Todd Patnode won’t win his seventh track championship this season at Monadnock Speedway, but the Swanzey star is going all out to leave his mark on the 2026 campaign.
Slowed by a sluggish start this summer and then sidelined by an injury, he has exploded back into his championship form, winning his second Modified feature in a row Saturday, and setting himself up for a threepeat bid in next week’s season finale.
Patnode wasn’t the only big winner Saturday, as the speedway crowned 2026 Triple Crown champions in all divisions with the third and final leg of its three-race summer series. Ty LeClerc, a close second to Patnode in the Modified main event, celebrated his triple crown championship.
Other feature winners Saturday included Limited Late Model ace JD Stockwell, Craig Chaffee, who won a thriller in the Mini Stocks, and Dylan Zullo, who scored his first win of the season aboard the CJ Johnson ride. Young Gun whiz Dylan Stati stayed undefeated on the season in events he entered.
Following an elaborate pre-race ceremony honoring the victims of the September 11 tragedy 25 years ago, a ceremony in which all of Saturday night’s drivers participated, it was Dylan Stati time again, as the Palmer, MA pre-teen rocketed to victory atop a six-car field in the Doug’s Auto Body youth division. Quinton Perkins raced to a career best in second, and Eli Elliott trophied in third.
Rookie Kyle Kenny and Ty LeClerc sat up front as the 50-lap All States Materials Group 604 Modified main event went green. LeClerc, a two-time winner a summer ago, was hungry for his first 2026 victory, and with Triple Crown points leader Eddie Gomarlo sidelined with engine issues, was in great position for that score too.
Andrew Brousseau and Todd Patnode had big plans of their own, leaning all over LeClerc in their bids for the top spot. Patnode charged into second on lap 16, but LeClerc held strong. They swapped the lead back and forth on laps 24-26, with Patnode then taking the top spot for good.
A Brousseau spin on lap 48 set up a classic in next week’s Modified season finale. With Tyler Leary third on the night, just ahead of Brian Chapin and Kenny, Leary and Brousseau - sixth under the checkers Saturday, will enter the Championship Night final event only 2 points ahead in the 2026 points parade.
JD Stockwell has been the man at the front for much of the Twin State Truck Services Limited Late Model 2026 season, and Saturday was no exception, as the youthful Bernardston, MA star blasted to his tenth win of the summer and, with it, won his division’s Triple Crown Series too.
Hillary Renaud took charge on lap two and held the top spot until Stockwell lowlined to the top spot on lap 20. Renaud kept it close the rest of the way, but Stockwell prevailed. A lap-34 pass brought Daniel Petrowicz home third, just ahead of Hagar, and Zach Zilinski completed the top five.
Tim O’Shea and Kevin Clayton were front row dancing partners as Saturday’s Keene Towing and Recovery Mini Stock feature went green. Clayton led the first trip around the high banks but then Craig Chaffee - from row two - took the lead.
Chaffee, gunning for his second win of the summer, had lots of company at the front, with past champions Jon Fultz and Louie Maher glued to his bumper every inch of the way. Fultz, the 2025 Mini Stock king, blasted to the top spot on lap 21, but Chaffee wasn’t done yet.
Charging back to the front to lead lap 26 by a wheel, the second generation hot shoe then held strong to score the big Triple Crown Night win with Fultz at his bumper. Former Pure Stock champ Andrea St. Amour came on strong in the closing laps to earn her first Mini Stock trophy of the season in third, just ahead of Tim Paquette, who had a big night of his own.
Paquette didn’t have the fastest car on this night, but ran a smart race to come home fourth, just enough to win the Triple Crown championship. One-man gang Pat Houle was fifth under the checkers in Saturday’s 30-lapper.
Dylan Zullo led a star-stacked field of 25 to the green for Saturday’s Brattleboro Towing and Recovery Pure Stock feature. The speedway’s 2025 Limited Late Model champ, Zullo had struggled through an uneven season in the Pure Stocks.
Saturday, though, the second-generation Claremont ace put it all together, leading all the way to score an easy win. Behind him, the battle was fast and furious, with both the Triple Crown and Weekly Racing Series points very much up for grabs.
Rookie rocketman Josh Brigham, heavily wrecked a week earlier, got up for second early but had nothing for the speedy Zullo. His strong runner-up finish, though, put him back solidly into the hunt for the 2026 track championship. Coupled with top points man Jimmy Zellman’s sixth-place finish Saturday, Brigham will enter the season finale only five markers shy of Zellman in their airtight battle for the Pure Stock title.
Kyle Begos, strong every week, finished third Saturday, just ahead of Maya Bell, who is surging in the final weeks of the season. Previous winner Linsey Wenzel impressed in fifth, holding off Zellman, who finished still atop the 2026 points parade but one spot shy of the Triple Crown championship.
Amherst, NH hot shoe Michael Yeaton - a six-time 2026 Pure Stock feature winner - entered Saturday’s Triple Crown 30-lapper five points atop Zellman. Firing from way back in row eight, Yeaton’s seventh place finish was all he needed to earn his first career Triple Crown title on the high banks.
In Saturday’s Senior Tour Auto Racers Modified feature, John Jalbert of Gardner, MA drove his 1973 Pinto-bodied entry to first place. Gary Moore was second, and Chris Jarrett, aboard a 1940 Buick Coupe open-wheeler was third.
In the STAR Sportsman feature, Anthony Mendoza of Taunton, MA guided his 1936 Chevy Coupe to victory. John Mulcahy was second, and Ken Archambault raced home third.
PURE STOCK: Dylan Zullo, Josh Brigham, Kyle Begos, Maya Bell, Linsey Wenzel, Jimmy Zellman, Michael Yeaton, Chris Quinn, Markus O’Neil, Chris Chambers, Jeremy Ruggeri, Sofia Rego, Benjamin Bushey, Carlos Grenier, Addison Brooks, David Bell, Colton Hull, Jordan Gonyea, Timothy Lang, James Sallee, Ella Grabowski, Ben Smith, Bradey Lamotte, Andrew Plumb.
YOUNG GUN: Dylan Stati, Quinton Perkins, Eli Elliott, Colton Pond, Mason Bezio, Maeve Barry.