Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH Results May 2,2015

Posted by Wayne G.Barber

(Winchester, NH) —The decision to delay the start of the race season by two weeks at the Monadnock Speedway turned out to be just the right call, as Saturday afternoon and evening provided the perfect weather for the green flag to drop for the 2015 season with the Bond Auto Parts 100 Spring Dash.

There was a little extra rumble in the thunder over the mountain as all the usual Monadnock divisions ran their season opening races, and were joined by the NE Classic Lites, the Pro Four Modifieds, and the Valenti Modified Racing Series.

The evening kicked off with the Young Guns series, Monadnock’s 12-15 year old division as Dylan Morse brought home the checkered in the 00 car. The 13 year old Morse had some issues in the heats, but the 7^th grader knew he had one person specifically to thank after the win, “Turns out we got it fixed thanks to Tim LeBlanc here,” Morse said in victory lane, “You’re a life saver and here we are for my first win!” exclaimed the young man after capturing his first win. Second place went to Dan Starkweather who despite a strong finish was unhappy with how his car handled saying, “It wanted to go all over the place, but it was a pretty nice finish for the first race of the year.” Justin Littlewood won his heat and earned a podium finish first time coming in third and offered his support to his brother Cole competing later in the Super Stock race saying, “Hopefully he does good tonight,”.

The NE Classic Lite ran their feature next and it was dominated start to finish by last season’s rookie of the year Jake Cray. After the race he spoke about being back in the drivers’ seat this season saying, “We’re in a new car this year, I’m just happy. I don’t know what to say. I’m just glad I was just fast enough.” He was being chased by Ed Gilman and John Futz, the second and third place finishers, but was able to hold onto first for the win.

Mini Stocks came out next and put on one of the most exciting races of the night. Eric Pomasko’s #71 was able to hold off the #66 of defending champion Mike Stebbins to bring home the win in week one. Matt Gauffin took third holding off the challenge of Cameron Sontag and Julia Raymond. Pomasko talked in victory lane about the time he and his wife put in during winter to improve the car for this year. “A lot of hard work [went into the car].” Pomasco said, “My wife Karen and I spent countless hours in the garage over the winter. We’re getting a little bit better every year.”

Stebbins had a strong car but couldn’t hold off Pomasco to the final lap. Stebbins was in good spirits afterwards joking, “I think I fell asleep in my old age.”

“He’s got a fast car,” Stebbins said, “I let him in on the bottom there and that was it. Hats off to Eric, good job, there was no catching him once he went by.”

Next on the track were the Thunder Stocks and defending track champion Marshall Usher looked to start the new year off right. However, the fastest car out there Saturday was former Lightning Stock champion Craig Chaffee, as the #28 machine brought home first place.

“This thing is awesome,” Chaffee said in victory lane, “A lot of fun to drive.”

Usher in the #11 had to do all he could to hang onto second with David Greenslit’s #20 breathing down his neck by the end of the race. Greenslit had a strong car but felt he couldn’t get the grip on the track he needed to challenge Chaffee for first, “I felt like there was something on the track,” Greenslit said, “I just couldn’t get any grip out of the corners.”

Paul Barnard in the #24 came in fourth places and the #9 of James Nowakowski finished fifth to round out the top five in the Thunder Stock Division.

After Thunder Stocks, the Pro Four Modifieds took the track for their feature and did not disappoint as Eddie Major brought home the win to start the season off, while Mark Charette took home the win in the Pro Four Lite division.

“We won the last race out here last season,” Major said after the race, “What a way to start this year! We had a heck of a car today, and Robin had a heck of a car, there were a lot of good racers out today.”

Charette had a strong, fast racecar all night and he earned his spot in victory lane.

“It’s a great machine for us,” Charette said, “It feels great to be in the winner’s circle.”

Robin Bergman came across in second place and after the race spoke about possibly hanging up her fire suit and calling it a career saying, “Well, I’ve had a ball, I’m not sure if I’ll be back here in the Pro Fours. Hey it was great, I’m just happy the car stayed in one piece and we had a good finish, it’s great to be here in front of all you guys, it’s been a great time.” Norm Wren III rounded out the top three with a third place finish.

The Sportsman Modifieds were on the track next for their 30 lap feature following the Pro Fours and Scott McMichael got the win in the year’s first race. Bill Kimball and Keith Carzello finished second and third respectively while Tyler Jarvenpaa and JT Cloutier rounded out the top five.

The Super Stocks followed the Sportsman Mods on the track. Dennis Stange’s #44 emerged as the victor when the checkered flag flew.

Stange is one of the track’s more senior drivers, a fact that race announcer Dave Southerland didn’t fail to point out in victory lane prompting Stange’s joking response, “I told them I have my AARP card with me,” Stange said as Southerland rejoiced for old guys with grey hair. Stange then added, “We’ve been here a few years.”

