July 1, Brockton, MA--- One of the northeast’s all time modified greats will return to his old stomping grounds Saturday night, July 5, when Ken Bouchard, voted one of NASCAR’s all-time top 50 modified drivers, competes in his first True Value Modified Racing Series event at Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, NH.  Saturday’s traditional race, the “Firecracker 100,” will be a guaranteed starter event for the Sunoco Mod-Mania weekend at Thompson, CT., Sept 6, 7. Monadnock fans will also be treated to a gigantic digital fireworks show, one of the best in the state.

      Bouchard, 53, Fitchburg, MA., a former competitor on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series, will compete in the Turcotte Motorsports modified driven recently by TVMRS champion Kirk Alexander, and earlier this year by Louie Mechalides.

     Bouchard is certainly no stranger to the tight quarter-mile speedway winning races there through his long illustrious career, the most notable being the day he suffered a flat tire with 20 laps remaining in a 100 lap race. That day he beat his older brother Ron, driving the famed Boehler No.3 to the checkered flag.

     Several former weekly racers at the track known as “Mad Dog” will return to the high-banks to compete in the festive event. Les Hinckley, Dwight Jarvis, Rob Goodenough, and Alexander are expected entries. Alexander won the Firecracker event in 2004, 2005, 2007, with Jim Boniface capturing the 2006 race. Ted Christopher, Ed Dachenhausen, Mike Holdridge, Jack Bateman, and Peter Jarvis also are expected entries.

     In their quest for the series championship, David Pinkham, takes a 12 point lead into Saturday nights race over young gun Chris Pasteryak, with three-time and defending champion Alexander 20 points back from the leader. Kenny White Jr, Weare, NH., leads the standings in the Koszela Speed Rookie-of the Year point’s chase. 12 lap heat races with the feature race going 100 green flag laps will determine starting lineups. Monadnock Speedway is located on Rte 12, Winchester, NH. Race time is 6:00 PM.

       A conversation with ACT Tour Director and partner in the Thunder Road Intl. Speedbowl revealed that Tom Curley's assessment of the 2008 racing season seems to be pretty much on target. Curley felt that the short tracks that promoted their events would be in good shape by season's end. Also, that the various tours may take some lumps in terms of drawing enough paying customers to make it worth while to book those events. His Memorial Day weekend double header combining the True Value Modified Racing Series and his ACT Tour was a homerun.  A similar program at the Lee USA Speedway in NH did very well with this combo.  "If it looks like a chance of showers or rain the day of the event, it will impact the gate," said Curley.

      Another key to T Road's success is its $9.50 admission price for a weekly event, which includes five stockcar divisions. On that combo TVMRS/ACT Tour the ticket price was just $20.  We have to say that Curley and company know how to sell tickets and are able to make ends meet using a volume of fans strategy. That also helps to sell a lot of hotdogs, hamburgers and soft drinks.

      Riverside Speedway is gearing up for it’s biggest Independence Day celebration in history, as Optical Expressions and R&R Fireworks present Round #2 of the Bond Auto Parts Triple Crown Series for Late Models, this Friday night, July 4th at 6:30 p.m. The giant $1,000 to win Late Model race will be a distance of 75 laps. Joining the Late Models on the card will be the Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Daredevils, Dwarf Cars and Cyclones. Support division qualifying will begin at 6 p.m. The evening’s activities will conclude with a giant fireworks display.

            Round #1 winner, Howard Switser, from West Burke, Vermont is all geared up to nail down another $1,000 payday. “The first victory was awesome, and it really gave the team a great boost. Hopefully, we can get through all the traffic cleanly and work our way to the front, declared Switser. We have 25 more laps to get there this time, and it will allow us to be a little more patient.” Late Model hot shoe, Reno Gervais has two wins to his credit, already this season, but will be coming from the back of the pack this time, as he won the last LMS event at Riverside. Gervais is looking forward to the challenge after crashing out of the first event. “We won on opening night and came back and crashed at the last Series event. Hopefully we’ll break out of that pattern and be in the hunt at the finish. The car performed well at the last show, and now it’s up to me to bring it home in one piece again.”

