by | Aug 1, 2013 | Connecticut, Thompson, Whelen Modified
NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR READY FOR THOMPSON
THOMPSON, CT. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will make its annual August stop at the Thompson Speedway on Thursday, August 15th for the running of the Budweiser 150. This event is typically the biggest event of the summer at Thompson and fans are more than ready for another exciting WMT race on Thompson’s high banks.
The Bud 150 will mark the second appearance of the WMT at Thompson this season. The first was for the Icebreaker in April and Mike Stefanik captured the thrilling 150-lap race. Since then, the “Tour” has seen Bobby Santos, Doug Coby, and Justin Bonsignore in victory lane. However, the dominant force on the WMT this year has been Ryan Preece who visited victory lane at the conclusion of three consecutive races. As a result of his amazing success this year, Preece tops the driver’s point standings at the half way point on the 2013 WMT schedule.
Preece will, however, face tremendous competition at Thompson from drivers like Rowan Pennink, defending champion Doug Coby, Stefanik, Bonsignore, Ted Christopher, Ron Silk and last year’s Bud 150 winner, Donny Lia. Anticipation of this annual racing classic increases daily as the event nears.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | PASS, Touring Series News
CHARLOTTE, NC (July 30) – After two months plagued by rainouts and postponements, the top touring Super Late Model teams in the South are beyond ready to kick off the second half of the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South season with this weekend’s Scorcher 150 at Southern National Motorsports Park. The start of the 2013 season has been highlighted by tight, fast competition between experienced veterans and young newcomers to the series.
For the second year in-a-row, defending PASS South Champion Kyle Grissom and defending PASS National Champion Jay Fogleman are in a tussle for the 2013 PASS South championship. Entering the Scorcher 150, the two have separated themselves from their closest competitors in the standings, rookies Brandon Lynn and Spencer Davis, and are only eight points apart. Between the two, Fogleman might have at slight edge over Grissom having won the first PASS South race there back in April.
Speaking of Fogleman, the Durham, NC veteran comes to Southern National riding high following his third place finish in North America’s biggest short track event, the 40th TD Bank 250 which was recently held at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway. A strong contingent of Southern drivers made the trip North to Oxford this year, including PASS South’s Spencer Davis and Tate Fogleman. Both come to the Scorcher 150 with reason to be optimistic. Davis won the PASS Pro Late Model race at Southern National in July and led the most laps in the PASS South Super Late Model race, while T. Fogleman scored his best career PASS South finish coming home in seventh.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | Devils Bowl, Vermont
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Will race as teammate to point leader Stone at Carrara Masonry Richards Memorial
WEST HAVEN, VT – Devil’s Bowl Speedway will welcome a new challenger on Friday, August 2 as short track auto racing star “Liquid” Lou Cicconi makes the long haul from his Aston, PA home to the racy Vermont track. The International Super Modified Association championship leader will race in the Carrara Masonry & Concrete “C.J. Richards Memorial 67” for the Northern Modified Challenge Series on Friday.
Cicconi is a multi-time champion and race winner on asphalt, concrete, and dirt surfaces in open-wheel Modified, Super Modified, Midget, and Three-Quarter Midget cars; his most recent victory came in a winged ISMA Super Modified at the famed Oswego (NY) Speedway in June. Cicconi has landed a potent Devil’s Bowl ride in the No. X1 car fielded by G. Stone Motorsports of Middlebury, VT – the same team that has won six Bond Auto Parts Modified races at the track with driver Todd Stone and ranks second in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national Rookie of the Year standings.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | Beech Ridge, Maine, NASCAR, Whelen All American Series
McKeage Leads NASCAR Standings For Stretch Run
SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Even though it seems everybody wants to remind him about the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series point standings – including his own children – Dan McKeage insists he’s no paying much attention to them.
With just five races remaining this season, McKeage leads the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Pro Series division by 13 points. It is the largest advantage owned by any leader in any of the track’s four weekly divisions.
“It wasn’t as good as it’s been, actually,” said McKeage, the 2010 track champion who finished seventh in a 40-lap event last weekend to extend his division lead. “Last week, when we stoved the whole front end of the car up, we never really moved the weights around again after we fixed it. We figured we couldn’t hurt it by adding the weight this week, but it didn’t handle as good. In the heat race, it was really good, but when we went for the feature it wasn’t as good as it had been the week before. I felt like we left a couple positions on the table.”
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | ACT, Thunder Road, Vermont
Tiger Sportsmen Special 100-Laps
Barre, VT – The stars of Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, VT are preparing for a busy August schedule, set to begin this Thursday (Aug. 1) with VP Racing Fuels Night. The Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen will battle in a special 100-lap event along with regular events for the Late Models and Allen Lumber Street Stocks.
The hunt for the Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen crown has reached an all new intensity heading into Thursday’s VP Racing Fuels 100. The top five are separated by just 36 points following last week’s double points night. Two-time Tiger Champion Shawn Fleury currently leads the way, but Eric Badore, Jason Allen, Jason Woodard and Brendan Moodie all remain within striking distance of their first career title.
The month of August has become a huge month for the 2013 championship battles due to the rescheduling of two previously rained out events. The Barre-highbanks will host a total of seven events from the 1st of August through the 22nd with six of them being point races for the Late Models and Tigers. The Street Stocks will run for points in all seven events as they will hold their yearly special 50 lapper on M&M Beverage Enduro night (Sunday, August 11).
