Seimons, McPhail Win at Legion Speedway
Gary Seimons and Doug McPhail took home two of the top Hawthorne Automotive trophies on Sunday, August 18 at the Legion Speedway in Wentworth NH. The track also celebrated the women behind the scenes with Powder Puff races in three divisions.
Gary Seimons had a tough job getting his #51 Sportsman Modified past the hard-charging #26 of Jeff Huntington. When he finally accomplished the task he raced off into the distance and claimed his third feature win of the season. Allen Hammond (#77) won an equally difficult battle with Chad Turck (#56) for third.
Doug McPhail (#6) is currently in the tightest points race at the Legion Speedway, leading the Super Street division by a couple of handful of points. He helped his cause and inched closer to his first ever championship by winning the feature on the 18th. Nick O’Haire in the #09 “Flintstone Flyer” had his best finish of the season, coming in a close second and holding off third place “Super” Sam Comeau’s #30.
Chris Conroy (#78) also extended his points lead in the Bond Auto Parts Outlaw Mini-Stocks with yet another feature win. Dave Durkee (#67) and Rob Gioia (#4) took second and third. A small but potent field of 600cc Mini-Sprints took the green flag for their main event. It looked like Toby Tatro’s #19 was going to get his second feature win of the season, but he broke a tie rod three laps from the end. He managed to nurse the car to a third-place finish, but had to watch first and second go to Luke Greenwood (#89) and Spencer Allen (#22).
A Powder Puff race may seem like an anachronism in the 21st century, but it was a good excuse to give the women who don’t get to race a chance to try it out. In the end, plenty of cars were offered and plenty of drivers signed up, and three divisions of racing followed the features.
Tracy Conroy won the Mini-Stock race in her husband’s #78, followed by KC Wright (#88) and Megan Warnick (#51). Sabrena Comeau (#6) won the Super Street race, with Christine Boesch (#29) coming in second and Lynn Comeau (#30) third. Christine Boesch, who used to race at a very high level and now serves the Legion Speedway as Pit Steward, pulled double duty. She claimed a seat for the Modified race and was able to take home the first place trophy with the #27 car. Penny Sawyer (#56) and Rhona Thibeault (#5) got second and third.
The Legion Speedway is located on the town line of Wentworth and Rumney NH on route 25. Racing starts Sunday afternoon at 5, with the gate opening at 2 pm through September. Next week is the Mark Jenot Memorial race, including a Mechanic’s race and autographs for the kids.
Sources: Rick Clogston/Legion Speedway PR