            The rain date for the event will be Saturday night July 5th.

            Riverside Speedway is located on Brown Road, off Route 3 in Groveton, New Hampshire. For more info on the Speedway, visit our website at www.riversidespeedway.org, or call the track at 603-636-2005. There will be free camping on Friday night, July 4th. The campground will close at noon on Saturday, July 5th.

        Late Model stock car driver Cris Michaud of Northfield, VT made good on a prediction earlier in the week that he would finally beat Eric Williams for the CARQUEST Vermont Governor’s Cup 100 at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT. The pair traded the lead back and forth during an exciting battle in the middle stages of the race before Michaud was able to take over for good on lap 67.“I thought I was dead in the water when (Williams) got by me,” said Michaud, “but I moved up to the outside where I had been running earlier and the car came back to life. Eric is a good racer and he’s looking for his first championship, and I’d like to get another one. It was fun racing with him tonight, and I hope we can race each other for the title the rest of the year.”

      Williams, of Hyde Park, VT, was aiming at a record third-straight CARQUEST Vermont Governor’s Cup 100 victory. Michaud had finished second to Williams both times.” It would have been nice to make some history, but you can’t win ‘em all,” said Williams. “Cris ran a great race, and he gave me a groove to run in, so I gave him a groove. That’s what it’s all about.” John Donahue of Graniteville, VT drove from 13th starting position in the 24-car field to finish in third place. American-Canadian Tour point leader Scott Payea of Milton, VT made a rare Thunder Road appearance to take fourth place. Rookie Tony Andrews of Middlebury, VT finished fifth. Dave Pembroke, rookie Nick Sweet, Chip Grenier, Rick Thompson, Jr., and Phil Scott completed the unofficial top ten in order.

      Brendan Moodie of North Wolcott, VT made the most of a last-ditch effort to win the NAPA Tiger Sportsman 30-lap event. Moodie used lapped traffic to set up a “pick” move on leader Josh Lovely in the final corner of the race, and nipped Lovely at the line for his third career win. Lovely and Lance Allen, both of Barre, VT completed the podium finishers. Shawn Sicard and Brian Delphia rounded out the top five.

      Plainfield, VT driver Jason Corliss earned his first Allen Lumber Street Stock win of the year with a late-race pass of leader Garry Bashaw of Lincoln, VT. Bashaw held off Graniteville, VT’s Dave LaFleche. Tim Campbell and Lloyd Blakely finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

      Travis Hull of Graniteville, VT won the 15-lap Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior race. Like Moodie and Corliss, Hull’s victory came with an exciting last-minute pass. John Prentice, Scott Weston, Kevin Dodge, and Ken Christman completed the unofficial top five in order.

     Thunder Road’s 49th season of stock car racing continues this Thursday, July 3, with the Pepsi Holiday Fireworks Spectacular at 6:30 p.m. General admission is $9.50 for adults, $3 for children (6-12), and just $20 for a family of any two adults and two kids.

     The NEMA Midgets and NEMA Lites joined the action at Lee USA Speedway last Friday night, with a strong field of the open-wheelers filling the infield pit area for the event.

     When the field roared under starter Steve Grant's green flag, Chris Leonard held the point, but he broke in the early laps and headed to the sidelines.  Jeremy Frankoski was next to take the point, but he was soon under pressure from Bobby Santos III.

     After a tough side-by-side battle, Santos eventually pulled ahead and into the lead, and he quickly pulled away from the field.  When the checkers waved, it was Santos taking down the win over Randy Cabral, Joey Payne, Adam Cantor, Frankoski, Erica Santos, Jeff Abold, Greg Stoehr, Nokie Fornoro, and John Zych, Jr.

