May 12, Brockton, MA--- All-Star Speedway hosted the first big event of the 2008 season on Saturday night, with the WaterSnoGo Modified Showdown 150 presented by Laticrete took center stage. Many of the top names in the Modified business were in the pits for the first round of the four-race All-Star Modified Showdown, with Ted Christopher, Mike Stefanik, Jimmy Blewett, Bobby Grigas, Ronnie Silk and a host of other big names looking to take home the big bucks.

Last year’s race winner, Rob Summers, was knocked out of action during practice, when he made hard contact with the turn three wall to end his day with a racer that was too heavily damaged to repair. Andy Seuss got out of shape and drilled the front stretch wall a bit later, putting his crew to work making repairs. But his night turned out a whole lot better than Summers’, as the crew got him back in action.

A trio of qualifying heats started out the night’s action, and it was Matt Hirschman, Jimmy Kuhn and Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro, MA taking down the wins. Tony Ricci held of a persistent Jon McKennedy of NH to pick up the win in the consolation round.

When the 30-car field thundered to the green flag, there was some hot action throughout the field, but the early laps saw both Jim Storace and Christopher headed to the pits for good on lap 13. By that point, Louie Mechalides had moved to the front of the pack, and he stayed there for nearly 50 laps. Matt Hirschman took over the point from there, and Mechalides got tangled with a lapped car on lap 66 to knock him from contention.

Mike Stefanik followed Hirschman to the front, and he soon moved in to challenge for the lead. At halfway, it was Hirschman, Stefanik, Kuhn, Seuss and Ronnie Silk sitting in the top five. Hirschman held on to the point for another 35 laps, but Stefanik took over from there. Seuss was running like a man possessed however, slicing his way up through the field after starting 25th on the grid. He got to Stefanik’s back bumper at the white flag, but Stefanik held on to score the win, and Seuss had to settle for runner-up honors. Silk was scored with a third place finish for his efforts, followed by Tommy Cravenho, Jon McKennedy, Chris Pasteryak, Hirschman, Kuhn, Jim Boniface and Eric Beers filling out the top ten

All-Star’s Super Streets were out in full force for the night’s action, with John Bourdelais and Tony Carroll leading the field down to Mike Walker’s green flag. Bourdelais moved immediately to the lead, with Carroll and Randy Tetreault in hot pursuit.

Opening night winner George Baldwin was quickly on the move, busting out of the pack to run down the leaders. Bourdelais and Tetreault were battling hard for the top spot, and the two got together, with Baldwin making a three-wide move to take over the lead.

Tetreault and Bourdelais both headed to the pits with tires down, while Baldwin took control and cruised on to pick up his second win of the year. Carroll came across the stripe with a strong runner-up finish, and it was Tetreault, Chuck Dehney, and Russ Douphinette rounding out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Sandy Lee, Rob DeAlmeida, Lee Weldy, Bourdelais and Shaun Waites, Sr.

Stephen Dubois and Gary Beauregard brought the Strictly Stocks around to the start, with Dubois keeping the lead for just a lap before Beauregard got past. Rick Woodside, Jr. quickly joined the lead battle, knocking Dubois back a spot when he took over second.

At halfway, it was Beauregard and Woodside still leading the way, but opening night winner Steve Douphinette was coming, and coming fast. He ducked under Woodside to take second just after the crossed flags, and on lap 16, he made his move on Beauregard.

Douphinette took the lead and went on to post the win, with Beauregard taking home runner-up honors. Woodside held on to post a third place finish, with Paul Ranberg, Ken McIlvaine, Mike Asselin, Dubois, Jared Mountain, Corrie Merritt and Mike Williams the rest of the top ten.

Fast 8 action saw 2007 Howler winner Brian DeStefano taking down the win over Christin Burns and Jeff Wheeler, while Shaun Waites, Jr. made it two in a row in the Fast 4’s over Billy Osborne, Timmy Johnson, Jim Deveau, and Jeff James.

Race fans were greeted by hot weather and red hot racing at the season opening events at the P.A.S.S. sanctioned Riverside Speedway in Groveton, New Hampshire this past Saturday night, and scoring victories on the evening were Mike Harnish, Mark Lucas, Brian Gosselin, Shawn Swallow, Ernie Laplant, Benjamin Belanger and Jesse Switser.

