Speedway 95 – July 22 RESULTS

The Granite State Pro-Stock made it’s debut appearance at Speedway 95 Saturday night , July 22nd, and left the near capacity crowd with a race to talk about for a long time to come.

Josh St.Clair of Liberty and Mike Hopkins of Hermon each won one of the qualifying races and started the 100 lap feature on the front row. Hopkins immediately took command of the event and led the field through three caution periods to almost dominate the race. Josh St. Clair of Liberty ran behind Hopkins with Ben Ashline of Palmyra also staying close to the leaders until the caution flag flew on lap 31.

On the restart, Hopkins maintained the lead, but Travis Benjamin of Morrill got by St.Clair to run in the second spot on lap 35.

At the half way point, it was Hopkins in the lead, followed by Benjamin, St. Clair, Ashline and Brandon Barker. St. Clair worked his way by Benjamin on lap 70, but a restart following a lap 74 caution saw St. Clair fall from second to fifth. St. Clair worked his way back to third by lap 87, but Garret Hall of Scarborough had found the secret to running the inside groove and had worked his way to the second spot by lap 81. Hall then began to challenge Hopkins for the lead and by lap 93 had the nose of his car ahead of Hopkins and claimed the top spot. Hall continued to run the inside, inching by Hopkins again on lap 94. Hopkins led the 95^th lap by a nose, but Hall was too much for him and regained the lead on lap 96, holding a slim margin each lap until the checkered flag fell on lap 100, with Hall the winner by less than a car length. Hopkins finished in the runner-up spot, with St. Clair finishing a close third. Benjamin finished fourth, with Ashline finishing fifth.

The Granite State Pro-Stocks will return to Speedway 95 on Saturday, August 19 along with the R&R Street Stocks Series from New Hampshire.

Delaney Dunn of Otis led the Coca-Cola Company Cage Runners from the green to the checkers in a 25 lap feature as the division ran in support of the Pro-Stocks. David Boulier of Bucksport made his first appearance in the top three since beginning in the division three years ago, finishing in the second spot. Joey Doyon of Frankfort, making a rare appearance at Speedway 95 finished in third place , with pole sitter Seth Woodard of Plymouth and Tim Robinson of Clinton rounding out the top five.

Also on the supporting docket was the Sport-Four Division, who only ran a 15 lap feature due to the low car count in the division. Kris Foss of Levant led the entire distance with Roy Hathorn of Brownville staying close to his rear bumper, but not strong enough to take the lead. Jason Morse of Hermon finished third when Lewis Batchelder of Dixmont spun out of contention coming out of turn four on the final lap and was credited with a fourth place finish.

Scott Modery of led all 30 laps of the Street Stock feature, holding off a late race charge from Jeff Alley of Machias, who finished second. Third went to Cole Robinson of Palmyra. Doug Day of Glenburn started on the front row, but fell to fourth at the finish with Tim Mooers of Exeter in fifth.

Racing will continue of Wednesday, July 26 with a regular show in the Varney GMC series, and Saturday, July 29 with the Big Dog Memorial 100 lap event for Enduro cars headlining the week's show.

QUICK RESULTS:

GRANITE STATE PRO-STOCKS 100 LAPS

1. 94 Garett Hall, Scarborough

2. 15 Mike Hopkins, Hermon

3. 14 Josh St. Clair, Liberty

4. 7 Travis Benjamin, Morrill

5. 99 Ben Ashline. Palmyra

STREET STOCKS:

1. 1 Scott Modery, Hermon

2. 24 Jeff Alley, Machias

3. 61R Cole Robinson

4. 69 Doug Day, Glenburn