Matt Robie Takes SCoNE Trophy Home to Newborn

CANAAN, NH - Before the start of the 25 lap Sprint Cars of New England feature at Canaan Dirt Speedway Friday, Matt Robie of Hill, NH said he’d like to bring the winner’s trophy home to his eight day old son Wyatt Matthew. With his five year old son Ethan cheering him on, Robie did just that, leading every lap to score his career-second Sprint Car victory and his second of the season.

Clay Dow reprised last week’s runner-up finish in a drive from fifth and Dan Douville kept himself in contention for the 2012 SCoNE Championship by slicing through traffic from 13th to finish third. Last week’s winner Tyler Rich came from 15th to fourth and Will Hull finished fifth.

“My dad gives me such a great car to drive that all I have to do is have the stamina- let’s put it that way to be polite- to stand on it,” Robie said.  We’ve finally gotten comfortable with the motor that we’ve had for the last four races and that’s made a lot of difference. We couldn’t do it without our sponsors, J.W. Moses Construction, