Coastal 200 TJ Watson Late Model 5 28 2023 Wiscasset Speedway
Wiscasset Speedway
Mike Hopkins Scores First Career Coastal 200 Victory at Wiscasset Speedway
Written By: Amy Worrey – Chasing the Checkered
Thousands of fans rolled into Wiscasset Speedway on Sunday for the biggest Late Model race of the year, the Coastal 200. The $10,000 to win race, presented by Coldbrook Trailers and GT Overhead Doors, is one of the marquee events of the race season and always draws some of the biggest names in the Northeast. This year was no different as Eddie MacDonald, Mike Hopkins and 3-time Coastal 200 winner Ben Ashline were among those in the field.
The day also featured a partial Group 2 racing program, which kicked off with a 30-lap feature for the Portland Glass Strictly Streets. Ashton Reynolds took off with the early lead but trouble was brewing behind the leaders on lap 5 as Kurt Hewins went around in turn 4, collecting a handful of others. Reynolds maintained his advantage after multiple cautions halted the racing action but his cousin Josh St. Clair was on the move after starting at the tailend of the field, breaking the top 3 on lap 15. He made his way around Scott Eck for second two laps later and then set his sights on Reynolds, promptly taking over the top spot on lap 22. St. Clair took off from there, scoring the feature victory as Ashton Reynolds and Scott Eck rounded out the top 3.
(more…)Brandon Barker Takes 1st ACT Win in 1st ACT Start at Lee USA Speedway
Lee, NH — In one of the most dramatic and exciting events so far in the young 2023 racing season, the American-Canadian Tour put on a barn-burning performance at New Hampshire’s Center of Speed, Lee USA Speedway on Sunday. With the return of the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 at the 3/8-mile oval came an interesting group of touring regulars, old friends and young greenhorns. All of them fought each other and the worn-out track itself in an attempt to grasp ACT glory and join a wins list thirty-seven years in the making.
Twenty-four competitors would enter the expansive Lee USA Speedway pit area Sunday morning, many of them facing their third event in just fifteen short days in an extreme stretch of May. After a late driver change, Westbrook, Maine’s Brandon Barker took the wheel of the Sullivan Construction 0NH car to the pole position with current top ACT rookie Andrew Molleur to his outside after both earning +3 in heat race number one.
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