But in second place was another Tesla Model 3, the 2020 Unplugged Performance driven by Randy Pobst. What makes this second place victory amazing is the fact Pobst crashed his Model 3 on day two, only to have the team assisted by Tesla repair the vehicle in time for the race today, posting a time of 3:16.857.
In terms of overall times, a 2018 Porsche GT4 Clubsport in the Porsche Trophy by Yokohama class had the fastest time today of 3:09.892, with Fuller’s Tesla Model 3 time being the second-fastest, followed by Pobst.
Definitely exciting to see electric vehicles dominating Pikes Peak, especially vehicles from Tesla. Can’t wait to see Tesla’s Roadster compete at Pikes Peak in the future.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece of Berlin will compete in Wednesday’s Thompson 150, a Whelen Modified Tour event that is kicking off the 2020 season at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Chuck Burton, (Associated Press)
August 31, 2020
THOMPSON — NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT will be among the headliners when the Whelen Modified Tour hits Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this Wednesday, Sept. 2, for the Thompson 150.
The race is the season opener for Thompson, which had its 2020 itinerary delayed by the coronavirus.
The Thompson 150 is the sixth race of the season for the Whelen Tour, which is led by points leader Justin Bonsignore of Long Island. He’ll be challenged by the likes of six-time champion Doug Coby of Milford and Berlin’s Preece, who will drive for the TS Haulers Team.
Preece, in his rise to the NASCAR Cup Series, won Sunoco Modified track championships at Thompson in 2012 and 2014. He’s also won three Whelen Tour races at the 5/8-mile track.
Wednesday’s card will also feature racing in Thompson’s five local divisions, including a 30-lap Sunoco Modifieds shootout. Wallingford native Keith Rocco, an eight-time track champ at Thompson, is in the field.
Qualifying begins at 5 p.m., division races at 6 p.m. and the Thompson 150 at 8 p.m.
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Justin Bonsignore has Monadnock Speedway pretty well figured out. Sunday, the Empire State star won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Wade Cole Memorial 200 at the storied high-banked quarter-mile.
It was Bonsignore’s third Whelen Tour victory at Monadnock, duplicated big scores here in 2013 and 2014, the latter the famed all-green 200-lapper. When Bonsignore won that one, in fact, Sunday’s main event namesake, Wade Cole, was in the field, as was open-wheel legend Ted Christopher.
With rain blanketing the region Saturday, the speedway’s 11th event of the season was pushed ahead to Sunday, and second-generation star Matt Kimball (Bennington, NH) found the afternoon racing conditions just to his liking, scoring his first NHSTRA Modified victory of the season.
Other winners Sunday included Jaret Curtis (Rutland, Ma), Street Stocks; Gordon Farnum (Fitzwilliam, NH), Mini Stocks; and Farnum’s stablemate, Chris Davis (Winchester, NH), Pure Stocks.
Jon McKennedy set fast time in the Whelen Mods, posting a lap time of 12.781 seconds to sit on the pole as the 28-car field began the big dance. Bonsignore took the green beside him.
McKennedy led the first 60 laps of the main event, with Ron Silk draped all over him, and Bonsignore cruising close behind in third. Silk then took control of the Cole Memorial, with Bonsignore moving up to the deuce slot 17 circuits later.
Bonsignore ran in Silk’s shadow until rocketing through the low groove to take the lead on 176, taking the checkers by a six-length margin 24 laps later. Doug Coby, strong all day in the seven-caution event, came home third, with Anthony Nocella and Ronnie Williams completing the top five. McKennedy finished ninth.
Sunday’s victory was Bonsignore’s third in five completed Whelen Tour events this season.
Cameron Houle and Solomon Brow led the NHSTRA Mods to the green, with Houle grabbing the early lead. Rookie Cory Plummer then took charge and kept the field at bay until Matt Kimball, from row four, blasted into the top spot on lap 16.
The Bennington, N.H. hot shoe was still up front when this one was shortened with a yellow/checkers ending after numerous cautions had slowed its march to conclusion. Todd Patnode, who’d quietly cruised into second on lap 29, was second, with division points leader Brian Robie moving closer to the championship in third.
Sunday’s Street Stock 25-lapper was a battle of the Rutland, Mass. Curtis twins. Jaret and Chase. Jaret took the lead from Tim Wenzel on lap two and never looked back en route to his second win of the summer. Chase, the points leader, got up for second on lap eight and chased his sibling the rest of the way.
