Epping, NH – Points leader Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro, MA grabbed his second win of the year in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series All-Star Modified feature event on Saturday night, solidifying his spot atop the standings with the victory.

With Mechalides five rows deep for the start, rookie Bill Clement ran out from the pole to set the early pace leading the first seven laps of the main before yielding the point to former 350 Super champ Rob Wilcox.

Luke Royea was next to put in a bid for the top spot, and he quickly made his way past Wilcox into the lead, but Mechalides was not going to be stopped, picking his way to the front in his borrowed ride. Once past Royea, Mechalides was in command, leading them to the checkers for the win.

Royea picked up his best finish of the season in the runner-up slot, followed by veteran Bobby Gahan, Rusty Ball, Jacob Dore, defending champion Henry Stampfl, Mike Murphy, Josh Cantara, Eric LeClair, and Brandee Tree.

The Fast-4’s opened up the night’s feature race action, with Brett Scott leading the way. Ryan Scott took over the lead on lap two, but points leader Jim Deveau was already on the move, and he made the pass and took the lead on lap four.

At halfway, Jesse Tellier had second, and Timmy Johnson held third but dropped out just after taking the crossed flags. Deveau went on to post his first win of the year, with Tellier, Ryan Scott, Matt Magee, Jeff James, Brett Scott, John Pilvelis, Jamie Scott, Gary West and Cindy Sevigny rounding out the top ten.

Art Joslin, Mike Asselin, and Stephen Dubois all took turns out front in the Strictly Stock feature, but in the end, it was Steve Douphinette making another trip to victory lane. Dubois held the lead beyond the halfway mark, but Douphinette made the pass in the late laps and went on to win.

Gary Beauregard posted a second place finish, with Mike Williams, Ken McIlvaine, Joslin, Asselin, Keith Ennis, Robbie Robinson, Corrie Merritt, and Dubois next in the rundown.

Teammates John Bourdelais and Rob DeAlmeida led the Super Streets around to Mike Walker’s green flag, with Bourdelais moving out to set the pace. He kept the top spot for the first ten laps, when Rob MacRae moved past to take command.

Once he got to the front, MacRae was off and running, easily leading the rest of the way to pick up his first win of the season.

Joe Dehney came on strong in the late going to checker second, with Russ Douphinette, Lee Weldy, Sandy Lee, Bourdelais, DeAlmeida, Tony Carroll, Shaun Waites, and Joey Ventrillo next across the stripe.

The Super Late Models hit the track to close out the night’s action as a light rain began to fall, with Rich Eaton running off to the lead with Ron Bolduc in pursuit. Daryl Stampfl ran third in the early laps, with Jimmy Rosenfield fourth.

Eric Hudson joined the lead quartet to run fourth at the halfway mark, but he got caught up in a late-race wreck and was knocked out of contention. The incident collected several other cars as well, and during the cleanup, the rain moved in and ended the race a handful of laps short of completion.

Eaton was awarded the win, with Stampfl picking up his best finish of the season in the second spot. Jay Sands, Bobby Gahan, Bolduc, J.R. Baril, Rosenfield, Bobby MacArthur, and Hudson were next in the finishing order.



 

Epping, NH – The heat was on at All-Star Speedway on Saturday night, with the second round of the Water SnoGo All-Star Modified Showdown, with 100 laps of green flag action the order of business.

Mike Stefanik headed into the night with the series lead by virtue of his win in the first race, but problems sent him home with a disappointing18th place finish this time out.

Matt Hirschman, a winner at All-Star last season, broke out of the pack after a side-by-side battle with Chris Pasteryak in the first few laps, and he quickly established himself as the man to beat.

A couple of simple spins slowed the action early on, and by lap 25, Ted Christopher had made his way to the front in the Joe Brady machine, and he glued himself to Hirschman’s back bumper looking for a way past.

When the leaders encountered some lapped traffic on lap 42, Christopher found his way past when Hirschman spun in turn three, handing the lead over, and heading to the rear for the ensuing restart to begin the long climb back into contention.

Up front meanwhile, Christopher had his hands full with Jimmy Blewett, who nearly got past on a late-race restart. But Christopher was up to the task, holding on to post the win. Blewett, Jon McKennedy, Ronnie Silk, and Hirschman rounded out the top five.

Rich Eaton of nearby Seabrook was the big winner in the Super Late Model feature event, holding off Jay Sands to pick up his first checkered flag of the 2008 campaign by just a car length.

Rookie Ron Bolduc jumped out to the early lead, but Eaton quickly made his way past to take over the point. By halfway, Sands had joined Eaton at the front of the field, but he couldn’t find a way past.

