July 17, 2015

  Fifty five years ago in 1960 Tommy Fenley was the Friday night winner on the dirt at Stafford Springs. Dick Beauregard was the Wednesday night winner at the Waterford Speedbowl. He carried his win streak to Saturday night when he won again. Also recording wins on Saturday night was Hank Stevens in the non-Fords and Eddie Moody in the Bombers. Freddie Schultz was the big winner at the Norwood Arena.

  Fifty years ago in 1965 the ever popular Pete Corey took the Friday night win at Stafford Springs. Joe Trudeau scored a popular win at the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. Bill Scrivner was the Bomber feature winner. A new speedway in the northeast made its debut. Joe Lesik built a 4/10 asphalt oval in Malta, NY. He tried for a NASCAR sanction but was denied. He aligned his track with the United Stock Car Club of Harvey Tattersall for the first year of racing. The speedway, which in coming years would see the best of New York state and New England do battle, opened on July 16. Billy Greco took the opener and was followed by Don Flynn, Ed Patnode and Jerry Humiston. Rain washed out the racing at Fonda on Saturday night. At the Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday night hometown favorite Jerry Cook took the 30 lap win over Tom Kotary and Rene Charland. Down in the southland in Richmond VA Ray Hendrick ran away and hid as he won the Southside 150 by five laps to score his fifth win of the season. Hendrick earned $600 for his efforts. Red Foote finished second with Dennis Zimmerman, third. At the Bowman Grey Stadium Jim Paschal took the lead from Bobby Allison with nine to go and went on to win the Carolina 400. Elton Hill finished 12th and Eddie Flemke, 25th. The Moyock Speedway in North Carolina rounded out the weekend with a 150 lap Modified event which was won by Red Foote over Eddie Flemke, Ted Hairfield, Bobby Allison and Gene Lovelass. Allison would go on to become thw 1965 NASCAR National Modified Champion.

  Forty five years ago in 1970, the All Star League visited Lebanon Valley on Wednesday where Buzzie Reutiman won the 100 lap main event over Will Cagle and Bob Rossell. Friday night at Malta Joe Thomas took the win over Eddie Flemke and Dick Nephew. Flemke drove a car owned by Richie Evans who at that time was under suspension from NASCAR because he had raced in non sanctioned events. On Saturday night at Stafford, Fred DeSarro went two for two as he won both of the twin 25's. At Plattsburg, Brian Ross brought his own car and won the main event over Gene Mangino and Joe Thomas. Twin 25 action at Fonda saw Lou Lazzaro and Lee Millington in the top spots. Dick Dunn, who was destined to become a multi-time track champion won the Modified feature at Waterford. Larry Crandall was the Late Model Daredevil winner. On Sunday, DeSarro was headed for a two-fer when Leo Cleary stepped in to take the nightcap. Utica-Rome closed out the weekend on Sunday night where Wild Bill Henry took the win over Dick Fowler and Ray Sitterly.

  Forty years ago in 1975, the Yankee All Star league visited Waterford on Wednesday with Ronnie Bouchard taking the win. Freeport Speedway on Long Island was having financial problems and announced that they were closing down. Ironically, the last show rained out and was not rescheduled. In other Long Island action, Charlie Jarzombek went two for two as he won on Saturday night at Islip and again on Sunday at Westhampton. Saturday night at Stafford saw Geoff Bodine beating out Brian Ross, Bugsy Stevens and John Rosati. Shangri-La ran double features with Sonny Seamon and George Kent taking top honors and at Lancaster; Maynard Troyer took the main event. Dick Dunn, in the Al and Peg Gaudreau No.3 won the 100 lap Mid Season Championship at Waterford. Bob Gada Sr was the Grand American Late Model winner. Sunday night racing at Fulton was cancelled because of rain.

  Thirty five years ago in 1980, Modified Madness came to Stafford on Tuesday. Supermodifieds were also on the program with a separate feature. Richie Evans, complete with a wing won the modified portion over Ronnie Bouchard and Bugsy Stevens. Bentley Warren and Bob Stelter finished one-two as they turned laps consistently in 18.40-sec. Thursday night at Monadnock; Punky Caron made it two in a row. John Rosati and Ron Bouchard followed but had nothing for the Goshen, N.H. Police Chief. Friday night at Stafford Ronnie Bouchard returned to the winners circle as he beat out Bugsy Stevens and Corky Cookman. At Spencer it was George Kent over Jerry Cook, Doug Hewitt and Lou Lazzaro. Saturday night action saw Bugsy Stevens over Ronnie Bouchard and Bob Fuller at Westboro. At Waterford, Bob Potter added to his feature win total as he won a 100 lapper over Rick Donnelly, Dickie Doo Ceravolo and Bill Greco. Ron Sly Fox was the Superstock winner and Joe Mullen won his first Grand American-Late Model finish. Gil Hearne won the Garden State Classic at Wall Stadium over Jim Hoffman. Other weekend winners included Richie Evans at Riverside and Thompson, Jerry Cook at Shangri-La and Tom McCann at Islip.

