Lee, NH – The final week of racing in the 2013 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championship season went into the record books at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with Tommy Tombarello, Jr. wrapping up the season title in the track’s headline division, the Benson Lumber and Hardware Small Block Supermodifieds.
Tombarello’s impressive season aboard the Bobby and Ed Witkum-owned Witkum Brothers Racing machine made it back-to-back championships and three overall for the Haverhill, MA native, who also put in a strong bid for the 2013 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series New Hampshire state championship in the rain-shortened season.
Grant Aither capped off another championship year in the Prime Storage and Warehouse Late Model Sportsman division driving for Ricky Porter, while Patrick Tanguay scored his first David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock championship in his family entry, and Travis Hollins held on for the American Used Auto Parts Ironman title.
Sparky MacIver finally shook the monkey off his back in the Small Block Supermodified main, leading all 30 laps in the Bob Chabot machine to score his first win of the season, becoming the ninth different driver to find victory lane over the course of the summer.
Moe Lattime had his best run of the year in the season finale as well, bringing the Dick Osborne entry home with a solid runner-up finish. Ryan Gath finished third, with Jake Stergios, Mike Netishen, Tombarello, Dylan Duhaime, Leslie Keyser, Mike Spurling, and Ricky Wolf, Jr. rounding out the top ten.
Geoff Rollins appeared to be the class of the field in the Late Model Sportsman main event, leading the main from flag to flag to take the checkers. But a post-race disqualification for a tire rule violation handed the win to Michele Fushpanski instead.
Like MacIver, it was the first time Fushpanksi’s made the trip to victory lane this season, and her crew swarmed the track to celebrate her victory. 2011 champ Ryan Green took home runner-up honors, with Alby Ovitt, Nick Maniatis, Jimmy Russell, Aither, 2013 champ J.R. Baril, Larry Moloney, Boe Green, and David Piper finishing third through tenth.
Eric Hoffman was in the process of running a storybook race on Friday night, jumping out to the lead early in the Hobby Stock main, and looking like he had held off the division’s most prolific winner, Jim Piaseczny in a close finish. But his story ended without a win after his car underwent the scrutiny of the tech staff.
Lee USA officials waved Hoffman out of victory lane after another tire rule infraction, with Piaseczny picking up win number four on the season as a result. Dennis Dumas grabbed his third runner-up finish of the year with another impressive run in the 25-lapper, and David MacDonald rounded out the podium in the third spot.
Fourth went to eventual 2013 champion Tanguay, followed by former champ Jim Shorey in the Doug Ricker tribute machine, Wade Worster in the Jeff and Nancy Trask entry, Brian DeStefano, Kyle Sawyer, Billy Clement, Jr., and Paul Palen.
After trying all year with nothing more than an occasional podium to show for his efforts, Zach Washburn finally put it all together in the final feature race of the 2013 season to make that long-awaited first career trip to the winner’s circle.
Washburn held off an early challenge from Austin Elliott, then finally a late-race effort from Wayne Osborne to post the win. Osborne won out in a race-long battle with his Red Cup Racing teammate Shane Horvath, who ended up third, followed by 2013 Ironman champion Travis Hollins, Tyler Mitchell, newcomer Pam Ford, Hannah Shaw, Elliott, and Evan Horvath.
Our next event at Lee will be our season finale the Oktoberfest on October 11th, 12th and the 13th with 14 racing divisions. October 11th is an 3PM to 7PM afternoon practice. October 12th will be Qualifying and all features held on October 13th. Please call the office at 978-462-4252 or go on our web site at www.leeusaspeedway.com for more information on this event.
photo by Rich Hayes