August 1, Brockton, MA--- A Lakeville Speedway Reunion has been taken on by the STAR antique race car organization. It's called The Senior Tour Brings The Golden Spur Speedway Alive on Sunday, September 30 starting at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine.  The local Lion's Club at 33 Staples Shore Road, off Route 105 in Lakeville is also involved  at the original site of the track. Among the displays will be classic and antique cars.  It's sponsored by Vintage Race Cars and there will be trophy awards, an autograph session, food and drink,
memorabilia, an auction and a 50/50 drawing.  A $10 donation  charge for adults, kids under 10 are free will include food. Also, all race cars are welcome. For more information call 508.999.1480 or e-mail stars62@banet.net on the internet.
 
         Seekonk Speedway assistant manager David Alburn announced  that the third-mile Bay State oval’s Open Wheel Wednesday program which fell victim to rain on July 18, has been rescheduled in its entirety for Wednesday evening, August 29, at 7 p.m.  “We’ve heard from people from all over the Northeast, fans and competitors alike, in the week since the event was rained out,” Alburn explains.  “The overwhelming consensus was that they wanted the show to go on exactly the way it had been planned on a future Wednesday night.”  After meeting with officials from the True Value Modified Racing Series, Northeastern Midget Association, and Pro Four Modified Series, a deal was finalized late Wednesday.
 
      The fastest and fiercest competitors in northeastern Modified racing circles are expected to converge upon the Route 6 facility for the third annual Open Wheel Wednesday program, featuring the Viveiros Insurance-sponsored 100 green flag lap Modified Madness event, an open competition race paying $10,000 to the winner.  Last July, forty-two competitors from nine states attempted to qualify for the 26-car race, which carries a purse in excess of $31,000.
 
      Among the drivers who have pre-registered for this year’s Modified Madness show are former NASCAR weekly series national champion Ted Christopher, veteran front-runner Jerry Marquis, who drives the Brady Bunch entry out of Brockton, third generation ace Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mike Stefanik, Matt Hirschman, Tommy Cravenho of Raynham, Vinnie Annarummo of Swansea, and Dick Houlihan of Bridgewater.  Others who have pre-registered include; Eric Beers in the Boehler entry out of E. Freetown, Richard Savary of Canton, former Seekonk winners Louie Mechalides and Andy Seuss, Chris and Carl Pasteryak, Jimmy Kuhn, Jr. of W. Bridgewater, and defending race winner Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, NH.  Qualifying heats and a B-main will set the lineup for the 100 lap main event.
 
       The Northeastern Midget Association and Pro Four Modified Racing Series will also compete in qualifying heats and 25-lap features.  The pit area will open at 1 p.m. on race day with Modified inspections beginning at 1:30 and practice for all divisions running from 2 to 6 p.m.  Qualifying begins at 7 p.m.
 
      Veteran NASCAR champion Jerry Marquis will spend the second half of the 2007 season competing full-time in two NASCAR touring series.  Marquis, 50, of Broad Brook, CT., has joined the Robert Torriere-owned No. 35 Waste Management/Recycle America Chevrolet team for the balance of the 2007. In his first event Sunday evening at Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tenn., Marquis qualified 21st and finished ninth.
 
       Marquis is no stranger to the NASCAR Busch East Series. He was the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award winner in 1994, and placed second in championship points to Mike Stefanik in 1997. He has six career Busch Pole Awards, and seven career wins. His full-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ride this year is with team owner Joe Brady and the Brady Bunch Team out of Brockton. Marquis won the 2000 championship and he has 19 career wins. He is 11th in the current point standings.
 
      “I got a phone call recently, and was asked if I could fill in for the rest of the season,” Marquis said of the Busch East ride. “Things have changed a lot in the series since I ran it full time. Hopefully I’ll be able to fit in and help the team out as a veteran, and perform well.” Marquis had never been to Music City Motorplex until last Sunday. Since the Nashville race was the inaugural event for the series at the history-steeped, high-banked state fairgrounds track, the track was new to most drivers in the series.
 
