be in place for the May 29-31, 2015 NASCAR race weekend. The process of removing the current fence began on Monday, Sept. 29, one day after the “AAA 400” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Monster Mile, is scheduled for completion by Jan. 1, 2015.
The new fence will be installed by Smith Fence, a Florida-based contractor that has performed similar installations at other facilities on the NASCAR circuit. The project will incorporate the most up-to-date technologies and stand at 21-feet tall, up from its current 15-feet.
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Heading into the last American Canadian Tour race of the season at Airborne
Speedway, Emily Packard, the 17 year old East Montpelier native was fifth in the points just 8 points out of the runner up position in the championship battle and knew that she was going to have to avoid trouble at all cost to gain valuable points.
When the 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car took to the track for the first practice of the day, the car was set up to Packard’s liking and she ended the practice 9th fastest. “This was definitely the fastest car we have ever had at Airborne,” Packard said. “We started off pretty solid in practice and knew we would have a good car for the feature.” The team continued to work on the car the last two practices, trying to dial the car in a little bit more before the heat race. Starting 5th in the fourth heat, Packard was able to move herself up to the 3rd position quickly where she would finish when the checkered flag flew, which meant she was safely in the feature.
Casey Johnson only led one lap Saturday night at Rockford Speedway.
But it was the most important lap.
Johnson survived a caution-filled 108 lap feature event and came out on top of a thrilling three-way battle during a green-white-checkered finish to capture his first National Short Track Championship win and his fourth win of the season in the Big 8 Late Model Series.
Dale Nottestad was the driver to beat for most of the event. Nottestad, the two time Jefferson Speedway track champion, took the race lead at the drop of the green flag from pole sitter Jake Gille. As the race progressed, several drivers arrived at Nottestad’s bumper, with few able to make a move for the lead. In the second half of the race, seven-time Rockford Speedway track champion Bobby Wilberg made his way to second spot and promptly began a wrestling match for the lead with Nottestad. The two determined drivers traded paint and punches over the next several laps. Wilberg at one point ripped the lead from Nottestad, but soon after it was Nottestad slamming back into the top spot.
Winchester, NH: This past Saturday, Monadnock Speedway held their Season Finale making the championship titles official in the NASCAR Whelen All American Racing Series; Sportsman Modified Todd Patnode, Super Stocks Tom Carey III, Mini Stock Mike Stebbins, Lightning Stocks Kyle Boniface and Thunder Stocks Marshall Usher.
The Super Saturday Season Finale provided plenty of racing action as nine divisions took to the high banked ¼ mile. Victory lane checker flag honors went to Young Gun Solomon Brow, Lightning Stock Toby Wells, Thunder Stock Dave Greenslit, Super Stock Geoff Rollins and Sportsman Modified Scott MacMichael. Other winners included; Vintage Outlaw Ernie Laplante, NE Classic Lite Jim Poliquin, Pro 4 Modifieds Andy Major, Pro 4 Modified Lite Kyle Boniface, Powder Puff Alicia Springer and Spectator Race Ben Byrne.
PASS coverage at Oxford Plains Speedway
With the decision made to race a part-time schedule after winning at Bristol, Eddie MacDonald and the Grimm Racing team focused their effort on preparing the best possible car for the best possible finish. On Friday night, the Grimm Construction Chevy drove from 16th in the 30 car-field to fourth place in the final race of the NASCAR Pro Series East season in the Drive Sober 150 on the “Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway.
Eddie Mac’s impressive record over the final four races of the season began with an eighth place run at Langley, followed by a second at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a sixth place in the East West combination race at Iowa Speedway, and finally the fourth place run on the fast, high banked mile oval at Dover. The team ran ten of the 16 race schedule posting one win, three top fives, and six top tens.
“We are really pleased with our performance over the second half of the season,” said Eddie Mac. “ After the win at Bristol we knew we could be competitive in the races we entered. We have to thank Rob Grimm for providing two new cars for us to race. Unfortunately after we built them, we had to rebuild them after some serious wrecks early on. That is where the crew came in and did a tremendous amount of work to get them race ready in such a short time. Rollie (LaChance crew chief)and I could not have done it without them. We raced the car that finished second at New Hampshire, so we knew we would have a competitive car for Dover.”
Waterford, CT (September 27, 2014) – The final Saturday night race event of the season was held at Waterford Speedbowl with a seven division race program on the card. In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing Keith Rocco of Berlin won the SK Modified® feature while Jason Palmer, also from Berlin, won the Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race. Ed Gertsch Jr. of East Haven returned to Victory Lane after a long hiatus in the Street Stocks, Ken Cassidy Jr. of Lisbon took the night’s Mini Stock race and Paul Buzel of Trumbull continued a hot streak in the SK Light Modifieds. Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott won another INEX Legend Cars feature and set a track record, while Taylor Bowser of Taunton, MA won in the visiting Mini Cup series event. The final event of the year takes place next Saturday and Sunday when the track hosts Finale Weekend headlined by the Valenti Modified Racing Series. A Friday practice session precedes the big event, which sees thirteen race divisions in action.