Lee USA Speedway 7/10/20 Race Report

Lee, NH –   Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to put a damper on the racing action at Lee USA Speedway on Friday, track officials hustled up the show and get the full program of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series racing in before the rains came.

Frankie Eldredge continued his domination in the Rodfather Late Model Sportsmen division, this time coming from deep in the field to get the job done for the fourth straight week in the 40-lap main event.

Jesse Bousquet of Pittsfield led the first couple of circuits before Groton, MA veteran Bobby Melvin, Jr. took over the point.  Melvin immediately began to break away from the pack, but it seemed every time he started to pulled away, a yellow flag brought him back to the field.

A caution for a lap four spin by Eldredge reset the running order, with Melvin picking up the lead once again when racing resumed.  Another caution flew on lap six when Pelham’s George Helliwell went around in turn two, and Melvin continued to set the pace when they went back to green.

Coming off a third place finish in the previous race, Billy McCarthy’s night went south on lap 13, when he tagged the frontstretch wall, grinding to a halt in a shower of sparks up against the concrete in turn two.

Eldredge was already up to second for the restart, and after a couple of laps battling side by side with Melvin, he powered past into the lead and never looked back.  At the checkers, it was Eldredge in for the win, with Melvin collecting his best finish of the year in the runner-up slot.

Helliwell rebounded from his early-race spin and came across the stripe in third, with Exeter’s Jimmy Russell, Chad Munro, Cam Curtis, Bobby Frappier, Bousquet, Mike Reynolds, and Steve Paquette rounding out the top ten.

Candia’s Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. has been matching Eldredge’s record week after week in the R&R Wholesalers Street Stocks, and he once again kept pace, slicing through the field to nail down his fourth win of the season in the 30-lap main event.

Former two-time champion Patrick Tanguay broke out to the early lead, holding off a tough challenge from Travins Hollins for the first several laps.  But when Bret Culleton brought caution on the field with a spin on lap 11, things changed in a hurry.

Renfrew lined up third behind the lead duo for the ensuing restart, and he made quick work of both to wrestle away the lead.  Once out front, it was all Renfrew, as he pulled away to score the win by a comfortable margin.

Tanguay scored his best finish of the 2020 campaign in second, with Hollins, Cam Huntress, Culleton, Ben Bosowski, Dan Bernier, Kenny “Caveman” Scott, and Devon McConologue next in the finishing order.

Defending O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooter champion Adam Knowles of Seabrook finally shook the monkey off his back, leading from start to finish to grab his first checkered flag of the season.

Although he led every lap, it was anything but a runaway for Knowles, who had to hold off several  challengers along the way.  At the checkers, it was another former champ, Travis Hollins on his bumper, coming up just .17 seconds short of the victory.

Paul Childs of Derry had another impressive run to finish third, with Brandon Mailhot of Epping and Christin DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA closing out the top five.  Nathan LeClair, Brian DeStefano, Paul Colburn, Gary Grenier, and David “Doc” Piper finished sixth through tenth.

Jon Provost looked like he might have a shot at keeping his perfect season alive in the MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stock main, working through the field to lead the way in the late laps, but invader Kodi Sabins was having no part of that, making a last lap pass to steal the victory.

Provost checkered second, followed by Justin Faford, Donnie McCaffrey, Chris Roberge, Darryl Quinlan, Ryan Nelson, Corey Getman, Kirk Howard, and Josh Provost.

The Pro-4 Modifieds made their first appearance of the year a memorable one, with Doug Meservey and Randy Cabral putting on a duel for the ages in their 25-lap main event.  Cabral led early and often, with Meservey finally getting by with the laps running out.

But a late-race restart was Meservey’s undoing, with Cabral getting back past to score a crowd-pleasing win.  Steve Dumas topped the Pro-4 Limiteds.

The Senior Tour Auto Racers were also in action with Alan Zemla and Skip Stearns scoring the wins.  The night wrapped up with a Pro V8 Enduro, with longtime Lee racer Jesse Tellier topping the field to collect the checkers.

Sources: Rich Hayes/Lee USA Speedway PR