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Epping, NH
– The Northeast Classic Lites made a special appearance
at Star Speedway on Saturday night, with 20 cars signing
into the pits for the night’s action. Danny Shields was
on the trailer early, but 19 cars took the green for the
feature.
Action was
barely underway when the red flag halted the action for
a wild incident involving fan favorite Jeff Gilman.
Gilman caught a wheel in heavy traffic, taking a nasty
tumble before his car settled to the track, wheel side
down. Jeff walked away from the incident uninjured.
Outlaw
Sportsman regular Billy Ryder made his first start of
the year in the NECL main, and he outran polesitter Tom
Harton to take command of the event when racing
resumed. But Ryder was no match for Rob Bryant, who
easily went on to score the win, his second Star victory
and fourth overall for the season.
Bryant’s
brother Rusty was the best of the rest in the second
spot, with Billy Ryder, Jimmy Ryder, Jr., Eddie Gilman,
George Helliwell, Harton, Duane Skofield, Dan Poliquin,
and Paul Colson the remainder of the top ten.
Mike
Murphy ran a flawless race to pick up his first win of
the season in the E Keys 4 Cars Modified 40-lapper,
holding off a late-race challenge from Josh Cantara to
collect the hardware in the Ken Giles entry.
Two-time
2011 winner Richard Savary pressured Murphy in the early
going, and Cantara came up just over a car length short
at the finish, but the former track champion held him
off and scored the win, his first of the 2011 campaign.
After
recovering from an early race skirmish that sent him to
the rear of the field. the still winless Cantara
collected yet another second place finish, with Brandee
Tree, Mike Douglas, Jr., Gary Grubisa, George Sherman,
Kevin Iannarelli, Jeff Amaral, and George Baldwin the
rest of the top ten.
Beating
and banging were the order of business in the Rookie
Stock main, but out in front of all the extra-curricular
activity, it was Chris Augevich establishing himself as
the man to beat, taking the lead from polesitter Andy
Nichols after a spirited side-by-side exchange on the
start.
Augevich
moved ahead and looked to be well on his way to win
number two on the season, but Dean Wendell closed in
during the latter stages of the race to make things
interesting. Wendell ducked to the low side at the
white flag, and he made the pass for the win as they
worked the final lap.
It was
second-generation driver Wendell’s second victory of the
2011 season, with points leader Augevich taking second
by a car length. Third went to Bret Culleton, with Bill
Fiske and John Cashman rounding out the top five.
Former
champion Doug Dawkins led the early going in the
Roadrunner main, but Ricky Porter eventually made his
way past to take over the top spot. Porter set the pace
until late in the race, when Anthony Nadeau made the
winning move.
At the
checkers, it was Nadeau in for his third win of the
year, with Porter, Jack Victoria, Dawkins, and Myles
Devits the rest of the top five. Dave McCarthy took the
8-cylinder Enduro over Kristen Burns and Travis Nevers.
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