Patnode Wins Victor Johnson Memorial at Monadnock
Winchester, NH, — Your first win is always special but Todd Patnode made his extra special when he won the Valenti Modified Racing Series sanctioned ‘Victor Johnson Memorial 100’ Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway. Johnson, a local racer and occasional VMRS competitor died two years ago in a house fire.
Patnode, of Richmond, NH, became the second driver in two days to win their first series race. Richard Savary, of Canton, MA, scored his first 48 hours earlier at Thompson, CT.
In the early going Max Zachem, of Preston, CT, shot into the lead from his outside pole starting position, took command of the race until passed by Peter Jarvis of Ascutney, VT, on lap 44. Zachem reclaimed the lead four laps later and held the top position until passed this time by Dwight Jarvis, of Ascutney, on lap 79.
At one point Zachem had four long-time Monadnock racers giving chase, the Jarvis Brothers, Rob Goodenough, of Swanzey, NH, and Patnode.
Patnode started 10th in the 25-car field, and was running 10th when the first caution flag was displayed on lap 47. Patnode was running 5th at a lap 71 stoppage and was second on the 77th circuit. Patnode took charge on lap 84 and was never headed.
Patnode explained post race “I thought Dwight looked a little tight when I got to him (lap 77) and I thought I was a little too free at that point but it turned out pretty good for us. I have to thank the crew as they keep digging and digging because we’ve had some bad runs and they keep sticking with it. It’s finally paying off.”
Patnode, owner of Swanzey Oil, sponsored the race to honor his friend Victor Johnson. “ None of us will ever forget Victor. He was a great competitor and a great guy. This was a good win for us all the way around.”
Jon McKennedy finished runner-up summed up his run in one sentence. “ We had a good run just got a little too tight.”
Dwight Jarvis checkered third, a little disappointed he couldn’t nail another Monadnock win after being in contention. “Third’s better than last. I was glad to see Todd win. I would have liked to beat him but he deserved it. He raced me clean. He was plenty faster than I was tonight.”
Zachem finished fourth after leading most of the race with point leader Rowan Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, PA, fifth.
Russ Hersey, Todd Owen, Chris Pasteryak, Dana Smith, and Jeff Pearl rounded out the top ten
Dylan Kopec, Norm Wrenn, and McKennedy won qualifying heats.
The race was slowed eight times for minor incidents resulting in the race time of 52: 18 seconds to complete.
Race No.12 of 17- Monadnock Speedway
Entrants: 26 (25 starters) Jeff Rocco (engine)
Distance: 100-laps
Time of Race: 52:18:611
Best Lap Time: 12.766 (Dana Smith)
Lead Changes: 4 (among 4 drivers)
Lap Leaders: Zachem (1-43, 48-77) P.Jarvis (44-47) D.Jarvis (78-84) Patnode (85-100)
Cautions: 8 (47,51,71,83,83,91,92,98
Unofficial Finish – (1) Patnode (2) McKennedy (3) D. Jarvis (4) Zachem (5) Pennink (6) Hersey (7) Owen (8) Pasteryak (9) Smith (10) Pearl (11) Barrett (12) Holdridge (13) Kopec (14) Schneider (15) Mechalides (16) Etheridge (17) Mead (18) Goodenough (19) Fifield (20) Hinckley (21) P. Jarvis (22) Wrenn (23) Savary (24) Raymond (25) Nocella
Sources: John Spence, Sr./VMRS PR