October 15, Brockton, MA--- There have been rumors and track talk about another new Modified series in New England and the possible sale of the True Value Modified Racing Series from Jack Bateman of Claremont, NH to Connecticut's Ben Dodge. We caught up to Bateman at the recent D. Anthony Venditti Memorial event at the Seekonk Speedway.  "Ben came to Seekonk on qualifying day (Saturday) and he told me that he had no desire to start another Modified Series. But, I will say this, Ben will more than likely be an advisor or consultant. We discussed all this at some length. But, there's no goals or timetable. I'm sure that we'll get through all that during the upcoming months.

     It appears that Bateman had an awful lot on his plate this past racing season. In a surprise move he took over the promotion of the Canaan Fair dirt track in NH. However, Jack threw in the towel in late August and left the helm of that venue. "What happened was that I over stepped my  ability to pull it off. We curtailed the season by a few weeks," he said. Jack owns an racing engine and parts business plus a bus company. Also, he competes as a driver/owner in the TVMRS in all of the events. "But, I also had an amicable parting with Dick and Sandy Henry the owners of the Canaan tracks."

     On the 2008 TVMRS schedule, "We will probably have about 18 races next year. It will be a similar schedule as 2007." We also understand that other tracks are still lining up to get a TVMRS race one hot prospect is Thunder Road in Barre, VT. The Airborne Speedway in Plattsburg, NY is also another prospect. However, going to NY State could be an over by the TVRMS. Also, consider that there's the Race of Champions Modified pavement series in the Empire State.

       Dave Dion of Hudson, NH put on quite a show in the recent Pro Stock Open at the Seekonk Speedway between himself and Matt Hudon of Acushnet. The two drivers swapped the lead in the 100 lap Pro Stock race several times with 18-year old Hudon managed to hold off the veteran driver on the final lap. Dion accepted an invitation to come to the DAV Memorial by Irene Venditti the owner of the track. Approaching his mid-60's the former NASCAR Busch Series champ has backed off a heavy schedule.  "I expect that I'll run some PASS Pro Stock races because we can still run our Ford power plant, which I'm partial too," said Dave. He also said that he's hopeful that his sponsorship by the Dagesse Auto Group in northern New England will continue on in spite of that company changing hands. "Danny sold it all to George Gillett who also recently bought into Ray Evenham's NASCAR racing teams. Gillett has strong ties to racing and we are hopeful. We were associated with the Dagesse Auto Group for 21 years."

     Bridgewater's Dick Houlihan called it a career following last weekend's World Series of Stockcar Racing at the Thompson Intl. Speedway in Conn. last weekend. The former Seekonk Speedway and NASCAR Pro Stock Champion moved into the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour about five years ago. "I have to thank Bob Katon (J&R Precast in Berkley). He gave me the opportunity to drive his cars for the past 20 years. Right now Bob is looking for a replacement driver. There's been a lot of top names mentioned. But, they'll have to bring something to the team like sponsorship," revealed Houli.

      Donny Lia of Jericho, N.Y. captured the 2007 Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Track Championship at New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS) in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

    Driving the famous No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge for legendary car owner, Bob Garbarino, Donny won the New England 100 in June and was third at the New Hampshire 75 in September.  Lia has also been crowned as the 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion.  This is Bob Garbarino’s first NASCAR Touring Championship since he established Mystic Missile Racing.  Donny was third in the standings in the Speedway’s Whelen Modified Tour Track Championship in 2004.

       Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, Conn. has finished in second place in the Track Championship standings.  Szegedy finished fifth in July’s New England 100 and won September’s New Hampshire 75 after capturing the pole behind the wheel of the No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford.  Todd finished third in the Whelen Modified Tour Track Championship in 2003 at NHIS.

     Ronnie Silk has captured third place in the Track Championship point standings.  Driving the No. 19 Major Motion/Silk Plumbing Chevrolet, this Norwalk, Conn. native finished sixth in June at the New England 100 and second in the September New Hampshire 75.  This is Ronnie’s first podium finish in the NHIS Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Track Championship for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

       The Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Championship awards a total purse of $10,000 to the top three finishing drivers at the New Hampshire International Speedway races based on the point system for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

      Joey Logano of  Middletown, Conn. has won the 2007 Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Track Championship at New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS) in the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series.

      Driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Driven Chevrolet, Joey won from the pole at the New England 125 in June and completed his “sweep” by winning the Aubuchon Hardware 125 presented by HardwareStore.com in September.  He has also captured the 2007 NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series Championship.  At age 17, Logano is the youngest driver ever to win a Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Track Championship at NHIS.

     Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH has placed second in the Busch East Series Track Championship standings.  Behind the wheel of the No. 55 Irving Oil Chevrolet, Leighton finished second at the New England 125 and was seventh at the Aubuchon Hardware 125 presented by HardwareStore.com.  Brad has won the Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Busch East Series Track Championship four times (1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002).  He was second in the Track Championship standings in 1999.

      Peyton Sellers, driver of the No. 83 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet, has captured third place in the Track Championship point standings.  The Danville, Va. native finished ninth at the New England 125 and fourth at the Aubuchon Hardware 125 presented by HardwareStore.com.  Sellers has three Top-10 finishes in four Busch East Series starts at “The Magic Mile”.

       The Lincoln Electric/Merriam-Graves Championship awards a total purse of $10,000 to the top three finishing drivers at the New Hampshire International Speedway races based on the point system for the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series. All of the  awards will be presented at the Speedway's Annual Holiday Dinner on Wednesday, December 12, 2007.

      Middleboro's Jim Rosenfield has done most of his racing far from his home base. But, it was worth the effort at the White Mountain Motorsports Park in N. Woodstock, NH. The PASS Outlaw Late Models had  100 green-flag laps of action. The #66X of Mike Fowler and the #57 of Zig Geno brought the 24 car field to the green. Things almost went really badly for #44 of Jim Rosenfield as he and the #01 of Joe Decker got together coming off turn four on lap one, but both kept going without bringing out the yellow.

       On lap 36, the leaders were already lapping cars, but the #72 of Brian Whitney, who was only eight points behind Rosenfield for the North Division championship, and Ryan Nolin of Georgia, VT in the Mountain Air Systems #78 in his first PASS Outlaw Series  outing were not about to give up their side-by-side battle for the leaders. But, after a ten lap battle, Fowler squeezed by the two coming out of turn four and put them both down a lap.

      At the halfway mark, it was Fowler, the #53 of Alan Wilson, and the #23 of D. J. Shaw. On lap 55, the leaders had to scramble into the infield grass as the #20 of Brian Henry and the #87 of Dave Bitondo tangled in turn three. Several lapped cars scrambled by the leaders as they came across the grass on the frontstretch and moved to the back of the field on the restart.

      A quick spin by Mike Thomas in the #25 brought out the fourth yellow of the day on lap 58, but Thomas got it going in front of the leaders and saved himself a lap. Fowler jumped out again to the lead on the restart. Wilson took to the outside to challenge Fowler, but D J. Shaw took the open low line and took over second.  Wilson doesn’t give up that easily, however, and at lap 75 he took second back from D. J. On lap 80, Donnie Lashua in the #21 saw an end to a good day as he coasted to a stop in turn two bringing out yellow number five. Young Shaw spun in turn four on lap 82, and several cars dodged around him as the young gun kept it going but lost several spots.

      With ten laps to go, it was still Fowler, Wilson, with Matt Lee in the #00 making it a three-way battle. A quick debris yellow at lap 91 saw Fowler take off again to a three car length lead. On lap 93, the great run of Wilson went bad as he and Lee tangled off turn four with several cars behind them including the #57 of Geno, the #55 of Jimmy Renfrew, and the #15 of Chris Wilk all getting caught up in the wreck. Lee drove off quickly to maintain second, but Wilson was done for the day. Fowler went out to the lead again. Lee couldn’t catch him over the last seven laps, and Fowler claimed his first PASS Outlaw win after running well in many races, but not having the luck to close it out. This time he was the class of the field and made it all work.

      Rosenfield avoided trouble after his lap one scare and brought home the PASS Outlaw Series Combo title for local  veteran after he claimed the Central title last year. And, as a bonus, he also claimed the North Division title, but gave up the Central crown to Walt Hammond.

