Two out of Three Ain’t Bad: Peters Wins at Beech Ridge
SCARBOROUGH, ME — Once again under threatening clouds at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour made their way to round three of VIP Thursday Thunder. Two races into the season and it’s already proven to be one of the most competitive in series history. Matt Bourgoine took the checkered flag last week with Reid Lanpher and Ryan Hammar, meaning they would have to start at the rear of the field this week and make their way forward. With such a competitive field, every position matters and coming from the rear is no easy task with just 25 laps to do it. With a field of 22 cars, the Legends Cars took to the track under overcast skies to do battle once again.
On the pole was the 66 of longtime Legends veteran, back this season after a long hiatus, Wally Silva. He had the Pete Cannel in the 49, who drove at Beech Ridge when it was a dirt track, on his outside for the start. On the start of the race, Silva lead the field into turn one, but behind him Evan Beaulieu in the 56 car wasted no time on his charge to the front, as he made it three wide on the start and got the lead at the completion of the first lap. Behind Beaulieu was a mad dash for the runner up spot with Peter Craig taking the second spot with John Peters moving into third. Peters was able to work his way by Craig and then set his sights on the leader.
Roles were now reversed from week one, when Beaulieu was chasing Peters for the win. With ten laps to go, Peters made his move under Beaulieu, and the two drove side by side for the lead, with Peters coming out on top. It was clean and green ahead of him, as Peters took his second checkered flag in three races of VIP Thursday Thunder! Evan Beaulieu finished in second with Kevin Girard Jr. rounding out the podium. Matt Bourgoine made it to fourth place in his rally from the rear of the field with Tylar Braunschweig rounding out the top five.
After three races, Bourgoine now holds just a three point advantage over Peters with Beaulieu just ten points behind. The fight for the championship is still wide open and it is set to be a shootout for the rest of the season between the drivers for the top spot. Next Thursday night the drivers will do it all over again with a special 4th of July night at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. Racing will kick off an hour early at 6PM with a special pyrotechnics show at the conclusion of the events. Tickets are still just $4! For more info, news and how you can get into a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.
FEATURE FINISH 6-27-13
FINISH CAR # NAME
1 51 JOHN PETERS
2 56 EVAN BEAULIEU
3 19 KEVIN GIRARD JR
4 38 MATHEW BOURGOINE
5 70 TYLAR BRAUNSCHWEIG
6 46 CHAD HARRINGTON
7 84 MATT GRANT
8 47 CHARLIE BUXTON
9 8 MATT CHAGNOT
10 60 ANTHONY PAGLIARULO
11 10 ED GETTY
12 2 RYAN HAMMAR
13 399 BOB WEYMOUTH
14 20 TAYLOR MARTIN
15 33 ALAN SMITH
16 81 DAN WINTER
17 17 TERRY KIRK
18 66 WALLY SILVA
19 O9 GARRETT HAYES®
20 49 PETE CANNELL
21 4 PETER CRAIG
22 12 ALICIA PERRY
Sources: Evan Beaulieu/NELCAR PR