Hinckley Scores Victor Johnson Memorial 100 by Jim Snape
Photos by Simply the Best, Crystal Snape
Photos by Simply the Best, Crystal Snape
Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH.
The Victor Johnson Memorial 100 has been an important race on the MRS schedule since its inception three years ago, with each competitor hoping to put thier team into victory lane.
This year with the outstanding efforts of Lisa Patnode, wife of Todd whom wheels the Stebbins owned 05 on the modified racing series, raised an additional $7000 in lap money that added to the regular pay off. Each of the 100 laps were sponsored by businesses, racers, fans and friends.
After three qualifying heats were run the stage was set for one of the most prestigious races on the MRS schedule.
Veteran Les Hinckley is a name that has been synonymous with winning races throughout the Northeast, but has cut back his racing schedule the last two years because of family and personal health issues.
His rare appearance at Monadnock showed he is still at the top of his game winning his fifth MRS race there , his 18th overall win with the series.
Starting on the pole after the redraw, Hinckley out-raced Norm Wrenn to take early command, while the always hard charging and series points leader Woody Pitkat came from the third row, picking off competitors on each lap and finally outdueling Hinckley for the lead on lap 10.
Pitkat ran out to an eight car length lead over the charging train behind him. Hinckley closed that gap and pressured Pitkat looking to regain the number one spot, but lapped traffic allowed the Patterson Farms sponsored number 42 to build on his lead until a minor spin on lap 45 for Jeff Pearl that brought out the only yellow flag of the event.
The restart had Pitkat and Hinckley side-by-side with a bunch of heavy hitters on their bumpers. Norm Wrenn and Todd Patnode were sitting in row two, while Russ Hersey, a local favorite came from deep in the pack to restart fifth. When the green came out Pitkat assumed the lead, but Hinckley tracked him down and used an inside pass to power his way to the front on lap 52.
Over the final laps Hinckley held command and with 10 to go Pitkat's car began to fade , and that allowed Patnode to take advantage racing into second place , while one lap later Hersey slipped by Pitkat for third.
At the checkered Hinckley lead Patnode by 1.449 seconds with Hersey a close third. Pitkat hung onto fourth with Todd Szegedy rounding out the top five.
In Victory lane, an emotional Hinckley said "First and foremost, I do want to say this has been a tough couple of years for us. We lost my car owner Chuck (Montville), but this is still his program and it will always be his program. Nothing has changed, the car number and color is the same". A choked up Hinckley said, "this one's for Chucky. All that my son Allan has gone through makes my health issues secondary. This is for my family". About the race itself, he said "It was a good race early and when he (Pitkat) went by me. I could see he was getting a little free and I put pressure on him, but got messed up with lapped cars. On the restart. I got by him, but he put the pressure on me by going to the outside, that surprised me. I couldn't shake him or get away from him, it was a good race. The car never backed up, the car was flawless. It got a little free towards the end but everybody does, couldn't be happier. The track had a lot of grip in it tonight and I was pleased with that and it went really well for us."
Best lap time - 12.655.
In Victory lane, an emotional Hinckley said "First and foremost, I do want to say this has been a tough couple of years for us. We lost my car owner Chuck (Montville), but this is still his program and it will always be his program. Nothing has changed, the car number and color is the same". A choked up Hinckley said, "this one's for Chucky. All that my son Allan has gone through makes my health issues secondary. This is for my family". About the race itself, he said "It was a good race early and when he (Pitkat) went by me. I could see he was getting a little free and I put pressure on him, but got messed up with lapped cars. On the restart. I got by him, but he put the pressure on me by going to the outside, that surprised me. I couldn't shake him or get away from him, it was a good race. The car never backed up, the car was flawless. It got a little free towards the end but everybody does, couldn't be happier. The track had a lot of grip in it tonight and I was pleased with that and it went really well for us."
Hard chargers of the event had to be David Schneider and Matthew Mead, who both gained 14 positions to finish seventh and eighth respectively.
Heat winners #27 - Kevin Iannarelli, #50 - Carl Medieros Jr., #43 - Kirk Alexander
Race - Victor Johnson Memorial 100.
Track - Monadnock Speedway. 0.250 .
Margin of victory - 1.449 seconds.
Best lap time - 12.655.
Best speed - 71.118.
Best lap by - 42 - Woody Pitkat.
Time of race - 27:00 .504.
Finish.
1 - 06 - Les Hinckley III
2 - 05 - Todd Patnode
3 - 88 - Russ Hersey
4 - 42 - Woody Pitkat
5 - 85 - Todd Szegedy
6 - 5ct - Chris Pasteryak
7 - 19 - David Schneider
8 - 77 - Matthew Mead
9 - 25 - Rowan Pennink
10 - 50 - Carl Medieros Jr.
11 - 38 - Mike Willis Jr.
12 - 17 - Donnie Lashua
13 - 29 - John McKennedy
14 - 43 - Kirk Alexander
15 - 53 - Norm Wrenn
16 - 66 - Dylan Kopec
17 - 27 - Kevin Iannarelli
18 - 04 - Brandon Dion
19 - 90 - Jeff Pearl
20 - 93 - George Sherman
21 - 32 - Chris Bakaj
22 - 23 - Michael Douglas Jr.
23 - 0 - Mike Holdridge
24 - 55 - Joe Doucette
25 - 96 - Dennis Perry
26 - 33 - Rob Richardi
next event, Saturday August 29 – Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford Plains Maine
Again the photos by Simply the Best, Crystal Snape
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