Lee USA Speedway 6-19-20 Race Report
Lee, NH – New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu has given the green light for auto racing, and Lee USA Speedway finally dropped the first green flag of the 2020 racing season on Friday night.
The season opener featured a full program of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Racing, along with special appearances by the Wicked Good Vintage Racing Association, as well as the Granite State Mini Cup Series.
2018 track champ Frankie Eldredge of Stratham returned to his winning ways in the Rodfather Late Model Sportsman 40-lapper, dominating the action to pick up the win, something he has done in the season opener on more than one occasion.
Last year’s champion, George Helliwell of Pelham was up in the late going to challenge, taking advantage of a late-race restart to run side by side with Eldredge for a couple of laps, but he eventually wound up settling for second place honors when the checkers waved.
Third spot went to Zach Nicholson in his sharp Davis Chassis Works machine, with Groton, MA veteran Bobby Melvin and Jimmy Russell of Exeter rounding out the top five. Steve Landry, Mike Reynolds, Steve Paquette, rookie Bobby Frappier, and Kris Miller finished sixth through tenth.
Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. of Candia topped a strong field of R&R Public Wholesalers “The Tool Store and More” Street Stocks to capture the inaugural checker of the year for that division, with Steve Dickey, Jr. charging from deep in the field to collect runner-up honors.
Robbie Bodwell was third across the stripe, with Devin McConologue of West Newfield, ME, Dave Cameron, Paul Palen of Pelham, Rochester’s Cam Huntress, Ben Bosowski of Hudson, Travis Hollins of Milford, and Kenny “Caveman” Scott of Salem finishing up the top ten.
Brian DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA held off all challengers to post the win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooter main event, with Brandon Mailhot of Epping, Paul Childs of Derry, David Piper, Tom “Hulk” Harton, Christin DeStefano, Jesse James, Chris Hadley, and Gary Grenier the rest of the top ten.
MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stock action saw Hudson’s Jon Provost outrunning the field to post the win by a comfortable margin, with Justin Faford, Rob Carleton, Cooper Roberge, and 2019 champ Shawn Lessard closing out the top five.
Shelby Kirk took down the win in the Granite State Mini Cup main, and Arthur Hannaford took the checkers in the Wicked Good Vintage Outlaws.
Sources: Rich Hayes/Lee USA Speedway PR