Mini Stock points leader Gordon Farnum flew past Nathan Wenzel on lap 19 of their Sunday feature and then sped away to his fifth victory lap of the summer. Wenzel was strong in second, with Jeff Asselin third.
In the Pures, 2019 track champ Chris Davis started up front and easily scored his third win of the season, unfortunately equaling the number of engines he’s lost in 2020. Jimmy Zellman came from row four to earn his best finish of the summer in second, and Nick Houle came home third. Top points man Mike Douglas finished fourth to stay comfortably atop the championship chase.
The Pro Truck Series made its second visit of the summer to the high banks Sunday, with Gerard Giordano Jr. topping a spirited 55-lapper. Giordano grabbed the top spot from Dave Koenig on lap 37 and held him at bay the rest of the way. Connor Souza was third.
Next Saturday, September 5, Monadnock Speedway returns to action with the multi-track NHSTRA Modifieds taking center stage with a Battle for The Cup event. For more information, please visit www.monadnockspeedway.com
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NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIEDS (Top 10): Justin Bonsignore, Ron Silk, Doug Coby, Anthony Nocella, Ronnie Williams, Matt Hirschman, Woody Pitkat, Sammy Rameau, Jon McKennedy, Craig Lutz.
NHSTRA Modified: Matt Kimball, Todd Patnode, Brian Robie, Solomon Brow, Ben Byrne, Joel Monahan, Trevor Bleau, Kim Rivet, Zach Leone, Cory Plummer, Cameron Houle, Jason Houle, Brad Zahensky, Kevin Pittsinger, Scott MacMichael, Brian Chapin, Rob Richardi, Eric Leclair, Scott Bourne
Mini Stocks: Gordon Farnum, Nathan Wenzel, Jeff Asselin, Kevin Cormier, Pat Houle, Tim Leblanc, Joshua Hubbard, Bill Chaffee, Jake Puchalski, Joshua Wright, Bobby Kirker, Aaron Thompson, Ethan Marsh, Raymond King, Kevin Russell, Kevin Clayton, Adam Sprague
Street Stocks: Jaret Curtis, Chase Curtis, Chris Buffone, Hillary Renaud, Kenny Thompson, Paul Barnard, Bryan Granger, Tim Wenzel, Ed Brehio Pure Stocks: Chris Davis, Jimmy Zellman, Nick Houle, Mike Douglas, Brandon Lavoie, CJ Johnson, Matt Lambert, Cory Lofland, JD Stockwell, Jason Leray, Tucker Houle, Zack Richardson, Joshua Slyz
D Scott Deware was born on January 14, 1960 and passed away on August 27, 2020 and is under the care of Deware Funeral Home.
Services
NO PUBLIC SERVICES ARE SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME. RECEIVE A NOTIFICATION WHEN SERVICES ARE UPDATED.
Memories
D Scott Deware
August 30, 2020
Nancy Conner
Lily, Bethany, Eden, and Jackie…Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Memories of Scott include Masonic functions, the end of MASH party, driving to Maryland towing the boat to the Choptank river for a race. Scott got out for the first test run and the motor blew up so he couldn’t race. He decided that if he couldn’t race, then we were driving back home!
So happy that I was able to get together with Scott for lunch last year. You will be missed my friend, and always have a place in my heart. ❤
Local hero Clint Vahsholtz beats local hero Paul Dallenbach and they both beat the Porsches in a COVID-affected race year.
BY MARK VAUGHN AUG 30, 2020LARRY CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY/PPIHC
There’s no way this should have happened, no way that an entire division of German engineers working for years to create the half-million-dollar 700-hp 911 GT2 RS Clubsport should ever have been beaten by a guy who built what looks like maybe a T-Bucket roadster with a dust pan on the front.
“In this corner, one thousand of the best German engineers ever assembled, with computers bigger than your garage using computational fluid dynamics and finite-element analysis to create the greatest and most powerful customer race car in the world – the 911 GT2 RS Cluuuuuubsport! And in this corner, a guy from five miles away who went down the street to his dad’s garage and built a car with him. Are you ready to rummmmmbbbbbblllleeeeeee?????”
And the mountain rumbled (or was that thunder?). This is Pikes Peak, where dreams come true and no one cares how much computing power you have in R&D back home in Zuffenhausen.