       In the NEMA Lites, Jesse State was the man to beat, taking over the lead from Anthony Marvuglio on lap eight, and leading the rest of the way to take down the win.  Jake Stergios grabbed second, with Marvuglio, Russ Wood, Jr., and Todd Bertrand the rest of the top five.

      Lee USA's weekly divisions all saw action on Friday night as well, with Wayne Helliwell, Jr. putting in an impressive drive to score his second straight win in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model 50-lap main event.

      Veteran Charlie Rousseau broke out of the pack to set the pace for the first six laps, with Bryan Kruczek knocking him off to take the lead on lap seven.  Kruczek was pulling away to a comfortable lead when he encountered problems and dropped out on lap 17.

     Rousseau picked up the lead once again on the restart, with Bobby Baillargeon and Tom Fuller fighting hard for the second spot.  But Helliwell was coming, and coming fast.  By halfway, he was past Fuller and Baillargeon to run second, and six laps later, he slipped past Rousseau into the lead.

     Helliwell ran unchallenged from there, cruising on to make it back-to-back wins in the One Stop Toy Shop Late Models.  Larry Gelinas came on strong in the late laps for second, with Rousseau, Fuller, J.R. Baril, Jeffrey Labrecque, Jr., Baillargeon, Katrina Canney, Miles Chipman, and Tyler Fiscus next across the stripe.

     Kevin Emery came out on top after another exciting round of Ironman racing action, holding off points leader Chris Harding to take down the win.  C.J. Bassett, Shane Horvath, and Crystal Brown were the rest of the top five.

        Kevin Aberle jumped out to the early lead in the Prime Storage Late Model Sportsman feature, with Dan Eaton right on his back bumper.  Eighth starter Grant Aither was heading to the front quickly, however, and he charged his way through the pack to the lead.

     By the crossed flags(half-way), Aither already had the Leon Bishop machine out front, and he quickly pulled away to lead by several car lengths.  Nobody else had anything for him, and Aither went on to pick up his first win of the 2008 campaign.

     Aberle held off some tough competition to score his season's best finish in the runner-up slot, followed by two-time winner Wayne Helliwell, Jr., defending champ Boe Green, rookie Joe Jodoin, Pete Evans, Jimmy Renfrew, Bill Ahern, Bobby Melvin, and Geoff Rollins.

     Shortly after the Mac Tools Small Block Supers hit the track, heavy fog started to roll in and diminish visibility, but Eddie Witkum, Jr. didn't let that stop him from making another trip to victory lane.

     Bob Millett, Jr. led the field to the green, but he only stayed out front for a single circuit before giving up the point to Jim Lowrey, Jr.  Dan Bowes soon joined the lead battle, running wheel-to-wheel with Lowrey in a tremendous battle for the top spot.

        With the fog getting worse as the laps progressed, Witkum made a couple of quick moves to take over the lead, and he went on to pick up the win.  Bowes, Danny Lane, Ben Tinker, Mike Ordway, Jr., Millett, Jeff Locke, Butch Valley, Jack Lilley, and Mike Netishen followed.

       Track officials rolled the Planet Aid Hobby Stocks out of staging in hopes the fog would lift, and after giving them a few controlled hot laps, the track was race-ready. Patrick Tanguay and Eric Hoffman led the field to green, with Tanguay out to lead the first six laps.

      A.J. Panessiti slipped underneath Tanguay on lap seven to take over, and he looked to be well on his way to victory.  At halfway, it was Panessiti, Tanguay, Jimmy Russell, Alby Ovitt, and Chris Titcomb in the top five, with Ovitt on the move after starting tenth on the field.

       Ovitt caught up with leader Panessiti in a hurry, and he made a great move to take over the lead with the laps running out.  At the checkers, it was Ovitt in for his first win of the season, with Russell, Panessiti, Jim Shorey, Hoffman, Wade Worster, Geoff Rollins, Kelsey Keegan, Kenny Scott, Jr. and Titcomb closing out the top ten.

     The Roadrunners had a tough start in their feature event, with a couple of multi-car incidents sending several cars to the pits in the first couple of laps.  The wrecks sent the race past its time allotment, and it was re-started at the end of the program.