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | New England, New England Motorsports North
By Lou Modestino
Thursday, August 1st is the new date for the Valenti Modified Racing Series to run at the Thompson Speedway. Track officials announced late on Thursday that an agreement had been reached with the Valenti Modified Racing Series officials to run the event next week. The change was made necessary when rain forced the postponement of the July 25th race date.
The event is expected to draw the very best race teams on the VMRS roster. Current points leader Tommy Barrett, JR will lead the impressive lineup of drivers to the Connecticut oval. Drivers like Rowan Pennink, Richard Savary, Louie Mechalides, Norm Wrenn, Chris Pasteryak and many more are expected to compete for a starting spot in the VMRS 75-lap feature event.
Several Thompson regular competitors and graduates are also expected to compete with the VMRS series. Drivers like Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher, Woody Pitkat, Todd Owen, and Charlie Pasteryak are only a few of the many drivers who are fan favorites at Thompson and who compete with the Valenti Modified Racing Series.
Joining the program will be all five of Thompson’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions along with the New England Truck Series. The previously scheduled extra distance race for Thompson’s Late Model division will be run at a date to be announced. That division will compete in a regular 25-lap main on Thursday, August 1st. Grandstands will open at 2 PM with racing getting under way 30 minutes earlier than usual at 5:30 PM.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | New England, New England Motorsports North
By Lou Modestino
Seven drivers and one car owner with hundreds of victories and dozens of championships comprise the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013. It is the 16th class and brings the membership to well over 115.
Drivers Stan Meserve, Brian Ross, Drew Fornoro, Ralph Nason, the late Bob Stefanik, Bill Eldridge and Bob Sharp and car owner Ron Berndt will be inducted at the 16th annual NEAR Hall of Fame Banquet Sunday, Nov. 10 at the Lodge at Manelley’s in South Windsor, CT.
The New England Antique Racers website www.near1.com will have complete times and ticket prices in the near future. Meserve, a Maine product, has been a driver, car owner/mechanic and race official for four decades plus including a season (1968) as an independent on the NASCAR Grand National circuit. As a driver, he won throughout Maine, including a pair of Oxford Opens and captured championships at Unity, Speedway 95, Wiscasset and Oxford Plains.
Berndt, a Meriden, CT native, has won in six different decades, most recently in 2012. Grandson Eric Berndt is on the end of a long list of drivers that include Sparky Belmont, Danny Galullo, Ted Christopher and Dave Alkas. His win total is estimated to be well into triple figures and his championships were won at Plainville Stadium, Waterford Speebowl and Thompson Speedway.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | Beech Ridge, Maine, VALENTI MODIFIED SERIES
Canaan, NH. – The Valenti Modified Racing Series returns to the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine this Saturday night, August 3, and history just may repeat itself.
In seven previous appearances at the famed third-mile oval, Beech Ridge offered up six first-time winners in one way or another. An interesting twist as New England’s premier modified series, chosen the top touring division by Speed 51.com readers, heads up Route 95 to do battle in a 100-lap green flag feature race.
Buxton, Maine veteran David Pinkham scored his first VMRS series win driving the Gary Casella #25 for the first time. The year after saw Dale Evonsion win his first and only VMRS race beating Pinkham to the checkers.
Kirk Alexander won his first VMRS race at Beech Ridge. The following season (2008) Mother Nature claimed bragging rights, her first.
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | ACT, Devils Bowl, Touring Series News, Vermont
ACT Late Model Tour: Emily Packard
Devils Bowl Speedway Race Report
WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., finished 11th in the ACT Late Model Tour St. Jude Children’s Hospital 150 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., on Sunday, July 28. Packard started 13th in the field and battled several caution periods and a 23-minute rain delay to post her best ACT finish since mid-May. With a number of laps run under the yellow flag – including efforts to keep the track from getting damp during caution periods for rain – the handling in the rear end of the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Ford Fusion started to wane as fuel was burned from the gas tank.
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: Emily Packard Motorsports No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet
SPONSORS: Northstar Fireworks, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Yipes! of Barre, VT Shifter Karts, GossCars.com, Be The Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, R.G. Paving
WHAT: ACT St. Jude Children’s Hospital 150
WHERE: Devil’s Bowl Speedway, West Haven, Vt. (.500-mile oval)
STARTED: 13th
FINISHED: 11th
NEXT RACE: August 3, ACT 150, Sanair Super Speedway, St. Pie, Que. (.875-mile oval)
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by | Aug 1, 2013 | Schedules
By Lou Modestino
If a Sprint Cup driver ever needed a win it was Ryan Newman. Now out of his driving assignment with Stewart-Hass Racing at the end of this season, the Indiana native had his resume sent out to all of the teams.because Stewart-Hass Racing told him he wouldn’t be coming back in 2014.
It was Newman’s first Brickyard 400 win, and he pulled off that big coup in front of pretty much a hometown crowd. He told his crew as he was coming down to the finish line,”Thanks for a great weekend,” which also included his winning the pole a day earlier.
He went on,” I was more emotional when I won the pole. It was also the best race car I’ve every had in my life in racing!” His team made the right decision about only taking on two new tires on the last pit stop. Ryan told SPEED’s Bob Dillner,”The Indy win does wonders for me in trying to get a new ride next year.”
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