The P.A.S.S. Outlaw Late Models were the highlight of the night. The 75 lap event was full of twists and turns, and wasn’t decided until the final laps of the race. Jimmy Renfrew jumped out to an early lead, with Dale Shaw in tow. Renfrew led till the mid-race point, when he stumbled going into turn one, letting Shaw and Mike Harnish by. Harnish got the jump, and looked to pull away from the field, leaving Shaw, Renfrew, Chris Staples and Scott Alexander to battle for the remaining top five spots. Alan Wilson all of a sudden appeared from nowhere, and started passing cars on the high side and worked his way into second on lap 85. He then set his sights on Harnish, and had reeled him in, when caution flew for the final time on lap 98, setting up a green, white and checker finish. Harnish was able to get the jump, and held on for the win. Wilson, Shaw, Renfrew, and Staples rounded out the top five.

The P.A.S.S. Mods battled through several cautions in their forty lap main event before Mark Lucas was able to nail down the win. Andy Shaw recovered from an early race incident that sent him to the rear and placed second, while Greg Ellis, Tom Oliver and Steve Bennett Jr. completed the top five.

A pair of home towners, Brian Gosselin and Luke Shannon had the crowd on the edge of their seat, as they battled for the top spot the entire distance in the 30 lap Budweiser Super Stock main event. When the checkers flew, Gosselin scored the popular win with Shannon, Errol’s, Ron Watson, Nathan Swallow and Brian Middleton all in tow. Gosselin and Shannon won their respective qualifiers.

Stark’s, Shawn Swallow grabbed the lead early in the River Bend RV Street Stock feature, and never looked back. Island Pond’s, Tori Delabruere was running him down at the end, but ran out of time and settled for second. Michael Smith, Cody Hodge and Alex Theroux placed third through fifth. Smith and Hodge grabbed heat victories.

The Twisted Tea Dwarf Cars held one of the best races of the night, with no less than six cars battling for the lead in the final stages of the event. Lyndonville, Vermont’s, Ernie Laplant took over the top spot when leader Nathan Brown and Dana Huoppi tangled with a lapped car with four laps to go. Huoppi headed to the pits, while Brown was done for the night. Laplant edged out Lancaster’s, David Hartshorn for the win. Colebrook’s, Eric Hall, Anthony Leary and Toby Merchant filled out the top five. Qualifying wins went to Huoppi and Hall.

The Kids Only Daycare Daredevils held two feature events, one for the rookies and one for the veterans. The rookie main event was a torrid affair as Whitefield’s, Benjamin Belanger held off all challengers to gin his first ever trophy. Groveton’s, Nick Gilcris and Littleton’s, Jerrad Ainsworth placed second and third. Erin Hudson and Nick Miller finished the top five. Lyndonville, Vermont’s, Jesse Switser won in a dogfight over Island Pond’s, Brett Gervais in the veteran’s finale. Colebrook’s, Brandon Lambert raced home third followed by Dilyn Switser and Kyle Pembroke.

Riverside Speedway will be back in action this Saturday night when the North Country Ford Late Models open their season at the NAPA / Bobby Shores Memorial Classic. Joining the Late Models will be the Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Angels, Daredevils and Cyclones. Pits open at 2pm, practice starts at 3pm and racing gets under way at 6pm.

A washout last Friday night resulted in Lee USA Speedway in NH to cancel the event. As a result the Triple Crown Series begins this Friday night, May 16 at that southern NH oval at 7 p.m.

Late Model stock car driver John Donahue of Graniteville, VT scored a popular victory in the 50-lap Harvest Equipment Mother’s Day Special at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT on Sunday evening. Donahue, who started seventh in the 28-car field, was in the midst of a stellar battle for the lead with Trampas Demers before the caution flag flew for a wreck on lap 40. During the caution period, Demers’ car suffered a driveline failure, ending his chances for the night. Following the restart, Donahue was able to stretch his lead out to a three car-length margin over Hyde Park’s Eric Williams. Donahue and Williams crossed the finish line in first and second, respectively. Mike Bailey of South Barre posted a career-best third-place finish after holding off Jeffersonville’s Joe Becker. Bailey demolished his car in a qualifying crash at last week’s Merchants Bank 150, and nearly crashed again in Harvest Equipment qualifying. Becker and his team were instrumental in the repair of Bailey’s car. Jerry Lesage of Winooski finished in fifth place.

