CHARLOTTE, NC (July 20) – The Tour-type Modifieds of the Southern Modified Racing Series (SMRS) Presented By PASS return to action this Friday night for “Foothills Night At The Races” at Tri-County Motor Speedway. The series first trip to the multi-groove .416-mile facility will see several familiar faces returning, while the addition of the Mod Lite division will expand the competition throughout the remainder of the 2016 season. The Mod Lite cars, piloted by drivers like Winston-Salem, NC’s Scott Hall, will help grow the starting fields and will see the winner recognized in Victory Lane ceremonies and also receive recognition for the fastest qualifying lap in their respective division.
“I’m excited to get back to racing in the Modified and with PASS and the Southern Modified Racing Series,” says Hall. “Adding the Mod Lites division gives us a stepping stone to the Tour-Type Modifieds. I have heard great things about the series and am looking forward to our debut on Friday night at Tri-County.”
After five races in the 2016 Granite State Pro Stock Series campaign, Cory Casagrande sits second in the points standings.
Casagrande is a native of Stafford Springs, Connecticut and drives the No. 1 Shark Cycles, Casagrande Builders Chevrolet at each of the races on the GSPSS schedule. So far in 2016, the season has had its ups and downs, but Casagrande sits second in the point standings going into the second half of the season.
“I think from last year to this year, we are 100% better,” Casagrande said. “I’ve been pretty happy with this season so far, we have had a couple of tough races but we’ve also had some top-fives and those are good to have. We’re going to a new track for basically everyone next in Riverhead, I’m probably one of the few people that run the tour that has even been there to watch a race, so I’m looking forward to going back there.
Eddie MacDonald, driver of the #71 Grimm Construction Chevy in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the #17 EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy in the American Canadian Tour, had to survive an ill-handling car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and an intentional, devastating wreck at the hands of another driver at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, July 18, 2016.
The three-time K&N winner at the “Magic Mile” could not find the handle on the Grimm Racing Chevy beginning with Friday’s practice despite numerous changes to the car. The K&N series participates in the July Sprint Cup weekend in the United Services 70 with Eddie Mac usually a contender for the win. The Rowley, Mass. veteran battled the ill-handling car during practice on Friday and throughout the race on Saturday to finish 26th.
Lee, NH – Rookie EKeys4cars Supermodified driver Dave Helliwell of Pelham continued his impressive freshman campaign on Friday night at Lee USA Speedway, taking down his third NASCAR Whelen All American Series feature event win of 2016 at “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed”.
Jim Lindquist was on hand representing Whelen Engineering for the annual Whelen Night festivities, and he presented Helliwell and all the other weekly division winners with their trophies, and Helliwell with a special medallion commemorating his win.
Helliwell gridded seventh for the 30-lap main event, and wasted little time starting his charge to the front, cracking the top five just two circuits in. Mike Keddy of Raymond was out front setting the early pace, with Tilton driver Jim Lowrey, Jr. in tow for the first eight laps.
Credit photos: Mary and Peter Taylor petespicks.smugmug.com
BY: SOPHIE GABRION, RACE MEDIA REP
WISCASSET, MAINE – If you ever want to see what dedication looks like, visit the pits at Wiscasset Speedway during the summertime. Although temperatures on Saturday afternoon reached into the eighties, the courageous crews continued to run through race day preparations as if they were trying to keep warm. Even more impressive were the drivers themselves, who voluntarily zipped up in full body fire suits and entered cars known to reach temperatures of up to 120 degrees – all for the love of racing. Take a minute to consider how many people you know with that kind of endurance, while we review the blistering action from this past weekend.
Skipping the pleasantries, the Super Streets got down to business for their 25-lap spotlight race. Points’ leader, Mark Lucas of the #5 car, battled Jason Curtis, driving the #02, for dominance throughout the first five laps. After waging war from the outer lane, Lucas pulled ahead to take the first position, leaving Curtis to play catch up. Several car lengths behind, crowd-favorite Josh Bailey of the #2 car, kept Kenny Harrison of the #85 at bay, with the latter trying everything he could to make a comeback on the corners. With drama low and speeds high, Lucas was free to cruise like a teenager driving unsupervised for the first time – not a care in the world! With the night’s first caution and regroup came adulthood for Lucas, who spent the final laps successfully defending first place for his fourth season win. Curtis earned second place for the power that he had brought to the spotlight feature, with Bailey taking home third.
