Lee USA Speedway 7/21/17 Race Report
Lee, NH — The Valenti Modified Racing Series rolled into the Lee USA Speedway for a pair of 50-lap events on Friday night, the second appearance of the year for the tour at “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed“. It was a memorable night for the two VMRS feature winners as both Dan Meservey, Jr. of Brewster, MA and Troy Talman of Oxford, MA picked up their first-ever series victories in the doubleheader.
Polesitter Dylan Rock of Enfield led the opening 46 laps of the first 50-lap run, but a late-race restart gave Meservey the shot he needed, and he made the best of it. Meservey slipped past Rock to take the point on lap 47, and led the field to John Spence Jr.‘s checkered flag three laps later to collect the win.
Rock settled for a hard-earned runner-up finish, with his teammate Donnie Lashua of Canaan third, points leader Anthony Nocella of Woburn, MA fourth, and Jeff Gallup of Feeding Hills, MA fifth. Sixth went to Josh Cantara, followed by Russ Hersey of Swanzey, Tony Ricci of Westbrook, ME, Sammy Rameau of Westminster, MA, and Matt Mead of Richmond.
The second 50-lapper was slowed by a rash of caution flags, but Troy Talman survived each and every restart to lead the event from flag-to-flag to make his first career trip to victory lane. Geoff Gernhard of Bozrah, CT, came home in the runner-up slot, with Carl Medeiros, Jr, of Westport, MA rounding out the podium in third.
Lashua backed up his third place effort in the first feature with a solid fourth in the second run, and Gallup matched his fifth with another. Ricci, Mead, Rob Richardi Jr., Dennis Perry, and Jeff Rocco rounded out the top ten.
The Pro-4 Modifieds were on hand as well, with Rob Richardi, Jr. bettering his VMRS finishes with an impressive 25-lap win over Brett Meservey, Dave Berghman, Norm Wrenn III, and Mark Charette. In the Pro-4 Limiteds, it was Allan Rieser getting the job done, beating out Jacob Perry, Dana Willis, John Dumas, and P.J. Peters.
Lee’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, Rodfather-sponsored Supermodifieds put another entertaining 30-lapper into the record books, this time in just over 7 minutes. Derry’s John Burke broke out from the pole to set the pace, and he stayed there all the way to collect his second checkered flag of the season.
But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, because defending champ Dave Helliwell caught Burke in lapped traffic with five to go, making it a two-car shootout for the win. Helliwell moved to the outside looking to add another trophy to his collection, but he came up a wheel short just .247 seconds behind Burke at the stripe.
Mike Spurling of Rochester checkered third, with Raymond’s Mike Keddy, Leslie Keyser of Northfield, P.J. Murphy of Groveland, MA, Moe Lattime of Kingston, Jim Barker of Meredith, Mike Murphy of Groveland, MA, and Auburn’s Mike Netishen closing out the top ten.
In R & R “The Tool Store and More” Late Model Sportsman action, it was Erick Sands of Hudson out first to set the pace, leading the way for the first ten laps in the Kevin Fanning entry. Newmarket’s Bryan Kruczek was on the move all the while, and he was up from ninth on the grid to slip past Sands on lap 11 and take his turn at the head of the field.
Kruczek was on cruise control from there, moving out to easily lead them under the checkers in the Brian House machine. Former champ Jay Sands of Hampton was next across the stripe, with Exeter’s Frankie Eldredge, Nate Leavitt of Buxton, ME, Kris Miller of Bedford, Jimmy Russell of Exeter, Bobby Melvin of Groton, MA, Max Dolliver of Londonderry, George Helliwell of Pelham, and Patrick Stewart of N. Andover, MA the rest of the top ten.
Torrey Kovalesky of Atkinson was the man to beat in the first half of the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock main event, holding down the top spot lap after lap with a trio of Camaros driven by Berwick, ME racers filling his mirror.
Kovalesky held serve until the five to go mark, when he slid high and all three found their way past. Former Sportsman champ Ryan Green was the best of that bunch, taking down his first win of the year over Patrick Tanguay and his dad, Boe Green. Kovalesky and Kevin Aberle of Wilmington, MA rounded out the top five.
Opening night winner Christin DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA grabbed her second checkered flag of the 2017 season in the Tri City Line-X Ironman feature event, running the outside groove to perfection to get to the checkers first.
Former champion Travis Hollins of Milford finished second, with Seabrook’s Adam Knowles third, Somersworth’s Jamie Holland fourth, and Matt Kimball of Bennington fifth. Gary Grenier of Lebanon, ME, Austin Elliott of Rochester, Shane Horvath of Northwood, Zach Washburn of Rochester, and Brandon Washburn of Farmington were sixth through tenth.
Epping’s Anthony Nadeau picked up his second win of the year in the MLM Diagnostics Pure Stock main, outrunning Rob Carleton of Newbury, MA, Tyler Mailhot of Epping, and Tom Harwood of Derry. Sixth through tenth were Robert Horn, Leon Keniston, Jaden Curtis, Jessica Michaud, and Donnie McCaffrey.
All five weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series division will be back in action next Friday, July 28.
For more information on this or any upcoming event, call the race hotline at 978-462-4252, log on to www.leeusaspeedway.com, or find us on Facebook.
Sources: Judy MacDonald/Lee USA Speedway PR