    The the three day World Series event at Thompson was very hectic. The first day of features had Rick Gentes take the Outlaw Late Models with Larry Barnett of CT the winner of the Limiteds while Tim Sullivan, also of CT, won the Outlaw Strictly Stocks and Mike Romano won the Mini Stocks.  Leo Adams of CT was the winner in the Thompson Modifieds while Richie Ferreira and Leo Oliviera, both of Raynham, came in fifth and sixth. Seekonk's Mike Viens cracked the top ten. Randy Churchill of CT emerged the winner in the Outlaw Mini Stocks. Norm Wren of NH won the Pro 4 Modified main while Cory Cleary of Plymouth came home fourth at the finish line.

    On Sunday at Thompson Randy Cabral of Plymouth and Ben Seitz of Monument Beach were both opportunists Sunday. Cabral won the caution-free 25-lap  Northeastern Midget Association feature at Thompson  Speedway’s World Series. Seitz’ sixth place finish turned out more than enough to capture a record fourthstraight driver’s championship. It was the 16th and final event in NEMA’s 55th season.   Shane Hammond of E. Bridgewater came in fourth and Paul Scally of Raynham ended his day in ninth. Jeff Conners won the Pro Stocks while Rob Murphy of Rochester cracked the top ten. Ron Levesque of RI took the Late Model main event. Jimmy Blewett of NJ managed to hold off Needham's Kerry Malone in the Sunoco Modified feature while Tom Cravenho managed a sixth followed by Bob Santos, III of Franklin. Santos also won his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour feature the last event of the afternoon driving the Mike Boehler entry out of E. Freetown. Dick Houlihan of Bridgewater came in 11th which was his final race of his career. Rick Savary of Canton was 13th, Jerry Marquis took 17th in the Brady Bunch car out of Brockton and Bob Grigas of Marshfield ended up 25th.  Chris Perley of Rowley won the ISMA Super Modified main.

       AMA Racing regrets the cancellation of the final round of the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship, AMA Grand National Twins Championship event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 6. According to Ken Saillant, AMA Flat Track Director, race officials were forced to suspend the event due to a deteriorating track surface.  “Throughout the course of the event, the track was literally coming apart,” said Saillant.  “Working with the event promoter, our crew made every attempt imaginable to salvage the track and keep it race worthy but that proved to be impossible.  In the interest of rider safety, we ultimately made the difficult decision to cancel the event.” Las Vegas Motor Speedway is refunding the price of admission.  For more information contact the track at (800) 644-4444.  The Las Vegas event will not be rescheduled.  Kenny Coolbeth of Morris, CT  clinched both the AMA Grand National Twins Championship as well as the AMA Grand National Singles Championship at the previous round on September 29, at USA Race Park in Tucson, Arizona so neither of the AMA Flat Track championships were affected by the cancellation.  Coolbeth is sponsored by Bettencourt Honda/Suzuki in W. Bridgewater.

     There isn't too much in the way of motorsport action in southern New England this weekend. But, up in southern NH there's going to be a lot of activity at the All-Star Speedway in Epping, NH on Friday night and all day Saturday with a Modified event and a Pro Stock race that pays 10 grand to win. At the same time just about a dozen miles up Rt. 125 the Lee USA Speedway plans their annual Oktoberfest. A combination of wet weather and getting permits at All-Star resulted in this big conflict.

       The good part about all this is that the two venues are very close to each other. The only wiggle room in this situation is that Lee plans to run most of their features on Sunday. We can expect a lot of traffic between those two venues on Friday and Saturday. And if it rains again then it will be back to planning the reschedule dates with the cooler weather starting to close in.

     There's also  some area competitors planning on taking in those two late season events. According to reports Ted Christopher will be steering one of the Brady Bunch cars out of Brockton while Jimmy Kuhn of W. Bridgewater also plans to take in both events, as well.

      The AMA released its 2008 outdoor MotoX schedule. It all gets underway in late May. The usual stop in southern New England is set for Aug. 23-24  at Motocross 338 in Southwick.

     Let's see what's left on the quickly diminishing racing schedule in southern New England. The Capeway Rovers continue on with the NCSC Fall MotoX Series all day Sunday while Crow Hill in Templeton offers Pit Bike Action Round 3 the same day. The kart crowd have events Sunday at  Shelton Speedway and Pomfret Raceway both in CT.  Stafford Speedway in CT hosts the Ty-Rods 33rd Annual Swap Meet starting at 9 a.m. Sunday

    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. 

Long Island Motorsports News encourages you to patronize our fine sponsors---

Disclaimer:  Views expressed by columnists and all others on this website are strictly their own, and may not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of the management of Long Island Motorsports News.