August 7, Brockton, MA--- No not Junior, but Dale's nephew Jeffrey, the youngest member of the  Earnhardt legacy, will be racing at Lime Rock Park this coming 17-18 August  2007 in the Mohegan Sun NASCAR Busch East 200. Next to Jeffrey lies local  talent star, Joey Logano from Middletown, CT, who is taking the points lead,  a field of rookies taking on the long-standing veterans, a handful of diverse drivers ranging from Michelle Theriault, also from Connecticut, to  Rubin Pardo, part of the NASCAR Hispanic initiatives and a developmental  program sure of success.

       We've always said that when the Busch East Series comes to Lime Rock  Park you get the chance to see "the future stars of NASCAR" as it's the  ultimate proving ground for drivers working their way up the NASCAR ladder.  But this year, that is especially the case. In this season alone, the Busch  East Series has seven national teams with eight drivers not only battling it  out every week, but proving that their young, new talent is something to  take seriously.

       NASCAR teams that are establishing new NASCAR Busch East Series driver development programs include Joe Gibbs Racing (driver Joey Logano),  Dale Earnhardt Inc. with Andy Santerre Motorsports (driver Jeffrey Earnhardt), Ginn Racing (driver Jesus Hernandez), Ken Schrader Racing, Inc.  (driver Jamie Hayes), Fitz Motorsports (driver Ruben Pardo), Rusty Wallace, Inc. (driver Chase Austin) and Hendrick Motorsports (driver Landon Cassill).

     They aren't established stars yet, but with a paddock full of drivers with some very bright futures, the Mohegan Sun 200 will be yet another step up the ladder. However, let's not forget some of the veterans that have "owned" this series. This isn't their first time at Lime Rock Park and without the chance to test their cars, these veteran drivers have the utmost advantage over the young guns. Mike Olson of NH, Matt Kobyluck of CT  and Brad Leighton, another Granite State driver, not only know their way around Lime Rock Park but also know their way through a long championship season.  No matter who the driver is, the championship is the biggest prize, and as the only road course race, Lime Rock Park could be the turning point of the
season.

       The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the Thompson International Speedway on Thursday, August 16 for what is sure to be an incredible night of competition. Race fans have made this traditional August visit of the "Tour" one of the most popular events on the Thompson schedule.

            The annual running of the New England Dodge Dealers presentation of the BUDWEISER 150 brings out the very best of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The "Bud 150" is always an extremely competitive event and it  is the final "Tour" race in the northeast before the schedule takes the Whelen Modifieds to Ohio and  Virginia.

            Donny Lia, with four wins in seven starts this season, will lead a stellar field of "Tour" Modified race teams to the Connecticut oval. He will be joined by the likes of Matt Hirschman, Todd Szegedy, James Civali and Ronnie Silk. In addition, Mike Stefanik, Jimmy and John Blewett, Ed Flemke, Jr., Ted Christopher and Jerry Marquis in the Brady Bunch car out of Brockton will also be on hand to represent the very best in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racing.

            The BUD 150 event will mark the third of five scheduled visits of the Whelen Modified Tour to the high banks of Thompson. Civali won the season opening ICEBREAKER in a real nail-biter when a "green, white, checker" finish gave Chuck Hossfeld a shot at taking the top spot. But, Civali was able to maintain the lead and win by .26 seconds over Hossfeld. The NASCAR Whelen Modifieds returned to Thompson in June and Donny Lia, who, at that time, had won two of the first four events of the season, continued his winning ways. He took command of the event for the final 66 laps. It was the 8eighth career win for Lia. Ted Christopher finished second and Bobby Santos, III of Franklin had his best Whelen Modified tour finish by placing third.

       It will be a full night of exciting competition as the NASCAR Whelen All American Series divisions at Thompson will also be in competition with feature-only events. Qualifying for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour cars will begin at 5:45 p.m. Feature event racing will start at 6:30 p.m. The running of the New England Dodge Dealers presentation of the BUD 150 is
scheduled for an 8:45 p.m.  start.

      The TRG No. 66 CRG/Maxter Porsche GT3 driven by Hingham's RJ Valentine and Andy Lally made it a total of five GT-class wins for the 2007 Grand-Am season, including previous victories at Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Iowa Speedway. The win in Montreal also marks the team's fifth GT-class win in the past eight races.  Valentine is the CEO of F1 Boston and F1 Outdoors in E. Bridgewater.

      Valentine qualified the No.66 in 15eighth-place and took the green flag for the two-and-a-half hour race on the 2.71-mile, 15-turn road course. He ran a strong first stint to stay on the lead lap and turned the car over to Lally in pristine condition. Lally took over and in his traditional style picked his way to the front of the pack to set up a late race showdown.  As the field entered the final circuit of competition coming off a full course yellow, the No.66 sat in second-place shadowing the No. 87 of Dirk Werner. True to form, Lally took advantage of crowded conditions to make an incredible pass for the lead in the hairpin turn more than half-way into the last lap to secure the win.

