Winchester, N.H. \u2013 \u201cYou would be hard pressed to find a better race,\u201d said one long-
\ntime race observer, \u201cBy far the best race in the history of the series and I\u2019ve seen them all,\u201d said another. Fan reactions to a hotly contested race Saturday night, April 30, at Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, (NH). The Valenti Modified Racing Series was in town for the \u201cSpring Dash 100\u201d and when the checkered flag was displayed, the crowd was buzzing and so was a tired and slightly weary winner, Les Hinckley III, of Windsor Locks, (CT).<\/p>\n
Constant side-by-side racing often with five to seven car battles took place throughout
\nthe race with a couple of three-wide showdowns thrown in for good measure.
\n
\nDefending Champion Jon McKennedy, E.Chelmsford, MA. and Steve Masse, of Bellingham, (MA), led the 24- car field to green with McKennedy leading the first 11 circuits. Three-time Champion Kirk Alexander, moved into the lead on lap 12 with heavy pursuit from McKennedy, Jim Boniface, of Winchester, Masse, and Louie Mechalides, of Tyngsboro, (MA).<\/p>\n
Rob Goodenough, of Swanzey, (NH), Dwight Jarvis, of Ascutney, (VT), and Todd Patnode, Swanzey, all had at one time worked their way into a top five run. <\/p>\n
At the half way mark, Alexander, McKennedy, Mechalides, Boniface, and Hinckley made up the top five. <\/p>\n
Mechalides, like McKennedy, was looking for his first Monadnock win when he passed Alexander on lap 68. Alexander, McKennedy, and Hinckley pressured Mechalides setting the stage for the dramatic finish. <\/p>\n
Hinckley, ailing from a stomach bug prior to race time, was running in a solid third on laps 86 through 96. The Connecticut veteran pulled up alongside McKennedy and powered by on lap 97 to second, and then by Mechalides on lap 98. to go on and win the highly competitive race. Mechalides, McKennedy, Alexander, and Goodenough followed
\nthe winner across the line. <\/p>\n
Hinckley said in victory lane, \u201cFeeling pretty good right now. Don\u2019t know if it was nerves or a stomach thing but this makes it better.\u201d Hinckley added,\u201cI really want to thank Chuck and Debbie (car owners). This is really good for this team. Always nice to come back here and win at Monadnock.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sixth through tenth were Jarvis, Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, (PA), Tim Jordan, Plainfield, (CT), Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, (CT), and Norm Wrenn, Nashua, (NH). <\/p>\n
Hinckley\u2019s victory was his 14th career win with the VMRS and his fourth at Monadnock.
\nHe now moves atop the point standings with (90) followed by Pasteryak (84)
\nPennink (80), Goodenough and Wrenn (70) and T. Annarummo (64)<\/p>\n
31 race teams entered the race. 24 cars started the event with 16 drivers finishing, 12 on the lead lap. <\/p>\n
Race Summary: Race # 2
\nMonadnock Speedway Winchester, N.H.
\nDistance: 100 laps
\nTime of Race: 57:31:02
\nMargin of Victory: 0.335
\nBest Lap Time: 12.618
\nBest Lap By: Kirk Alexander
\nBest Speed 71.327<\/p>\n
Lap Leaders: McKennedy (1-11) Alexander (12-67) Mechalides (68-97) Hinckley (98-100)<\/p>\n
Cautions: Lap 28, 37, 74, 74 (red flag) 80, 91, 93, <\/p>\n
Next Event: Twin State Speedway, Claremont. N.H. May 28,2011<\/p>\n
Following post race inspections, Alexander was disqualified for a technical rules infraction. The official order of finish released on Sunday, May 1, 2011<\/p>\n
1.\tLes Hinckley
\n2.\tLouie Mechalides
\n3.\tJon McKennedy
\n4.\tRob Goodenough
\n5.\tDwight Jarvis
\n6.\tRowan Pennink
\n7.\tTim Jordan
\n8.\tChris Pasteryak
\n9.\tNorm Wrenn
\n10.\tSteve Masse
\n11.\tRuss Hersey
\n12.\tEric Goodale
\n13.\tKenny Barry
\n14.\t Todd Patnode
\n15.\t Todd Annarummo
\n16.\tJacob Dore
\n17.\tMax Zachem
\n18.\t Jim Boniface
\n19.\tRob Summers
\n20.\tVictor Johnson
\n21.\tEddy Spiers
\n22.\tSean Bodreau
\n23.\tMike Holdridge
\nDQ.Kirk Alexander<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winchester, N.H. \u2013 \u201cYou would be hard pressed to find a better race,\u201d said one long- time race observer, \u201cBy far the best race in the history of the series and I\u2019ve seen them all,\u201d said another. Fan reactions to a hotly contested race Saturday night, April 30, at Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, (NH). The Valenti […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,4],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-3138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modified-racing-series","category-latest-touring-news","tag-valenti-modified-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}