  Thirty years ago in 1985, the modified tour visited Stafford on Tuesday for a 50 lapper. Richie Evans took the win over Reggie Ruggiero and Charlie Jarzombek. The only thing that stopped Evans from a grand slam for the weekend was rain at Spencer on Friday night as he also won at Shangri-La on Saturday and at Thompson on Sunday. Stafford ran on Friday night and it was Ruggiero at the stripe over Jarzombek. Richie Gallup beat out Harry Rice at Waterford on Saturday and at Riverside, Kenny Bouchard beat old pro Bob Polverari. Jim Spencer made a rare appearance at Wall Stadium on Saturday and walked of with the 200 lap Garden State Classic. Keith Williams was the Thompson SK modified winner. In Winston Cup news, Bobby Allison, unhappy with his DiGard team bought out his contract and was immediately replaced by Greg Sacks who had recently won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in a DiGard R & D car crew chiefed by Gary Nelson.

  Twenty five years ago in 1990, rain washed out just about everything except events at Waterford and Riverside. At Waterford, George Greco, nephew of auto racing legend Bill Greco, won his first ever SK modified feature. Jim Broderick finished second. At Riverside, Bob Polverari took the win over Reggie Ruggiero and Eddie Spires. The racing world was shocked and saddened when it was learned that veteran car owner Richard Armstrong was operated on to remove a cancerous tumor.

  Twenty years ago in 1995, the modified tour visited Riverside Park on Wednesday. Mike Stefanik took the lead from Dan Avery with three to go to win the slam-bang 150 lapper. Avery finished second with Mike Ewanitsko, third. Waterford ran a mid-week special on Wednesday with Jim Broderick all but unbeatable over Bert Marvin, Todd Ceravolo and Jerry Pearl. Friday night at Stafford, Lloyd Agor held off Ted Christopher and John Anderson for the SK mod win. Blast Off 95, which had been rained out in April, was finally run at Waterford on Saturday night. John Anderson passed Todd Ceravolo with 12 laps to go and walked off with the top money. Jim Broderick ended up third. Dan Avery won out over Reggie Ruggiero at Riverside and at Riverhead it was Ed Brunnhoelzl over Don Howe. In Winston Cup action, Sterling Marlin won at Talladega which was the scene of an end over end by Ken Schrader who had made contact with Jeff Gordon. The Busch North Series ran at Monadnock. Dave Dion took the lead from Kelly Moore with 63 laps to go and won that event.

  Fifteen years ago in 2000, the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at the Thompson Speedway for a Thursday night, 150-lap event. Jerry Marquis, in the Mario Fiore No. 44 took the lead from Tom Cravenho on lap127 and went on to score the win. Ted Christopher, in the Brady Bunch No. 00 finished second with Reggie Ruggiero, third. Ricky Fuller and John Blewett III rounded out the top five. Bert Marvin won the 30-lap Sunoco SK-type modified feature. Todd Ceravolo finished second. Jim Williams scored his first ever SK Modified win on Friday night at Stafford. Brad Hietella finished second. Tucker Reynolds won a 100 lapper at Waterford on Saturday night. Dennis Gada and Ed Reed Jr. followed. Chuck Steuer was the winner at Riverhead. In Winston Cup action at Pocono, Rusty Wallace took the 500-mile win after Jeremy Mayfield blew a tire on the last lap. In Busch Series racing at Pikes Peak, Jeff Green took the win over David Green and Andy Santerre.

