Lee USA Speedway 8/13/21 Race Report
Lee, NH – The annual running of the Lance Davis Memorial for the R & R Race Parts NH Street Stocks took center stage at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with a strong field of entries in the pit area for this year’s edition of the race, run as part of the NHSTRA Battle for the Belt series.
Three action-packed heat races won by Milton Duran, Justin Beecher, and Scott Zilinski set the 21-car field for the main event, with Ryan Phillips and veteran Joe Arena leading the biggest field of the 2021m season to Dave Tibbetts’ green flag.
Two-time Lee USA champ Patrick Tanguay quickly worked past Arena to challenge Phillips for the lead, and the pair battled side by side for several laps before Phillips pulled ahead and took sole possession of the top spot.
After a couple of caution periods approaching the 20-lap mark, Tanguay battled his way past in the high groove and took his turn on the point, but Phillips dug deep and re-took the lead a couple of laps later with Tanguay right on his bumper.
By halfway, Tanguay was back out front, but Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. had replaced Phillips as his main challenger. Renfrew had started the race deep in the pack, but he methodically picked his way through traffic and into contention at the crossed flags.
Renfrew made quick work of Tanguay to take command of the event, and now all eyes were on the hard-charging “Mad Max” Dolliver, who was on the move and closing fast.
Dolliver had restarted in the 19th spot after he spun on lap 15, but he hustled his way to the front, passing cars high and low in his charge through the field. Max took over the third spot on lap 31, and three circuits later, he put it to the outside and motored past Tanguay into second.
A late-race restart gave Dolliver his best shot at Renfrew, but as he has all year, Jimmy was up to the task and pulled away to score the win. Dolliver posted a solid runner-up effort, with Phillips finally beating out Tanguay to round out the podium.
Fifth spot went to Travis Hollins, with Matt Robinson, Zilinski, Beecher, David Greenslit, and Jason Kozacka rounding out the top ten. Beecher and Greenslit ended the night virtually deadlocked for the series championship with just one race remaining.
The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Rodfather Late Model Sportsmen feature looked like it might be two straight for Steve Paquette, as he got the front quickly after a side by side battle with rookie polesitter Cam Huntress.
Paquette led early and often, but with the laps winding down, defending champion Frankie Eldredge moved in to challenge. After trying high and low for several laps, Eldredge eventually moved past Paquette into the lead, and he went on the take the checkers. Paquette, Charlie Colby, Bobby Frappier, and Cam Huntress were second through fifth.
After suffering a major mechanical failure in the previous event, former champion Adam Knowles brought out his third different car of the year for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooter race, and it turned out to be a pretty good move.
Knowles had his hands full with another former champ in the early laps, as Troy Washburn was all over him looking for the lead, but Washburn eventually got hung up in the high groove and freight-trained back to fourth.
Travis Hollins moved in to challenge next, but Knowles held his line and eventually went on to collect the win, leading every lap on his way to victory lane. Hollins, Michael Yeaton, Washburn, Jesse Tellier, Christin DeStefano, Chris Claar, Randy Washburn, Chris Jones, and Dakotah Decourcy finished up the top ten.
Zach McGrath and Justin Faford got together while battling for the lead late in the in the MLM Diagnostics Pure Stock main, with both drivers ending up in the wall, done for the night. Noah McGrath found himself in the lead for the restart, but Ernie Coates slipped past and went on to score the win. McGrath and Jeff Turcotte rounded out the podium.
Jimmy Ryder once again topped the fast-paced Northeast Classic Lites feature event, battling past early leader Andrew Harmon to score the victory. Joey Deguio rounded out the podium with a third place finish.
Sources: Rich Hayes/Lee USA Speedway PR