Lee, NH – Lee USA Speedway played host to the second round of the two-track Pro Stock Shootout” on Friday night, with longtime track regular Wayne Helliwell, Jr. besting a strong field of entries to pick up the win.
Erick Sands broke out on the start to set the early pace, leading the way for the first 14 circuits before giving up the top spot to Jeremy Davis on a restart. Helliwell followed Davis to the front, and he immediately began to pressure him for the lead.
Multi-time Late Model champ Helliwell made quick work of Davis to take command of the event with his ACT-legal racer, and he stayed out front the rest of the way, holding off a late-race challenge from Matt Frahm to roll the Bruce Bernhardt entry into victory lane once again.
Frahm took a solid runner-up finish, with Davis, Donnie Lashua, Mike Parks, Chris Wilk, Rich Eaton, Sulo Burbank, Randy Tetreault, Erick Sands, Jay Sands, Zig Geno, Travis Dunbar, Cory Roberts, and Austin Brehio the rest of the top fifteen.
The Benson Lumber and Hardware Small Block Supers were off last week, but they’ll resume the battle for the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship next Friday night. The rest of the weekly divisions all saw action along with the pro Stocks.
The Prime Storage Late Model Sportsman feature saw rookie contender Ryan Gath move out from his front row start to pace the field for the first two laps, but Michele Fushpanski made her way past at that point and took over.
Fushpanski stretched out her lead over the next several laps, but a series of cautions kept bringing her back to the field. By halfway, Bobby Melvin had made his way to second and had his eyes on the lead, but he didn’t have enough to get past Fushpanski.
Lap after lap the pair circled the 3/8ths mile oval bumper to bumper, but the break Melvin was waiting for never came. At the checkers, it was Fushpanski in to pick up a popular win, with Melvin settling for runner-up honors.
Jimmy Renfrew made another late-race charge to finish in the third spot, with Ron Bolduc and Tony Kawejsza rounding out the top five. Gath was scored sixth in the final tally, with Josh Ball, Kayla Cazares, David Piper,
and Mike Mitchell seventh through tenth.
Steve Douphinette scored his first win of the year in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stocks, after taking over the lead from Eric Hoffman with a strong move on the outside coming off turn four on lap six.
Douphinette was easily in command as the laps quickly clicked off, opening up a comfortable lead before a lap 19 caution erased the cushion he had built to almost a straightaway over his nearest competition.
When racing resumed, Douphinette picked up the lead one last time, and he held off a late challenge from Mike Williams to score the win. Williams, Mark Parenteau, Jim Piaseczny, Jim Shorey, Hoffman, Steve Dubois, Patrick Tanguay, Bobby Glass, and Brian DeStefano were the rest of the top ten.
Picnic Table Factory Ironman action found Mike Olson leading the first two laps, but Kale Billings was on the move early and headed to the front. Billings slipped past Olson for the lead on lap three, and he went the
distance to post the win.
Kyle Roy made a great run from scratch on the field to checker second, followed by Troy Washburn, Jake Rheaume, Olson, Dave Brown, Danielle Simoneau, Louis Lanctot, Justin Dawalga, and Evan Horvath.
The Allison Legacy Series made a stop at Lee USA as part of Friday night’s big race program, with Troy McNeil leading the race most of the way. Late-race contact with James Logan knocked them both out of contention, with Peter Portante taking down the win over Emily Packard.
Coming up this Friday Night, June 10th, is Quad Wars highlighted by the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. This race event is brought to you by Rochester Sports Center and we will get the green flag at 7:15PM. Lee USA Speedway is located on Route 125 at 380 Calef Highway in Lee, New Hampshire. For further information please call 978-462-4252 or go on our web site at www.leeusaspeedway.com.