     Marquis arrived with happy Nashville memories, however. When he won the first of two NASCAR Whelen All American Series regional championships, (1991 and 1999), he collected his hardware and point fund awards in Nashville, once the site of the national awards ceremonies, which has since moved to Las Vegas. “That was an excellent time (in 1991). I couldn’t have had more fun in Nashville back then,” Marquis said. “Winning those regional championships was an awesome experience.”
 
         Woody Pitkat’s home is only a few minutes down the road from Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford, CT.  The young racer has called Stafford his home track mainly because of its close proximity, but also because the half-mile track was where Pitkat cut his racing teeth. So far in 2007, however, Pitkat has found a new home.  The best part is, he knows the way there quite well.  He has found that home in Stafford Motor Speedway’s victory lane. 
 
     On a recent Friday night, Pitkat continued his triumphant run at Stafford with his fourth victory of the season, this one coming in the most prestigious SK Modified event of the year, the Coors Light SK Modified 100.  The 100-lap victory came just a few short hours after Pitkat took his first win of the season in the Late Model division at Stafford. The Late Model victory was impressive enough, but to follow it up with the victory in the crown jewel of the SK Modified division, the young driver who has made a career of visiting victory lane at Stafford was left speechless.
 
     “I cannot believe it,” said Pitkat of the SK Modified 100 victory.  “That is the hardest that I ever drove.  I just wanted to get up to the lead as fast as I could.  I wanted to win it bad, real bad.  I just cannot believe it.  I have the number one crew chief in the Northeast, Jimmy Fuller.  The guy is the man.” Pitkat paced himself in the 100-lap SK feature, eventually working up to second behind all-time SK Modified win leader at Stafford Ted Christopher.  Pitkat moved around Christopher for the lead on lap 35, but Christopher took the lead back on lap 52. 
 
     When Pitkat lost the lead to the all-time winner in the SK Modified division, he could’ve accepted defeat to Christopher and been happy with a top-five finish.  But he, nor the TSI Harley-Davidson #52 were going to settle for anything less than victory, even if it meant coming to pit road on lap 78 for fresh tires for the stretch run to the checkers. “I did not know what to think when they told me to come in for tires,” said Pitkat.  “There were only about twenty-laps to go and I was thinking that we were going to run out of time.  We just came in, and when I went out, I tried to heat the new tires up the best that I could.  Then at the end I knew that I had a fast car.  I started to get frustrated because the cautions kept coming out.  I knew if I got in front of TC that I would be alright.” 
 
       Pitkat rejoined the field after his stop and restarted at the rear of the field.  With the fresh rubber, he rocketed to the front. The crowd was on their feet as Pitkat made sling shot moves to the top and then the bottom.  He rocketed his way to a battle with Christopher for the lead, the lead that he would take for good on lap 95.  “We put in the motor on Wednesday night after 1in the morning and then scaled it early on Thursday morning before we went to Thompson. Then Thompson was rained out, so we were all set and we double checked everything.  I cannot thank the crew, crew chief and TSI Harley-Davidson enough.” 
 
       Earlier in the night, Pitkat took the lead on lap four of the 30-lap Late Model feature in the #48 TSI Harley-Davidson machine and dominated the rest of the event for his first Late Model win of the year.  The 2006 Stafford Late Model Track Champion finally broke into victory lane in that division Friday night, but combining the elation of winning his first Late Model race of the year with winning the biggest SK Modified feature this season, Pitkat solidified his place as the new tenant of victory lane at Stafford. “I cannot believe it.  Two-for-two. It was an unbelievable night.”
 
     Various reports tell of the Waterford (CT) Speedbowl escaping a bank foreclosure last Saturday when track owner Terry Eames was able to secure new financing with the help of friends and another bank. Eames leased out the track to two promoters in 2006 who have been working long and hard to keep the track in a profitable position.  
 