Dave Striebel was in high spirts after his second place finish. He’s hoping to flip the script on Stange the next time out saying with a laugh, “I hope he’s chasing me the rest of the year. Dennis is a great guy, I’m so happy for him.”

Tom Carey III, Joel Monahan, Tyler Leary finished third, fourth, and fifth to round out the top five in Super Stocks.

With the conclusion of the Super Stock race, the crowd swelled as the Valenti Modified racing series took to the track. The VMRS featured a strong field of drivers that included the likes of Les Hinckley III, Todd Patnode, Donnie Lashua, Dwight Jarvis, and last year’s Rookie of the Year Mike Willis Jr for the 100 lap race. However it was pole sitter Todd Szegedy in the #85 automobile that would triumph over the field and bring home the victory. In a race that featured 10 cautions and three lead changes, Szegedy’s car was strong enough to run up front all day as he never fell out of the top five.

“I had a set pace that I knew I wanted to abide by,” Szegedy said after the win, “I stuck to my guns and let the guys go. I focused on not spinning the wheels on restarts. I had to drive a little hard to pass those guys but for the most part I went pretty easy and that’s what it takes, these tires are soft and you got to take care of the equipment.”

Szegedy added, “It’s a great start. We come here to race to win and have a good time. I’m coming into the racing with a whole new attitude this season of having fun and having fun is going to get me wins.”

Woody Pitkat was one of the front runners all night long and came home in the runner up position Saturday evening. “It was a good race and a good finish to start the season,” Pitkat said, “The car got real tight towards the end. I was kind of surprised. It got real tight in the center loose off and just battled and did the best I could. Can’t thank these guys enough for giving me the opportunity. Hats off to Todd and Todd (Szegedy and Patnode) coming in first and third. We’ll work on this and get it better for Stafford.”

Todd Patnode made a late charge to come home in third place. Rowan Pennik came across the line fourth and Les Hinckley III used his track experience to weave his way through the field and finish fifth after running towards the back most of the race.

The final race of the night was the Lightning Stock feature in which Tim Leblanc held off a fast approaching Richard Whipple and Tim Paquette to come away with the win on opening night.

“It’s a new car, when we came out it kept dying, running out of fuel,” Leblanc said, “I didn’t know what was going wrong.”

“If it wasn’t for Mike Stebbins this car would not be here right now,” Leblanc added, “He threw it all together for us in like three weeks, Mike this one is for you wherever you are.”

Leblanc knew he had a fast car, he just had to get up front, “As soon as I got out front I knew if I stayed there then no one was going to catch me, the car just was handling pretty good.”

Leblanc runs a small operation and he pointed that out, “I have to thank my dad, I don’t have any sponsors, it’s just us.”

He is feeling confident for the rest of the season saying, “I’m going after the championship I just want everybody else to know that, I’m going to keep trying as hard as I can to reel them all in.”

With one week in the books, the 2015 season is officially underway. Next week the racing is set to begin at 6PM with gates opening at 2PM practice beginning at 3:30PM. Sportsman Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Lightning Stocks, Young Guns, and the NE Antique Racers will all be running features on hand May 9^th.

Sportsman Modified Results: Scott MacMichael, Bill Kimball, Keith Carzello, Tyler Jarvenpaa, JT Cloutier, Dana Smith, Eric Leclair, Kim Rivet, Scott Nordman, Brett Gonyaw, Casey Ouellette, Brian Chapin, Trevor Bleau, Jeff Murray, Carlos Gray, Jason Barden

Super Stock Results: Dennis Stange, Dave Striebel, Tom Carey III, Joel Monahan, Tyler Leary, Nancy Muni, Ken Springer, Cole Littlewood, Jeff Morse, Tyler Lescord

Mini Stock Results: Eric Pomasko, Mike Stebbins, Matt Gauffin, Cameron Sontag, Julia Raymond, Joel Monahan, Kevin McKnight, Justin Faford, Ethan Marsh, Matt Kimball, Alicia Fohlin-Parker, Solomon Brow, Mike McGoldrick Jr.

Thunder Stock Results: Craig Chaffee, Marshall Usher, Dave Greenslit, Paul Barnard, James Nowakowski, Richard Vincent, Ben Williams, Gus Coelho, Michelle Leh, Joe Ethier, Robert Thurston

Lightning Stock Results: Tim Leblanc, Richard Whipple, Tim Paquette, Matt Gauffin, CJ Johnson,Eric Silvernale, Hillary Renaud, Jim Drew,  Alicia Springer

Young Gun Results: Dylan Morse, Dan Starkweather, Justin Littlewood, Bow Smith, Hailey Guy, Shelby Avery, Chris Sontag, and Colton Smith
Track Press Release and Track Photographer Photos