Curtis Repeats, Gonyaw Stays Hot, Preece Wins At Monadnock
Story By: RYAN LAWLISS / MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY – WINCHESTER, NH – Monadnock Speedway opened their season with the Spring Dash presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts to a packed house despite cold weather and occasional drizzles. The season opener featured the EXIT Realty Modified Touring Series 125 and the speedway’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions.
The first division on the track for their feature event was the Young Gun division, which is designed for drivers age 12-15 to get their start in racing. Due to a wreck in qualifying only 3 cars took the green for the 15 lap feature. Many teams are still putting the finishing touches on their cars as 13 teams have registered to date to run this division. The 10 of Mariah Stebbins started on the pole with Chloe Wright in the 17 on the outside. Christopher Phelps driving the 21 in his first start rounded out the field starting third. At the drop of the green Mariah darted to the lead and never looked back as she led green to checker taking down her first win of the season as she was home from school in order to race this weekend. Chloe Wright in the 17 finished 2nd and Christopher Phelps finished 3rd.
Next on the track where the Lightning Stocks for their 20 lap feature. They would be led to the green by the 88 of Hillary Renaud and the 61 of Steve Fucile. They would be side by side at the line as the green flew but as quickly as the race went green, the caution would fly as the pack entered turn 1 due to the 19 of Randall Phillips going up in smoke caused by oil leaking onto the exhaust. The 19 was sent pit side and the field returned to green. The 88 of Hillary Renaud jumped out to the lead and proceeded to pull away from the field on her way to her first victory of the season. The 61 of Steve Fucile finished 2nd and the 4 of Eric Silvernale 3rd. This is a better start to the season for the 88 of Hillary Renaud after last year during the Spring Dash, where she found herself on the back of a wrecker and out for half of the season.
The Mini Stock division took to the track next for their 25 lap feature. During the off season the Mini Stock division saw the rules change to align with the North East Mini Stock Tour. 14 Mini Stocks took to the track for the feature with Jared Soucy in his #42 on the pole and the 69 of Louis Maher on the outside. The 42 of Soucy would take the lead early followed closely by the 11 of Ricky Whipple and the 69 of Maher. The race was slowed by 3 cautions, with the last caution collecting the 11 of Whipple with 4 laps left in the race. The field would restart single file and would go without incident to the checker with Soucy in the 42 crossing the line first, followed by the 76 of Kevin McKnight and Alexander Pearl in the 43 rounding out the top 3. In victory lane Soucy was noncommittal to running the entire season at Monadnock Speedway, but those close to him are hopeful he will consider running weekly and chasing the Mini Stock Championship.
Super Stocks rolled onto the track next for their 25 lap feature. Chris Curtis in the 26 would start on the pole with the 71x of Dave Striebel on the outside. Curtis looking to defend his 2016 Spring Dash victory would take the lead at the drop of the 2017 Super Stock Spring Dash feature and would never surrender that lead on his way to victory lane. The 03 of Joel Monahan would finish second and the 71x of Dave Striebel would find himself in third, after the 11x of Tyler Leary and the 33 of rookie Solomon Brow made contact coming to the checkered flag causing both cars to spin out into the infield. When asked how this win compared to last year’s win Curtis had this to say “tonight was a much better night; both my boys got to race and that makes it even more special.” The last two laps of the race saw the 26 and 03 having to work to get around lapped traffic. In victory lane Monahan was asked if he would have been able to get around the 26 if the lapped traffic wasn’t there. Monahan stated “I might have been able to send it in there but I’m not going to wreck him for the win.”
Rolling on to the track next was the Thunder Stocks for their 25 lap feature. The 5 of Scott Vein and the 39 of Bruce Clark would be on the front row. At the drop of the green the 5 of Vein would lead the first lap followed by the 33 of Frank L’Etoile and the 28 of Craig Chaffee. The 39 of Clark dropped back into the pack. A lap later the 33 of L’Etoile would battle for the first place and would wrestle away the top spot on lap 6. Before the completion of lap 7 we would see the only caution flag for contact between the 5 of Vein and the 4 of Richard Vincent. The contact would cause both cars to spin into the infield. Vein would drive way and head to the pits to fix the damage, however Vincent wasn’t as lucky and would need assistance by the Monadnock Speedway wrecker crew as he lost his steering and would be done for the day. On the restart L’Etoile would put his 33 into the lead and would lead the rest of the way. The 28 of Craig Chaffee would finish 2nd and the 9 of James Nowakowski would finish 3rd. L’Etoile commented that his car “handled like a dream” tonight and was extremely happy with his finish.