  Ten years ago in 2005 the True Value Modified Series along with the Seekonk Speedway and Viveiros Insurance of Southeastern Mass. embarked on a bold experiment on Wednesday with the presentation of “Modified Madness” which featured a 100 lap main event paying $10,000 to win. Now in its second year of existence the True Value Modified Series was born in New Hampshire as a result of the Claremont Speedway doing away with the Modifieds for 2004. The TVMS has become a less expensive alternative to the NASCAR sanctioned Whelan Modified Tour. A good mix of Mod Tour and TVMS cars were on hand as the field totaled 27. When the dust finally settled it was Modified Tour regular Donnie Lia taking the win and the top prize. Lia passed Ted Christopher in the final moments. Open Wheeled Modified Racing on a short track is a contact sport. The Viveirous 100 was just that. Eric Beers started on the outside pole and was able to wrestle the lead from Mike Christopher on lap 2. Beers led the event until lap 78 when he unavoidably crashed into a lapped car. Kirk Alexander, who was running second at the time, crashed into Beers. Both pitted for repairs and were able to rejoin the fray. With 22 laps to go Beers was able to battle his way to the front and at the finish ended up third behind Lia and Christopher. Rounding out the top five at the finish was Eric Berndt. Alexander ended his night in 19th spot.
  Defending Sunoco Modified champion Todd Ceravolo got his first win of the season at the Thompson Speedway on Thursday night. Ceravolo started sixth and ended up beating his former mount, being driven by Tom Cravenho, to the finish line. Bert Marvin finished third with Richard Savory, fourth. Bo Gunning made a strong return as he finished fifth. Other winners were Corey Hutchings in the Late Models, Jeff Zuidema in the Pro Stocks, Glenn Boss in the Limited Sportsman, Rick Blanchard in the Mini Stocks and Chad Gaudiosi in the Thompson Modifieds.
  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series traveled to the Beech Ridge Speedway in Maine on Saturday night. Jerry Marquis ended a long dry spell as he secured his first victory for car owner Bob Garbarino. Marquis, who went non-stop in the 150-lap event, took the lead on lap 8 from Nevin George. George later dropped out with transmission problems on lap 114. Tony Hirschman finished second with Eric Beers in the mighty No. 3 of the Boehler family, third. Steve Whitt and Ted Christopher rounded out the top five. Twenty-eight cars made the trip to Maine.
  It was announced at the drivers meeting in Beech Ridge that the Seekonk Speedway would not honor the long standing gentlemen’s agreement of allowing teams to pre-sign up to 10 crew members at a discounted rate of $25.00 per driver. Ed Cox (NASCAR tour director) was called on Thursday by the Seekonk management to let the teams know it would be $40.00 per person. This did not go over well with the teams. There was a petition signed by all drivers/owners at Beech Ridge and handed to NASCAR, if the sign-in is not honored (10 crew @ $25.00) there would be no race. Evidently the Seekonk management was not happy with the support they got for their recent Mid-Week open event.
  At Stafford on Friday night it looked as though the Coors Light SK Modified 100 would go off without a hitch but the rain gods had other ideas as the event was soaked after only 34 laps were completed. The 100 lapper would be completed on Friday, July 29, with Don Lia leading the pack. Willie Hardie will start second with Jeff Malave, third. Ed Ricard was the Late Model winner with Michael Bennett taking the limited late model feature. On Sunday night the Stafford Speedway finished up the 100 lap Late Model ASB 100 that was rained on at the beginning of the month. Scott Foster JR. won the event 16 years after his father won the same race. Keith Rocco scored his first ever SK Modified win.
  The Waterford Speedbowl hosted the Busch North Series on Saturday night. Despite the efforts of NASCAR to make for better racing Matt Kobyluck led all 150 laps to take the green. In four of five Busch North Series events in 2005 there has not been one lead change except when Ryan Moore led at Waterford for two different laps. Had it not been for Mike Stefanik pitting for tires at the recent Loudon event it would have been five for five with no passing. It is not the fault of the Busch North Series teams that the events have been yawners. NASCAR mandated a new tire for this year and since then it’s been a down hill slide. The Busch North Series race teams are hard working, highly competitive individuals and deserve better than this. Jeff Pearl went pole to pole to win the SK Modified feature at the shoreline oval.
  Kurt Busch won the Nextel Cup event at Pocono and David Green was the Busch Series winner at Pikes Peak.