Some years Pikes Peak is a big, international affair with all-out efforts by European manufacturers to set a new record at all costs. Other years it sort of returns to the fun local event it usually is, just another race in the Colorado Hill Climb Association’s calendar. This year, while Porsche did bring a squadron of powerful race cars with an equally talented platoon of drivers, the mood of the race was that of a fun, local event, but without the usual throngs of spectators, and held two months later than normal because of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
That didn’t stop former part-time NASCAR Busch Series racer Clint Vahsholtz from winning the race overall with a time of 9:35.490. Vahsholtz is the middle generation of three generations of Pikes Peak racers. He’s run here every year since 1992, winning his class more than 20 times but never the race overall. He lives in Woodland Park, which is maybe five or six miles away from the starting line as the crow flies.
The amazing thing about Vahsholtz is the “car” he drove. While there were incredible, high-tech Porsches in the starting lineup, from Jeff Zwart’s modern 935 to David Donohue’s 911 GT2 RS Clubsport, Vahsholtz drove what looked like a bathtub with a snow shovel on the front end and a large package shelf poking up out the rear. Officially it’s called a “2103 Ford Open,” but you could be forgiven if you called it “The Contraption.” Whatever you call it, the damned thing won.
“I charged hard,” Vahsholtz said at the top, speaking to local radio and TV station KRDO, which did a terrific job of covering the event. “I got to a few places where I didn’t feel as comfortable as I would have liked, the middle section was slick, but my dad’s always said, ‘Just drive it quick.”
That he did, beating other local-boy-made-good and multi-generation racer Paul Dallenbach by just 0.691 second. Dallenbach has won at Pikes Peak nine times before. This year, for the 14th year, Dallenbach was driving his own “contraption,” listed on the timing sheet as a “2006 PVA-03 Dallenbach Special.”
“Let’s be honest, this is a Wells Coyote, this is a dirt car that we almost won overall,” Dallenbach said at the top. “It has Menard’s power. The engine is a 25-year-old IndyCar engine.”
The combination was almost enough to win the whole thing. But Dallenbach said the road was slick in spots.
“It was slick, I was really loose,” he said. “So much so that I thought there was something wrong with my wing.”
He kept it all on the course and almost won. Just a little over half a second separated him from Vahsholtz after 12.42 mountain miles and 156 turns.
“I’ve won this race by a half a second a couple times, to lose it by half a second hurts. But we’re all dealing with the same road. He (Vahsholtz) pushed it a half a second harder than I did. That’s what it comes down to.”Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
David Donner finished thrid in this 911 GT2 RS Clubsport.LARRY CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY/PPIHC
The finishing order was a bit of a surprise because of all the Porsches that were running. The quickest of which—in qualifying at least—was the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport of Le Mans, Grand-Am and NASCAR driver David Donohue, son of Mark. His was one of two GT2 RS Clubsports on the mountain this year, the other driven by past Pikes Peak winner and Colorado resident David Donner.
In the qualifying section of the mountain Donohue clocked a 3:55.942, Donner a 3:59.702 compared to Vahsholtz’ 4:02.986 and Dallenbach’s 4:08.298. Given that, it looked like Donohue would clean up. But, as they say, the mountain decides. And this year the mountain decided to give Donohue a flat tire that took him out of the race about halfway up the hill at Glen Cove. Then Donner launched off the line looking strong, too, but finished just over a second off the winning pace with a 9:36.559.
Open-wheel racer Cole Powelson and Porsche 935 pilot and filmmaker Jeff Zwart rounded out the top five.
In all, seven drivers broke the once-mythical ten-minute mark this year. Three Tesla Model 3s entered the race, too. Privateer Blake Fuller finished highest among them with an 11:02 in a car that he drove to Colorado from Florida. He should get some kind of award for just doing that, with four sets of tires and all his laundry in the back.Related StoryTeslas Crash at Pikes Peak
But two of the three Teslas crashed during practice. Time trials racer Joshua Allan suffered four compressed vertebrae in his crash and was out for the weekend. Road racer Randy Pobst was unhurt in his crash but his car was severely damaged. Both Pobst’s and Allan’s cars were prepared by a Hawthorne, Calif. tuner called Unplugged Performance.
