All Sprint Cars Great and Small
WENTWORTH, NH — The Legion Speedway in Wentworth, NH was visited by the SCoNE (Sprint Cars of New England) tour on Sunday, July 21. It was part of their Twin-State Championship series that includes the Canaan USA Speedway and Bradford VT’s Bear Ridge Speedway. The evening’s racing was sponsored by Route 118 Automotive and Trevor Rocke Auto Body.
Veteran Modified driver Rick Martel (#28) was recently given the opportunity to move up to sprint cars this year. He has taken full advantage of the chance. Starting from pole position he led every lap of a caution-free 25-lap feature. That simple statistic does nothing to express how hard he had to work for the win. Series veteran “Dangerous” Dan Douville (#7) came from deep in the field to second place, and nearly stole the win on the final corner. SCoNE points leader Chris Donnelly (#17) held off teammate Tyler Rich (#20) to take third.
As exciting as that race was, the 600cc Mini-Sprint feature might just have topped it. The division has been dominated by the #89 of Luke Greenwood. But Toby Tatro (#19) got off to an early lead, and try as he might Greenwood was unable to get by. Tatro’s win was only the second time Greenwood has been denied the top spot all year. Brian Gray (#3) held off Spencer Allen (#22) for third.
The main event for the Sportsmen Modified division was like watching two different races. A huge field of cars took the green flag, and the first half of the race included an average of one caution period for each lap. Then suddenly at the half way mark everything fell into place. One more caution near the end was all we had. “Racin'” Jason Sanville (#92) took the win, followed by the #77 of Allen Hammond and Art Heino’s #27. The Sanville team also left its mark by loaning, not one, but two race cars to their competitors when their own cars couldn’t race.
In the Bond Auto Parts Outlaw Mini-Stocks, points leader Chris Conroy (#78) captured yet another first place feature finish, followed by Tim Martin (#83). Craig Smith’s third place in the #97 machine was disqualified by failing the post-race tech inspection. Third then went to the #7 of Mike Lique.
The Super Street field was small but very competitive. Mike Greene (#29) took the lead from pole and never relinquished it, in spite of never ending pressure from the #6 of Doug McPhail. The #30 of “Super” Sam Comeau held off JP Vaillancourt (#14) for third.
Next week the Granite State Mini-Sprints will return to the Legion Speedway. August 4 will be our annual Kid’s Night, with bike races for kids up to age 15 and rides in race cars. Racing will begin an hour early that night. The Legion Speedway is located on the Wentworth/Rumney town line on route 25.
Sources: Rick Clogston/Legion Speedway PR