Lee, NH – With the regular NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season finale just a week away, Lee USA Speedway’s back to school Friday night program featured race car rides for kids and the annual running of the 50-lap Lance Davis Memorial race for the Prime Storage Warehouse Late Model Sportsmen at the top of the card.
The Davis family presented the winner’s hardware to former champion Grant Aither, who proved to be the class of the field in the main event. Aither took the lead from Timmy Johnson in the early going, and he set the pace the rest of the way to easily collect the win and the huge trophy that went with it.
J.R. Baril brought home second place honors in the Brian House entry, with Ryan Green, Johnson, Jimmy Russell, Tom Hough, Michele Fushpanski, John Falconi, Kyle Roy, Alby Ovitt, Patrick Stewart, Ray Dinsmore, Brian Grantz, Jason Welch, P.J. Murphy, David Piper, Sparky MacIver, Chris Titcomb, and Tony Kawejsza rounding out the finishing order.
Double features were on tap for the Benson Lumber and Hardware Small Block Supermodifieds, and it was second-generation racer Mike Ordway, Jr. collecting his third win of the year in the first of the two races. Ordway moved to the lead at the drop of the green, and led flag to flag to pick up the win in impressive fashion.
Defending champ Wayne Helliwell, Jr. grabbed second place honors, followed by 2010 champion Tommy Tombarello, Jr., Sparky MacIver, P.J. Stergios, Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Gath, Moe Lattime, Leslie Keyser, Mike Netishen, and Tony Carroll.
MacIver stepped it up a notch in the nightcap, outrunning early leader Gath to lead the field across the stripe and collect the win behind the wheel of the Bob Chabot machine. Helliwell moved up late to collect another runner-up, with Gath filling out the podium and Tombarello, Netishen, Stergios, Keyser, Lattime, Mike Spurling, and Ricky Wolf the rest of the top ten.
Kenny “Caveman” Scott broke out to the early lead in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock main event, holding the top spot for the first four laps before yielding to former division champion Brian Thompson in the familiar Dennis Soares entry, who eventually went on to score the victory.
Patrick Tanguay came out on top of a tight battle for the second spot, with Jim Shorey forced to settle for third by just inches at the stripe. Fourth went to Scott, with Paul Palen, Chris Jacobson, Ron Washburn, Jim Piaseczny, Niko Maniatis, and Dennis Dumas the rest of the top ten.
Jake Rheaume returned to his winning ways if the American Used Auto Parts Ironman feature, easily running away from the field to score the win. Travis Hollins put in a solid run to finish second, with Wayne Osborne, Danielle Simoneau, Evan Horvath, Shane Horvath, Tyler Mitchell, Hannah Shaw, and Wayne Purington next across the stripe.
John McCain of Lakeville, MA won the STAR Sportsman race, while Gary Moore of Manchester took the STAR Modified win.
Pepsi Cola presents the crowning of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Champions (Small Block Super Modifieds, Late Model Sportsman, Hobby Stocks and the Ironman cars) along with the North East Mini Stock Tour and the Classic Lites this Friday night, September 7th starting at 7:15PM.