Unplugged took Pobst’s car and, using a donor car, lots of ingenuity and two all-nighters in a row, built a new race car for Sunday. Pobst looked strong in the first timed section, then seemed to slow, at least looking at the live timing and scoring charts, and wound up finishing two seconds behind Blake at 11:04.
“Something happened about halfway up. Like a quarter of the way into it it went to about half power,” Pobst said. “But the handling was fantastic.”
So was the weather. Pikes Peak often looks sunny in the morning then turns into thunderstorms and hail in the afternoon. Sometimes it even snows. Some years they stop letting the cars run all the way to the top. But this year, while a bit cold in the morning—it was below freezing and delayed the start an hour because of ice at the finish line—race day turned out to be beautiful all the way through. With only 44 cars entered, and no motorcycles (due to the tragic death of rider Carlin Dunne last year) the whole event was wrapped up by 1:00.
The 2020 event was the 98th running of The Race to the Clouds. It’s been going since 1916, 104 years, with interruptions for World Wars. As you probably know, Pikes Peak was all-dirt for most of its existence, which made it quite the challenge for drivers, tire manufacturers and the guy jetting the carbs. The road has been fully paved since 2011.
The all-time quickest run was accomplished two years ago when Volkswagen used it to show off its new electric car technology in the form of the I.D.R in 2018. That year Romain Dumas set what may be the record for quite a while with a 7:57.148.
But maybe someone will break even that. If the mountain decides it’s OK.
Jason Bonsignore, driver of the #51, Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the Advanced Gas Distributors 200 Wade Cole Memorial for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire on August 30, 2020. (Kathryn Riley/NASCAR)
BY STAFF REPORTS NASCAR.COM AUGUST 30, 2020
WINCHESTER, N.H. — That didn’t take long.
After a pair of races out of Victory Lane, Justin Bonsignore found himself right back on familiar ground as he executed a late pass on Ron Silk to capture the Advanced Gas Distributors Inc. 200 Wade Cole Memorial Sunday afternoon at Monadnock Speedway.
It was Bonsignore’s third win in five races on the season and his sixth in the last 10 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events dating back to last Aug. 31.
To cap his 29th career win, he wheeled the No. 51 Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet in a slide across the finish line — 1.085 seconds ahead of Silk.
Jon McKennedy won the Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award in qualifying and led the first 61 laps before Silk, who was fastest in practice and qualified third, got past him. Bonsignore tracked him down and the two swapped the top spot before Bonsignore took it for good with 25 laps remaining.
Bonsignore’s 29th career tour win moved him back into a tie with six-time champion Doug Coby, who finished third, for sixth on the all-time wins list.
More importantly, it bumped Bonsignore’s championship points lead back up to 16 over Coby. After winning the first two races of the season, back-to-back fifth-place runs had chipped away at the Long Island driver’s lead.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which significantly altered the 2020 Whelen Modified schedule, Monadnock was a late addition. But the return to the quarter-mile for the first time since 2016 was a welcome addition for Bonsignore, who won there in 2013 and ’14.
The Advanced Gas Distributors Inc. 200 Wade Cole Memorial, which streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Gold, was postponed from Saturday to Sunday by weather.
Anthony Nocella finished fourth and Ronnie Williams fifth.
Matt Hirschman, Woody Pitkat, Sam Rameau, McKennedy and Craig Lutz completed the top 10. Lutz and McKennedy are tied for third in points, 30 points back of Bonsignore.
The tour will have a quick turnaround, racing at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Connecticut on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
The 47th Annual Oxford 250 came down to a pair of Maine natives, both with tremendous track records, seeking their first win in the marquee event in their home state. The night ended with Johnny Clark celebrating a hard-fought win, while Jeff Taylor was left to wonder what might have been.
After a pit road miscue during a lap 179 caution relegated Taylor to 10th, Clark took the lead from Alan Tardiff and led the rest of the way for his first Oxford 250 win in 16 attempts.
Finally climbing to the mountaintop at Oxford nearly rendered Clark speechless afterwards, reflecting on a wild year on and off the race track.
“It’s unbelievable. It really is. I don’t know what to say. It’s been a crazy year. Honestly, the fact that it’s been such a crazy year is probably why we’re standing here.”
“It’s been stressful to be a good dad, be a good husband, and be the best race car driver you can be. The fact that I’ve been able to slow down a ton has been huge for me and huge for my family, everything, personally.”
