Models at Lee USA Speedway Friday night, making him the man to beat in the
early stages of the 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship
fight.
Bryan Kruczek led the feature event from the drop of the green, with Bobby
Baillargeon chasing him down to challenge for the lead in the waning laps.
But the pair found trouble in lapped traffic with two to go, and Helliwell
found the lead as a result.
Helliwell hung on through the green-white-checker finish, picking up his
second straight win over Miles Chipman. Jeremy Harclerode checkered third,
followed by Tom Fuller, Pat Floyd, J.R. Baril, Travis Canney, Baillargeon,
Moe Lattime, and Steve Johnson.
Tony Kawejsza picked up his first win of the year in the Prime Storage Late
Model Sportsmen, taking over the points lead after scoring a runner-up
finish to defending champion Grant Aither in the opening night feature
event.
Sandy Lee made his first appearance of the season count with an impressive
runner-up effort in one of two Jim Daley entries, and Michele Fushpanski
took down third in the Myra Fowler machine after winner her heat race
earlier in the night.
Fourth went to opening night winner Aither, with Shaun Waites rounding out
the top five in the second Jim Daley machine ahead of Stephen Dubois, Bobby
Gahan, Jesse Bousquet, Timmy Johnson, and Steve Wilmot.
ISMA Supermodified ace Justin Belfiore kept his perfect season alive with
his second consecutive win in the Small Block Supers, outrunning
third-generation driver Billy Osborne to pick up the checkers.
Tommy Tombarello, Jr. led the first four circuits, with Osborne getting past
to take over on lap five. When Tombarello suffered terminal problems and
coasted to a stop on lap 14, the complexion of the race changed quickly.
Belfiore made his move on the high side, and quickly came away with the
lead. The race was his to lose, and he wasn’t even thinking about it. When
the checkers waved to end the show, Belfiore rolled into victory lane for
the second week in a row.
Osborne was the best of the rest to score his second runner-up finish of the
season, with “Super Dave” Sanborn third for the second time this year in the
Howdy Clapp machine. Mike Spurling scored fourth, followed by Butch Valley,
Jr., Mike Netishen, Bob Millett, Jr., Tombarello, and George Perreault, Jr.
Eric Hoffman scored his first-career victory in the Picnic Table Factory
Hobby Stock main, moving up to the top spot after the original race winner
was penalized as a result of the post-race inspection for a rules
infraction.
Opening night winner Bobby Glass maintained his point lead with a second
place run, with Patrick Tanguay recovering from some mid-race problems to
finish third. Former champion Brian Thompson was fourth, with Stephen
Dubois, Chris Kingsley, Randy Carmichael, Doug Dawkins, Mike Ferullo, and
Jeff Wheeler the rest of the top ten.
The Northeast Classic Lites showed up with over 20 cars taking the green for
their first race of the year, with Jimmy Ryder, Jr. and George Helliwell
picking up the wins in the fast and furious qualifying events.
At feature time, Helliwell once again proved himself to be the class of the
field, joining brother Wayne on the night’s list of winners. Defending
series champ Billy Ryder came across the stripe in the second spot.
Longtime competitor Lloyd Chapin scored his first win of the year in the
Roadrunner main, outrunning the field to score an easy win over Cris King,
who finished in the runner-up slot for the second week in a row.
Steve Nichols took third place honors, with opening night winner Tim Boyle,
Torrey Kovalesky, Troy Washburn, Shaun Waites, Jr., Dana Faulkner, Bruce
Knowles, and Dana Whiting rounding out the top five.
Crystal Brown grabbed her first victory of the year in the Ironman main,
easily outrunning a strong field of entries to score the win, while Jack
Victoria had his best run of the year to score second.
Glen Billings was the final trophy winner in the third spot, with Kyle Roy,
Shane Horvath, Warren Harvey, Jason Hodgdon, Sean Martin, Matt Bakutis, and
Wade Worster closing out the top ten finishers.