Lee, NH – Double features were on tap for all four NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series divisions at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, along with a special appearance by the cars and stars of the Senior Tour Auto Racers.
Returning to his longtime home track, Newmarket racer Bryan Kruczek proved to be the man to beat in the Rodfather Late Model Sportsmen, dominating both ends of the doubleheader program in impressive fashion aboard the Bobby Webber Jr.-owned machine.
Before the night’s action began, Webber, who promotes the nearby Star Speedway, challenged track owner Norm Wrenn to match his winnings for the night, and donate them to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a charity that was one of the late Norm Wrenn III’s greatest passions.
While Kruczek was the clearly victor on the track, the real winners were those who benefit from the services provided by the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, thanks to the generosity of both the Webber and the Wrenn families.
In the first of the two mains, Kruczek outran last year’s dominating driver and multi-time champion Frankie Eldredge to score the victory, followed by Bobby Melvin, Jr., Bobby Frappier, Jesse Bousquet, Skeeter Bearce, Mark Hudson, rookie Cam Huntress, Steve Paquette, and Jay Ryan.
Kruczek was running like he was on rails all night, easily winning the second feature as well. Eldredge was the best of the rest once again, with Charlie Colby, Melvin, Jr., Frappier, Huntress, Bousquet, Bearce, Hudson, and Paquette the rest of the top ten.
In the R&R Race Parts Street Stocks, it was a similar scene, as Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. captured a couple of dominating wins in the double feature events. Renfrew dropped out while leading the week before, but he more than made up for it with a pair of trips to victory lane.
Former Six Shooter champion Travis Hollins had a pretty solid night for himself in the Street Stocks, chasing Renfrew across the stripe in both feature events to collect runner-up honors twice on the night.
First year driver Milton Duran took home a solid third place finish in the first feature, followed by “Downtown” Kevin Brown, Matt Robinson, rookie Morgan MacIntyre, Tom “Hulk” Harton, Paul Palen, A.J. Panessiti, and freshman competitor Dan Palen.
Robinson grabbed third place honors in the second feature, followed by Paul Palen, Harton, Jimmy Renfrew, Sr., “Downtown” Kevin Brown, and the trio of rookie competitors, Duran, Dan Palen, and MacIntyre.
Former champion Christin DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA grabbed her first win of the year in the early run for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooters, with double-duty driver Travis Hollins picking up yet another second-place trophy in that one.
Seabrook’s Adam Knowles made it three former champions on the podium with a third place effort, with Brandon Mailhot fourth and yet another ex-champ, Troy Washburn claiming fifth place honors. Jesse Tellier, Chris Hadley, Gary Grenier, Jamie Holland, and Mike Yeaton finished sixth through tenth.
In the nightcap, veteran Holland was the man to beat, hustling his old car, now owned by Knowles, to his first win of the season. Hadley picked up a strong runner-up finish, with Mailhot, Hollins, Knowles, Destefano, Washburn, Billy Eastman, David “Doc” Piper, and Yeaton the remainder of the top ten.
In the first of their two features for the night, MLM Diagnostics Pure Stock action saw Erin Aiken lead the field to the stripe for her first win of the year, followed by Noah McGrath, opening night winner Chris Roberge, Darryl Quinlan, and Zach McGrath.
In the second Pure Stock main, Noah McGrath improved his finishing position by one from the earlier race, making his first career trip to the winner’s circle when the checkers waved. Aiken, Quinlan, Roberge, and Zach McGrath rounded out the top five.