Schneider Wins at Lee USA in ALNRS
Newburgh, NY — The ALNRS teams arrived at Lee USA Speedway Friday afternoon all geared up for another exciting night of racing. However Mother Nature appeared to have other things on her mind. Just after the teams signed into the pits and began to park their haulers the sky opened up and the track was blanketed with a severe thunderstorm. The storm passed quickly and the sun came out, quickly drying the track. As the Teams completed their first round of practice the skies opened up again. After the second brief shower the speedway crew jumped into action, quickly drying the track for a great night of racing.
First on the card was the on track autograph session for the fans. All the divisions came out and lined the front stretch with their race cars giving the fans a chance to get up close and personal with all the Friday night short trackers, get some autographs of tomorrows stars and even sit in the cars. Once the fans were back in their seats a full night of power packed racing would be enjoyed by all.
For the ALNRS a field of 12 cars would take to the track for the heat race. By virtue of the draw Hancock, ME driver Shannon Smith was on the pole with Newburgh, NY driver Michael A. Vasquez, Sr. on the outside. On the drop of the green Taunton, MA driver Shane D’Agostino jumped out to the front from his third place starting position and never looked back, leading all ten circuits. Lap 5 would see the first and only caution of the heat race as current point leader James Logan would suffer from what would later become a night ending rearend mechanical failure causing him to spin out on the front stretch. He was able to recover and come back for a 6th place finish. At the line the top five would be D’Agostino followed by aDP Rivet Rookie of the year contender, David Schneider of Northport, NY, Randolph, VT driver Dylan Smith, Millis, MA. driver Tommy Barrett and Barre, VT driver Steve Quenneville. Quenneville would later be sent to the rear based on a Technical DQ.
After a much anticipated start and a juggling of the divisions by the track, the ALNRS finally took to the track just before 11:00 PM. On the drop of the green the ALNRS drivers showed why they are the stars of tomorrow as they provided some of the best side by side racing of night. Lap 5 would turn out to be the be the unlucky lap of the night for Logan as his rearend gremlin would jump out again causing him to spin again down the front stretch coming to rest against the front stretch wall. Also involved in the caution was the 34 of Dylan Smith, who attempted to dodge the spinning Logan and spun his Windshield World, Edward Jones Monte Carlo. After a short cleanup racing resumed with the top five being David Schneider who took the lead on lap 2 followed by D’Agostino, Barrett, Shannon Smith and Vasquez who worked his way into the top five from his 9th place starting position.
Lap 8 would bring out the second caution as William Schneider would take a spin coming out of turn 2. William quickly refired his Islandwide Auto & Truck collision Chevy and we were back under green.
Lap 10 would see a shake up in the top five running order. The #19 of Schneider would be followed by Somers, CT driver Cody Gneiting in his MJ Boller Fabricating, Reliable Welding & Speed Ford Thunderbird, Dylan Smith, Tommy Barrett in his Victory Lane Bar and Grill Chevy and Shannon Smith in her Ellsworth Auto Supply Viking Lumber sponsored Chevy.
On lap 14 Barrett would work his way around the 89 of Gneiting who had slipped to third and would continue to his best finish of his ALNRS career. The white flag lap would see the final caution involving aDP Rivet Rookie of the year contenders William Schneider and the 3 of Kyle Poodiack of Bennington, NH in the Peterboro Tool Co.Inc., SIS Photography Monte Carlo.
At the line it would be David Schneider taking his first victory in the ALNRS followed by Dylan Smith who rebounded from his lap 5 spin to finish second and Tommy Barrett in third.
The ALNRS will be back in action next week as we return for the second and final time of the season to the Canaan Fair Speedway on June 28, 2008.
June 20, 2008 Complete Results
1. David Schneider
2. Dylan Smith
3. Tommy Barrett
4. Cody Gneiting
5. Shane D’Agostino
6. Shannon Smith
7. Michael A. Vasquez, Sr.
8. Mellissa Fifield
9. William Schneider -1
10. Kyle Poodiack -1
11. James Logan -15
12. Steve Quenneville TDQ
Sources: ALNRS PR