{"id":14982,"date":"2013-11-28T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T15:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=14982"},"modified":"2013-12-02T07:05:20","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T12:05:20","slug":"new-england-motorsports-south-nov-28-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/new-england-motorsports-south-nov-28-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS SOUTH Nov. 28, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lou Modestino <\/strong><\/p>\n

Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed a guest list of over 500 people consisting of teams, drivers, sponsors, and employees this past Friday night, November 22 at Maneely’s in South Windsor to officially honor Woody Pitkat, Adam Gray, Tony Membrino, Jr., Josh Wood, And Dave Secore, Jr. as the 2013 Stafford Motor Speedway NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champions.<\/p>\n

Rowan Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, PA, was officially crowned series champion Saturday night as the Valenti Modified Racing Series closed out its 2013 campaign and 10th anniversary season. The event was held at Best Western Executive Inn, Manchester, NH.
\n
\nPennink and car owners Gary and Kim Casella were presented the series top honors for the first time.<\/p>\n

Commemorating the series 10th season, Pennink and the Roscoe Racing\/ Casella team were presented a check for $10,000 by series president and founder Jack Bateman.<\/p>\n

Pennink becomes the VMRS fifth series champion, an honor that the Pennsylvania driver appreciates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder to be the driver of the 25 car. It being the 10th anniversary of the series, driving for Gary and Kim Casella, Gary being with the series since it started makes it a special year to win the championship.\u201d Pennink added, \u201c I can\u2019t thank them and all the guys on this team enough. I tell everyone 13 out of 17 races finishing in the top five is unthinkable, and that all goes to the guys on the crew. The car was prepared right every time we came to the racetrack and that\u2019s what wins championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

After any championship the question always is, will the winning team make another run at a title the following season? \u201cI hope so,\u201d Pennink said.\u201d We haven\u2019t sat down and<\/p>\n

gone through all the details with Gary and Kim but sure hope we are because I love running the series. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s become super competitive. I think Jack (Bateman) and Scott (Tapley) have done a good job of keeping the series where it needs to be and keeping everything in check. So I hope we can bring the #25 back and shoot for another championship with this team.\u201d For car owner Casella, of Saugus, MA, it marks his first series title in his racing career that dates back 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t put into words, said Casella.\u201d It was my goal from the beginning. I said I\u2019m going to win a series championship before I retire. I didn\u2019t think it would take 10 years. Casella, a former driver and a series original gave up driving and made the right choice in driver selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had to get out of the car and put someone else in it for us to move forward. Luckily we met Rowan and developed a relationship. We should have been here last year. We had engine issues. But we\u2019re here now. We really wanted it and I\u2019m proud of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Casella\u2019s were presented the \u2018Chuck Montville Memorial Award\u2019 in honor of Montville, an original series car-owner, who passed away prior to the season.<\/p>\n

The series top fifteen competitors were honored. Runner-up driver Tommy Barrett, of Millis, Mass, was recognized for his three wins and consistent strong finishes. Richard Savary, of Canton, MA, was recognized for his first series win and consistent performances that enabled him a solid third place in the series.<\/p>\n

Louie Mechalides, of Tyngsboro, MA, a winner at Seekonk, and Chris Pasteryak, of Lisbon, CT, put together a string of strong finishes to finish fourth and fifth in the yearly ranking.<\/p>\n

Max Zachem, of Preston, CT, Norm Wrenn, of Nashua, NH, three-time winner, Steve Masse, of Bellingham, MA, Anthony Nocella, and Mike Holdridge 6th through 10th were recognized.<\/p>\n

11th through 15th drivers, Dwight Jarvis, Todd Owen, Todd Patnode, Matt Mead, and Jon McKennedy were also recognized<\/p>\n

Special Awards:<\/p>\n

Rowan Pennink -Hoosier Tire East<\/p>\n

Dana Smith -Mountainside Graphics Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n

Anthony Nocella \u2013 Most Improved<\/p>\n

Mike Holdridge – Tough Luck<\/p>\n

Max Zachem \u2013 Most Popular Driver<\/p>\n

Josh Steeves – Mechanic of The Year<\/p>\n

Joe Doucette \u2013 Volunteer of The Year<\/p>\n

Charlie Pasteryak – Dedication to Racing<\/p>\n

Louie Mechalides- \u201c711\u201d Award<\/p>\n

10 Years Of Service \u2013 Jack Bateman, Chris Grey, John Spence Sr.<\/p>\n

The series is slated to open the 2014 season at Waterford, CT. next April.<\/p>\n

The tentative VMRS 2014 schedule <\/p>\n

Date Event \/ Track Location Laps<\/p>\n

January 10th – 12th Northeast Motorsports Expo Augusta, ME Car Show<\/p>\n

February 7th & 8th Racer\u2019s Expo Marlborough, MA Car Show<\/p>\n

February 8th Racer\u2019s Expo Marlborough, MA Annual Mtg<\/p>\n

March 1st – 2nd Frank Maratta\u2019s Auto Show Hartford, CT Car Show<\/p>\n

April 5th & April 6th Waterford Speedbowl Waterford, CT 100 Laps<\/p>\n

April 12th Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH 100 Laps<\/p>\n

May 29th Thompson Speedway Thompson, CT 75 Laps<\/p>\n

June 7th Seekonk Speedway Seekonk, MA 100Laps<\/p>\n

June 20th Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford Springs, CT 80 laps<\/p>\n

June 27th Lee USA Speedway Lee, NH 100 Laps<\/p>\n

July 5th Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH 100 Laps<\/p>\n

July 18th Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford Springs, CT 80 Laps<\/p>\n

August 9th Waterford Speedbowl Waterford, CT 100 Laps<\/p>\n

August 16th Seekonk Speedway Seekonk, MA 100 Laps<\/p>\n

August 23rd Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH 100 Laps<\/p>\n

August 29th Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford Springs, CT 80 Laps<\/p>\n

September 5th & 6th Airborne Speedway Plattsburgh, NY 100 Laps<\/p>\n

October 4th Seekonk Speedway Seekonk, MA 100 Laps<\/p>\n

October 18th Thompson Speedway Thompson, CT 75 Laps<\/p>\n

October 11th Lee USA Speedway Lee, NH 100 Laps<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lou Modestino Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed a guest list of over 500 people consisting of teams, drivers, sponsors, and employees this past Friday night, November 22 at Maneely’s in South Windsor to officially honor Woody Pitkat, Adam Gray, Tony Membrino, Jr., Josh Wood, And Dave Secore, Jr. as the 2013 Stafford Motor Speedway NASCAR […]<\/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":[126,15173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-england","category-new-england-motorsports-south"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982","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=14982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}