Aug 30, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Barre, VT – North Haverhill, NH’s Derrick O’Donnell is poised to claim the 2013 “King of the Road” at the conclusion of tomorrow (Thursday, August 29) night’s VP Racing Fuels event at Thunder Road in Barre, VT. It would be O’Donnell’s second Thunder Road track title in three seasons, joining his 2011 Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen crown.
O’Donnell has used a pair of feature wins, along with a total of 12 top ten finishes in the 13 events so far, to amass a 60-point lead heading into tomorrow night’s Late Model finale. Barring any major issues, the 23-year old should fend off two-time Thunder Road track champion Nick Sweet. 2013 marks O’Donnell’s first full season of Late Model competition, which will also make him the Rookie of the Year, something that hasn’t been done in the modern era of Thunder Road stock car racing.
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Aug 30, 2013 | Lee Speedway, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News
This past Friday night the Lee USA Speedway and Prime Warehouse and Storage honored the memory of Lance Davis, a popular late model sportsman driver whose life was cut short by illness a decade ago. . Grant Aither continued his winning ways and took the 10th Annual Lance Davis Memorial Late Model Shootout ahead of Nick Maniatis and James Russell. It was his fourth win of the year. Friend and former competitor Luke Tanguay has taken on the task of maintaining this event, and awarded the top ten with commemorative trophies. Davis’ wife Lynn, son Zach, and daughter Lia were also recognized and presented with a plaque.
This season has been one of the most competitive in years at Lee USA as evidenced by the number of first time winners. Last Friday night two of the speedway’s most determined competitors finally found that elusive first checkered flag.
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Aug 27, 2013 | Maine Racing News, NASCAR K&N Series, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
The K&N Pro Series East’s inaugural visit to Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia in the Biscuitville 125 on Saturday marked the first appearance for the series on a road course since Lime Rock Park in 2010. Eddie MacDonald struggled in practice and qualifying on the 2.25 mile, 17 turn track yet posted a satisfying ninth place finish. With his seventh top ten finish this season in ten races, both driver and team owner, Rob Grimm, improved to fourth place in the all-important point’s race.
The Grimm Racing Team arrived at VIR for a full day of practice on Friday and it became clearly evident the Grimm Construction/ Multiple Sclerosis Chevy was down in horsepower to deal with the long straightaways and uphill configuration of the track. When the series ran at Lime Rock many teams suffered the loss of the spec engines that were clearly designed to run oval tracks and not designed for the rigors of right and left hand turns. The #71 ran a “built” engine for durability then and ran the same engine at VIR this past weekend.
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Aug 27, 2013 | Lee Speedway, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News
Lee, NH – The main event at Lee USA Speedway last Friday night was the annual Lance Davis Memorial, a 50-lap Late Model Sportsman race held in honor of the popular driver whose sudden passing shocked and saddened the Lee USA community in the summer of 2003.
The Davis family was on hand to present the top ten finishers with trophies commemorating the event, and it was once again Grant Aither taking home the biggest one after a convincing victory in the extra-distance affair for the Prime Storage and Warehouse-sponsored LMS division.
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Aug 27, 2013 | Granite State Series, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
Kingston NH’s Bobby Baillargeon led all but lap 2 on his way to his second consecutive Hudson Hugger win. Hudson’s Derek Griffith and Baillargeon brought the 21 field car down to the green, and the pair raced wheel to wheel for the first few laps, swapping the lead back and forth, before Bobby was able to close the door for the top spot. Barry Gray, Jimmy Renfrew and Mike O’Sullivan rounded out the top five on the opening laps.
The first caution came out on the 21st circuit when Eric Sands spun in the fourth corner. Austin Brehio made slight contact, but went to the pits for repairs. It was three laps later when the second yellow flew when the points leader Jeremy Davis, Jake Vanada and Mike O’Sullivan got together in turn three.
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Aug 27, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Barre, VT – Nick Sweet went home with the winner’s trophy/hardware on Aubuchon Night after a masterful performance in the Late Model 100 Friday at Thunder Road.
It was the first win of the season for the defending track champion, who came from 18th on the starting grid in the St. J Auto No. 88.
Sweet shot underneath eventual runner-up Jean-Paul Cyr for 2nd on lap 52, took the lead from Brett Gervais a lap later and then quickly drew out to a commanding advantage.
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