Soucy conquers the Mini Stock Challenge; Johnson and Rollins Split Sportsman Mods Twin 25’s
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series took to the high banks of Monadnock Speedway with a few twists. The Sportsman Modifieds would run twin 25 lap features. The Mini Stocks would go extended distance for extra money sponsored by center auto Parts. The Mini Stocks would also be running for a special trophy presented by Demco Auto Body in Guilford, VT; along with hard charger award from Gomarlo’s and last place bonus from the Pickering Family. The extra distance and increased pay day brought 29 Mini Stocks to Monadnock Speedway to compete for 26 starting spots. Nathan Johnson, Geoff Rollins, Craig Chaffee and Nancy Muni capture their first wins of the season; while Mariah Stebbins and Jared Soucy make their 2nd trip to victory lane of the season.
The Young Guns would take to the track to start the racing action for the night. Chloe Wright in the 17 would lead the field to the green. Wright would take the lead at the drop of the green but on lap 3 Mariah Stebbins would drive her #10 car around Wright and take the lead. Stebbins would set her car on cruise control and pull away from the field. Wright would feel pressure from the 99 of Isabella Minchella for most of the race and on lap 9; Wright would drive into turn 3 a little too high and would have to get off the gas. This would cause Minchella to check up as well opening the door for the 95 of Cale Skillings to dart by them both. Minchella would follow Skillings around the 17 of Wright. Stebbins would collect her 2nd win of the season. Skillings would finish 2nd and Minchella would finish 3rd. Stebbins who made the season opener but has missed the past few weeks due to being away for school reported that she is home for the summer and she will be at the track more now.
The Sportsman Modifieds would roar onto the track next for Round 1. Geoff Rollins in the 02 would start on the pole for the first 25 lap feature. Rollins would be joined on the front row by the 8 of Keith Carzello. Rollins would take off like a rocket at the drop of the green flag and would lead every lap on his way to victory lane, in a caution free event. Carzello would spend the entire race trying to catch Rollins, but would be unable to get close enough to apply any pressure to Rollins. Carzello would have to settle for 2nd place. Kim Rivet would bring her #99 machine across the line in 3rd place, for her best finish of the season. Rollins was happy to get the win stating “after the last couple of races this feels good, but I would rather have come from the back to get the win.”
Next on the track would be the Mini Stocks for their 35 lap extra distance Mini Stock Challenge. The 76 of Kevin McKnight and the 93 of Tim Paquette would lead the field to the green. It would take a few tries to get the feature under way. The first attempt would see the 52 of Sean Caron spinning on the front stretch. The 2nd attempt would see three cars leaving on the back of the wreckers and numerous others needing to go to the pits to get repairs; the 97 of Ethan Marsh and the 69 of points leader Louis Maher II where two of the three cars taken off the track on the back of the wreckers putting an early end to their nights. The 3rd try would be successful as at the drop of the green McKnight put his #76 into the lead but he was followed closely by the 90 of Desmond Skillings. Skillings wouldn’t wait long before taking the lead from McKnight on lap 4. Skillings would have company a few laps later in the form of the 42 of Jared Soucy. Soucy was just looking to start his pass of Skillings when the caution flag would fly on lap 16 for the 43 of Alexander Pearl spinning out. On the ensuing restart Skillings would get the jump on Soucy and resume the lead, but Soucy would power past Skillings a few laps later for the lead. A few laps after losing the lead, Skillings, would be passed by the 62 of Julia Raymond for 2nd place. The race would be slowed by two more cautions on lap 29 and lap 30 for spinning cars. Soucy would hold off the attempts of Raymond and hold on to capture his 2nd win of the season. Raymond would finish 2nd and Skillings would finish 3rd. In Victory Lane Soucy made sure to give extra thanks to his dad, especially with it being father’s day tomorrow. Jared Soucy’s father Don stated that this was a pretty good father’s day present and maybe “I (Don) can get a picture out of this!”
