Patnode Wins Modified Thriller August 8 at Monadnock
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Brian Robie may have had the fastest car Saturday, August 8, at Monadnock Speedway, but Swanzey, NH star Todd Patnode had the best move, fighting back after Robie’s late-race pass to win the night’s 50-lap NHSTRA Modified main event.
The victory, on the speedway’s eighth night of its pandemic-shortened 2020 racing season, was Patnode’s first of the summer. While it took the speedway’s defending Modified champion eight weeks to taste victory this season, it took the same amount for Aaron Fellows to finally be beaten. That, too, happened Saturday.
Robert Hagar (Windsor, VT) won the night’s Late Model Sportsman feature, stopping Fellows’ winning streak at seven and, so doing, earning his first victory lap of the year. Hagar was one of Saturday’s three first-of-the-year victors, along with Patnode and Pure Stocker Damon Roy (Claremont, NH).
Coming off a runner-up finish a week earlier, Patnode started up front and led every lap but one. Coming from row six, Brian Robie took second from young gun Matt Kimball on lap 34 and rode in Patnode’s shadow until inching ahead from the low line with three laps to go. Patnode, though, wasn’t throwing in the towel.
Regaining the point the next time around with a dazzling crossover pass, Patnode then led Robie under the checkers. Kimball was rock solid all night, coming home third, ahead of Trevor Bleau and Solomon Brow. Ben Byrne, second to Robie in the points parade, dropped out on lap 34.
In the LMS feature, Hagar chased Justin Littlewood for14 laps before rumbling into the lead, with Fellows grabbing second three laps later. Unlike in the previous seven weeks, Saturday there would be no late-race pass, as Hagar held strong in both lapped traffic and open-air to stop Fellows’ unbeaten streak at seven.
With Fellows second, Cole Littlewood finished his strong performance in third, his fourth top-three finish in a row.
Bay State hot-shoe Chris Buffone (Belchertown, MA) took charge on lap four of the Street Stock feature, then holding strong to win for the second week in a row. Chase Curtis used his runner-up finish to pull even with his twin brother Jaret atop the Streeter’s points parade, while Mike Radzuik had his best finish of the summer in third.
Piloting a loaner after grenading his own ride’s engine in practice, Gordon Farnum (Fitzwilliam, NH) rocketed to his fourth victory of the season in the Mini Stocks, gaining sole possession of the points lead with Saturday’s win.
Coming from deep in the pack aboard his borrowed ride – the Louie Maher 2019 championship car – Farnum passed Kevin McKnight on lap 21 and rode off to victory. McKnight, strong in second, and third-placer Bill Chaffee each had his best outing of the season.
Shelby Avery and Jake Puchalski both saw top-three runs ended at the toe of someone else’s boot.
Damon Roy (Claremont, NH) scored his first career Pure Stock win, passing Nick Houle on lap nine and then pulling away for an easy win. Behind him, though, the competition was far from easy, with Erin Aiken taking second from points leader Mike Douglas with one lap to go.
Defending Pure Stock champ Chris Davis struggled all night before going up in smoke to drop farther behind Douglas in the 2020 points parade.
Randy Cabral stormed to victory in the Pro 4 Modified feature, leading Tom Royer and Al Reiser across the finish line.
In NELCAR Legends action, Luke Lebrun took the lead from Devin Deshaies on a lap-two restart and stayed out front the rest of the way to easily outdistance veteran speedster Shawn Buffington in the Legends 25-lapper. Darren Gallant was third on the night, with Connor Souza and Deshaies rounding out the top five.
Next Saturday, August 15, the thundering Tri-Track Open Modified Series makes its second visit of the summer at the high-banked quarter-mile, battling for 100 laps in the night’s main event. Tickets for this and other upcoming shows, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified 200 on August 29 are available online at www.monadnockspeedway.com.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY AUGUST 8, 2020 Results:
PURE STOCKS: Damon Roy, Erin Aiken, Mike Douglas, Randy Phillips, Nick Houle, Tyler Almeide, Doug Nelson, Cory Lofland, Jason Leray, JD Stockwell, Brandon Lavoie, Jimmy Zellman, Ben Sylvester, Steve Zebrowski, Chris Davis, Trevor Carey
MINI STOCK: Gordon Farnum, Kevin McKnight, Bill Chaffee, Kevin Clayton, Kevin Cormier, Jake Puchalski, Ray King, Nathan Wenzel, Shelby Avery, Bobby Kirker, Jeff Asselin, Tim Leblanc, Josh Wright
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN RESULTS: Robert Hagar, Aaron Fellows, Cole Littlewood, Justin Littlewood, Will Kuhn, John Meany, Ronald Laperche, Nancy Muni-Ruot, Scott Beck, Camdyn Curtis
STREET STOCKS: Chris Buffone, Chase Curtis, Mike Radzuik, Jaret Curtis, Hillary Renaud, Chris Curtis, Ed Brehio Jr, Tim Wenzel, Craig Chaffee, Bryan Granger, Paul Barnard, Robbie Streeter, Chris Riendeau
NHSTRA MODS: Todd Patnode, Brian Robie, Matt Kimball, Trevor Bleau, Solomon Brow, Keith Carzello, Cameron Houle, Andy Major, Kevin Pittsinger, Rob Richardi, Cory Plummer, Kim Rivet, Eric Leclair, Ben Byrne, Jerry Gomarlo, Scott Bourn, Brian Chapin, Russ Hersey, Brad Zahensky, Jason Houle
Sources: Gary Dutton/Monadnock Speedway PR
Photos by Emily Miller