{"id":12835,"date":"2013-05-28T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=12835"},"modified":"2013-05-29T00:55:34","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T04:55:34","slug":"northern-modified-challenge-series-mueller-makes-modified-history-at-thunder-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/northern-modified-challenge-series-mueller-makes-modified-history-at-thunder-road\/","title":{"rendered":"NORTHERN MODIFIED CHALLENGE SERIES: Mueller Makes Modified History at Thunder Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

[nggallery id=86]
\nTeenager wins first-ever Northern Modified Challenge Series event<\/strong><\/p>\n

BARRE, VT \u2013 Jessey Mueller made stock car racing history on Memorial Day at Thunder Road International Speedbowl, winning the first-ever event for the new Northern Modified Challenge Series. The Olmstedville, NY racer, 18, used patience and a well-handling car to avoid early wrecks and cruise to the victory in the 51st annual Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at the Barre, VT track.
\n
\nA grinding crash in the first corner of the 50-lap race knocked polesitter Joey Roberts and eighth-place starter Jeff Haskins out with badly damaged cars; neither driver was injured. Alex Bell of Cambridge, NY assumed the lead on the restart, but was involved in a crash on lap 7 that sent him to pit road with a broken tie rod.<\/p>\n

Veteran driver Leon Gonyo of Chazy, NY took command of the race at the restart and led the next five circuits. Driving with a cast on his right wrist as he continues to recover from an injury sustained in the off-season, Mueller worked his way underneath Gonyo to the take the lead on the backstretch at lap 13 and never surrendered it. The balance of the race was a well-driven affair with competitive passing and three-wide racing action.<\/p>\n

Gonyo held on to take the runner-up spot despite contact on lap 34 that send challenger Todd Stone of Middlebury, VT spinning and the final restart with five laps remaining that set up late charges by Kenny Tremont, Jr., Hunter Bates, and a recovering Bell. Tremont, of West Sand Lake, NY, finished a tight third behind Gonyo. Bell withstood repeated passing attempts by Bates to rebound for fourth place.<\/p>\n

Middlebury, VT driver Bates, 17, who also competed in the 100-lap Vermont State Late Model Championship Series race, finished fifth. Joe Williams was sixth, followed by former Thunder Road champion Bobby Therrien, Vince Quenneville, Jr., Cody Sargen, and Adam Bartemy.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one cars competed in the first-ever Northern Modified Challenge Series event. Qualifying heats were won by Quenneville, Tremont, and Williams. The starting lineup was determined by random draw by a race fan, who drew the #12 pill to invert the top 12 qualifiers from the heat races. Five caution flags and one red flag on the opening lap slowed the race.<\/p>\n

The five-race Northern Modified Challenge Series, sanctioned by Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway, returns to action at its home track in West Haven, VT on Friday, August 2 for the second annual C.J. Richards Memorial 67 presented by Carrara Masonry & Concrete. Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, NH hosts the Challenge the following night, Saturday, August 3.<\/p>\n

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS \u2013 Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 50
\nNorthern Modified Challenge Series \u2013 Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, VT
\nMonday, May 27, 2013
\nPos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown-Laps Completed<\/strong>
\n(# – denotes rookie)<\/p>\n

1. (9) Jessey Mueller, Olmstedville, NY \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

2. (5) Leon Gonyo, Chazy, NY \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

3. (11) Kenny Tremont, Jr., West Sand Lake, NY \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

4. (3) Alex Bell, Cambridge, NY \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

5. (16) Hunter Bates, Middlebury, VT \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

6. (10) Joe Williams, Scotia, NY \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

7. (6) Bobby Therrien, Hinesburg, VT \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

8. (12) Vince Quenneville, Jr., Brandon, VT \u2013 50 laps<\/p>\n

9. (2) Cody Sargen, Greenfield Center, NY \u2013 49 laps<\/p>\n

10. (4) Adam Bartemy, Sheldon, VT \u2013 49 laps<\/p>\n

11. (15) Dave Snow, Brandon, VT \u2013 48 laps<\/p>\n

12. (13) Todd Stone, Middlebury, VT \u2013 45 laps<\/p>\n

13. (19) Matt Atwood, Whitehall, NY \u2013 38 laps<\/p>\n

14. (21) Aaron Bartemy, Sheldon, VT \u2013 11 laps<\/p>\n

15. (7) Ron Proctor, Charlton, NY \u2013 11 laps<\/p>\n

16. (20) Jamie Proctor, Schuylerville, NY \u2013 7 laps<\/p>\n

17. (18) # Emily Quinn, Schaghticoke, NY \u2013 7 laps<\/p>\n

18. (14) Mike Bush, South Glens Falls, NY \u2013 1 laps<\/p>\n

19. (1) Joey Roberts, Georgia, VT \u2013 0 laps<\/p>\n

20. (8) Jeff Haskins, Wells, VT \u2013 0 laps<\/p>\n

21. (17) # Bruce Schwab, Jr., Whitehall, NY \u2013 0 laps<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders<\/strong>: Joey Roberts \u2013 grid; Alex Bell \u2013 1-7; Leon Gonyo \u2013 8-12; Jessey Mueller \u2013 13-50 (3 lead changes among 4 drivers).<\/p>\n

Cautions<\/strong>: 5 (Laps 0 [red], 7, 12, 34, 45)<\/p>\n

Heat Winners<\/strong>: Vince Quenneville, Jr., Kenny Tremont, Jr., Joe Williams<\/p>\n

Upcoming Events<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Friday, August 2 \u2013 Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway, West Haven, VT<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Saturday, August 3 \u2013 Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, NH<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Sunday, September 15 \u2013 Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway, West Haven, VT<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Saturday, October 12 \u2013 Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, NH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[nggallery id=86] Teenager wins first-ever Northern Modified Challenge Series event BARRE, VT \u2013 Jessey Mueller made stock car racing history on Memorial Day at Thunder Road International Speedbowl, winning the first-ever event for the new Northern Modified Challenge Series. The Olmstedville, NY racer, 18, used patience and a well-handling car to avoid early wrecks and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,200],"tags":[15275],"class_list":["post-12835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thunder-road","category-vermont","tag-northern-modified-challenge-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}