  Five years ago in 2010, The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour traveled to the 1.53-mile, 12-turn road course at Lime Rock Park in Northwestern Connecticut last Friday and Saturday for a 66 lap-101 mile event that carried a race purse of $85,810. With a somewhat short field of 25 cars on hand Todd Szegedy ran a lap of 53.099 seconds on the 1.5-mile road course for an average speed of 101.697 mph. Szegedy was among the final group of cars to go out under NASCAR's road-course qualifying rules, and the time on his second lap knocked Ted Christopher off the pole. Christopher had posted a lap of 53.220 (101.466) in the second-to-last group and wound up second overall in qualifying for Saturday's Lime Rock 100. Erick Rudolph qualified third, followed by Mike Stefanik and Rowan Pennink. Points leader Bobby Santos qualified 10th.
  Dale Quarterley got past the weekend’s dominant car of Todd Szegedy with three laps remaining and captured the checkered flag in the inaugural Lime Rock 100 at Lime Rock Park. Szegedy led from the start of the race, and at times drove away from the field. Following a caution on Lap 56, Quarterley restarted fourth when the race went back green on Lap 59. Quarterley worked past Ted Christopher and Mike Stefanik and was able to make the winning move on Szegedy in Turn 1 on Lap 63. Quarterley made his first Whelen Modified Tour appearance since 2008 as he drove the No. 52 Furnace & Duct Supply Chevrolet this weekend for car owner Wayne Darling. An accomplished road racer, Quarterley had two previous wins at Lime Rock in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races. On Saturday, while in third with 20 laps to go, he pitted for tires. It proved to be the difference as he was able to knife through the field in the last third of the race. Szegedy wound up second, followed by Ron Silk, Ryan Preece and Ted Christopher in the top five.
  Mike Stefanik, Chuck Hossfeld, Ed Flemke Jr., Jamie Tomaino and Wade Cole brought home the top 10 in the Whelen Modified Tour’s first road course race since 2000, and just the seventh in the 26-year history of the division. Points leader and winner of three of the first five races of the year, Bobby Santos finished 17th after he suffered a blown engine on Lap 62, while fifth-place qualifier Rowan Pennink's day ended with a broken axle on Lap 2, though he did return to run a handful of laps late. Santos retains a 74-point lead after six races with Szegedy now up to second in the standings.
  Thirteen of the 25 starters finished on the lead lap. In addition to Santos also losing engines were Justin Bonsignore, Richie Pallai, Jr., Kevin Goodale and Eric Beers.
  There were 5 cautions for 21 laps. Quarterly received $6,900 for his efforts.
  The Thompson International Speedway Thursday night Thunder series continued to be a big draw for fans looking to get their racing fix without disrupting their weekend. Despite somewhat short fields of cars the competition is far from short. Ted Christopher made it three in a row in Sunoco Modified (SK type) competition. He was not as fortunate in the special Tour type Modified event as he found himself sliding into the wall after a confrontation with Tom Bolles. Christopher did recover to finish sixth as Mike Stefanik and Ron Silk finished one-two
  Other Thompson winners included Randy Cabral of Plymouth, MAwho won the Marvin Rifchin Memorial event for the Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA), Rick Gentes who won his third Late Model victory of the season, Shawn Monahan in the Limited Sportsman main event who also scored his third victory of the season. Brian Tagg earned to his first TIS Modified win of the 2010 season and Leo Defevers, made it two in a row in Mini Stock action.
  The tale of the tape showed 18 Sunoco Modifieds, 13 Tour type Mods, 21 Limited Sportsman, 9 Thompson Modifieds, 11 Late Models and 13 NEMA Midgets. In all fairness the speedway management announced that 14 positions not paid the previous week in the Tour type Mods would be paid as bonus money. Some have been critical of the low count of Tour type Modifieds at Thompson. It must be considered that the Whelen Modified Tour Series was running at Lime Rock and the Modified Racing Series (formerly True Value) was running at Monadnock only two days later. The majority of race teams involved in these series simply can not afford tires or a mechanical problem which would keep them out of competition in their respective series.
  Among the special guests at Thompson Speedway were NEAR Hall of Fame inductees Leo Cleary and Billy Harman.
