Field & Panaroni Share Mini Stock Spotlight; Baxter Overall Mini Challenge Winner; Cates, Gelinas, Gentes, Sundeen & Boss Score Victories
Thompson, CT — The Mini Stocks took top billing at Thompson Speedway during Thursday Night Thunder with the running of the annual Mini Stock Northern Challenge. Danny Field of Deep River, CT, continued his winning ways in the regular weekly division portion of the Challenge. Mark Panaroni of Ivoryton, CT, scored the victory in the Mini Stock Northern Tour (MSNT) leg of the challenge. Chad Baxter of Pascoag, RI scored one for the ‘home team’ as the overall winner of the Mini Stock Northern Tour Challenge.
In regular NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action, Danny Cates of Chaplin, CT, held back some stiff competition to score his first Sunoco Modified victory of the season. Larry Gelinas of Buxton, ME, won a barnburner in the Super Late Models. Rick Gentes of Woonsocket, RI, was back to form in the Late Models; scoring the feature win. A dominating performance in the Limited Sportsman found Scott Sundeen of Douglas, MA, in victory lane. What a difference a week made for TIS Modified winner Glenn Boss of Danielson, CT.
Danny Field of Deep River, CT, added to his win tally for the 2011 season winning the first leg of the Mini Stocks special event on Thursday night. Tim Higginbotham and Lou Bellisle, III had a spirited battle in the opening laps of the regularly scheduled Mini Stock feature event on Thursday Night. Bellisle came out on top to lead the way. Eric Bourgeois and Danny Field shot out of the pack of Minis to run third and fourth respectively by lap five. Tyler Poulin, the only other winner in the Monster Minis this season, also broke into the top five.
Higginbotham dropped off the pace leaving Bellisle, Bourgeois, Field, and Poulin to duke it out for the lead. A restart on lap six, after a single car incident, opened the door for Bourgeois. Contact between the leaders entering turn four found both cars sliding; further contact sent the field scattering. Field and Poulin were able to maneuver their way through to make up the front row on the ensuing restart.
Back under green Field quickly established himself as the leader. Over the stretch run to the checker, Joe Baxter had worked his through traffic and into the third position. With Field comfortably out front, Poulin had company from J. Baxter. Baxter closed but could not muster up a real challenge. The three would speed under the checkers in that order with Field scoring his ninth Mini Stock win of the season. Poulin continued his strong season to finish second over J. Baxter. Leo Defevers and Chad Baxter rounded out the top five.
Mark Panaroni of Ivoryton, CT, was tops in the companion Northern Mini Stock Tour event. Loren Smith took command of the NMST event early and went on to stretch his margin by nearly a half-straight-away over a heated battle between Emerson Cayer and Mark Panaroni. The duo ran door-to-door for several laps. Panaroni was able to edge ahead at lap seven. Christofer King had run along in the fourth spot before being reeled in by Sean Caron and Calvin Rose.
Once free of Cayer, Panaroni set his sites on leader Smith. In only a matter of laps, Panaroni had erased the entire advantage. On lap 11, Panaroni was glued to the back bumper of Smith. Deeper in the pack, King, Caron and Rose continued to vie for position. Entering turn one on lap 13, Panaroni split a lapped car and Smith to take over the lead. Cayer had also closed on Smith. Thompson regular Ducharme had made his way past King; who ran in fifth as both Caron and Rose faltered.
Panaroni gained a comfortable margin over a heated battle for the second spot. Panaroni cruised to the checker while Smith was able to hold off Cayer to finish second. Ducharme and King completed the top five.
The Northern Mini Stock Challenge served as the night capper for an evening chock-full of racing activity. The 20-lap event pitted the top finishers in the earlier Thompson Mini and the NMST events in a final challenge to the checkers. Panaroni parlayed his front row starting position to take the lead in the Challenge event. Cayer took chase of the leader. Chad Baxter appeared in third.
