Adam Lovejoy Takes Home Big Payday at Star Speedway’s CATCO Street Stock Nationals
(October 23, 2023) — After an extra day of waiting due to weather Mother Nature decided to cooperate and the first annual Star Speedway CATCO Street Stock Nationals are in the books. At the end of 75 green flag laps it was the 2022 Star Speedway track champion Adam Lovejoy who was able to top the competition taking home the big win and payday. The K-COB Slingshots, 2 to go show Six Shooters, MLM Diagnostics Pure Stocks, and Mighty Trucks all joined the Street Stocks as part of the Sunday afternoon program as well and some familiar faces made their return to Star Speedways victory lane in the process.
Adam Lovejoy had a pretty good day on Sunday as he time trialed first out of the 31 cars attempting to qualify for the CATCO National event. Lovejoy was then able to take home the win in the Dash for Cash event, which then granted him the pole starting position for the 75 lap main event on Sunday afternoon. After a few early race cautions, Lovejoy was able to build a comfortable lead until around the halfway point when 2023 track champion Shane Gendron was able to close in and take the lead, then begin to pull away from Lovejoy as the race closed in on the final 10 laps until caution flew once again.
Gendron was able to hold off Lovejoy on the first few of a series of restarts but with just seven laps to go caution flew once again. On the ensuing restart Gendron spun his tires enough to give Lovejoy the edge he needed to retake the lead for the next five laps until caution flew once again, setting up a final two lap shootout between Lovejoy and Matt Sonhalter who had worked his way into second. When the final green flag flew, Lovejoy and Sonhalter ran the final laps side by side with Lovejoy edging out both Sonhalter and Gendron on the final lap with the trio crossing the stripe three wide giving Lovejoy the biggest Street Stock payoff in Star Speedway history.
In K-COB Slingshot action, Mike “Brick” Ramsey made his return to the division he once frequented on a weekly basis to take home the feature win in the Dave Cameron owned blue deuce. Ramsey jumped out front on the initial lap and dominated the caution free race en route to his first Star Speedway win in over two years. Jenna Bealieu had another strong podium run taking home the second position while Pure Stock regular Gage Osbourne had a career best run in his new Slingshot taking home the third position.
Jeremy Hayes backed up his 2023 Star Speedway 2 to go show Six Shooter championship season with another win on Sunday afternoon. The young gun jumped out front in the early laps of the division’s main event and led all the way to the finish adding another first place trophy to his growing collection. Six Shooter veterans Ryan Nelson and Randy Washburn followed Hayes across the line on the final lap taking home second and third place respectively.
In Pro V8 Sportsman action, it was Matt Robinson who topped the field of competition in the division’s 35 lap main event. Previous 2023 Pro V8 Sportsman race winner Jimmy Renfrew Sr. crossed the stripe in the second spot behind Robinson, while Ed Flannigan rounded off the podium in the third position.
The Mighty Trucks saw Dave Lamson add another win to his racing resume in the upstart division’s main event. Following Lamson to the line in the second position was Kyle Chandler who had one of his best Star Speedway races this season, Dwarf Car veteran Tom Harwood rounded off the podium in third.
Star Speedway will be back in action one final time to close out the 2023 racing season as we roll into Halloween Howler weekend next Friday and Saturday October 27th, and 28th. For more information on next weekend’s events, including the limited camping space available please visit us on Facebook or the track website StarspeedwayNH.com.
Sources: Star Speedway
Photos by Rich Hayes.
