Larry Gelinas has them all covered going into Saturday night’s GSPSS JBH at Monadnock (Credit: PASS Tour photo)
By Lou Modestino
The first half of the Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS) 2014 season is complete, and Larry Gelinas has been on a tear. Gelinas has not finished outside of the top 4, with a win and three second place finishes in that stretch. He has fought a few bouts of adversity, recovering from a mid-race spin at Hudson in the Gate City Classic to come back through the field and take the checkers. Also surviving at Star Speedway for the Star 100 as his car fell off the pace late in the race. Gelinas has been at the top of his game to begin the season.
Enter Dillon Moltz. Moltz sits 42 points behind Gelinas entering the JBH 100 at Monadnock Speedway this Saturday, August 9. The driver of the RB Performance/Brackett Mechanical Chevrolet picked up a fifth place finish at the opener at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Then talk of the youngster was making huge waves in the series began.
The Waterford, CT driver then went to Monadnock and the bad luck bug bit Moltz. The no. 5 Chevrolet was involved in a couple of incidents with Moltz ending up with a 17th place finish. At the Gate City Classic Moltz had another fast car underneath him and was leading some laps early. But he couldn’t seal the deal and ended up 5th. At Star Speedway, Moltz had a dominant machine but got collected in a deal with a lapped car, forcing him to fight his way back through the field.
Moltz found himself alongside Jeremy Davis on a restart, but had nothing left for Davis after using up his equipment to put himself in that position. At the most recent race at Lee USA Speedway for the GSPSS, Moltz once again was in position to make a run at the front of the pack. But careened through the infield to avoid a wreck on lap 14 which forced his crew to take a look at the car down pit road. Though Moltz would come back to finish fifth. In the process of all that he has probably passed the most cars throughout the entire feature events this year on the GSPSS.
“I hope we are able to shake this bug, that’s for sure!” Moltz exclaims. “We’ve definitely had fast cars. But we just end up having to use my tires a lot more coming up through the field which doesn’t leave much to fight with at the end. I believe if we can stay up front at Monadnock, we will have a shot to win. One way or another, we’ll shake this bad luck soon. We’ve worked hard enough as a team and are due.”
Joining Moltz and Gelinas at the top of the standings are; Matt Frahm, Derek Griffith, and Brad Babb. Frahm picked up a win at the first race at Monadnock this year, and has been at the top of the point standings ever since. Griffith has been a model of consistency on the 2014 campaign, as the 17 year-old Hudson, NH native is one of two drivers to finish each of the first 5 races inside the top 10. Gelinas being the other.
Brad Babb, after suffering a hard hit in the closing laps at Lee USA Speedway just a little over a week ago, will forego the JBH 100 at Monadnock, He will, however, be piloting an American-Canadian Tour Late Model at his home track, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, ME. Babb, who lives just 20 minutes from Beech Ridge, will be back in action with the GSPSS at Star Speedway August 16th.
The JBH 100 is a race dedicated to John Hoyt. Hoyt, who was the series’ co-founder, passed away unexpectedly in July of 2011. Belchertown, MA’s native Barry Gray is the defending winner of this event and sits 6th overall in the point standings. The JBH 100 will take place on Saturday, August 9. Pit gates open at 1 p.m. with practice starting at 3 p.m. The main grandstands open at 4 p.m, and post time is scheduled at 6 PM.