Panaroni went wide coming off turn four leaving the door open for Cayer. Cayer was able to steal the lead away. A caution on lap seven for a spin by Randy Jurcik negated the pass for the lead. Cayer capitalized on the restart to take over the lead. Thompson regular C. Baxter followed through relegating Panaroni to third. A single-lap later, C. Baxter challenged for the lead. The duo went door-to-door with Cayer maintaining his lead by the slightest of margins. Panaroni remained in striking distance. Baxter led lap 12 but Cayer battled back. Panaroni looked to make it three-wide coming out of turn four for lap 13. The three settled back in line with C. Baxter asserting himself as the leader once again. Things settled down with C. Baxter leading by several car-lengths over Cayer; who enjoyed a similar advantage over Panaroni. Baxter would go unchallenged to take down the popular win. Invaders Cayer and Panaroni completed the podium finishers in the Challenge.
Danny Cates of Chaplin, CT, has been knocking on the door all season. On Thursday night, he broke through and into victory lane with a dominating win in the Sunoco Modifieds. Sparks flew in the Sunoco Modified feature before turn one on the opening lap. Getting the worst of the incident were John Catania and Carl Oberg. Ryan Preece and Keith Rocco took evasive action to miss being collected. With lap one complete, Danny Cates held the lead followed by Preece, Rocco and Pitkat. Pitkat started eighth to run fourth on lap one. Rick Fuller took chase in fifth followed by Todd Ceravolo.
Cates had two car-lengths over Preece; who was being dogged by Rocco. Rocco stepped out of line moving to the inside of Preece. Pitkat thought about making it three-wide exiting turn four. When things shook out on lap seven Rocco was second being closely pursued by Pitkat. Preece bobbled exiting turn two giving up several positions.
Pitkat continued to chase Rocco for second. Cates was maintaining the small margin over Rocco. Things had settled down at the head of the pack with Cates, Rocco and Pitkat running nose-to-tail. The best battle was for fourth between Fuller, Ceravolo and Preece.
At halfway, Pitkat began to pressure Rocco once again. While they battled, Rocco and Pitkat were still able to run down Cates. Rocco had moved within a car-length of Cates. On lap 19, Pitkat dove low on Rocco. He got along side but could not keep up the momentum losing several car lengths. Preece meanwhile had gotten by both Ceravolo and Fuller. Fuller was not giving up; staying glued to Preece.
With five laps remaining, Rocco had caught the back bumper of Cates while Pitkat ran tight to Rocco’s bumper. Exiting turn four Pitkat could get a run on Rocco but could not get the run up onto the straightaway. Cates entered heavy lapped traffic with two laps to go. The lead trio was nose-to-tail. Coming to the checkers, none of the cars would step out of line. Cates crossed the stripe for his first win of the season. Rocco finished second over Pitkat. In the closing laps, Fuller was able to get by Preece for fourth. Preece had to settle for fifth.
Larry Gelinas of Buxton, ME, had the crowd on their feet as he took the win over Derek Ramstrom in what proved to be one of the closest finishes of the season. Gelinas bested Jim Banfield to take the top spot in the opening laps of the Super Late Model event. Derek Ramstrom got around Jeff Connors and Mike O’Sullivan to run third. Ramstrom went to work running down Banfield. He caught the #13 and immediately charged by into the second position. Gelinas had worked out to a comfortable margin.
The lead began to erode as Ramstrom began to catch the leader Gelinas. Ramstrom was not making huge advances but was chipping away at the gap. The lead duo had run away from an emerging battle for third between Banfield, O’Sullivan, and Connors. On lap 10, Ramstrom had caught Gelinas.
On lap 23, Ramstrom dove low on Gelinas in turn two; to no avail. He repeated the move in turn four. Again, he could not make the pass stick. On the backstretch on lap 25, Ramstrom got under Gelinas once again. On lap 27, smoke billowed from between the two cars as they leaned on each of other exiting turn four. They went fender-to-fender the entire distance of the final lap. Ramstrom came off turn four with a slight advantage. Gelinas motored down the straightaway to run even with Ramstrom. He carried the momentum to the stripe to take the victory by mere inches over Ramstrom. Banfield held on for third. O’Sullivan and Connors completed the top five.
Rick Gentes, John Materas, and Tommy O’Sullivan made it a three-way battle for the lead virtually from the drop of the green flag in the Late Model race. Gentes held the top spot; however, with persistent pressure from Materas and O’Sullivan. Gentes was able to sneak out ahead of the duo of Materas and O’Sullivan as the two continued to run wheel-to-wheel.
