Lee USA Speedway 7/10/15 Race Report
Lee, NH — Lee USA Speedway hosted the annual El Camino night on Friday, with dozens of members from the National El Camino Owners Association (NECOA) displaying their vehicles and participating in the traditional burnout competition.
In addition, a full card of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing action filled out the night’s program, with the headline event going 87 laps and paying $2,000 to win for the R & R Public Wholesale Late Model Sportsman division at “New Hampshire‘s Center of Speed“.
Several outsiders joined Lee’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series regulars for the night‘s special event, but it was weekly competitor Jimmy Russell of nearby Brentwood who ended up taking home the checkered flag and the extra payoff. His first win of the year certainly came at the right time.
Jimmy Ryder led most of the first half of the race, and he was one of the only six cars that managed to stay on the lead lap when the checkers waved. The first major incident of the night saw early-season feature winner Nate Leavitt squeezed into the wall coming off turn four, and he ended his evening in the trailer as a result of the ensuing action.
Ryder picked up the lead once again on the restart, but he eventually lost the top spot to multi-time track champ Grant Aither, making his second start of the season and looking strong. Jay Sands was soon up to challenge Aither for the lead, but he and Aither tangled on lap 57 to effectively end both of their nights.
Russell inherited the lead when Aither and Sands dropped to the wayside, but he was quickly under attack from second-generation racer Geoff Rollins, who challenged side-by-side for the next several laps. Rollins eventually dropped back, but some 20 laps later he was back in the picture, battling Russell for the lead with less than ten laps remaining.
But Russell was more than up to the task, holding off Rollins once again to collect the big win by a .254 second margin of victory. Rollins settled for runner-up honors, with Jason Ryan picking up his career-best Lee USA finish, coming across the stripe in the third spot as the checkers waved.
Fourth went to Bryan Kruczek in the debut of the new Brain House-owned, A Family Cab-sponsored entry, followed by early leader Ryder, highest-finishing invader Adam Gray, two-time 2015 winner Frankie Eldridge, “Big Steve” Paquette, Billy Clement, Jr., and Ray Dinsmore.
Former champion Tommy Tombarello, Jr. of Haverhill, MA once again outran the field to score the EKeys4cars Supermodified win, with Leslie Keyser of Northfield up in the late laps to run second. Coming off a win the week before, Keyser worked smartly from ninth place on the starting grid to post the runner-up finish.
Mike Murphy of Groveland, MA rounded out the podium with a strong third place run, followed by Kyle Sawyer of Kingston, Rochester’s Mike Spurling, Lance Barthelemy of Fremont, Artie Rousseau of Ipswich, MA, Tilton’s “Super Dave” Sanborn, rookie Mike Keddy, and Jim Barker.
Dennis Dumas of Nashua collected his second win of the season in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock main event, slipping past veteran Eric Hoffman on the last lap to post the victory. Hoffman had set the pace from the drop of the green, but Dumas drew even at the white flag, and moved ahead on the final circuit to score the win.
Hoffman collected runner-up honors, with 2014 Rookie of the Year Zac Fraser third, former champion Jim Shorey of Lebanon, ME fourth, and Chris “Rooftop” Harding, also of Lebanon rounding out the top five. Sixth went to opening night winner Dave MacDonald of Tewksbury, MA, followed by Kevin Bowman, Jay Avery, second-generation racer Ryan Amour of Chichester, and Pelham’s Paul Palen.
Shane Horvath continued to impress with another strong run that ended with his second win of the season in the 20-lap Tri-City Line-X Ironman feature event. Tewksbury, Ma racer Christin DeStefano had been out front from the drop of the green and was well on her way to career win number one, but Horvath took the high line past on the last lap to steal the win.
A disappointed DeStefano took second place honors, with Troy Washburn, Adam Knowles, Ryan Pitkin, Luke Grammont, 2014 champ Wayne Osborne, Tyler Mitchell, and Travis Hollins rounding out the top ten. Jessie Tellier of Pelham topped the Pure Stock 4-cylinders, with Rob Carlton and Danielle Evans finishing up the podium.
Sources: Lee USA Speedway PR