ROOKIE STOCKS: 8TH WINNER IN EIGHT WEEKS

Veteran Eric Hudson paced the field for the first half of the race in the Newmarket Sand and Gravel machine, but McKennedy was right on his bumper most of the way looking for the mistake that would get him the lead.

After relentlessly dogging Hudson for more than half the race, McKennedy finally moved to the front with the laps winding down and went on to post the win.  Jacob Dore scored his best finish of the year in the runner-up slot, with Josh Cantara rounding out the podium in third.

Including his big win in the SBM 125 last month; McKennedy now has four wins for the year on the tight quarter-mile.  Fourth place went to George Baldwin, followed by Mike Murphy, Mike Douglas, Jr., Jeff Amaral, Kevin Iannarelli, Richard Savary, and Gary Grubisa.

Slika Ennis scored his first career Star Speedway win in the Rookie Stock feature, holding off a late-race challenge from Dean Wendell to collect the victory.  Coming off a race the week before that sent him home with a last place finish, Slika turned things around in a big way.

Second-generation competitors Dave and Bill Helliwell paced the field as they headed to flagman Mike Walker’s green flag to start the Rookie main, but “Hollywood” Dave  didn’t even complete a lap before he dropped off the pace with mechanical woes.

Chris Augevich drove past Bill on the restart to lead the way for the next several laps, but Ennis eventually ran him down and got past to score the win and turn the light on atop his cab, celebrating his first ever checker at the Epping speedplant.

Dean Wendell finished a car length behind Ennis to collect runner-up honors, with Bill Fiske, Bret Culleton, Augevich, Billy Clement, Jr., John Cashman, Connor McDougal, Scotty Duval, and Bill Helliwell the remainder of the top ten.

Roadrunner action saw Anthony Nadeau outrun Jack Victoria to score the win, with Billy Osborne taking home third.  Fourth went to Torrey Kovalesky, with Ricky Porter, Myles Devits, Steve Nichols, Ray Patriacca, Ken McIlvaine, and Loren Smith, Jr. fifth through tenth.

The New England V-6 Modified feature event was dominated by third-generation racer Keith Caruso, who held off a tough late-race challenge from Anthony Frissora to pick up the winner’s trophy.  Frissora, a winner the last time the V-6’s visited Star was followed by Allan Rieser, Jr., Eric Vilandre, and Louie Maher.

The Northeast Classic Lites brought 17 cars to Star for the night’s action, but none was faster than Rob Bryant’s, as he outran George Helliwell to collect the win.  Duane Skofield, Eddie Gilman, and Danny Shields were third through fifth in the final rundown.