Point Leader Struggles, As Cayer Strikes His Third Win
Texas Roadhouse North East Mini Stock Tour – 8/19/2012
Rain postponed last weekend’s Texas Roadhouse North East Mini Stock Tour return to Monadnock Speedway until Saturday August 18. Although the date had changed the excitement was just as big. Emerson Cayer returning to his home track, the track where he had brought home many trophies. Shawn Swallow carrying the largest point lead of the season and coming off back to back victories. Danny Field on a streak on trophy grabbing finishes, as well as Louis Maher tuning in his brand new car.
As the gates opened and teams began to file down the hill to the NEMST paddock area the car count grew fast with numerous Monadnock Mini-Stock competitors throwing their machine into the battle in the mountains. Last year one of their own, Rich Fournier brought home the big prize. The only time a NEMST competitor didn’t win the event.
With the increase in divisions due to postponement practices were short and limited. The traveling NEMST teams had their work cut out for them to battle the best mini stock teams in the region. By the end of the drivers meeting the draw had been completed and the lineups were set for the heat races. The Tater’s NASCAR Merchandise cash bonus was drawn by Mike Parker from Bradford, VT in the amount of $90.
As the 2 heat races were completed Emerson Cayer cruised to a sweet hometown victory and earned the right to draw the invert feature. The inversion ended up being 6 rows for the feature lineup. The second heat race was won by Monadnock weekly competitor Mike Stebbins. The crews started cooling down the vehicles and making final adjustments as the temperature dropped before feature event time. The car of Adam Manley was forced to start at the rear after missing heat race tech inspection.
The inversion led the 41 of Loren Smith and current Point Leader Shawn Swallow to the front row for the feature line up. 22 mini stocks survived the practices and heat races to start the 50 lap feature. Excitement was early as the green flag flew, once the field reached the backstretch cars got mixed up and the cars of Swallow, Maher, and Cayer collided resulting in Swallow needing a tow. Cayer received a flat tire and came into the garage area to get his car worked on.
The lap 2 restart had multiple weekly tour contenders sitting at the rear of the field with their work cut out for them. Danny Field used his decades of racing experience to push to the front of the field and lead the event until the Volkswagen of Toby Wells ran him down and began a battle. The field spread out and the cars of Cayer and Maher stayed nose to tail and trekked towards the front at alarming speeds. The car of Cory Dentino spun midway through the race and brought out the second caution of the event. On the ensuing restart Cayer and Maher continued their progress to the top spot. With 5 laps to go Wells continued to lead followed by Field, Cayer, Stebbins, and Maher. Cayer charged to the front passing the 18 with 3 laps to go and door slamming the 2 coming to the white flag to take over the lead.
Cayer never looked back and secured his third victory of the season boosting his points position and certifying him as king of the mountain. Toby Wells crossed the line in second place but was later penalized two laps in post race tech due to polished cylinder head ports and mis-matched tires. Danny Field was moved to the second place and Mike Stebbins into third. Tour regulars Louis Maher and Mike Parker rounded out the top 5. The heartbreak for Swallow’s early race mishap impacted his point lead dropping his lead from 70 points down to a mere 9 points. The top 6 cars are now separated by only 74 championship points.
The NEMST is back in action this Saturday, August 25 at Star Speedway in Epping, NH. For additional information please visit www.northeastministocktour.com or www.star-speedway.com . Also like us on facebook, facebook.com.northeastministocktour and on Twitter @neministocktour !
NEMST Bonus Awards
Sunoco Race Fuels Pole Award: Loren Smith
Sunoco Race Fuels Hard Charger: Emerson Cayer
Tater’s NASCAR Merchandise Bonus Cash: Mike Parker $90
Texas Roadhouse Gas Card: Loren Smith Jr.
Racecar Engineering Gift Certificates:Emerson Cayer, Mike Parker, Adam Manley, Loren Smith Jr.