     Timmy Johnson outran Loren Smith on the restart, with Ricky Porter breaking out of the pack right behind him to run second.  The two were soon off to decide the race between themselves, and rookie Johnson was more than up to the challenge.

       Porter threw everything he had at Johnson, but he couldn't find a way to get past, and wound up settling for second place by about a half car length at the checkers.  Lance Barthelemy, Anthony Nadeau, Smith, Chris Jacobson, Jim Piaseczny, Chris Harding, Ken Piaseczny, Jr., and Bob Brockelbank finished third through tenth.

    How about Eddie MacDonald winning the NASCAR Camping World 125 at NHMS in Loudon, NH last weekend.  The Rowley, Mass driver started tenth. In the process, he showed-up several top of the line big NASCAR development teams that had a lot more resources than MacDonald. Mike Olsen of N. Haverhill, NH came in seventh while Nashua, NH's John Salemi was next. Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH pulled off a ninth place and Mike Johnson of Salisbury, MA came in 14th. MacDonald led the race three times and was always in contention from laps 42-70,laps 119-120 and then laps 126-127. Eddie Mac took home $13,900 out of the $221,652 purse.

     Last Sunday morning Speedway Motorsports top exec Bruton Smith gave his first ever press conference with the assembled media from the northeast, New England and eastern Canada at NHMS. He tried to answer all the questions. Here's what our take is on it. Neither Cup races will move. No drag strip will be built. NHMS must have lights in case there's a weather problem so that the event can possibly be completed on race day. Monday races are out unless the weather forces a reschedule. Smith also wants to add an Indy Car event with support events from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, USAC Silver Crown and Midgets.

     SMI may or may not make major modifications to the track but leaves the options open to possibly rebuild the track on an adjacent parcel of land that NHMS owns. "I saw a lot of close racing here and I'm impressed. Also, the New England fans that are really into the sport and that really impresses me. Plus, we have a lot of Canadians coming down for the events. Also from other parts of the northeast. They are great and they like coming here, " he said.

     Smith also likened NHMS to his Bristol Motor Speedway in Tenn. where he expanded to 150,000 seats after his public company purchased the venue.  Bruton would also like to expand current NHMS seating by another 25,000. In concert with that the SMI President would like to expand parking for RV's and services such as restrooms. However, published reports in the Union Leader in Manchester, NH cite a 1989 agreement between former owner Bob Bahre and a group against expansion of the speedway as a possible obstacle to Smith's future plans. Bruton Smith, though, has had discussions with the Granite State Governor and other state, county and town officials about his future plans for NHMS.

    Let's see what's happening in the northcountry for racing action this long holiday weekend.   On Friday night Lee (NH) Speedway goes with stockcar action and a Monster Truck show. All-Star in Epping, NH holds an Enduro the same night with the Canaan (NH) Fairgrounds offering dirt track action. There's a big Demo Derby at the Rutland (VT) Fairgrounds with Twin State in Claremont, NH going with a five division stockcar program.

         Saturday is the busiest night with All-Star coming back with a five-division card. Ditto for Bear Ridge in Bradford, VT with dirt track action. Beech Ridge in Scarborough, Maine hosts the PASS Tour while Bunkwinkle up in Moosehead Jct., Maine also has a big program. The paved track at the Canaan Fairgrounds has stockcar action while Lee USA comes back with some more Monster Truck action. Also Legion in Wentworth, NH, Oxford Plains, Maine and Wiscasset up the Maine coast all go the same night.


          Sunday won't be as busy with Devil's Bowl in W. Haven, VT goes with five classes of stockcars at 6 p.m. Hudson (NH) Speedway has a several divisions starting at 4 p.m.  There's MotoX action at Spruce Mountain Park in Bryant Pond, Maine all day while Winterport Dragway has an all day Sunday meet. Also for the draggers is a full weekend at the New England Dragway in Epping, NH.

    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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