        Jeff Anton of Russell has strung together consecutive top-ten finishes for the first time this year, following up last weekend's tenth place finish at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway with a seventh on Sunday night in a 150-lap NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series event at the Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
      Anton, driving the No. 30 Baran Institute of Technology/Engineered Floors, Inc. Chevrolet, entered the Music City 150 in a tight points battle that involved drivers running sixth through thirteenth in the standings, so every position gained or lost on the track was important. The venue was new to the series, but Anton liked it.  "It's a fun track, I like it," he said. "This track is perfect for this series. It has a bottom groove and a middle groove. At Stafford or Thompson, you've got one groove and that's it. This track is perfect for what we do."
 
      Fresh tires meant a lot at Music City, while the race procedures did not allow teams to change tires during the course of the event. Anton worked on making his car good on old tires to take advantage of this, which meant his qualifying suffered. He turned a lap fast enough to start the race 22nd.
 
     "I thought we were going to qualify better than what we did, but we still picked up a half a second from practice," he said. "I left a little on the table in qualifying as well, something was telling me not to push the envelope. I don't like where we're starting, but we're consistent, and we're pretty quick once the tires start to fall off. We're one of the faster cars after the first few laps. We ran down the 44 [polesitter Sean Caisse] in practice when we were on old tires, and when you run him down, you're doing all right. Once these tires wear a little, we're going to be in a good spot."
 
     Anton was right about his being able to make up ground as the race wore on. It took him till after halfway through the 150-lap event to get to the top ten, but once he was there, he wasn't slowing down. He joined a battle with Jerry Marquis for eighth, but that race was put on hold due to caution on lap 103. Cautions were Anton's friend as he could take advantage of his cooled tires on each restart.
 
    "When the caution came out, the car would tighten up a lot," he said. "That would really help me drive on the inside on the restarts. A lot of cars couldn't run down there but we were really good there. After a few laps, once we got some heat in the tires, the car would free up a lot. I'd step on the brake pedal and the tail would get really light on me. I'd let it coast up the hill but I couldn't get off the turns that well, and that was my big problem."
 
      Despite the car's loose condition, Anton continued racing towards the front, running as high as seventh before falling to ninth with 25 laps to go. In those final 25 laps, Anton returned to seventh before running out of time. Despite getting his third top ten of the year, he did not pick up any ground in the points standings, now sitting in a tie for seventh, just sixteen points out of fifth.
 
      "At the beginning of the day I thought we had a real good day race car, even though we didn't qualify well," he said. "The thing was great, but I'd have liked it to be a little tighter off so I could get onto the gas sooner. But it turned out to be a great car, a top-five car. Things turned out a little different but it was still a great run for us. We haven't been having good runs with this car, but now it's showing what it's capable of.
 
       "All in all, we stayed out of trouble, we had a great race, we got through the field constantly knocking cars off, and I'm happy for all the guys," Anton, of Russell, Massachusetts, continued. "We've got two top-tens in a row so we're doing better in the points heading to some tracks that I'm really looking forward to. I've been looking forward to this part of the season and now that we've got some momentum, I think we're in position to really do well."
 
        Matt Kobyluck of Uncasville, CT was well on his way to a top-five finish in the NASCAR Busch East Series debut at Nashville's Music City Motorplex Sunday night, but a tire issue relegated the driver to a 12th place finish. Kobyluck, however, was able to move up the points ladder with his finish.
 
            "It was a good points night for us and we moved up to second," he explained. "We're in one piece and we got a 12th place finish out of it. Certainly I would have liked to have been in the top-10, but on that last restart the 35 car almost came down on us and we had to back out of it. Whether it was 9th or 10th or 11th or 12th it really doesn't make much of a difference, but at the end of the season it might. We're getting closer every week though and the guys are working really hard to close up the gap every week."
 
            Kobyluck started the Music City 150 from the third position after posting a qualifying lap of 109.269 mph in qualifying. The Uncasville, CT-native took the lead on lap four from Sean Caisse and remained out front until lap 12 when Jamie Hayes went under him in turn three.
 