  The Modified Racing Series headed to the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH on Saturday, July 3. Kirk Alexander, the three-time Modified Racing Series champion, captured his sixth “Firecracker 100” win. The win was his 19th at Monadnock and his 32nd career win with the touring series for modified race cars. Alexander passed early race leader Sean Bodreau, on lap 15, and went on to score the victory. Jon McKennedy finished second after a late race charge followed by Jim Boniface who finished third. Chris Pasteryak and Dwight Jarvis rounded out the top five. The event drew 33 race teams. The Modified Racing Series, sponsored by BobValentiAutoMall.com next competes at Lee USA Speedway, Lee, NH, Friday night July 9.
  In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series division racing at the Stafford Motor Speedway Keith Rocco recovered from his Thursday night disappointment at the Thompson Speedway as he made it four in a row in SK Modified competition. Rocco, who now has seven victories overall at Stafford, took the lead from Ted Christopher on lap 33 of the 40 lap feature. With Rocco out front Christopher had his hands full as Jeff Malave tried his utmost to take over the runner-up spot. With Rocco long gone, Christopher was able to prevail over Malave. Jeff Baral, and Bo Gunning rounded out the top-5.
  Other Friday night winners at Stafford were Ryan Posocco who picked up his second win of 2010 in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Dylan Liseo who scored his first career victory by a nose in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Shawn Thibeault who won his first race of the season in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Stephen Daddio who was a first time career winner in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
  The Waterford Speedbowl hosted the mid-season Speedbowl.com 300 on Saturday, an extra-distance extravaganza for its NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions. In total, fans were treated to six divisions and 300 laps of feature racing. Keith Rocco continues to dominate the SK Modified action at the shoreline oval as he recorded his seventh track win of the year. Bruce Thomas Jr. returned to the winner’s circle in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, while it was Ed Puleo and Sean Caron each scoring their third win of the year in the Street Stock and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock races. Allen Coates continued his mastery of the A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Truck division and Anthony Flannery topped the Legends Cars field once again.
  For the record, Rocco record had 17 wins for the season. His NASCAR total was sixteen.
  In NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour action at the Caraway Speedway in North Carolina John Smith worked his way past L.W. Miller on a green-white-checkered finish to win the Firecracker 150. Smith, who started alongside leader Miller on the final restart, was able to get the lead and held on for his first win in his 44th career start on the tour. James Civali followed Smith and Miller across the line for a finish of third. Jason Myers and Burt Myers logged fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
The Bowman Gray Stadium was quiet for the holiday weekend.
  At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island the Modifieds had a 50-lap, double-point feature, where Chuck Steuer led green to checker for the win.
  A wild night race at Daytona International Speedway ended with Kevin Harvick taking the NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 400 checkered flag, teammate Clint Bowyer spinning through the infield grass and several angry drivers searching for answers. Kasey Kahne finished second. Despite a record 18 leaders and 47 lead changes, the real excitement resulted from six multi-car crashes in the second half of the race that essentially wiped out half the field. The biggest of them all, a 20-car melee that included four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, came with 12 laps to go and halted action for 20 minutes. Jeff Gordon was third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Edwards and Busch.
  Dale Earnhardt jr raced to his first victory since 2008 on Friday night, driving a tribute car to his father in the Nationwide Series race. It was Earnhardt's first points win since his Sprint Cup Series victory at Michigan in 2008, and his first Nationwide win since Michigan in 2006.