The battle erupted when contact between O’Sullivan and Materas sent Materas sliding. With nowhere to go, Damon Tinio made hard contact with a stopped Materas. Other front runners John Falconi, Mike Scorzelli and Marc Palmisano were also involved. O’Sullivan was placed at the rear of the field for his involvement.
Gentes handily regained his lead back under green. Randy Tucker found himself in second. The Millis, MA, driver would hold on to the runner-up spot until a full recovered Falconi and O’Sullivan moved around taking positions. Gentes still enjoyed a fairly comfortable margin with Falconi and O’Sullivan running nose-to-tail in second and third.
With five laps to go, O’Sullivan began to make his charge. After getting beside Falconi, he was able to take over second. He had four laps to reel in the leader Gentes. Despite efforts by O’Sullivan, Gentes was able to maintain his lead to take the victory. The win was the third for Gentes. O’Sullivan salvaged a great finish to come home second. Falconi, Scorzelli, and Tucker completed the top five.
Scott Sundeen of Douglas, MA, survived a caution-marred Limited Sportsman feature event to score the victory. Sundeen took the lead early. He benefited from some heavy battling behind. Sundeen had opened up a great lead over Dwayne Dorr, who had been maneuvering through traffic and passed Shawn Monahan to run in second. A caution for a spin by fifth-running Scott Sousa brought out the first caution on lap seven.
The restart pitted Sundeen against Dorr. The two went door-to-door for a complete lap while Monahan tucked into third. Sundeen got the advantage and the lead coming out of turn two. Monahan dove low trying to follow through. The two drifted toward the wall on the backstretch. The battle of wills continued into turn four before Monahan was sent spinning to bring out the caution. Both Dorr and Monahan lined up at the rear of the field for the restart.
The lap eight restart had Sundeen and Diego Monahan vying for the top spot. Sundeen emerged as the leader. A repeat of the restart had the same result with Sundeen in control once again. Art Moran III made a bold move exiting turn four to take over the second position from D. Monahan. As his brother was falling back, S. Monahan’s car came to rest on the backstretch.
Back under green, it was all Sundeen. Moran ran in second while D. Monahan had his hands full with Chris Douton. Kevin Mason joined the battle to make it a three-car lead from third. The #00 of Joe Plonski came to rest in turn four. Under the caution contact between D. Monahan and Douton sent Monahan pit side for the night.
Sundeen took off on the restart followed by Moran. Mason saw his great run come to an end with a flat tire. Moran had to contend with Douton and Joe Coates for second. Douton edged ahead into second with three laps remaining. On a green-white-checker restart, Sundeen did what he had done all night; got a great jump on the field. Out front, Sundeen was able to get away from second running Douton. Moran made a last ditch effort at the stripe but had to settle for third behind Douton. Coates and Corey Fanning completed the top five. Fanning was penalized in post race technical inspection giving Brandon Chamberland a top-five finish.
Glenn Boss of Danielson, CT, worked all week to repair a badly damaged race car. The effort paid off as Boss took down the victory in the TIS Modifieds. The opening lap of the main event featured a side-by-side battle between Ryan Morgan and John Studley. Last week’s winner Jay Sundeen moved into competition making a three-car battle for the top-spot. By lap three, Sundeen was the new leader. Studley started to fade as Glenn Boss began to pour it on. Boss made his way past Studley then Morgan. He set his sites on Sundeen, who had run out to a sizeable lead.
A caution with 11 laps remaining erased Sundeen’s advantage. Unphased Sundeen motored out to the lead once again leaving Boss to fend off the advances of Morgan for second. Cam McDermott made a move on Studley on the restart to move into the fourth position.
A pair of restarts was the undoing for Sundeen. On a lap 13 restart, Sundeen motored back to the front. A multi-car incident found the yellow flying again on lap 14. Boss was able to get the jump to steal the top spot away. Another quick restart gave Sundeen another shot at the lead. Sundeen stayed along the outside of Boss in an attempt to regain the lead. In close quarters exiting turn two Sundeen made hard with the outside wall. R.J. Marcotte was also collected. Back under green it was all Boss. The veteran competitor went on to take his third feature win of the season. Morgan turned in a solid performance to finish second. Studley, McDermott, and Payton Henry completed the top five.