Sportsman Modified’s, the premier Whelen All-American Series division, were up next for their 30 lap feature. 19 Sportsman Modified’s were on track to take the green. The 81 of Brett “The Jet” Gonyaw started first with Kim Rivet in the 99 starting second. The 30 lap feature was slowed by 7 caution flags and two red flags all before the halfway point. The Jet led every lap on his way to victory lane. The third caution and first red flag occurred on lap 2 when a large pile up occurred collecting numerous cars including the 22 of Tyler Jarvenpaa, 03 of Joel Monahan, 45 of Paul Smith, 6 of Ben Byrne, and the 24 of Todd Patnode. The accident saw the 24 of Patnode going airborne and the 22 of Tyler Jarvenpaa losing the back body panels, but both cars were able to return to the track. 13 laps later would see a caution for the 25 of Brian Robie spinning on the front stretch. As the cars slowed down for this caution flag the 13x of Cameron Sontag and the 99 of Kim Rivet made contact on the backstretch resulting in Rivet hitting the backstretch wall bringing out the second red flag and ending the day of Rivet and her #99 modified. The field would restart with 15 laps to go. The 81 of Gonyaw had his hands full as the 44 of Brain Chapin was constantly pressuring him for the lead but to no avail, resulting in the 44 of Chapin finishing second. Patnode was able to drive his #24 to a third place finish and in order to do so put on an amazing driving display in the process. After the race Patnode thanked his crew for their hard work to get the car back on the track and for helping him settle back in after going airborne on lap 2. Gonyaw is uncertain what his plans are for the season and was noncommittal to his plans moving forward.
The final feature of the night was the EXIT Realty Modified Touring Series 125. The EXIT Reality Modified Touring Series is opening their first full season as a series and is the only touring modified division that runs on American Racer tires. They are scheduled to make 4 trips to the high banks of Monadnock Speedway. Trip number 1 saw 21 modified’s entering the event with 19 taking the green flag. The #29 of Jon McKennedy captured the pole for the 125 lap feature event; however the EXIT Realty Modified Touring Series does a top 10 redraw which saw McKennedy starting second and the 99 of Richard Savary starting on the pole. The race would run green to checker. Savary would take the early lead before surrendering the lead to the 6 of Ryan Preece who wouldn’t look back on his way to victory lane. Preece would be followed across the line by McKennedy in 2nd and Rowan Pennink in the #25. After the race the pits were abuzz about how the tires held up. Series owner and promoter Gary Knight was kind enough to let us know that there was a very slight drop off in lap times over the course of the race. Knight also pointed out the diversity in the drivers that race on the EXIT Realty Modified Touring series. “It’s a real testament to our series” Knight stated. Knight added that he can’t wait to return to Monadnock Speedway and to see how the series grows its first season. For complete results see the EXIT Realty Modified Touring Series webpage.
Monadnock Speedway will be back in action next Saturday night, April 29th, with the Whelen All-American Series (Sportsman Modified’s, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Lightening Stocks, and Young Guns). Main gates open at 4pm and racing starts at 6pm.
Sportsman Modifieds: Brett Gonyaw, Brian Chapin,Todd Patnode,Nathan Johnson,Keith Carzello,Cameron Sontag,Matt Kimball,Eric Leclair,Chris Ignazio,Jeff Fialkovich,Andrew Molleur,Kim Rivet,Brian Robie,Geoff Rollins,Tyler Jarvenpaa,Joel Monahan,Paul Smith,Ben Byrne,Cole Littlewood
Super Stocks: Chris Curtis, Joel Monahan,Dave Striebel,Eric Pomasko,Nancy Muni,Tyler Leary,Solomon Brow,Scott Beck, Mike Heffernan,Mike Mcgoldrick,Justin Littlewood,Cole Littlewood
Mini Stocks: Jarod Soucey,Kevin Mcknight,Alexander Pearl,Darren Jacobs,Scott Macmichael,Louis Maher,Mike Mcgoldrick, Chase Curtis,Ethan Marsh,Ricky Whipple,Shelby Avery,Devin Guy,Kevin Pittsinger
Thunder Stocks: Frank L’etoile,Craig Chaffee,James Nowakowski,Jason Kozacka,,Matt Robinson,Scott Vein,Jonathan Goddard,Bruce Clark,Michelle Leh,Richard Vincent
Lightning Stocks: Hillary Renaud,Steve Fucile,Eric Silvernale,Leon Keniston,Sonja Carey,Randall Phillips
Young Guns: Mariah Stebbins,Chloe Wright,Christopher Phelps,(DNS) Cale Skillings, (DNS)Sammy Silva
