Darling Triumphant in GSPSS Return to Speedbowl
The Granite State Pro Stock Series made a triumphant return to the New London Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday evening and it was Seekonk Massachusettes Dave Darling coming out on top of a stacked field.
Under race day perfect skies, the GSPSS kicked off the show with The Crazy Horse Racing Fast Time Challenge. Twenty two cars took time and it was Angelo Belsito setting the GSPSS Speedbowl track record with a time of 14.681 seconds. Jake Matheson and Dave Darling would complete the top three in time trials with Belsito and Matheson leading a pair of heat races to the green flag.
In both heats it would be the outside pole sitter who would get the jump and lead all the laps. Darling in heat one and point leader Joey “Pole” Polewarczyk in heat two would take convincing wins and head to the redraw with the rest of the top four out of each heat.
In The Granite State Pro Stock Series redraw the ping pong balls would favor Ray Christain III putting him on the pole position at his home race track, just a couple of miles from where he lives. The Crazy Horse racing team had high hopes and a large guest list as family, friends and sponsors flocked to see the home town boy race.
Early in the going the race looked like it would be a battle between “Pole” and DJ Shaw, making a rare 2020 appearance with the series. A rash of early cautions would slow the action repeatedly and keep the field bunched tightly together.
The ugliest incident of the day would include Second place point man Christain III and Cory Bubar. Contact with the front stretch wall would send Bubar into Christain with both cars hitting the wall head on in turn one. Both drivers would walk away but their race and possibly Christain’s championship aspirations would be over.
As the race reached the one third mark Angelo Belsito, third in the point standings, had moved forward to challenge for the top spot. He and “Pole” battled for a number of laps but a rare mistake on the part of the point leader would send Belsito spinning, drawing the caution and relegating both drivers to the rear of the field.
This would move Seekonk Champion Dave Darling to the point and he would never look back. Leading by as much as three seconds, Darling would lead to the finish.
Ryan Kuhn, Fresh off a third place finish at star would mount a late race charge to finish second with Gabe Brown in third. Brown would battle back after contact with a lapped car sent him to the rear of the field early in the event.
Two time series champion Mike O’Sullivan would battle all night, bringing home a solid top five finish in fourth and rookie Casey Call would complete the top five. Call would run second for much of the race but run out of tires late and fall back at the finish.
Sixth would go to Tom Scully Jr in his first 2020 start. He would lead “Pole” and Belsito across the line with Shaw struggling home to a ninth place finish and Craig Weinstein completing the top ten.
Up next for the Granite State Pro Stock Series is Russ Conways Oktoberfest at The Lee USA Speedway in Lee NH. The series will run the entirety of its program on Sunday October fourth. The series will return to The New London Waterford Speedbowl to crown its champion on Saturday October 24th.
For more information visit the series at www.gspss.net or check them out on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Results:
1 – 52 Dave Darling
2 – 72 Ryan Kuhn
3 – 47 Gabe Brown
4 – 08 Mike O’Sullivan
5 – 90nh Casey Call
6 – 2 Tom Scully Jr
7 – 97 Joey Polewarczyk
8 – 8b Angelo Belsito
9 – 60 DJ Shaw
10 – 90 Craig Weinstein
11 – 40 Mike Mitchell
12 – 31nh Luke Hinkley
13 – 76ri Tyler Tomassi
14 – 12p Bobby Pelland
15 – 87 Alexander Pearl
16 – 16 Kevin Folan
17 – 16 Kyle Harvell
18 – 12b Cory Bubar
19 – 93ct Ray Christian III
20 – 29Adam Gray
21 – 52nh Jake Matheson
22 – 16ma Austin Blais
Contingency Awards :
Sunoco Race Fuels heat race winners – 5gallons of race fuel – 52 Dave Darling, 97 Joey Polewarczyk
AR Bodies hard luck award – $100 product certificate – 52nh Jake Matheson
Crazy Horse Fast Time Challenge – 1st $125 – 8b Angelo Belsito – 2nd $75 – 52nh Jake Matheson – 3rd $50 – 52 Dave Darling
Magnus Performance Parts – 7th place finisher $100 product certificate – 97 Joey Polewarczyk
Matco Tools : product certificates – winner $75 – 52 Dave Darling – Random Draw $75 – to be drawn at the next event
American Racer Hard Charger – one free tire – 72 Ryan Kuhn
Speed 51 leader at lap 51 – $51 – 97 Joey Polewarczyk