Plenty of novelty awaits the Granite State Pro Stock Series entering its twelfth year on the road. And to get it all started, the New Hampshire-based touring circuit is returning to where last year’s championship chase wrapped up.
Saturday’s Hedges Excavating 100 at Star Speedway kicks off an eight-race schedule that introduces two new venues to the series’ repertoire and visits the Empire State for the second time in series history.
WHITINSVILLE, Mass. – After many years of racing across different disciplines, Stan Mertz Racing will make their NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut this Saturday, May 6 at Monadnock Speedway. With Woody Pitkat behind the wheel of the Koopman Lumber No. 6, the team feels confident going into the event.
WHITINSVILLE, Mass. — Stan Mertz Racing and driver Woody Pitkat will look to recreate some Stafford Motor Speedway magic this Friday night, May 14, in the Call Before You Dig Modified Classic 81. Last year, the team celebrated victory in the Twisted Tea Open Modified 80 at Stafford, a track where Pitkat is no stranger to Victory Lane. (more…)
HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. — Justin Bonsignore looks to get his quest for a third NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship steered back on the right track this Saturday, May 15, at Riverhead Raceway. Set to return to competition at his home track, Bonsignore looks to add a fifth consecutive win at the New York oval in Whelen Modified Tour action.
SEEKONK, Mass. — It took six caution flags and 10 extra laps, but the second race of the season saw a familiar finish, as Barry Shaw Jr. once again took the checkered flag for back-to-back victories in the Chaz Auto Body Sport Trucks. (more…)
WALPOLE, N.H. — Granite State Pro Stock Series race teams are heading to Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire, for the third race of the season on Saturday, May 8. Coming off successful events at Stafford Motor Speedway and Monadnock Speedway — won by Joey Pole and Angelo Belsito — the series hits the New Hampshire oval for the Hedges Excavating 100 for the first of two visits in 2021. The second visit will come on Friday, September 17, as part of the annual Star Classic. (more…)
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Anyone still clinging to the belief that rising star Sammy Rameau’s Tri-Track Open Modified Series win last season at Monadnock Speedway might have been a fluke, can now put that notion away. Far away! (more…)
WINCHESTER, N.H. — Sam Rameau dominated early, restarted deep in the field after a pit stop, drove to the front, made a pass for the lead, and rolled to Victory Lane. The Westminster, Massachusetts, native, and driver for Rameau Family Motorsports, was victorious in the season-opener for the Tri Track Open Modified Series presented by All Phases Renovations at Monadnock Speedway on Saturday, May 1.
By Souza Media/Kyle Souza
In the Wonder Casino 100, Rameau made a late pass on Ron Silk to score the $6,000 winning check — besting more than 30 cars that showed up to the Winchester, New Hampshire oval. Silk crossed the line second, with defending series champion Matt Hirschman third.
Rameau pitted from the lead, along with the rest of the field, during a caution period just after halfway. He restarted outside the top-15 and his chances of winning at that point appeared slim. But the rising Modified talent worked his way to the front.
“I was just going at my own pace early, and we came in and I’m not going to lie, I was really nervous over the radio,” Rameau said. “With 40 laps to go, I said there was no way we were winning the race. The car just rolled the outside great. We all come here for the same reason. It’s really cool. I just really can’t thank my guys enough. They do a great job.”
Two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore and Les Hinckley finished the top-five. Ben Byrne was sixth, followed by Woody Pitkat, Anthony Nocella, NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece and Joey Cipriano III.
Devin O’Connell advanced the most positions during the race, scoring the Green Construction, LLC Hard Charger award, worth $500. Earlier in the day, Justin Bonsignore, Woody Pitkat, Earl Paules and Ben Byrne won heat races, scoring $300 each courtesy of Pepsi and the Pepsi Challenge. Anthony Sesely and Brian Robie also scored $300 each from Pepsi with consi race wins.
The Tri Track Open Modified Series returns to the track at Star Speedway in New Hampshire on Saturday, May 22. For more information on the Tri Track Open Modified Series, visit tritrackmodifieds.com and follow the series on social media.
