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HINCKLEY WINS VMRS "VICTOR JOHNSON 100"
AT MONADNOCK |
 Emotionally
drained after completing a 100-lap race slowed once
by a minor spin, Les Hinckley III, of Windsor Locks,
CT, sat for a brief period speaking only with series
officials, before exiting his race car to a cheering
crowd and well wishers.
The Windsor Locks, CT, driver had just completed his
journey back to racing and won the Valenti Modified
Racing Series ‘Victor Johnson 100', Saturday night,
Aug 22, at Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, NH.
Hinckley, cleared by doctors last month to return to
racing after
missing most of the current season for required
surgery, bested Todd Patnode, and Russ Hersey, both
of Swanzey, NH, for the home field advantage podium
finish. Pitkat settled for fourth with Todd Szegedy,
of Ridgefield, CT, rounding out the top five.
Hinckley’s victory was his 18th career VMRS
win and his fifth at Monadnock.
Hinckley, who last won a series race in July of
2012, started on the pole and led the first 9-laps
before Stafford Springs, CT, driver Woody Pitkat
slipped by to take over top spot. Pitkat would hold
the lead until lap 51 when Hinckley took it back and
was never headed.
“They cleared me to race a month ago and I didn’t
want to race anywhere else. I wanted to come back
here,” explained Hinckley in victory lane. “Can’t
race every week it’s just not in the plans. We could
have gone to Beech Ridge or Waterford but it had to
be here (Monadnock).” Hinckley added, “Woody got by
early but it looked like he was getting a bit loose.
I put the pressure on him and he came back to us a
little bit. The car never went away.”
Fighting through emotion Hinckley added, “First and
foremost I do want to say, this has been a tough
couple of years for us. We lost my car owner Chuck
(Montville) this is still his program and it will
always be his program. Nothings changed on this car.
The numbers and colors the same. This one’s for
Chucky. All that my son Allen has gone through makes
my health issues secondary. This is for my family.”
Runner-up finisher Patnode was pleased with second
place.” The car was real good tonight. We got a
little free around lap 46 so we had to conserve a
little bit and hope we had something at the end.
That’s the best we had the car all year. Congrats to
Les. It was good to see him come back and win.”
Russ Hersey started 15th in the 26-car field and
finished third.” We’ve been sneaking up on it a bit
each week. A lot of people to thank. Ken Barry from
Spafco, Mike Pettit from Pettit engines, Greg Felton
from the # 42 car has helped me design stuff for
this car and we are starting to get a handle on it.
This finish with Les and Todd brought back some
memories. Victor Johnson is always in our minds when
we strap into these things.”
Race Notes: Sixth through tenth were: Chris
Pasteryak, David Schneider, Matt Mead, Rowan
Pennink, and Carl Medeiros Jr.
-26 race teams entered the 11th race of the season
-All 26 drivers started the race
-The race was completed in 27 minutes 08 seconds
-With one caution flag displayed on lap 46 (minor
spin)
-Seven cars finished on the lead lap
-Kirk Alexander returned to action after missing two
races (surgery)
-Jon McKennedy has been tabbed to drive the #42 car
at Oxford as Woody Pitkat will be competing at
Riverhead Long Island, NY
-McKennedy traveled 10 hours to Monadnock from
Delaware Ontario where he competed in an ISMA
supermodified race Friday night
Oxford Plains Speedway Oxford, ME. August 29,2015
Race Summary:
Monadnock Speedway - August 22, 2015 - Race # 11
Entrants: (26)
Distance: 100-laps
Time: 27:08:551
Margin of Victory: 1.449
Best Speed: 71.118 (Pitkat)
Average Speed: 55.538
Best Lap Time: 12:655 (Pitkat)
Lead Changes: 2
Lap Leaders: Hinckley (1-9) Pitkat (10-51)
Hinckley (52-100)
Cautions: Lap 46
Heat winners: Ianarelli, Medeiros, Alexander
Unofficial Order of Finish: (1) Hinckley (2)
Patnode (3) Hersey (4) Pitkat (5) Szegedy (6)
Pasteryak (7) Schneider (8) Mead
(9) Pennink (10) Medeiros (11) Willis (12) Lashua
(13) McKennedy (14) Alexander (15) Wrenn (16) Kopec
(17) Iannarelli
(18) Dion (19) Pearl (20) Sherman (21) Bakaj (22)
Douglas (23) Holdridge (24) Doucette (25) Perry (26)
Richardi
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Source:
John Spence / Valenti Modified Racing Series
Posted:
August 23, 2015 |
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