The victory was the culmination of a year’s worth of effort for the six-time PASS North champion to finally score the elusive win.
“We worked so hard right from March,” said Clark. “We’ve got an awesome relationship with Gary Crooks and Port City Race Cars. He has busted his a– to get this company where it’s at, and I’m reaping the rewards for it. We talked almost nightly; you can ask my wife.
“It’s unbelievable. We just worked so hard. I know Jeff Taylor has worked really hard to get to victory lane here, but man, we’ve worked really busted a—- this season.”
Taylor was another home-state driver looking for his first Oxford 250, making his 23rd appearance in the race in 2020. Instead, he came away with his third runner-up finish in the event.
During the lap 179 caution, Taylor exited pit road after his first pit stop of the night. Believing he had driven through the stop sign at pit exit, Taylor took a self-imposed pass-through penalty on pit road rather than forcing series officials to penalize him.
That put the nine-time Oxford Plains track champion 10th in the field with less than 100 laps to go, a distance he was unable to make up in that span.
“I did it to myself, so it’s not really a luck thing. I wasn’t paying enough attention coming out of the pits. I screwed it up getting out of the pits. I decided to penalize myself.
“I don’t know if that was the right move or not, but that’s the one I made. Inevitably, it cost us a chance.”
Along with being a milestone victory for the Maine standout, it was a bounce-back performance from a dismal showing a month ago. When the PASS North series visited the bullring on July 18, Clark finished three laps down in 26th place during a 150-lap feature.
Despite that showing, Clark knew they had the pieces to contend for the Oxford 250 this weekend, and that they did.
“We’ve been good here testing, but In July we went three laps down here. Our heads were hanging when we left, but we knew that it just didn’t work that day. We had already found what would work, we just had to get back to it.
Joey Doiron completed the podium, with Dave Farrington, Jr. and Mike Hopkins rounding out the top five.
Defending series champion Josef Newgarden kept his slim title hopes alive in the NTT IndyCar Series with a victory Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Newgarden seized first after the final green-flag pit stop sequence with 43 laps remaining after teammate Will Power lost the lead while caught in slower traffic entering the pits.
After beating Pato O’Ward out of the pits on his final stop on Lap 151, Newgarden cycled into the lead on Lap 157 of 200 and led the rest of the way.
“This was all a pit stop victory for me,” Newgarden told NBCSN pit reporter Kevin Lee. “My guys have been amazing in the pits. They’ve put me in position every time. It was really fun racing Pato out of the pit. That was for the win side by side out of pit exit. HE did an amazing job. He’s going to do great things in this sport.
“It was just all down to my team. I’m really proud of my team. They won the race. I didn’t win it; they won it.”
O’Ward finished second after placing third Saturday at Gateway and remained a solid third in the points standings behind Scott Dixon and Newgarden.
“Man, we had a great weekend,” said O’Ward, who matched a career-best runner-up at Road America last month. “Our objective was to score two podiums (this weekend), and we did that. It would have been great to score a win. I know we’re so close. We’re knocking on the door, man. We’re going to keep pushing.”
Said Power, who remained winless this season: “I felt we had the car to win. Obviously it’s a traffic game. The car was really strong today. We had great stops. Great car. The strategy certainly didn’t work out at the end. Still very happy to get a podium. We certainly have had a lot of potential this year. Very strange year.”
It was the 16th career victory and second this season for Newgarden, who also won last month at Iowa Speedway. It’s also the Team Penske driver’s second triumph at Gateway, where he won in 2017.
With five races expected to be remaining this season, Newgarden still faces a triple-digit points deficit to Dixon, who was fifth Sunday and has won four of the season’s first nine races (including Saturday at Gateway). The two-time series champion had lost 33 points to Dixon with a 12th in Saturday’s race.
“We can’t give up on it yet,” Newgarden said. “Yesterday was a pretty big blow. We’ve been bitten by bad luck this year, and the yellows have gone against us probably three or four out of eight races.
“Sometimes it comes your way, sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s racing. You have to hopefully get on a good cycle, and maybe this will be a good kick-start for the end of the season for us.”
The race ended under caution when Takuma Sato hit the wall while running in the top 10 with three laps remaining. Rookie Rinus VeeKay took fourth after starting 18th.
Tony Kanaan finished 19th in the last scheduled race for the 2004 series champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner, who has said he wants to race at the Brickyard and select other races next year.
