Lee, NH – The cars and stars of the International Supermodified Association
rolled into town for the running of the Ollie Silva Memorial Classic
75-lapper at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, and the Supers entertained
the capacity crowd with a spectacular show.
Nearly 30 of the ground-pounders were on hand for the event, although former
Lee Small Block Super competitors Butch Valley, Jr. and Dave Duggan were
sidelined with mechanical problems in practice, and didn't take part in
qualifying.
Jeff Abold, Danny Lane, and Lou Cicconi picked up the wins in the three heat
races that set the lineup for the main event. Craig Rayvals took a wild
ride in the second qualifier, destroying his machine when he slammed the
turn three wall.
The remaining 26 cars put on a fast and furious feature event, with
Pennsylvanian Lou Cicconi stepping out to the early lead. Cicconi held the
point for the first 30 circuits before losing the spot to the hard-charging
Russ Wood of nearby Pelham.
Wood opened up a big lead in the middle portion of the race, but Mark Sammut
turned up the wick and was on the move in the late going. Sammut caught
Wood with time running out, and he ducked to the low side heading into turn
one with two to go.
After starting 16th on the grid, Sammut went on to post his second career
ISMA win, with Wood, Chris Perley, Jeff Abold, Ben Seitz, Jeff Holbrook,
Cicconi, Rob Summers, Danny Lane, and Mike Lichty the rest of the top ten.
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Models continued the chase for
the 2009 season championship, and it was veteran driver "Chargin' Charlie"
Rousseau taking down the win in the 50-lap E Keys 4 Cars-sponsored feature
event.
Katrina Canney led the early laps, with A.J. Begin taking the high groove to
the lead on lap ten. Bryan Kruczek quickly made his way past both Canney
and Begin to take a turn out front, leading the field at the halfway mark.
With ten to go, points leader Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Rousseau joined the
lead battle, making it a three-way dogfight up front. Rousseau eventually
came out on top, with Helliwell, Kruczek, Jeffrey Labrecque, Jr., Begin,
Canney, Bobby Baillargeon, Tom Fuller, and Pat Floyd the rest of the top
ten.
In Prime Storage Late Model Sportsman action, Gary Beauregard put in a solid
run and took down his first win of the year, holding off multi-time feature
winner Grant Aither to score the victory.
Michele Fushpanski led the field to green and stayed on the point until the
event's first caution fell on lap eleven for separate spins by Bill Ahern
and Sulo Burbank. Ryan Green held the second spot at that point, but Aither
was up to third and coming fast.
As expected, Aither quickly made it to the front, but quite unexpectedly, he
lost the spot to Beauregard a few laps later. Beauregard was good the rest
of the way, taking down the win when the checkered flag flew.
Aither had to settle for the runner-up finish behind Beauregard, with
"Piranha Pete" Evans, Fushpanski, Brian Grantz, Ahern, Bobby Melvin, Green,
Burbank, Gary Modugno, and Jesse Bousquet the remainder of the top ten.
Rookie competitor Billy Osborne had a strong start in the PB Chopper Shop
and Rods Small Block Super main event, jumping out to the lead on an
early-race restart. Osborne pulled away to a comfortable lead over the first
12 laps, but a caution brought him back to the field.
Dan Bowes ran the high groove to the lead on the restart, with P.J. Stergios
following him to the front. The pair battled hard for the next several
laps, with Stergios finally taking the lead inside the ten to go mark.
Once he cleared Bowes, Stergios was in command the rest of the way, picking
up his second win of the year at the checkers. Bowes, Osborne, Tommy
Tombarello, Jr., Mike Spurling, Eddie Witkum, Jr., Mike Netishen, Johnny
Burke, and Mike Dube, Jr. closed out the top ten.
Eric Hoffman led the first five laps of the Planet Aid Hobby Stock main
before giving up the lead to Jim Shorey, who went on to score the win in the
Jeff and Nancy Trask entry.
Patrick Tanguay grabbed his best finish of the year in second, followed by
the previous' week's winner, Ron Washburn, Bobby Glass, Jimmy Russell,
Hoffman, Bill Fiske, Lance Barthelemy, Chris Kingsley, and Kenny Scott.
After battling mechanical woes for most of the summer, Tim Boyle returned to
his winning ways in the David's Race Cars and Components Roadrunner feature,
beating out former champ Ben Brown to get the win.
Jim Piaseczny had a solid run to finish third, with Steve Nichols, Loren
Smith, Niko Manyati, Justin King, Cris King, Torrey Kovalesky, and James
Fitzgerald rounding out the top ten finishers.
Kevin Emery once again topped the American Auto Parts Ironman main, with Tom
Harton, Crystal Brown, Troy Washburn, Matt Lambert, Warren Harvey, and Matt
Bakutis next in the rundown.