A busy midsummer stretch for the Granite State Pro Stock Series presented by Hudson International Speedway winds down this weekend, as the series makes its annual visit to its presenting sponsor.
Sunday evening’s Gate City Classic 100 wraps up a five-week, four-race stretch run for the GSPSS at Hudson International Speedway, one of the series’ Granite State staples since its earliest seasons.
The tough, high-banked quarter mile has been in action since the late 1940s, hosting fourteen GSPSS events since 2012 for a local crowd that assembles high on the hillside overlooking the pavement.
Leading all drivers in wins at Hudson is hometown hero Joey Polewarczyk. The 2020 GSPSS champion lives less than a mile from the Speedway and has four series wins on his home turf, including the last two visits in 2024 and 2025. “Joey Pole” started the summer stretch off with a win at Seekonk Speedway, paving the way for an overall win in the MDP Motorsports Promotions Triple Crown. This weekend, he looks to defend last summer’s victory and earn a third straight checkered flag in front of the hometown fans.
However, Polewarczyk faces perhaps his toughest competition yet, as D.J. Shaw has thrown his hat into the bullring this time around. Shaw is the all-time winningest driver in GSPSS history and enters the weekend with back-to-back wins at Claremont Motorsports Park and Monadnock Speedway. To go three-for-three, the New Hampshire veteran will have to win at a track where he has never won before.
Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. has won at Hudson before, taking the checkers in 2022. The young racer’s GSPSS starts have been sparse in recent years, but recent success with a new chassis platform has him at the top of the list for Sunday. Massachusetts’ Angelo Belsito picked up a Hudson win in 2020 and would like to resume his winning ways on familiar territory.
Cory Casagrande is still looking for his first GSPSS win, but with back-to-back second-place finishes to Shaw, the Connecticut native feels confident he can do one better on the high banks. Tom Carey III came close to his first career win at Monadnock a week ago, and the similar confines of Hudson could play into his hands as he carries his own momentum across the state line.
Also hailing from western Massachusetts, Jeremy Sorel carries the burden of big-picture racing as he still owns a massive lead in the points standings halfway through the season. Quarter-mile ovals have treated Sorel well in the past, as he looks for his second win of the year. Evan Beaulieu, fifth in the standings, is always quick at Hudson and needs some good luck to make up an early-season deficit in the title hunt.
Jamie Wright, one of Beaulieu’s fellow Maine compatriots, sits just ahead of him in points but is still looking for a breakout finish to punctuate his season. Casey Call, the 2024 GSPSS champion, needs a turn of fortune to get out of a mid-season slump, and the track where he once finished second to Polewarczyk might be the place.
Dan Winter and rookie Joe Kendall have been at every event this season, and both racers are still looking for a spark to turn their seasons around before the big races at the end of the year. Alex Quarterley sits just outside the top ten in points, but a strong run Sunday could push him back into the top-ten bracket.
Matt Beers, one of Kendall’s rookie challengers this year, has taken a couple weeks off but is on this weekend’s entry list, along with Seekonk Speedway veteran Bobby Pelland III and New Hampshire driver Frankie Eldredge. Rhode Island’s Mike Mitchell looks to return to competition in his own car after spending part of last year racing for car owner Rollie Lindblad, and veteran campaigner Mark Hudson plans to dust off his Pro Stock for Sunday’s feature.
Sunday’s race has special significance, though, for veteran racer Pete Frappier, who plans to come out of retirement for one last run on the Hudson high banks. The Litchfield, N.H. driver will be back in his familiar No. 05 for what he expects to be his final race.
Joey Polewarczyk has long been the Hudson Speedway frontrunner on the track and in the post-race pit party. This Sunday, veterans and rookies alike will have an eye on unseating Polewarczyk from his throne in front of his home track crowd. However, it has proven to be a task far easier said than done.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series presented by Hudson International Speedway headlines this Sunday’s racing action at Hudson International Speedway with the Gate City Classic 100. The GSPSS’ 100-lap bullring battle caps off an evening of Hudson’s thrilling weekly divisions, all wrapping up under the lights. Grandstands open at 3:00pm with qualifying heats set to kick off at 5:00pm. Adult tickets are just $20 with kids, senior and military tickets only $15 each.