CLAREMONT, N.H. – He’s often referred to as Big Money Matt, and Friday at Claremont Motorsports Park Keystone State super star Matt Hirschman showed why.
Fighting through all kinds of early-event adversity, Hirschman passed rising star Matt Kimball on lap 70 of the Maurice Enterprises 100 main event to earn the $10,000 winner’s purse.
He’d been ricocheted into the turn two wall in his heat race, looked mediocre at best for half his consi, but then found his stride when the big bucks were on the line.
Promoter Mike Parks, with major support from hometown businessman Maurice Hurd, put a dandy together. With the Thrasher Road speedplant’s largest crowd in decades on hand for the big show, Hirschman and the other 25 Open Modified starters – 33 teams attempted to qualify – staged a classic battle.
Big Gun Ronnie Silk started up front and led the first 66 laps, until pitting quickly under caution for fresh rubber, something Hirschman, Les Hinkley and others had done way back on lap 16.
Back under green, Bennington, N.H. second-genner Matt Kimball took control, battling Hinckley for the lead until Hirschman stormed to the front on lap 70 and drove away.
Kimball, certainly out-financed by most of the field and, in most cases, far shy on major league lap time, was impressive in second, just ahead of Hinckley. Silk, on fresher tires, came home fifth, just behind western New Yorker Andy Jankowiak. Monadnock regular Trevor Bleau won the non-qualifiers Dash for Cash.
A late-race caution flag played a major role in keeping Aaron Fellows perfect on the season in the Late Model Sportsmen. Polesitter Ryan Bell had opened up an enormous lead when an Eric Martell looper on lap 26, brought Ben Poland and Fellows to his bumper.
A subsequent routine caution two laps later put Fellows at Bell’s side and, with a furious low dive into turn three five laps later, Fellows was off to his ninth win of the summer and 26th consecutive victory at the third-mile speedplant.
Dynamite Dave Greenslit took full control when Chris Emerson and Kyle Buck jingled on lap five, then holding off Cody Schoolcraft and eventual runner-up Chris Riendeau to earn his seventh 2020 Street Stock victory lap.
Kodi Sabins led all but the first go-round of the caution-free Pure Stock 30-lapper to run away and hide for his seventh victory lap this season. With the final finish still unofficial at press time, Joey Jarvis was second, and Robert Shaw third.
Points leader Dylan Adams came from 15th on the starting grid to finish sixth, just ahead of lap-one leader Amy Jaycox.
Desmond Skillings took the lead from brother Nick on lap five of the Mini Stock feature and then never looked back en route to his third win of the season. Desmond’s son, Cale, finished second, with brother Nick third to complete the family photo shoot in victory lane.
Top Six Shooter points man Dustin Thibodeau took the lead from Todd Smith on lap 14 and then held off the all-out assault of Paul Colburn to score his third win of the summer. Smith, strong all night, earned his first trophy with a third-place finish, while Jeremy Blood was sixth, ending his three-race winning streak.
Claremont Motorsports Park will be silent next Friday, September 4, but returns to action on Sunday, September 6, when the Granite State Pro Stock Series comes to town, with a $10,000-to-win 100-lapper taking center stage atop a full card of racing.
MAURICE ENT OPEN MODIFIED 100: Matt Hirschman, Matt Kimball, Les Hinckley, Andy Jankowiak, Ron Silk, Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz, Austin Kochenash, Calvin Carroll, Matt Swanson.
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN: Aaron Fellows, Ryan Bell, Ben Poland, Robert Hagar, Dallas Trombley, Allen Fellows, Tyler Lescord, Camdyn Curtis, Bucky Demers, Joe Bates.
STREET STOCK: Dave Greenslit, Chris Riendeau, Cody Schoolcraft, Kyle Buck, Joe Tetreault, Jimmy Zullo, Briana Akusis, Robbie Streeter, Chris Emerson, Chris Lindquist.
MINI STOCK: Desmond Skillings, Cale Skillings, Nick Skillings, Hayden Grenier, Ray King, Richard Stockwell, Rye Greineder, Aaron Thompson, David Pratt III.
SIX SHOOTER: Dustin Thibodeau, Paul Colburn, Todd Smith, Todd Maguira, Ray Luce, Jeremy Blood, Ryan Carman, Scott Wade, Chooch Snide, Dakota Lanou.