Eric Hudson made it a three-way battle with the laps winding down, but Eaton held on to pick up the win. Sands, Hudson, Bobby Gahan, and Bolduc were the rest of the top five.

Rob DeAlmeida and Joey Ventrillo put on a great battle for the lead when the Super Streets took the green from flagman Mike Walker, with DeAlmeida eventually getting the advantage and moving out to the point.

Ventrillo kept digging however, and he made his way back to the front on lap nine, slipping past DeAlmeida and bringing Chuck Dehney to the front with him. Dehney immediately began to put the pressure on Ventrillo, and he took his turn in the top spot on lap 12.

Three laps later, Dehney went spinning to the infield, with George Baldwin taking over on the restart that followed. Sandy Lee was in pursuit, and he moved low on lap 24 for the final lad change of the event.

Lee went on to score the win, with Baldwin, Lee Weldy, Nick Gravel, Russ Douphinette, Dehney, Tim Casey, Jr., Tony Carroll, DeAlmeida, and Shaun Waites rounding out the top ten.

Mike Williams was the man to beat in the Strictly Stocks, and up until the final lap of the feature, nobody had anything for him. Williams had led the race from the time the green flag waved, but with the checkers in the air, his time ran out.

Gary Beauregard and points leader Steve Douphinette made it a three-car fight for the lead on the final go-round, and with all three of them swapping spots the last time through three and four, Beauregard moved ahead to take the checkers by inches.

Douphinette scored second, with a disappointed Williams relegated to third in the final rundown. Mike Asselin, Stephen Dubois, Corrie Merritt, and Jared Mountain were next across the stripe.

Brian Destefano was the best of the bunch in the Fast-8 feature event, taking the lead from Travis Nevers on lap two, and cruising the rest of the way to pick up the win over Christin Burns, Lane Hodgkins and Nevers.

In the Fast-4’s, Timmy Johnson took over the lead after a mid-race duel with Nick Maniatis, and he went on to score the win, with Billy Osborne, Jesse Tellier, Patrick Sheehan and Jim Deveau the rest of the top five.

 

Epping, NH – It was another spectacular night of racing under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banner at All-Star Speedway last Saturday night, with former track champion Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, MA taking down his first win of the year in the All-Star Modifieds.

Luke Royea outran polesitter Jacob Dore to break out into the early lead when the All-Star Mods went green, with Jim Boniface next to move in and challenge for the top spot. Louie Mechalides was holding down the fourth spot at the tan lap mark, with McKennedy already fifth and looking for more.

McKennedy continued his march to the front, and while some of the other frontrunners had problems and dropped off the pace, McKennedy took command of the event and went on to collect his first feature win of the 2008 campaign.

Dore got his best finish of the season in the runner-up slot, with opening night winner Mechalides, rookie Josh Cantara, and Bruce Batchelder rounding out the top five.

For the second straight week, Rob MacRae broke to the front of the pack at the start of the Super Street main, but for the second week in a row, he ran into trouble late in the race and dropped to seventh at the finish.

Just before halfway, Lee Weldy slipped past into the lead, and he stayed there for several laps before being knocked off the point by teammate Sandy Lee in the second Jim Daley Racing entry. Once out front, Lee was in control the rest of the way, claiming his second win of the year at the checkers.

Weldy held on to collect a second place finish, with George Baldwin, Joey Ventrillo, MacRae, Keith Walton, Tony Carroll, and John Bourdelais the remainder of the top ten finishers.

Rookie Strictly Stock competitor Jared Mountain got a great jump to beat polesitter Johnny Gervais to turn one, and he set the pace for the first three laps before Steve Douphinette slipped past to take his turn out front.

On lap nine, Gary Beauregard made his way past Mountain to take over second, but by then, Douphinette had already opened up a huge lead over the rest of the field. With Beauregard several car lengths behind, Douphinette went the distance to score his third win of the 2008 season.

Rick Woodside, Jr. was up in the late laps to finish third, with Art Joslin, Mountain, Mike Asselin, Ken McIlvaine, Gervais, Stephen Dubois, and Mike Williams filling out the rest of the top ten.

Matt Magee busted out to lead the first three laps of the Fast-4 Main, but when he slipped high, it allowed Billy Osborne and Jim Deveau to get past to run one-two. By halfway, it was Erik Bibeault, Jeff James and Magee giving chase to the lead duo, but Osborne was on a mission.

At the checkers, it was Osborne in for the win, with Deveau forced to settle for second. Bibeault got a third place finish in his season debut, with James and Ryan Scott closing out the top five.

Osborne did double duty for the night, taking over the controls for Bob Ballantine in the Fast-8 main event. Billy started scratch on the field, but by lap 13, he had worked his way to the front and passed heat winner Brian DeStefano to take over the lead.