Monadnock Race Results
Finish Car No Driver Hometown
1 88NH Emerson Cayer Contoocook, NH
2 18 Danny Field Deep River, CT
3 66 Mike Stebbins Winchester, NH
4 69 Louis Maher North Brookfield, MA
5 28 Mike Parker Bradford, VT
6 87 Beth Adams Winchendon, NH
7 60 John Kelly New London, CT
8 41 Loren Smith Allenstown, NH
9 3 Joe Rogers Ludlow, VT
10 43 Adam Manley Putney, VT
11 33 Matt Sonnhalter E. Thetford, VT
12 34 Roger Ducharme Foster, RI
13 89W Dennis Wallace Jaffrey, NH
14 38 Cristofer King Derry, NH
15 42 Loren Smith Jr Bow, NH
16 12 Josh Ling Hinsdale, NH
17 07 Pete Zalarite Niantic, CT
18 2NH Toby Wells Dublin, NH
19 61 Cory Dentino Lancaster, MA
20 89 Nicholas Anderson Oxford, MA
21 20F Rich Fournier Warwick, MA
22 04 Shawn Swallow Stark, NH
23 52NH Ricky Labrecque Antrim, NH DNS
24 52B Bob Chaplin S Hadley, MA DNS
25 84 Robert Thompson Greenfield, MA DNS
2012 Oval Track Points Standings As of 8/18/2012
Pos Car No Driver Hometown Points
1 04 Shawn Swallow (R) Stark, NH 433
2 18 Danny Field (R) Deep River, CT 424
3 34 Roger Ducharme Foster, RI 370
4 88NH Emerson Cayer Contoocook, NH 367
5 60 John Kelly New London, CT 364
6 69 Louis Maher North Brookfield, MA 359
7 38 Cristofer King Derry, NH 320
8 61 Cory Dentino (R) Lancaster, MA 303
9 51CT Mark Panaroni Ivoryton, CT 246
10 74 Nick Maniatis (R) Hooksett, NH 243
11 33 Matt Sonnhalter E. Thetford, VT 242
12 41 Loren Smith Allenstown, NH 226
13 90 Desmond Skillings (R) Antrim, NH 209
14 25 Nic Skillings (R) Warner, NH 197
15 28 Mike Parker (R) Bradford, VT 176
16 91CT Chris Williams (R) Waterford, CT 143
17 22 Alicia Thatcher (R) Pascoag, RI 142
18 07 Pete Zalarite (R) Niantic, CT 139
19 51 Mike Mason (R) Skowhegan, ME 133
20 42 Loren Smith Jr Bow, NH 120
21 51M Scott Michalski South Killingly, CT 109
22 21 Chad Baxter Pascoag, RI 105
23 39 Glenn Colvin (R) Clinton, CT 101
24 2NH Toby Wells (R) Dublin, NH 97
25 66 Mike Stebbins Winchester, NH 89
26 55 Billy Osborne Plaistow, NH 80
27 3 Ian Brew Wood River Junction , RI 79
28 53 Glenn Thomas Groton, CT 77
29 22M Scott Farrington (R) Minot, ME 75
30 87 Beth Adams (R) Winchendon, NH 73
31 06 Chris Ivory Oakdale , CT 68
32 43 Adam Manley Putney, VT 65
33 3 Joe Rogers Ludlow, VT 64
34 24 Joe Liskiwicz Preston, CT 60
35 5 Jeff Prindall Lisbon Falls, ME 60
36 8 Calvin Rose Turner, ME 54
37 89W Dennis Wallace Jaffrey, NH 51
38 782 Jeffrey Lee Uncasville, ct 49
39 03 Chris Thomas Waterford, CT 45
40 48 Justin King (R) Derry, NH 41
41 10CT Mitchell Bombard Willimantic, CT 40
42 12 Josh Ling Hinsdale, NH 40
43 63 Dan Morris (R) Auburn, ME 39
44 33CT Eric Bourgeois (R) East Haddam, CT 38
45 52NH Ricky Labrecque (R) Antrim, NH 37
46 77 Chris Lee Uncasville, CT 35
47 20F Rich Fournier Warwick, MA 31
48 83 Brad Caddick Richmond, RI 31
49 99 Garrett Denton Hope Valley, RI 30
50 89 Nicholas Anderson Oxford, MA 28
51 86 Scott Limkemann East Lyme, ct 23
52 28L Bill Leonard Charlestown, RI 13
53 93 Ray Christian Taftville, CT 13
54 20 Wayne Burroughs East Oakdale, CT 12
55 62 Sean Caron East Hampton, CT 11
56 86 Matthew Lomabardi (R) Tewksbury, ma 3
Sources: Bob Guptill/NEMST PR