WALPOLE, N.H. – The temperatures aren’t the only thing heating up this week as the Granite State Pro Stock Series eyes its next round of competition Friday night under the lights at Lee USA Speedway.
The Iron Sight 125 caps off the evening itinerary for Lee’s Mid-Summer Shootout, with a reinvigorated points battle setting the tone for the second half of the 2025 season.
By Jeff Brown, for Granite State Pro Stock Series
Five races are already in the rear view, with five different winners adding to their own GSPSS legacies. Winless spells have been broken, winning records have been reinforced, and two first-time winners have been crowned in the first half of this year’s schedule.
One of the fastest tracks on the series schedule, Lee USA Speedway, bookends the second half of the season, hosting Friday’s midseason showdown as well as the season-ending feature at Russ Conway’s Oktoberfest in a few months. Between those races are the season’s sole visit to Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., a return to Maine’s Speedway 95, and a first-ever trip across the border to Autodrome Chaudière in the Beauce region of Quebec.
This year’s first-time winners also sit atop the points standings with half the season to settle their score. Rookie Cole Robie stormed into the winner’s circle in last Saturday’s Keen Parts 100, his first win in a stock car since moving up from Legends competition. Robie’s win handed him the points lead over Evan Beaulieu, last season’s runner-up, who earned his first win at Speedway 95 in June.
Only two points separate the two Mainers, and with a 40-point spread through the top five, it is still anyone’s points race.
Saturday’s return to Monadnock Speedway breathed new life into the seasons of the other title contenders. A third-place finish for Cory Casagrande has the Connecticut native up to third in the standings. Defending champion Casey Call finished second to correct the course on a discouraging season. And veteran Wayne Helliwell, Jr. was content to finish his first race since his season-opening win at Claremont Motorsports Park.
But the rest of Friday’s field is unburdened by the big picture, setting a high bar for the five still alive in the championship race.
Eddie MacDonald, last fall’s GSPSS Oktoberfest winner, is back with the Dale Drew Racing team for another shot at “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed.” Other former Lee winners on the short list include two-time winners Corey Bubar and Brandon Barker, the latter of whom picked up last June’s big $10,000-to-win NASCAR weekend prelude.
Two-time GSPSS champ Joey Doiron has two series wins of his own at Lee USA, plus a victory in last year’s North American Pro Stock Nationals. Joey Polewarczyk’s second-ever GSPSS start ended in Lee’s winner’s circle in 2014, and after rebuilding his car from a grinding crash at Claremont, the 2020 GSPSS champ will be aiming for a big rebound.
Gabe Brown, another former GSPSS champion with a win at Lee USA, will be taking advantage of a rare off-weekend to try and bounce back from his own early Claremont exit.
Ryan Green and Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. have come close in GSPSS events at Lee USA before, and either would be thrilled to seal the deal at last. Maine’s Mike Hopkins and Josh St. Clair, also former GSPSS feature winners, would like to add a Lee win to their series records.
Two drivers looking to break winless streaks at Lee are Bobby Baillargeon, whose last series win came in 2013, and Dave Farrington, Jr., who won his series debut in 2016 but has not won since. With Helliwell breaking a decade-long drought in May, both drivers have their eyes on the same feat.
While some look to break dry spells, others look to break out. Nick Cusack has won in Lee’s weekly Pro Stock ranks, and could be a dark horse pick Friday night for a first GSPSS win. Rusty Poland is hauling from Maine along with Dominic Curit, who will make his first GSPSS start. New Hampshire veterans Dan Winter and Frankie Eldredge are sure to be in the hunt, as well as Vermont rookie Cam Curtis. And representing the Bay State is Alex Quarterley, whose racing exploits this year have taken him as far as California while fitting in the occasional Pro Stock start.
Double points are on the line for Lee’s house divisions Friday night, but points are only a part of the picture for the GSPSS teams as they unload at Lee. Whether experience bears out or enthusiasm prevails will be the story after 125 green-flag laps!
Lee USA Speedway welcomes the Granite State Pro Stock Series to Friday evening’s Mid-Summer Shootout. The GSPSS Iron Sight 125 tops an evening card featuring Lee’s own Super Streets, Ridge Runners, Six Shooters and Crown Vics. Grandstands open at 4:00pm with a post time of 7:00pm. General admission tickets are $20, kids 11-15, seniors and military tickets are just $15, and children under 11 are free.