            "In the beginning of the race the car was awesome and then the right rear just went to junk and I had absolutely no grip at all with the right rear. I couldn't get in, I couldn't get through the middle, I couldn't get off: it was just sideways everywhere. I figured maybe it would come back around so I just backed up and let a bunch of guys go by me and I just saved it as much as I could. I figured when the sun went down and we burned some fuel off it would come back," he said.
 
            Kobyluck, though sliding back, never really went outside the top-10 until lap 120 when he fell back to 15th. Caution waved at lap 124 and the team opted to make some changes. "We were trying to tighten it up. We dropped the track bar a bunch to see what that would do, and it tightened it up, which is what we wanted it to do, so maybe we were just too high on the
trackbar. It was kind of weird because on a long run during practice the car was really, really good. A different set of tires, that's all it takes sometimes to throw your set up a little bit. On a track like this where grip is a premium it takes its toll."
 
            Kobyluck resumed the race in the 17th position on the lap 131 restart and was running 11th by lap 140 when caution waved. The green flag dropped for the final time at lap 148 with Kobyluck determined to break into the top-10.
 
            "On that last restart we actually would have got a top-10. I don't know what the 35 was doing. He was running on the apron because he was running out of gas and then when we went back green, he was restarting on the high side and then he dropped down to the low side. He was in my lane, and then he went sideways on the restart and checked up," Kobyluck explained. "The 66 who was right behind him went underneath him in turn two. We were both just going to go right by him and the 35 just came right down the hill and took the nose right off the 66. He almost spun him out and me out." The Mohegan Sun Casino driver opted to bring the car home in one piece rather than the push issue and settled for a 12th place finish.
 
             Plainville's Henry Stampfl started the '07 season racing his Modified at the All-Star Speedway in Epping, NH. As you read this he's leading the points in that division. However, Rusty Ball of Keene, NH is inching his way up on the Stampfl.  "We are having some sort of electrical problems and we're trying to correct it," revealed Henry. He makes the 86 mile tow up to southern NH every Saturday doubling up with his cousin Daryl of Norwood who races a Pro Stock at All Star.   "I had an incident with a Whelen Modified Tour driver from CT which resulted in a confrontation. The track officials warned me not to do it again because I'd get penalized."  Daryl's brother Denny races his Late Model in selected ACT, Seekonk and Thompson (CT) Speedway events.
 
       Thursday Night Thunder at the Thompson Speedway in CT Jim Blewett won the Sunoco Modified main event. Rick Gentes took the Late Model go while Plymouth's Paul Newcomb, Jr. came in seventh. The Thompson Modified feature went to Roger Larson while Leo Oliviera of Raynham came in fourth, Mike Viens of Seekonk was next with seventh going to Richie Ferriera of Raynham.
 
       Seekonk Speedway managed to get it all in last Saturday night dodging the scattered showers. Homeboy Dave Berghman won the Pro Stock Feature while Les Rose, Jr. of E. Wareham recorded a fifth place. Wayne Dion of RI has returned to the racing action and took a sixth place.
 
       Thanks to persistent inclement weather and a forecast for more, the True Value Modified Racing Series caught a break in their busy schedule Saturday night, a cancellation at Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, NH; and now the popular touring division featuring open wheel modified race cars, will shift it’s focus on a return trip up Rte 95 to Scarborough, ME; to the historic Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Saturday night, August 4, for the “Beech Ridge 100.” The third annual event is also be a “guaranteed starter” race for the upcoming Sunoco “Mod Mania” weekend at Thompson, CT;  Sept 8,9. The popular 1/3 mile race facility for years has been rated by fans as one of the best short track venues in the country.
 
     TVMRS fans will find a pair of Maine drivers, a Maine Hall of Fame car owner, and two former Beech Ridge winners leading a long list of entries that will attempt to qualify for the main event. Two years ago, in a surprise move, David Pinkham from Buxton ME, electrified the crowd as he piloted a car owned by Gary Casella from Saugus to victory. It was the first
time the former Beech Ridge standout had driven a modified in several years. Just two weeks ago Pinkham made his first tour start this season in a car owned and prepared by Beech Ridge Hall of Fame inductee Goodwin Hannaford of Hollis, ME. Hannaford came out of retirement and lured Pinkham to wheel his racer. The two have partnered before as owner-driver and know the way to victory lane.
 