THE FINISH:
Sam Rameau
Ron Silk
Matt Hirschman
Chase Dowling
Les Hinckley
Ben Byrne
Woody Pitkat
Anthony Nocella
Ryan Preece
Joey Cipriano III
Anthony Sesely
Max Zachem
Devin O’Connell
Joel Monahan
Chase Dowling
Chris Pasteryak
Kurt Vigeant
Brian Robie
Doug DiPisa
Richard Savary
Matt Swanson
Matt Kimball
Kirk Alexander
Austin Kochenash
Ronnie Williams
Glen Reen
STAFFORD, Conn. — Justin Bonsignore finished 13th in the rain-shortened NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday, April 30. The race was deemed official after just 130 of the 150 lap distance due to persistent rain in the area. It was the second of 14 races on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour calendar and first of three at the Connecticut oval in 2021. (more…)
STAFFORD, Conn. — Doug Coby wrapped the 49th annual NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway with a 12th place finish in the rain-shortened event on Friday, April 30. Coby qualified the Mayhew Tools No. 10 in the fourth position and ran inside the top-five for the first portion of the race, taking the lead from Matt Swanson just after lap 50. (more…)
WALPOLE, N.H. — With one race down, and 14 left on the 2021 schedule, the Granite State Pro Stock returns to the track on Sunday, May 2, at Monadnock Speedway. Set for 100 laps around the high-banks, the series heads back to one of its staple tracks for the first of two visits during the season. (more…)
SEEKONK, Mass. — More than 30 cars are expected in the pit area when the Tri Track Open Modified Series opens the 2021 season on Saturday, May 1 at Monadnock Speedway. The Wonder Casino 100 will mark the first of six races on the Tri Track circuit, with a lucrative purse structure and top talent from across the region set to thrill race fans in New Hampshire. (more…)
WESTMINSTER, Mass. — The last time Sam Rameau competed at Monadnock Speedway, he left carrying a $6,000 check from the Tri Track Open Modified Series. This Saturday, May 1, Rameau returns to the high-banks looking to take home another $6,000 prize in the season-opener for Tri Track — the Wonder Casino 100. (more…)
MILFORD, Conn. — Doug Coby is looking to add a fifth NAPA Spring Sizzler victory to his resume this Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway. In race two of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, Coby will return to his home track on April 30 to drive the Mayhew Tools No. 10, coming off a sixth-place finish in the Whelen Modified Tour opener at Martinsville Speedway. The NAPA Spring Sizzler was originally slated to take place on April 25, but weather forced NASCAR & Stafford officials to postpone the race to Friday, April 30. (more…)
STAFFORD, Conn. — Former Stafford Motor Speedway Limited Late Model champion Cory Casagrande is no stranger to the Granite State Pro Stock Series. Although he’s still looking to break into Victory Lane with the series, Casagrande has been a front-runner for years and flexed his muscle in the opener of the 2021 season, the Casagrande Builders 75, at Stafford, on April 24. (more…)
HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. — Justin Bonsignore will spend two days, in two different states, driving two different cars, in two different divisions this week.
It’s David Darling’s world and we all seem to just be living in it.
After a year off due to COVID-19, Pro Stock drivers will begin their chase to try and beat Darling beginning on NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Opening Day on Sunday, May 2.
MILFORD, Conn. — Doug Coby is looking to add a fifth NAPA Spring Sizzler victory to his resume this weekend at Stafford Motor Speedway. In race two of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, Coby will return to his home track on April 25 to drive the Mayhew Tools No. 10, coming off a sixth-place finish in the Whelen Modified Tour opener at Martinsville Speedway. (more…)
WALPOLE, N.H. — When you mention Stafford Motor Speedway to Mike O’Sullivan, it feels like home. The Massachusetts native, and two-time Granite State Pro Stock Series champion, is one of more than 25 registered drivers as the series gets ready for their debut at the half-mile on Saturday, April 24, as part of the NAPA Spring Sizzler weekend. The Casagrande Builders 75 is the headliner of the Saturday show to open another season at the Connecticut oval. (more…)
Loudon, NH — Reigning American-Canadian Tour (ACT) champion Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, VT finally scored a long-awaited victory at Loudon’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) on Sunday, April 18 in the inaugural Northeast Classic. Hebert was awarded the win following post-race technical inspection, giving the veteran a triumph he’d been chasing for his entire decade-long Late Model career. (more…)
