THOMPSON, CT – Over thirty teams took advantage of Practice Day at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, in preparation for the Stock Car Road Race Challenge, presented by SHE Racing.
Drivers from the North East Mini Stock Tour, North East Street Stock Tour, Mr. Rooter New England Truck Series, Thompson Mini Stocks, and The Racing School all turned laps on the 1.7-mile road course on Friday, paving the way for qualifying and feature events to be held on Saturday.
Mark Gravius led the way for participants of The Racing School, turning a lap of 1:28.444. George Farrar was second on the day, turning a 1:30.902 lap, with George Roberts close behind, posting a time of 1:31.186. Rick Davis and Mike Trainor also took advantage of Friday’s practice session.
Davis, who has participated with The Racing School in a Late Model on the oval, respects the road course layout, saying “It’s very challenging, actually. You don’t get the speed of a Late Model on the high banks, but it’s very hard to make it through the corners correctly to keep your speed up.”
Nick Maniatis set the fast time in the North East Mini Stock Tour. Maniatis paced a lap of 1:26.567, with former New Hampshire Motor Speedway road course winner Emerson Cayer on his bumper, posting a lap of 1:26.967. Former Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park oval runner Nick Anderson set third fastest time of the day, with a 1:27.244. Desmond Skillings and Joe Baxter had the fourth and fifth best times, respectively.
Co-point leader Geoff Rollins set a blistering pace in the North East Street Stock Tour, quickly learning the course and posting a 1:26.263 lap. Rollins day turned sour late, as the Groton, MA driver suffered a rear end failure in the final practice, but is expected to return for Saturday’s event. A pair of former oval champions set the second and third fastest times of the day, with Steve Kenneway logging a 1:27.848, and co-point leader Chris Douton recording a 1:28.055. Jim Boyle and Joe Arena rounded out the top five practice times in the division.
The Mr. Rooter New England Truck Series saw Roger Turbush set the fastest time of all competitors. The six-time feature winner posted a lap of 1:25.498, but was closely contested by Frank Dumicich, Jr., who logged a lap of 1:25.959. His father, Frank Dumicich, Sr. posted the third fastest time of the day in the series, with a lap of 1:27.175. Bert Ouellette and Jon Zoller made improvements throughout the day, and were the fourth and fifth fastest trucks.
The father/son duo of Mike and Chris Viens paced the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Mini Stocks on the afternoon. Chris posted a lap of 1:30.169, with his father second at 1:31.942. With Friday’s practice session being the first time setting foot on a road course, Chris exclaimed “It isn’t as hard as I thought it’d be. It’d be cool to say you won the first event [on a road course].
Steve Michalski recorded a 1:34.939 lap, before suffering engines troubles in the final practice session.
The Stock Car Road Race Challenge continues on Saturday, September 12, with final practices, qualifying, and feature events. Registration opens at 7AM, with practice beginning at 8:30AM, qualifying at 10:30AM, and feature events scheduled to start at 1:35PM. Tickets for Saturday’s event are $30, and include full access to the paddock area for fans and drivers, alike. For more information, visit www.otbpromos.net.
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