         Tony Ricci of Westbrook, ME; is also expected to enter despite a crash at Oxford, ME; two weeks ago. That incident created a considerable amount of shop time to prepare his racer for Saturday. The young charger is a two time winner on the tour. Dale Evonsion, E, Harland, CT; son of long time racer S.J. Evonsion, piloted his familiar # 35 to his first series
(Modified) win last season and is the events defending champion. Evonsion bested a fast closing Pinkham and 2006 tour champion Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT; in last years race.
 
    Point leader and three time winner Kirk Alexander of W. Swanzey, NH; is expected as is Les Hinckley, Windsor Locks CT; also a three time winner this season. The two have staged tremendous races in the last two series events at Lee and Oxford Plains and both drivers will have the attention of fans. Alexander, the result of his win at Oxford Plains, will start last in the field.
 
      Defending Champion Dwight Jarvis, his brother Peter, Lee winner Lou Mechalides of Tygnsboro, MA; Jim Kuhn, Jr. of W. Bridgewater, Hampstead, NH’s, Andy Seuss, Seekonk victor Vinnie Annarummo from Swansea, Connecticut hot shoes Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, and Ed Dachenhausen from Danbury, are expected entries. Dachenhausen scored an impressive fifth place finish last August. The 100 lap feature race lineup will be determined by 12 lap heat races and a 15 lap last chance race or B feature. Qualifying races start at 6 PM. Beech Ridge Speedway is located at 70 Holmes Rd, Scarborough, ME. 
 
       A different form of racing will take place at New Hampshire International Speedway on Wednesday, August 15 as the New Hampshire State Police host the Seventeenth Annual D.A.R.E. 5K Classic.  This event consists of a one-mile Fun Run/Walk and a 5-kilometer road race.  The run/walk course uses the road circuit, pit road, and portions of the Speedway oval.
 
      Race day registration will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 15 in the Speedway’s infield.  Race activities will start at 6:00 p.m.  Registration costs $15 on the day of the event, and $13 if you pre-register by Thursday, August 9.  T-shirts will be provided to the first 300 runners pre-registered for the 5K race.  Runners will also be entered in a random drawing that will be held following the awards ceremony.
 
            There will be trophies presented to the top male and female finishers in eight different age categories.  In addition, there are separate team and individual awards in the Law Enforcement category, where the runners are sworn police officers. The New Hampshire State Police K-9 Unit will be on-hand giving demonstrations.  All of the race proceeds benefit the New Hampshire D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs in the State of New Hampshire.
 
           The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour moves to the Riverhead Speedway out on Long Island, NY this Saturday night. Making the trip out includes local drivers and teams such as the Brady Bunch entry out of Brockton driven by Jerry Marquis, Eric Beers in the Mike Boehler car out of E. Freetown and Bridgewater's Dick Houlihan. 
 
      Let's check the racing action in southern New England for this weekend. Thursday night kicks off Thursday Night Thunder at the Thompson (CT) Speedway at 5 p.m. Stafford in CT goes with a full card of NASCAR Whelen All American Series action on Friday night at 7 p.m. Saturday has Seekonk Speedway hosting the ACT Tour Series at 6 p.m. The same night
Waterford (CT) Speedbowl adds antique race cars from three different clubs to their NASCAR card. For the bikers Wachusetts Valley in Winchendon hosts the NEDTS flat track motorcycles with practice at 5 p.m. followed by races at 6 .m. NHIS in Loudon, NH hosts a WKA National all weekend while New England Dragway has the NOPI Nationals on Saturday and Sunday for the drag crowd.

    Lou Modestino is a long-time columnist and Public Relations person, working for numerous tracks in the northeast, and now writes for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA.  He may be reached at lmodestino@hotmail.com. 

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