Series Late Models at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with Jeffrey
Labrecque, Jr. and Miles Chipman picking up their first wins of the year in
the two mains.
The rained out feature from the previous week hit the track to open up the
night’s action, with Bryan Kruczek setting the early pace. But after
battling past J.R. Baril to get to the second spot, Labrecque quickly reeled
in Kruczek to challenge for the lead.
He completed his charge to the front on lap 14, and led the rest of the way
to score the victory, followed by Kruczek, Baril, Wayne Helliwell, Jr.,
Jeremy Harclerode, Pat Floyd, Chipman, Steve Johnson, Tom Fuller, and Bobby
Baillargeon.
In the regularly scheduled E Keys 4 Cars 30-lap main, Kruczek was once again
involved in the lead battle early in the race. This time it was Chipman
providing the pressure, battling side by side with Kruczek for several laps
looking for the top spot.
Chipman eventually prevailed, and he went on to collect the checkers.
Helliwell was up in the late laps to score second, with Labrecque, Baril,
Kruczek, Floyd, Fuller, Harclerode, Jimmy Linardy, and A.J. Panessiti
rounding out the top ten.
Bouncing back from a hard wreck the week before, Ron Bolduc jumped out to
the early lead in the Prime Storage Late Model Sportsman main, with Michele
Fushpanski and Jesse Bousquet giving chase.
Bolduc still led when they took the crossed flags, but two-time winner Grant
Aither was already inside the top five, and he was headed to the front.
Aither quickly passed Bobby Gahan and Bousquet to take third, but caution
slowed the action on lap 18.
He got past Fushpanski on the restart, leaving just Bolduc between him and
another trip to victory lane. Finally, with two to go, Aither slipped past
Bolduc on the high side, and he went on to collect his third win in four
tries.
Bolduc got a solid runner-up finish for his efforts, with Fushpanski, Gahan,
Bousquet, Bill Ahern, Jimmy Russell, Sandy Lee, Shaun Waites, and Steve
Wilmot the rest of the top ten.
Justin Belfiore continued his hot streak in the Small Block Supers,
collecting his fourth straight win in the Bowes Motorsports machine. For
the second week in a row, Belfiore had to get past his brother-in-law Tommy
Tombarello, Jr. for the victory.
Tombarello’s strong run gave him back-to-back second place finishes, with
ISMA regular Danny Lane, George Perreault, Jr., Butch Valley, Jr., Mike
Netishen, Dave Sanborn, Bob Millett, Jr., Tony Carroll, and Mike Spurling
third through tenth.
The Picnic Table Factory Hobby Stocks once again fell to the ageless veteran
Bobby Glass, who held off a strong challenge from fellow former champion
Brian Thompson to score his second win of the 2010 campaign.
Thompson was the best of the rest at the checkers, with Patrick Tanguay
taking third followed by Eric Hoffman, Todd Bregy, Ron Washburn, Lance
Barthelemy, Kenny Scott, Jr., Mark Parenteau, and Stephen Dubois.
Rookie Evan Horvath took a hard hit in the American Auto Parts Ironman main,
clobbering the first turn wall in an early-race skirmish. Matt Bakutis led
the first six laps before giving up the spot to Chris Martel, but Martel had
problems two laps later and dropped out of the race.
Rookie competitor Kyle Roy picked up the point when Martel retired, and he
went on to make it four winners in four races this season, picking up his
first career checkered flag in an action-packed feature event.
Matt Lambert scored his second straight podium finish in the runner-up slot,
followed by Jack Victoria, Kevin Emery, Bakutis, Sean Martin, P.J. Murphy,
Thomas Johnson, Jason Hodgdon, and Michael Olsson.
The Pro-4 Modifieds made their first appearance of the year at Lee USA on
Friday night, with longtime veteran George Sherman outrunning the field to
score the flag-to-flag win.