The Super Stocks would roll onto the track next for their 25 lap feature. Scott Beck in the 22 would lead the field to the green. Beck would lead the first two laps before Nancy Muni would power her #96 past him (Beck). Muni would bring Tyler Leary in the 11x, the 12 of Cole Littlewood, and the 03 of Joel Monahan with her as Beck would drop back to 5th place in half a lap. Muni and Leary would pull away from the rest of the field. Monahan would get around Littlewood on lap 8 and start to try to reel in Leary and Muni. The caution would fly on lap 16 as Beck would spin on the backstretch. On the restart the caution would fly again as the 1 of Mike McGoldrick would spin. On the 2nd attempt at the restart Muni and Leary would run side by side for 3 laps going back and forth with the lead. Muni would prevail and on lap 19 Leary would get a little loose thus allowing Muni to clear him. Monahan was right there too and looked to capitalize on Leary’s mistake. Monahan and Leary would battle side by side for 2nd place over the last 5 laps. Muni would capture her first win of the season. Monahan would finish 2nd and Leary would finish 3rd.
The Thunder Stocks would thunder onto the track for their 20 lap feature event and what an exciting race it was. Bruce Clark in the 39 and Craig Chaffee in the 28 would start on the front row. At the drop of the green Clark and Chaffee would run side by side swapping the lead back and forth for the first few laps until Jason Kozacka would dive under Chaffee and Clark to make it three wide causing Clark to get damaged and bring out the first caution. This would end Clark’s night early. On the restart Chaffee would have a new dance partner in the 9 of James Nowakowski. Chaffee and Nowakowski would put a show on for the fans as they would race side by side until a caution would fly on lap 7 for the 12 of Jaret Howard. Howard would dump fluid on the track due to a mechanical failure, ending his night. Chaffee and Nowakowski would restart side by side again but this time Chaffee would take the lead at the drop of the green and never look back on his way to his first win of the season. Nowakowski would finish 2nd and after a pass on the last lap Richard Vincent brought his #4 across the line in 3rd place.
Round 2 of the Twin 25’s for the Sportsman Modifieds would roar onto the track next. Nathan Johnson in the 5j would start on the pole. Johnson would be joined on the front row by the 03 of Joel Monahan. At the drop of the green Johnson jumps out to the lead but the caution flag quickly flies for the 45 of Paul Smith spinning on the front stretch. On the ensuing restart Johnson would again take the lead. This time Monahan would be in tow and no caution flag would fly. On Lap 6, however that would change as the 22 of Tyler Jarvenpaa would spin and the 02 of Geoff Rollins would have nowhere to go. Thankfully there wasn’t major damage and both cars could continue on. The race would be slowed again on lap 9 as the 25 of Brian Robie would get together with the 8 of Keith Carzello. Johnson and Monahan would restart on the front row. On the drop of the green Johnson would take the lead followed by Monahan. Kim Rivet in the 99 had been running third most of the race but on the restart the 6 of Ben Byrne would motor past her (Rivet) to take 3rd place. A lap later Byrne would motor past Monahan for 2nd place. Lap 13 would see another caution as the 62 of Rookie Todd Warren would spin. Johnson would maintain the lead on the restart but Byrne would be right in tow. The race would be slowed by two more cautions on lap 18 for the 5c of Cole Littlewood spinning and on lap 19 for the 84 of Eric LeClair having mechanical issues. Johnson would survive both restarts to hold on to capture his first win of the season. Byrne would finish 2nd and Monahan would finish 3rd. In victory lane Johnson expressed how happy he was to finally get a win. Johnson admitted he has had a few struggles this year so far but “the crew never gave up.”
Join us next week, Saturday June 24th, for our Open Track party. Meet the driver of your favorite car! The Open Track party is from 5pm to 6pm with racing to follow. All of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions will be on hand along with the New England Antique Racers (NEAR).
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