Seimons, McPhail take Ryezak Trophies
“My car loves this track!” These were Gary Seimons’ (#51) words in victory lane after his Modified division feature win at the Legion Speedway on Sunday, July 7. He blazed a trail from mid-field quickly up to second behind Art Heino in #27. A mid-race caution bunched the field up and Seimons quickly dispatched Heino to take the lead. “Racin'” Jason Sanville (#92) celebrated his 38th birthday with a second-place trophy. Heino had to settle for third.
The Street Stock class had a short field this Sunday, but the main event wasn’t short on excitement. Doug McPhail (#6) battled his way from the back of the pack and after a protracted battle with Nick “Flintstone” O’Haire (#09) took the lead, never to look back. O’Haire finished second and “Super” Sam Comeau (#30) was third.
Chris Conroy (#78) extended his points lead in the Bond Auto Parts Outlaw Mini-Stocks with a feature win, followed by Dave Durkee (#67) and Rob Gioia (#4). Gioia had one of the scariest moments early on when Sean Lantas (#88) lost a front tire and Gioia struck it. Rob’s #4 car flew into the air and came crashing down, fortunately on all four wheels. He made a quick pit stop and came back out, eventually coming away with a third place finish.
Luke Greenwood (#89) continued his dominance of the 600cc Mini-Sprint division with yet another feature win. Jamie Glidden (#4) finished second, battling most of the way against the #22 of Spencer Allen, who had to settle for third.
Earlier in the afternoon the Legion Speedway hosted a Nor-Way Pines reunion. The track, which began as the Legion Bowl in 1961, was reopened by Norman Roulx and Wayne Weeks in 1975 as the Nor-Way Pines. This remained the name of the facility until Weeks’ retirement in the late 1990’s. Several people brought their old race cars, and model maker Neal Davis filled a table with a memory provoking display of perfect recreations of some of the greats of New England dirt track history. Ralph Stygles and Butch Burbank thrilled the crowd by taking their old race cars out for some hot laps between features. Thanks to Norm Roulx for coordinating the event, and here’s hoping for another very soon.
The Legion Speedway is located on the town line of Wentworth and Rumney, NH on route 25. Racing is Sunday evening starting at 5 pm.
Sources: Rick Clogston/Legion Speedway PR