Posted by Wayne G. Barber
Source;(Winchester, NH by Staff Writer Dan Byrne): The excitement at the racetrack on Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway was comparable to a mid-summer night classic, but here we are in May just two weeks into the season.
Classics were the theme of the night as the New England Antique racers kicked off the feature events of the evening. Angie Bullock in the #088 car brought home the checkered flag in the Sportsman division, followed by Dara Hoyt and Griff McDowell. In the Modified division Wes Roach had a lot of fun bringing home the win saying, “I had a blast, it was great. This is my 2nd time here so a little experience at the track helped.” Bob Donahue came across after Roach finishing second. Greg Messini came across third in one of the old Bodine body style Chevy Vega Modifieds.
Young Guns took the track after the Antiques left the track. The Monadnock futures had their turn at 15 laps for the second straight week. For the second week in a row Dylan Morse was first to cross the line, however post-race he was shown as coming across 7th, giving the win to Justin Littlewood in the #37, Littlewood notches his first win of the season in just the second week.
Haley Guy came across second in the 29X, she was pleased with her strong showing but she even surprised herself a little with such success early in the season saying, “I was hoping to get top 5, I’m really happy with a top 3. I didn’t really think, just being the 2nd race so far, that I would do as good as I did.” Third place went to last week’s runner up, Dan Starkweather in the #77.
The Lightning Stocks came out to follow the young guns, on a night that contained five feature events along with the special antique event. In Lightning Stocks, Mike Stebbins took his #10 car out on the track for the first time this season, after racing his #66 Mini stock car a week ago. Stebbins enjoyed his first run out in the 2015 Lightning Stock field, bringing home a first place finish. “This year I’m just going to have fun in whatever I can run,” Stebbins said following his victory, “Next week we’ll do Mini Stocks.”
CJ Johnson in the #95 followed up his 5th place finish in week one with a trip to the podium on Saturday coming across the line just behind Stebbins for second. Johnson felt he did his best out there saying, “Seems pretty good, good as its going to be I guess. I’ve been fighting this car for a year and a half.”
Kris Kristolaltis was relieved to have pulled off a podium finish in his first feature event of the season saying, “last year I built the car halfway through the season and I just wanted to bring it home in one piece, which I did. Thanks Mike Stebbins for all the help.”
Mini Stocks came out next, and everyone was hoping for a repeat performance of the exhilarating Mini Stock race from week one.
The fans were not disappointed at last week’s winner Eric Pomasko pushed Matt Gauffin to the line for the win, but Gauffin crossed first to record his first win of the year. Gauffin was gushing after the race in victory lane saying, “This feels excellent, I gotta tell ya. Second race in the car and I’m real happy with it. I had to back it off a little bit, I was getting excited.”
A few of the youngsters that made the jump up to Mini Stocks had rough nights with the likes of Mikey McGoldrick Jr and Solomon Brow struggling to keep pace.
The cautions played to the benefit of some and the demise of others, as runner-up Pomasko noted in his post-race interview saying, "Those cautions helped really good. Matt was tough tonight, he was a fast car, and I had a fast car tonight."
Kevin McKnight fell victim to Gauffin and Pomasko when he was leading on one of the restarts so he considered the cautions his undoing, "Those cautions really hurt," he said.
Following the Mini Stock event was the Super Stock feature. Last week, Dennis Stange held off Dale Striebel for the win, but in week two Striebel flipped the script. In the 25 lap feature event, the #71 of Striebel was hooked up and pacing the field. Striebel broke away and brought home the win.
“I’m kinda liking this,” Striebel said of the win as he got out in victory lane. Stange was second but didn’t have much of a challenge for Striebel this time. “Dave and his brother are just awesome guys to race with, I’m just glad to be behind them.” The excitement came in the race for third with Tyler Leary in the 11X just edging Joel Monahan’s 03 car for the final podium position.
“It’s been a relatively short three years but it takes time to work your way up,” said Leary. “I couldn’t do it without my family and friends.”
The final Whelen All-American Series event of the night was the Sportsman Modified division’s 30 lap feature. Youngster TJ Bleau won his heat and started up front, but soon was overtaken by some of the more experienced drivers. Still Bleau, just 15 years old, had a strong showing coming across the line in 5th place.
Caution flew around the midway point of the race as another youngster who was looking strong and on the move, JT Cloutier was collected when another car washed up the track in turn 4 and collected the high schooler, sending him into the front stretch wall ripping the right front tire from the car and bringing an abrupt end to what looked to be a strong run for Cloutier in the #13.
Back up at the front, week one winner Scott MacMichael was working on another strong finish. MacMichael was up at the front all day, but couldn’t fend off Bill Kimball’s #43 as he was beaten to the line with Kimball claiming the victory. Tyler Jarvenpaa improved on his fourth place finish in week one with a third place in the #22 ride this week. He just edged out Brett Gonyaw for the third and final podium position.
Kimball’s win was his first in some time at Monadnock, as last year he struggled to reach victory lane.
“You never know when you’re going to get back here,” Kimball said after the long awaited win, “We had an alright car last year.”
“We have a new group of guys and I’m not used to what they’re going to do, but we got through the bad stuff and set sail.”
“I’m not sure if Scotty was being nice or what, I only felt him once on the restart so, he couldn’t have been playing too nice.”
“I have got to thank my family,” Kimball said, “I know it’s been kind of a long night but thanks for coming down.”
MacMichael was pleased with his performance and he is excited for another fun season.
“Racing Billy is going to be fun I can already see that,” said the driver of the #7, “I should have given him a little love tap, I owe him, no, he owes me because I turned him last week, but didn’t mean to.
“He’s a hell of a racer and so are Tyler and the rest of them.”
The next event at Monadnock Speedway is next Saturday May 16th beginning at 6PM. We will be celebrating our heroes with Military Appreciation night, all past & present military receive free general admission with proof of service!
The night will feature 30 lap Sportsman Modified, 25 lap Pro 4 Modified, 25 lap Super Stock, 25 lap Mini Stock, 25 lap Thunder Stock &15 lap Young Gun.
Sportsman Modified Results: Bill Kimball, Scott McMichael, Tyler Jarvenpaa, Brett Gonyaw, Trevor Bleau, Eric Leclair, Keith Carzello, Glenn Griswold, Dana Smith, Jeff Morse, Jason Barden, Scott Nordman, Jeff Murray, JT Cloutier
Super Stock Results: Dave Striebel, Dennis Stange, Tyler Leary, Joel Monahan, Cole Littlewood, Jeff Morse, Nancy Muni-Ruot, Tyler Lescord
Mini Stock Results: Matt Gauffin, Eric Pomasko, Kevin McKnight, Justin Faford, Joel Monahan, DJ Lazelle, Julia Raymond, Bill Lambert, Cameron Sontag, Mike McGoldrick Jr, Matt Kimball, Ethan Marsh, Solomon Brow
Lightning Stock Finish: Mike Stebbins, CJ Johnson, Kris Kristolaitis, Tim Paquette, Tim O'Shea, Richard Whipple, Tim Leblanc, Pat Houle, Hillary Renaud, Steve Fucile, Jim Drew, Eric Silvernale, Sonya Carey
Young Guns Results: Justin Littlewood, Hailey Guy, Dan Starkweather, Colton Smith, Bow Smith, Chelsea Lambert, Dylan Morse
Photos by Christopher Banks
Photos by Christopher Banks
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