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MCKENNEDY
GRABS FIRST WIN AT SPEEDWAY 51 |
 Jon
McKennedy, of East Chelmsford, MA, played his usual
waiting game making tire maintenance a top priority,
battled through a failed power steering pump on
lap-30, then took the lead from race leader Russ
Hersey on lap-79, to go on and win the 100-lap
Valenti Modified Racing Series first ever race at
Groveton, New Hampshire's, Speedway 51 Saturday
night.
17-cars took the green flag from Chief Starter Tim
Bennett with Mike Willis Jr., of Grantham, NH,
leading the opening lap with reigning series
champion Woody Pitkat, of Sturbridge, MA, taking the
lead on lap-2 and holding it until the 23rd circuit
when a hard charging Hersey drew the interest of
fans. Hersey looked to be heading home to Swanzey,
NH, as he opened a sizeable lead over second place
driver McKennedy and the rest of the field.
A lap-43 caution flag brought Hersey back to the
rest of the field with McKennedy, cruising in second
place saving his tires and arm strength for the late
stages of the event. McKennedy led laps 44- through
47.
Todd Patnode of Richmond, NH, made his presence
known as he took the lead on lap-48 and held it
until lap 53. Hersey suddenly blasted into the lead
on lap 54 and appeared to be the car to beat as he
again took off on the field but McKennedy reached
Hersey and went by leading lap-80 through 100.
McKennedy, tired from the heat and humidity of the
day and wrestling a car for 70-laps, spoke about his
47 minutes of work. "We had a real good car at the
start. Most of the race I rode around fourth and
fifth. The front cars the beginning of the race and
towards the middle half were running hard and at one
point a straight-away ahead and I was thinking to
myself why."
"With the cautions we were able to close up from a
straight-away behind and go by them. Everything
worked out. The car was fast all day. We had issues
earlier in the day. We ran over a piece of asphalt
and blew the nose off the car putting us a little
behind but the crew worked hard to get us ready. The
car was hard to steer but everything worked out,"
said the three-time series champion.
McKennedy becomes the third different driver in
three races to win this season. The victory was his
16th career VMRS win, his last was in September of
2012.
Patnode, still getting accustomed to the Troyer
chassis he purchased off season, was solid and
finished second followed by Mike Holdridge, of
Madison, CT, who made it up to third, slipped back
to sixth and at the checkered flag got the podium
finish.
Pitkat and Rob Richardi Jr., of Easton, MA, rounded
out the top five.
Colbey Fournier, Willis, Hersey, George Sherman, and
Brandon Dion, finshed the race sixth through tenth.
Heat winners were Pitkat and Chris Pasteryak.
The race, slowed by 4-caution flags, was completed
in 47 minutes.
Next Event : Seekonk (MA) Speedway June 4, 2016
Race Summary :
Speedway 51 Groveton NH
Quarter Mile-High Banked (asphalt)
May 28, 2016
Entrants: (17)
Caution Flags: (4) Laps, 20,28,43,80
Time of Race : 47:06:997
Best Lap Time: Russ Hersey 12.485
Best Speed : 72:087 (Hersey)
Margin of Victory: 2.683
Lap Leaders: Willis (1) Pitkat (2-23) Hersey
(24-43) McKennedy (44-47)
Patnode (48-53) Hersey (54-79) McKennedy (80-100)
Unofficial Order of Finish : (1) McKennedy
(2) Patnode (3) Holdridge (4) Pitkat (5) Richardi
(6) Fournier
(7) Willis Jr. (8) Hersey (9) Sherman (10) Dion (11)
Lashua (12) Seidell (13) Rock (14) Pasteryak
(15) Medeiros Jr (16) Mead (17) Smith
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Source:
John Spence / Valenti Modified Racing Series
Posted:
May 29, 2016 |
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