Final Preparations Underway for GSPSS Competitors
As winter has turned to spring and spring is about to turn to race season, the teams of the Granite State Pro-Stock Series are in various stages of readiness for the upcoming season.
Defending champion Devin O’Connell has an extremely busy schedule on tap for 2019. In addition to defending his GSPSS championship, he will compete in a number of big races including the rescheduled All American 400 at Nashville Speedway. That race will be run using a second car that O’Connell has been preparing for several months. It was also recently announced that O’Connell will make his open-wheel debut at Thompson Speedways Icebreaker, as he will pilot a MRS modified. While competing at the Commonwealth Classic in Richmond VA O’Connell stated “I’m just glad to be back racing. It’s going to be a busy season but an awesome season”
2019 second place point’s finisher Joey Doiron was recently spotted crew chiefing for fellow Dale Shaw Race Cars driver Gabe Brown in Richmond. When asked about his cars he stated “we have one car about ready to go. The car we broke last fall at Thompson is fixed and almost ready for the track”. When asked about the other car Doiron was less positive. “That car has been partially disassembled but we’ve got some work to do to get it ready”
2019 Rookie of the year Ray Christian III has a busy season on tap with races in several series and plenty of travel up and down the east coast. His primary focus will be a full assault on the GSPSS championship but wants to race as much as possible. “We just love to race” stated Christian during a break in The Commonwealth Classic where he ran both Super Late Model divisions. “The more the better as long as we’re having fun. We’ll race anytime, anywhere”. In addition car owner Ben Bergnasi has struck a deal to have Rookie Jacob Perry in the car that Christian won the 2018 finale in at the Waterford Speedbowl. “We had a new Crazy Horse Race Chassis built this winter and still had our older car so we put this deal together with the Perrys”. Bergnasi went on to say “I’m looking forward to seeing what Jacob can do in that car and to racing in 2019 in general”.
Other drivers making final preparations include Dennis Spencer who has a new Crazy Horse Racing chassis being completed and plans to compete for the 2019 GSPSS title. Josh King is making final preparations on his pair of Dale Shaw Race Cars machines, while Todd Stone has a pair of Gary Crooks Port City Fords being completed to make a run at the series title.
As teams make their last minute preparations and begin to test for the upcoming season, the list of competitors throwing their hat in the ring continues to grow. “Registrations and number requests have been pouring in” stated series president Mike Parks. “This looks to be the strongest GSPSS season to date and we can’t wait to get going.
The 2019 Granite State Pro Stock Series will get underway with an open test on April 27 at the Claremont Motorsports Park. The first opportunity for fans to see the series in competition will be Friday, May 3 as the GSPSS helps open not just a new season, but a new era, at the Claremont NH speed plant.
Follow the series at www.gspss.net as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
Sources: Mike Parks/Granite State Pro Stock Series PR