      "This is absolutely incredible," said Lally. "This win is great and I want to thank RJ for being such a terrific teammate and TRG for giving me the awesome cars I need to run up front. We're now in second-place in the points and we have our sights set on another championship for TRG."

      "Wow, what an unbelievable day," said TRG team owner Kevin Buckler. "RJ and I were both pretty nervous on the start because we knew what a big race this was and usually there's a lot of carnage here. RJ did a great job of keeping the car on the lead lap until Andy took over. Great pit stops, great strategy and great teamwork by the TRG crew put us up front by the
half-way mark. We had terrific battles with the No. 87 (Werner) and the No. 07 (Paul Edwards), but in the end 'last-lap-Lally' came through one more time to put on a great move in traffic and take the win for us. Unbelievable!"

      RJ stated, "Being in the racing business for as long as I have, I've never been involved with a more professional, organized team effort. Kevin and Lars Giersig, our engineer, always make incredible strategic calls and we always have the best set up on our cars. And Andy is a class of his own. I have never had a better co-driver!"  The No. 66 of Valentine and Lally now
sit in second-place in the Championship points battle, just five points out of the lead.

     Franklin's Bobby Santos, III took his second ARCA RE/MAX Series pole of the season at the Pocono Intl. Raceway in PA last weekend. But, his strong efforts came to an early end around the 20eighth lap when another race car hit him and took him out the action.

       Last week's Thursday Night Thunder at Thompson Speedway saw Burt Marvin take another Sunoco Modified feature while Needham's Kerry Malone came in third and Raynham's Tom Cravenho ended the night in fifth.  Steve Michalski of Franklin while Oakey O'Conner of Wrentham came in sixth. Mark Jenisin of won the Late Models and Rich Grover of Franklin cracked the top five. Fred Astle, Jr. of Westport won the Pro Stock feature while Jay Macedonio of Somerset took down third. Sixth went to Les Rose, Jr. of E. Wareham with Steve Desmaris of Westport next and then Seekonk's Dave Berghman.  The Thompson Modified main was taken by Kurt Vigeant with third place going to Mike Viens of Seekonk while Richie Ferreira of Raynham was sixth followed by his neighbor Leo Oliviera and ninth was Cam McDermott of Scituate.

    The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour performed at the Riverhead Raceway out on Long Island last weekend  Don Lia was the winner in the Boehler #3 out of E. Freetown. Jerry Marquis' effort in the Brady Bunch entry out of Brockton was stalled due to an accident and he ended up 21st. Canton's Rick Savary had a similar fate and he placed 22nd as did Bridgewater's Dick Houlihan who got a 27eighth.

    The NEMA Midgets were in action at the Waterford Speedbowl in CT the same night. Niki Fornoro of PA took that one while Bridgewater's Greg Stoehr had to settle for the runner-up spot. Erica Santos of Franklin cracked the top five while Shane Hammond of E. Bridgewater was next. Ben Sietz of Monument Beach ended the night in ninth. Plymouth's Randy Cabral placed 12eighth, Paul Scally of Raynham took 15eighth, Corey Cleary of Plymouth was 19eighth at the finish and Marshfield's Shawn Torrey came in 22nd.

    The True Value Modified Series saw action at the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, ME last weekend. Kirk Alexander came out of that event with another win. Vinnie Annarummo of Swansea took a seventh while 14eighth went to Pembroke's Bill Goodrow. Bridgewater's Jimmy Kuhn, Jr. went out on lap 21 with mechanical ills and was awarded 23rd.

     Jimmy Rosenfield of Middleboro plans on taking in this Saturday night's Pro Stock race at the All Star Speedway in Epping, NH. He's committed to the PASS Outlaw Late Models and has few weeks off and the $2,500 to win has gotten his attention. "That's a nice piece of change," he said as while a spectator at last Saturday night's ACT Tour stop at the Seekonk Speedway.

      And at Seekonk last week, 18 year old Joey Pole of Nashua, NH won his first feature with that series after a tough fight in the entire 100 lap distance.  Former Seekonk Late Model driver Ryan Vanasse of RI, who runs with the ACT Tour, ended the night in 11eighth.  Nice going by Kevin Casper of Attleboro who took on the invaders and came in fourth overall.  In the other events hometown driver Dave Darling came from way back to post another win the Pro Stocks while Mike Cavallaro won the Sport Truck main event.

      Let's check the southern New England Motorsports schedule to see what's happen this weekend. It's Thursday Night Thunder at the Thompson Speedway in CT. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour makes another stop at the Stafford Speedway in CT on Friday night. Seekonk adds a extra distance to the Pro Stock feature for a total of 75 laps on Saturday night. The same night it's five NASCAR divisions at the Waterford (CT) Speedbowl and Mini Sprint action at the Whip City Speedway in Westfield. For the bikers the Quoboag Riders in Monson offers an AMA Amature National Hillclimb all weekend. It's a big IHRA National at the New England Dragway in Epping, NH starting with qualifying Friday night and all day Saturday. Sunday will top it off with Final Eliminations. For the road racing crowd Lime Rock Park in CT hosts the Northern NJ SCCA Regionals on Friday and Saturday.

    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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