Mini Stock (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Danny Field, Deep River, CT; 2. Tyler Poulin, Pascoag, RI; 3. Joe Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 4. Leo Defevers, Brooklyn, CT; 5. Chad Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 6. Roger Ducharme, Foster, RI; 7. Mike Anzalone, Griswold, CT; 8. Jeff Moffat, Warwick, RI; 9. Tim Armstrong, Uxbridge, MA; 10. Lloyd Anderson, Jr. Wauregan, CT.
Northern Mini Stock (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Mark Panaroni, Ivoryton, CT; 2. Loren Smith, Allenstown, NH; 3. Emerson Cayer, Contoocook, NH; 4. Roger Ducharme, Foster, RI; 5. Christofer King, Derry, NH; 6. Sean Caron, E. Hampton, CT; 7. Rob Greenleaf, West Bath, ME, 8. Calvin Rose, Turner, ME; 9. Robert Gioia, Jr., E. Thetford, VT; 10. Louis Maher, Worcester, MA.
Mini Stock Challenge (Top Ten) Feature Finish: Chad Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 2. Emerson Cayer, Contoocook, NH; 3. Mark Panaroni, Ivoryton, CT; 4. Tim Armstrong, Uxbridge, MA; 5. Mike Anzalone, Griswold, CT; 6. Jeff Moffat, Warwick, RI; 7. Alicia Thatcher, Pascoag, RI; 8. Lloyd Anderson, Jr., Wauregan, CT; 9. Nick Anderson, Oxford, MA; 10. Butch Viens, Putnam, CT.
Sunoco Modified (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Danny Cates, Chaplin, CT; 2. Keith Rocco, Wallingford, CT; 3. Woody Pitkat, Stafford, CT; 4. Rick Fuller, Auburn, MA; 5. Ryan Preece, Berlin, CT; 6. Todd Ceravolo, Gales Ferry, CT; 7. Rick Shawn, Bradford, RI; 8. Andrew Charron, Thompson, CT; 9. John Hanafin, Quincy, MA; 10. Joe Allegro, Jr., Vernon, CT.
Super Late Model (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Larry Gelinas, Buxton, ME; 2. Derek Ramstrom, Worcester, MA; 3. Jim Banfield, S. Glastonbury, CT; 4. Mike O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 5. Jeff Connors, Ellington, CT; 6. Mike Stefanik, Coventry, RI; 7. George Bessette, Danbury, CT; 8. Jeff Hartwell, E. Putnam, CT; 9. Keith Caruso, Millbury, MA; 10. Scott Rotherforth, Glastonbury, CT.
Late Model (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, RI; 2. Tommy O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 3. John Falconi, Oakham, MA; 4. Mike Scorzelli, Malta, NY; 5. Randy Tucker, Millis, MA; 6. Phil Rondeau, Baltic, CT; 7. Mark Oliveira, Blackstone, MA; 8. Jeremy Sadowski, Voluntown, CT; 9. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, MA; 10. Damon Tinio, Mendon, MA.
Limited Sportsman (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Scott Sundeen, Douglas, MA; 2. Chris Douton, Waterford, CT; 3. Art Moran, III, Preston, CT; 4. Joe Coates, Groton, CT; 5. Brandon Chamberland, Moosup, CT; 6. John Carpenter, Danielson, CT; 7. Leo Adams, Putnam, CT; 8. Chris Bisson, Putnam, CT; 9. Hank Stott, Medway, MA; 10. James Bendiak, Hopkinton, MA.
TIS Modified (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Glenn Boss, Danielson, CT; 2. Ryan Morgan, Mystic, CT; 3. John Studley, Framingham, MA; 4. Cam McDermott, Scituate, RI; 5. Payton Henry, Willington, CT; 6. Brian Tagg, Oxford, CT; 7. Denis Legere, N. Reading, MA; 8. John Lowinski-Loh, Jr., Milford, MA; 9. Jay Sundeen, Douglas, MA; 10. R.J. Marcotte, Millville, MA.
Sources: Dale Wolbrink/Modified Racing Series PR