{"id":16729,"date":"2014-08-29T02:23:45","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T06:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=16729"},"modified":"2014-08-29T09:04:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T13:04:12","slug":"babb-fends-heavy-competition-first-granite-state-pro-stock-series-victory-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/babb-fends-heavy-competition-first-granite-state-pro-stock-series-victory-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Babb Fends Off Heavy Competition for First Granite State Pro Stock Series Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hudson<\/a>Hudson, NH-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brad Babb fended off threats from Barry Gray and Matt Frahm to claim the victory in the Hudson Hugger at Hudson International Speedway, recording his first victory with the Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Adam Norton led the field to green in his second race for the series in 2014, with Babb starting to his outside.\u00a0 Babb would nudge ahead to lead the first lap, eventually clear Norton, and begin to pull away from the field.\u00a0 Bobby Baillargeon, who was looking to grab his third straight Hudson Hugger win, bounced off the front stretch wall on lap 9, bringing out the first of six cautions of the day.\u00a0 Babb jumped to the lead once more, as a good battle between Frahm, Gray, Dillon Moltz, and Derek Griffith brewed behind him.\u00a0 Griffith\u2019s day would begin to turn sour as his LCM\/FEP Insurance Toyota brought out the caution on lap 37.\u00a0 Multiple tries to complete the lap ensued, but the caution flew two more times, including a chain-reaction incident which sent Moltz down pit road, before the field settled in for another green flag run.<\/p>\n

Hometown driver Griffith and pole-sitter Norton tangled on lap 54, bringing Frahm back to the outside of Babb.\u00a0 Frahm couldn\u2019t find the grip on the outside, settling directly behind Babb\u2019s bumper until the final caution, a Griffith spin in turn 3, giving Frahm another chance to unseat Babb out of the top spot.\u00a0 \u00a0Babb would fend off the point leader on the restart, but Frahm turned the wick up with 5 laps remaining, swinging his Lambert Roofing\/WDW Machine Chevrolet to the high side once more.\u00a0 Babb, a third generation driver, would hold onto the top spot to pick up his first victory with the series, as well as his first victory outside of his home track, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.\u00a0 Frahm crossed the line only a half car length away from the top spot, finishing second for the second week in a row.\u00a0 Barry Gray secured the third spot, with Moltz battling back to fourth, and Larry Gelinas nabbing the fifth spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the race, the car was so good,\u201d said Babb.\u00a0 \u201cI told (the crew) on the first caution I haven\u2019t had a car this good in two years.\u00a0 To win somewhere other than at home (Beech Ridge Motor Speedway) means so much to me.\u00a0 To have someone challenge me, to not just drive away with it, means even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babb and Frahm, while battling multiple times, had plenty of respect for each other under green flag conditions.\u00a0 \u201cMatt (Frahm) and I are good friends.\u00a0 I really respect him for not getting into me.\u00a0 I told him next time he needs a break, he\u2019s got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frahm, who increased his point lead over Larry Gelinas, also touched on the respect between himself and Babb.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good drivers out here, but it\u2019s racing, sometimes their heads get a little hot,\u201d remarked the series leader in victories.\u00a0 \u201cThe last couple of races we\u2019ve had some good shows, and I hope this continues to carry through.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad for Brad (Babb), glad for the team, they work hard just like us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray, who recorded his 18th<\/sup>\u00a0top 10 finish with his third place at the Hudson Hugger, liked the balance of his Meadow\u2019s Motor Cars\/Hawley\u2019s Auto Repair Chevrolet in the opening laps of the race.\u00a0 \u201cI really thought we were going to be able to get these guys,\u201d the Belchertown, MA driver spoke.\u00a0 \u201cMy goal is to take this car home in one piece, and that\u2019s what we did.\u00a0 These guys are tough competitors, they\u2019re good, and they run all out every single lap, so you don\u2019t really get to save your stuff for the end.\u00a0 Sometimes at the end of the race, you don\u2019t always have it.<\/p>\n

Norton would rebound from multiple trips down pit road to finish 6th<\/sup>\u00a0on the night.\u00a0 Bryon Baker finished 7th<\/sup>, Griffith salvaged an 8th<\/sup>\u00a0place spot, with Keith Caruso and Josh King rounding out the top 10.\u00a0 Babb\u2019s victory marks the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0different winner in as many races in the 2014 for the GSPSS.\u00a0 With only Star, White Mountain Motorsports Park, and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park left on the schedule, there is a chance the streak will continue until the end of the 2014 season.\u00a0 Norton and Babb scored heat victories.<\/p>\n

The first round of the GSPSS Tournament Challenge presented by Victory Lane Radio and 360 Design Lab went into the books at the Hudson Hugger as well.\u00a0 With his victory, Brad Babb advanced over Cory Robert, Matt Frahm bested Dillon Moltz by virtue of his second place finish, Larry Gelinas finished 4 spots ahead of Keith Caruso to move on in the tournament, and Barry Gray beat Derek Griffith with his podium finish.\u00a0 The tournament will continue at Star Speedway, with Larry Gelinas taking on Barry Gray, and Matt Frahm pitted against Brad Babb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hudson, NH-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brad Babb fended off threats from Barry Gray and Matt Frahm to claim the victory in the Hudson Hugger at Hudson International Speedway, recording his first victory with the Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"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":[4721],"tags":[15588],"class_list":["post-16729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-granite-state-pro-stock","tag-granite-state-pro-stock-series-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}