Lee, NH – NASCAR Sprint Cup star Ryan Newman jumped behind the wheel of a
Tim Bertrand-owned NEMA Midget for the 25-lap feature event last Friday
night, and "The Rocketman" didn't disappoint the many fans who came to watch
him race.
Newman looked right at home in the high-powered open-wheeler, hustling the
outside groove to grab the lead shortly after the start. Newman's teammate
for the night, defending NEMA champ Randy Cabral, was the only thing that
kept him from winning.
Newman was the class of the field for the first half of the race, but Cabral
slipped past coming off turn two on lap 13, and he quickly made the pass to
take over the lead.
From there, Cabral cruised unchallenged to post the win, with Newman putting
in a crowd-pleasing runner-up performance. Russ Stoehr, Mike Keeler, Adam
Cantor, Erica Santos, William Wall, Greg Stoehr, John Zych, Jr., and Chris
DeRitis were the rest of the top ten.
Local racer Jake Stergios of nearby Candia put in an impressive performance
in the accompanying NEMA Lites feature event, coming from 11th place on the
starting grid to collect the feature event win.
Stergios grabbed the lead from Eddie Leclerc, Jr. on lap 18 of the 20-lap
event to post the victory, with Leclerc grabbing runner-up ahead of
second-generation racer Russ Wood, Jr., Paul Luggelle, and Rick Hart.
The Prime Storage Late Model Sportsmen followed rookies Frankie Eldredge and
Ryan Green to the start, with Eldredge jumping out to grab the race lead.
On lap nine however, he suffered a cut tire and brushed the wall, putting
Green out front for the restart.
Green held off veteran Jimmy Renfrew for the next several circuits, but
Renfrew quickly made it past on the outside to lead them under the crossed
flags, with Bobby Melvin, Green, Michele Fushpanski, and Pete Evans next in
the running order.
Melvin dug deep and went to work, moving the Marr Motorsports entry past
Renfrew and into the lead with the laps winding down. At the checkers, it
was Melvin making the trip to victory lane after his second for his second
win of the year.
Grant Aither was up in the late laps to score second behind Melvin, with
Renfrew, Evans, Sparky MacIver, Fushpanski, Jesse Bousquet, Green, Timmy
"Rockstar" Johnson, and Brian Grantz closing out the top ten.
Kenny "Caveman" Scott led the early laps of the Planet Aid Hobby Stock
feature event, but he quickly gave way to the high-flying Jimmy Renfrew, who
went on to collect his first points race win of the season.
Jim Shorey came up just short at the finish, settling for a second place
finish in the Jeff and Nancy Trask machine, outrunning defending champ Jimmy
Russell, Ron Washburn, Todd Bregy, Scott, Chris Titcomb, Eric Hoffman, Ben
Brown, and Jake Michaud.
In the American Auto Part Ironman feature, it was Tom "Hulk" Harton grabbing
his second checkered flag of the year, beating out Kale Billings, Warren
Harvey, Kevin Emery, and Jay Brown.
The rest of Lee USA Speedway's regular weekly divisions were all slated to
see action as well, but rain started falling shortly after the NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Late Model feature event had taken the green flag.
The rain postponed the remainder of the program, sending the E-Keys for Cars
Late Models, PB Chopper Shop and Rods Small Block Supers, and the David's
Race Cars and Components Roadrunners home before their features were in the
record books.
Next weekend will see a special tripleheader of racing action at "New
Hampshire's Center of Speed", with the Monster Trucks highlighting the
weekend, along with over a dozen racing divisions hitting the track as well.
For more information, visit the track website at www.leeusaspeedway.com.