Lee, NH – Double 40-lap feature events were on tap for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Rodfather Pro Stocks at Lee USA Speedway on Saturday night, with a strong field of competitors pitside for the night’s racing action.
Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. posted the fast lap in time trials with a solid 14.984, but the redraw put him eight on the grid for the first of the 40-lappers.
Isaac Bevin started pole in the first main, and he battled door to door with Casey Call for the first several laps before finally yielding the top spot. Fresh of his big $10,000 win two weeks earlier, Call was on a mission once he got out front, immediately opening up a commanding lead.
Jeremy Davis and Brandon Barker, both of whom have visited Lee’s victory lane in the past, were next to break out of the pack in pursuit of leader Call. Although the pair were gaining ground over the second half of the race, the laps ran out before they could run the leader down.
At the checkers, it was Call in for career win number two, with Barker next across the stripe in the runner-up slot. Davis rounded out the podium in third, with Renfrew, Ryan Green, Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Bobby Baillargeon, Bill Helliwell, Jeremy Harclerode, and Bobby Frappier the rest of the top ten.
In the nightcap, veteran Gary Smith broke out to the early lead, and he was still setting the pace as the race quickly came to the crossed flags. Longtime Lee regular Green was on the move however, picking his way toward the front after starting the race back in the eighth spot.
With the laps winding down, Green put it to the outside of Smith, and he made the high line stick to take over the top spot. Green led the field under the checkers to post his second win of the season, with a disappointed Smith settling for second.
Bill Helliwell made it to the podium after a solid run that saw him finish in the third spot, followed by Renfrew, Barker, Baillargeon, Wayne Helliwell, Davis, Call, and Harclerode to round out the top ten.
The Rodfather Late Model Sportsman competitors were contesting the extra-distance 50-lap Race for the Ring event, where qualifying saw Ben Poland set fast time with a quick 16.109 second trip around “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed”.
The redraw put Poland fourth on the grid for the main event, with local racer Jesse Bousquet leading the field to green. Bousquet immediately moved out to the lead, and he set the pace for the first eleven laps before Ricky Bly made his move.
Bly had been pressuring Bousquet for several laps, until he made what turned out to be the winning pass on lap 12. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, because Poland followed him to the front, and dogged him over the remaining 38 laps waiting for a chance to get past.
But that chance never came, and Bly led the field across the stripe to score yet another feature win, with Poland close behind in the runner-up position. Cole Littlewood was up in the late going to collect third place honors, with Justin Littlewood, Bousquet, Craig Smith, Skeeter Bearce, Travis Cass, Mathew Winter, and Dan Sweeney rounding out the top ten.
In Northeast Sand and Gravel Street Stock action, Robbie Bodwell and Milton Duran put on a display of side by side racing that lasted nearly the entire main event. With Duran in the high groove and Bodwell down low, they battled for the lead lap after lap.
At the two to go mark, they were still going at it, but Bodwell found trouble on the backstretch and spun, with Duran coming around to take the caution flag with the lead in hand. On the restart, Duran eased out to the lead once again, and he cruised under the checkers to post the win.
Bodwell slipped through a last lap skirmish to reclaim second, with Oscar Leclair, Kris Schroeder, and Donnie Belisle making the final rundown as the remainder of the top five.
Dave Cameron continued his season-long unbeaten streak in the Black Flagged Podcast Ridge Runners, outlasting newcomer Justin GAilloux to score the win. Veteran Carl Gagnon took home the third place trophy, with Donnie McCaffrey and Ryan Stuart rounding out the top five.
Former division champion Tom “Hulk” Harton picked up his second checkered flag of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooter main event, taking the lead from Trystin Bodwell on lap four, and never looking back on his way to the winner’s circle.
Michael Yeaton rebounded to finish second, with Adam Knowles taking third in a borrowed ride. His car couldn’t answer the call for the main, so Jenna Beaulieu generously offered up hers to help keep Knowles in the points chase. Bodwell and Ryan Partridge finished up the top five.
Katie Buxton went green to checker in the MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stock main, however, she failed post-race inspection with the win going to Justin Faford instead. Defending champ Noah McGrath wound up second, with Kyle Templeton, Ernie Coates, and Darryl Quinlan closing out the top five.
Next up at Lee USA is another Saturday night special on August 6, featuring the annual Ollie Silva Mid-Summer Classic event for the Big Block Supermodifieds along with the New England Pro-4 Modified Norm Wrenn III Memorial event and NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series action. For more information, log on to http://www.leeusaspeedway.com.
