Mike Douglas Jr. Cruises to VMRS Victory
Lee USA Speedway, Lee, NH
The Valenti Modified Racing Series made its second appearance of the season when they roared into the Lee USA Speedway for the Hoosier Tire East / New England Race Fuels 50 lap feature on Sat. May 27th.
The event was unique by running heat races of 25 laps in length and topping it off with a 50 lap feature.
From the drop of Tim Bennetts green flag, Douglas Jr. of Auburn, N.H. took the lead from his pole position start and never gave it up, while back in the pack Richard Savary, Anthony Nocella and Les Hinckley III started working their way to the front.
Only two caution flags slowed the action briefly but still didn’t stop Douglas from his first ever MRS victory.
“I just wanted to take the lead and set my own pace. If five guys got around me that’s fine. Eddie Flemke built me an absolutely fantastic car, the tire wear on it is minimal. I’ve never had a car that was that easy to drive for so long. Maybe 75 or 100 laps things might be different, but we’re happy with the win here at Lee.” Douglas Jr. said.
Richard Savary of Canton, Ma. maneuvered his Alloy Wheels sponsored #99 through heavy traffic to put himself on Douglas’s rear bumper but never could pull off the pass for the victory.
“We realized we hurt our right rear tire in the 25 lap heat and we swapped right side tires for the feature and our strategy was to get to the front before some of our competitors so they had to go by us. Right from the start of the race, I couldn’t get to the throttle off the corners because it would slide the nose. He (Douglas) did the right thing covering the bottom, he gave me plenty of room on the outside but I had to drive defensively. When Anthony (Nocella) had runs on me I moved down to give him room, If he was faster than go by but lapped cars got in the way and that held him up. Had Anthony not put pressure on me I think I could have gotten him (Douglas) because the 23 was slowing down. I think the 50 lap feature was better especially for the fans, there was racing thru out the field” Savary said
Fresh off his victory at the Stafford Motor Speedway Nocella started deep in the pack (18) and immediately went on the offense picking off a car per lap using the tough outside groove. With 10 laps to go Nocella nudged the Nocella Paving #92 past Dana Smith putting himself into third, then attacked Savary on the outside but Savary prevailed on each attempt and then lapped traffic held him back for a third place finish.
“I know you gotta save tires but 50 laps goes by pretty quick here. I was just trying to get there before we ran totally out of tires. After winning the last one (Stafford Motor Speedway) we had to start 18th and that’s what it was. Some of these guys are all over the place after they burn off (tires) so we tried to keep it straight and get by them and stay out of wrecks. I tried to set a nice pace but still ran out of tires with 10 to go. Lapped traffic got in the way at the end and we had to drop back in line, we’re okay with a third” Nocella said.
The 25 lap heats paid $500 to win and were won by Mike Douglas Jr., Donnie Lashua and Dennis Perry who nipped Todd Annarummo in a photo finish.
The next Valenti Modified Racing Series event takes place at Speedway 51 in Groveton, N.H. on June 17th.
Finnish.
1—Mike Douglas Jr.
2—Richard Savary
3—Anthony Nocella
4—Les Hinckley III
5—Todd Annarummo
6—Dana Smith
7—Mike Willis
8—Jeff Rocco
9—Carl Medieros
10–Dennis Perry
11–Carl Pasteryak
12–Colbey Fournier
13–Donnie Lashua
14–Matt Mead
15–Jeff Gallup
16–Sammy Rameau
17–Rob Richardi
18–Dylan Rock
19–Jon Kay
20–Andy Shaw
21–Andrew Molleur
22–Josh Cantara
23–Jimmy Dolan.
Sources: Crystal Snape