  Last year, 2014, The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series was at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. for the Whelen All-Star Shootout on Friday and the Sunoco 100 on Saturday.
  In the Friday All-Star Shootout Ryan Newman took the win over Justin Bonsignore and Mike Stefanik. Ron Silk and Bobby Santos rounded out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Ryan Preece, Chuck Hossfeld, Todd Szegedy, Ted Christopher and JR Bertuccio. In a lame brain move, NASCAR pulled the plug on the event after 37 laps when it reached its 30-minute time limit. Silk held the lead over Patrick Emerling and Ryan Preece into the halfway break at Lap 20. A random draw determined a 10-car invert and put Doug Coby and Bonsignore on the front row, with Newman restarting fifth. The race featured six official lead changes and Newman was credited with leading the final 16 laps.
  A nasty crash eliminated Donnie Lia and Patrick Emmerling on Lap 27. Emerling and Lia make contact and spun in turn four. A lot of damage was inflicted to both cars.
  Bobby Santos scored his first win at Loudon as he won the Sunoco 100 in fitting style. In a race that featured multiple lead changes on nearly every lap, 35 official lead changes, the Franklin, Mass., driver made just one pass for the lead and led just one lap Saturday. Santos drove his No. 44 Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet by Ted Christopher in Turn 4 of the last lap en route to taking the win.
  It was Santos’ 13th career win but first in 16 career starts at the 1.058-mile oval. Doug Coby also got by Christopher and finished second by just .065 seconds. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman was fourth and NASCAR Next driver Ryan Preece came home fifth. The top five cars finished within three-tenths of a second of the leader. Justin Bonsignore finished sixth, followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Tommy Barrett Jr., NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour points leader Andy Seuss, Ron Silk and Chuck Hossfeld.
  Silk, who won the Coors Light Pole Award in qualifying Saturday morning, led a race-high 36 laps. Preece led 30 laps and Christopher 28. The 36 lead changes broke the Whelen Modified Tour all-time race record of 30, also at Loudon on July 7, 2000. The race went into overtime, to a total of 110 laps, with two green-white-checkered finishes following late race cautions. The race had seven caution periods for 30 total laps. During the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, Christopher and Newman swapped the front spot three times within the lap on the restart but a wreck by Donny Lia brought out the caution flag before the white flag was show. On the ensuing restart, Christopher initially got away before Santos and Co. chased him down on the final lap.
  There were seven caution flags for 30 laps. Fifteen of the original 30 starters finished on the lead lap. Among those who ran into misfortune was Rowan Pennink who wrecked on lap 102, ending his day in 17th spot. Donnie Lia wrecked his second car in two days on lap 101 and ended up 18th. Eric Goodale who also wrecked twice on the weekend had his day end on lap 97 in 19th spot. Patrick Emmerling was also a crash victim as he completed only 94 laps and ended up in 20th. Todd Szegedy was in contention for the win when his engine expired on lap 89 finishing his day in 22nd spot. Glen Reen finished 23rd after being involved in an accident on lap 88. JR Bertuccio was also an accident victim as he was swept up on lap 81 which placed him in 24th spot. Woody Pitkat and Ken Heagy finished 25th and 26th with blown engines while Ron Yuhas Jrfinished 27th with a blown transmission. Melissa Fifield qualified 11.664 mph off the pole speed After she completed 24 laps it was felt in her best interest that she call it a day, finishing 29th. Finishing dead last was Mike Stefanik who dropped out on lap 22 with mechanical problems.
  Santos had now closed to within two points of Coby for the championship lead with his third win in six races. Christopher was eight points behind Santos and Bonsignore was two points further back. Silk completes the top five, one point of defending tour champion Preece.
  In action at the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night, Ryan Preece, who had made a hasty trip from Loudon, scored his fourth win of the season by the process of elimination and being in the right place at the right time. Preece inherited the lead in the closing laps after Keith Rocco and Ron Williams wrecked as they fought for the lead followed by a wreck between Doug Coby and Dan Avery who also wrecked as they fought for the lead. Ted Christopher finished second with Sean Foster, third. Woody Pitkat, and Tom Bolles rounded out the top five.
  Other Friday night winners at Stafford were Adam Gray in the Late Model feature, Jeremy Sorel in the SK Light Modified feature, Albert Saunders in the Limited Late Model feature, Alexandra Fearn in the DARE Stock feature, and Brendon Bock in the Legend Cars feature.
  In NASCAR Modified action at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island Kyle Elwood to his second win of the season as he bested a ten car starting field.
  NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford Speedbowl took a week off as the track gave way to Sailfest in New London. Racing action at the shoreline oval resumes this coming Saturday.
  In Modified racing in the Southland, the effects of the full moon were evident at the Bowman Gray Stadium on Saturday night. Dean Ward recorded his first modified win in close to two years as the fireworks went off behind him. Burt Myers, who started in 19th place because of the blind draw to determine the starting order, was making a big run to the front, running fifth on lap 95, when Junior Miller came calling. Perhaps it was the full moon — or, more likely the grudge Burt Myers and Miller have carried over from previous races — but the two drivers soon tangled. After their initial wreck, the two drivers played a game of catch me if you can all over the infield before Miller ducked into the pits; he didn’t return to the race. Myers also went to the pits to get a flat tire fixed and he came back out to finish the race. Jason Myers finished second. A capacity crowd showed its displeasure with Burt Myers as he was greeted with a shower of bottles and cans from the grandstand when he returned to the track from the pit area. Myers ended up 13th .
  In NASCAR Sprint Cup action at Loudon, NH, Brad Keselowski led a race-high 137 of 305 laps in the Camping World RV Sales 301, his second victory of the weekend. The Rochester Hills, Mich. native also won Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at NHMS. Ryan Preece finished 14th in the Nationwide Series event driving for Tom Baldwin Racing.

  That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
  E-Mail, smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.

Looking Back Archive
 

Source: Phil Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: July 17, 2015