Speedwerks Sportbike Services announces the addition of young gun James “the Rocket” Rispoli, formerly of NH, to their Moto-ST lineup for the remainder of the 2008 season starting with the Road America race on June 7. The 16-year old New York youngster who has an extensive background in dirt track racing has raced in the ST class and will be racing a Suzuki, which is the same brand, he is riding in WERA 600 National competition.

James will be paired with veteran road racer Brian Kcraget where they will be looking to remain fast, smooth and consistent in order to finish on top at the end of the season. The Speedwerks team currently leads the points after two rounds in the prestigious ST class category.

“I think it’s going to be pretty cool having James ride for us the rest of the season, stated Steve Long. Everyone on the team is excited and when I checked around the kid was highly recommended. Having him paired up with Brian should be good too. I think James will be able to learn a few things, have a lot of fun and help us run up front. We’re excited to get to Road America and get him on one of our bikes.”

James has been making time to train on a SV650 in between WERA nationals in preparation for his debut with the team. On a borrowed bike James won the four light weight classes he entered recently at Summit Point and Nelson Ledges.

In a combined session today a total of 23 teams from the NASCAR Camping World Series East and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour tested at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Camping World Series East had a strong contingent of teams taking advantage of the test opportunity with a total of 18 cars. The garage featured a mix of New Hampshire veterans like Steve Park and Matt Kobyluck, as well as a host of rookies such as Austin Dillon, winner of the season-opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on April 19.

The test session was held in advance of races for both series in June at the New Hampshire. The NASCAR Camping World Series East will run at the 1.058-mile track in the Heluva Good! Summer 125 on Friday, June 27 while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will take to the track for the New England 100 the next day.

For Dillon, the test was all about getting familiar with the track layout. “I’m getting used to the type of track it is — the paper clip,” Dillon said. “Being able to drive into the corner is what I’m getting used to. We’ve been at big tracks before, but they’ve had banking to hold you. It’s tricky, but I’m getting there. We’re just trying to get as much experience as we can, because we’re a little behind on that right now.”

Other drivers to test from the NASCAR Camping World Series East on Monday included Jeff Anton, James Buescher, Ricky Carmichael, Byron Chew, Dustin Delaney, Max Dumarey, Patrick Dupree, Craig Goess, Jamie Hayes, Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA, Joe Masessa, Mike Olsen of N. Haverhill, NH, Peyton Sellers, Jonathan Smith and Alan Tardiff.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had five teams participate in the test on Monday, including 2003 champion Todd Szegedy and defending NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour titelist L.W. Miller. Also in attendance from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour were James Civali, Rowan Pennink and Glen Reen.

For the rookie Reen, it was his first time around the “Magic Mile” in a Modified after previously running the track in shifters early in his racing career. “It’s definitely different,” Reen said. “Todd [Szegedy] and James [Civali] were both saying that when you’re going into the corner, and you think you need to lift, that you count five seconds. By the time you count five seconds you think, ‘I should have lifted.’ It’s absolutely insane going in there, but the car sticks.”

Next up on the NASCAR Camping World Series docket is a combined race with the NASCAR Camping World Series West this Sunday, May 18, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be back in action on Friday, May 23 at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.

Let's check to see what's going on in northern New England for racing action this weekend. On Friday night it's the Canaan (NH) dirt track and the Lee Speedway in southern NH. Also, Twin State has a busy program that night in Clearmont, NH. Saturday is very busy as usual with Bear Ridge in Bradford, VT adding the Granite State Mini Sprints, Canaan Fair hosts paved track action while it's dirt tracking at Legion Speedway in Wentworth, NH. Monadnock in Winchester, NH offers a five-card program as does Oxford Plains in western Me., White Mountain in N. Woodstock, NH goes with six divisions that night. On the coast of Maine, Wiscasset hosts the Bruce Kane Memorial and the USAC Ford Focus tour.

On Sunday the PASS North Series will perform at Wiscasset, Maine while Speedway 95 up in the Bangor, Maine area has a full card and five classes are on the card at the Hudson (NH) Speedway. There's also stockcar action at Bullwinkle Raceway in Moosehead, Jct., Maine that day. For the draggers it's Import Wars at New England Dragway on Saturday while Winterport in Maine offers a Sunday meet. The bikers have flat track action at Wachusetts Valley in Winchendon, MA on Saturday night while Sunday has the NCSC MotoX in Skowhegan, Maine. and NESC at Bull Run in Greene, Maine. The Vintage Celebration at NHMS in Loudon, NH winds up a busy week on Saturday and 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. 

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