PURE STOCK: Kodi Sabins, Robert Shaw, Zach Richardson, Sean Lantas, Dylan Adams, Amy Jaycox, Bruce Adams, Doug Nelson, Josh Rondeau, Doug Nelson.
Tom Morris Photo
Source: Mike Parks/President/ Granite State Pro Stock Series
Jeffrey’s Cars Win the Very First S.M.A.R.T. and First New SMART Events
Chase Robertson and Dylan Ward Notch BG Sportsman Wins. Billy Gregg, Josh Lowder, Brandon Collins, and A.J. Sanders Claim Wins in “Open Wheel Night”.
(Sophia, NC): When the original Southern Modified Racing Teams “Rolling Thunder Tour”, S.M.A.R.T., ran its first race at Langley Speedway in 1989, Robert Jeffreys took the win. In a bit of irony, when Caraway Speedway hosted the first “new” SMART Modified Tour last night, it was only fitting that Brian Loftin, driving for “Shady Grady (Jeffreys) Racing claimed the win.
The race was a tortoise versus the hare affair. The new series redrew the first eight cars putting fastest qualifier, Jason Myers, in seventh and Tim Brown on the pole for the start. Brown played the tortoise to the hare’s of James Civali and Burt Myers as Brown made his way to the rear of the pack. Civali won the 30 lap segment with Myers and John Smith in close pursuit. That threesome claimed the $600.00 in bonus money at the break. Civali pitted during the break while most of the field stayed on the track.
Burt Myers took over on the restart with Loftin, Tom Buzze and Jason Myers in tow. Myers led till a caution on lap 49 opened pit road for most of the field to make their allowed one-tire change putting Brown on the point for the restart. Brown would lead three laps before yielding to Burt Myers with Buzze, Jeremy Gerstner, Daniel Yates and Zach Brewer in tow. Brown settled in mid-pack before beginning his charge to the front.
Brown took over the point on lap 83 and had things under control till the caution flew on lap 92. On the restart, Brown was black flagged for going too early, leaving Loftin to do battle with the Myers brothers. Loftin held off Burt Myers to take the win with Jason Myers in third followed by Gary Putnam, Gerstner, Yates, Brewer, John Holleman, IV, Brown and John Smith. Dennis Holdren, Buzze, Jimmy Wallace, Civali, Mike Norman and Daniel Beeson rounded the field.
Billy Gregg made it two-in-a-row in the 602 Super Limited feature. He out-distanced Riley Neal, Nate Gregg and Cody Griffin to take the win.
Chase Robertson slipped past Michael Adams on lap five and led the rest of the way in the first of two “Twin” 20’s for the Sportsman Division cars from Bowman Gray Stadium. Dylan Ward finished second followed by Tommy Neal, Jacob Creed, Wesley Thompson and Adams.
In the second 20 lapper, Ward took home the win ahead of Creed, Robertson, Neal, Thompson and Adams.
Fast qualifier, A.J. Sanders, took home the trophy in the Mini Stock feature sponsored by V’s Barber Shop. Tyler Bush finished second ahead of Luke Smith, Johnny Baker, Chuck Wall, Tyler McDonald and Austin Harris. Wyatt Sapp, Adam Thomas, Justin Owens, Joey Nifong, Levi Holt and Patrick Mullen wrapped up the 13 car field.
Brandon Collins won the UCAR feature over Alex Higginson and Billy Scoggins.
In the 602 Modified 35 lapper, Josh Lowder took the win over Rich Hunter, Jody Fritts, Dean Lowder, Cody Norman, Richard Trotter and Bryant Robertson. Lowder’s win is un-official pending a post-race inspection. Results of that inspection will be completed on Monday and “official” results will be posted on Tuesday.
Caraway Speedway’s regular divisions return to action next Saturday, September 5th for the “Labor Day Weekend Bash”. The Limited/Challenger Division heads the lineup along with the Mini Stocks, UCAR’s and a special ENDURO event.
Grandstand Admission, with social distancing, is $12.00 for Adults and kids 11 and under are free. Registration opens at 3:00 PM. Pits and Trackside parking opens at 4:00 PM and grandstands open at 6:30 PM. Racing starts at 8:00 PM. For more information call 336-629-5803 or go to www.carawayspeedway.com
LARRY CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY/PPIHC
