{"id":18650,"date":"2015-04-26T15:27:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T19:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=18650"},"modified":"2015-04-26T15:32:01","modified_gmt":"2015-04-26T19:32:01","slug":"bennett-payson-heinrich-score-victories-at-icebreaker-road-race-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bennett-payson-heinrich-score-victories-at-icebreaker-road-race-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Bennett, Payson, Heinrich Score Victories at Icebreaker, Road Race Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bennett, Payson, Heinrich Score Victories at Icebreaker, Road Race Style
\nOutside the Box Promotions First Event in the Books<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More Photos – https:\/\/plus.google.com\/photos\/112256981499278136025\/albums\/6142132008041371297<\/a><\/p>\n

THOMPSON, CT \u2013 After two full days of racing at the 1.7 mile road course at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, the inaugural victors have been crowned at the Icebreaker, Road Race Style.<\/p>\n

John Raudat looked to be the car to beat in Group 1, the Spec Miata\/Improved Touring B (SM\/ITB) Class. The Madison, CT driver continuously posted the fastest lap in practice, and set the record for qualifying at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in an Outside the Box (OTB) Promotions event in the (SM\/ITB) division, with a 1:23.644 circuit. Raudat followed Farmington, CT resident Rick Bennett for the majority of the race, keeping Bennett\u2019s bumper within striking distance. The lead changed when Raudat worked his way around Bennett, but transmission problems ensued, ending the day for Raudat. Bennett would hold on for the win, becoming the first winner in an OTB Promotions event.
\n<\/p>\n

Regarding the weekend, Bennett commented \u201cIt was a great event. I had a great battle with the #129 (Raudat), and it was unfortunate he broke. It would\u2019ve been an interesting finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sixteen-year-old Matthew Chimbolo ran his way to a second-place finish, after consistently shaving time off his laps as the race progressed. Chimbolo is a graduate from the \u201cLittle T\u201d, a \u00bc midget track adjacent to the road course at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Zack Kelly, who began the Qualifying Race earlier in the day with a strong move at the Start\/Finish line, drove his Volkswagen Golf to a third place finish. Xiang Li and Morgan Duffy rounded out the top 5.<\/p>\n

In Group 2, the Super Touring (STL) Class, Ken Payson picked up the victory, after fending off Rob Sturgis for the majority of the race. Payson set the pace early, with Sturgis never more than a few car lengths behind. Sturgis, slowly and methodically, cut into Payson\u2019s lead, and looked to be ready to challenge the veteran driver on the final lap, before Sturgis\u2019 suffered power issues, and failing to make the final circuit. Payson would finish the lap and claim the win.<\/p>\n

Payson commented \u201c(Sturgis) was faster in one spot, I was faster in another, so it made for some interesting back and forth (racing). It\u2019s too bad he broke, because he was close enough to get a draft out of the straightaway, and might have gotten me.\u201d Payson set the OTB Promotions Class Record with a 1:22.477 lap in Qualifying on Friday.<\/p>\n

Sturgis was quick to give Payson credit for the win, saying \u201cI\u2019m not sure I would have gotten him. With the momentum that\u2019s carried in the corners, Ken would\u2019ve had to make a mistake, and I\u2019ve never seen him make a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xiang Li, running in two classes, finished second, with Bradford Brooks in third. \u201cThe weekend was a lot of fun,\u201d remarked Li. \u201cWe got a lot of track time, a lot of fun racing, a really friendly environment, and friendly folks. It was a fun event.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Group 3, the Production Class, Jeff Swann and Eric Heinrich battled intensely throughout the race, swapping the lead on numerous occasions. Heinrich would win the war, however, as his BMW Gulf E30M3 had too much power for Swann\u2019s SRF3, and claimed the victory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More Photos – https:\/\/plus.google.com\/photos\/112256981499278136025\/albums\/6142132008041371297<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bennett, Payson, Heinrich Score Victories at Icebreaker, Road Race Style Outside the Box Promotions First Event in the Books More Photos – https:\/\/plus.google.com\/photos\/112256981499278136025\/albums\/6142132008041371297 THOMPSON, CT \u2013 After two full days of racing at the 1.7 mile road course at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, the inaugural victors have been crowned at the Icebreaker, Road Race Style. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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":[196,195,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-road-racing","category-thompson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18650","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18652,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18650\/revisions\/18652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}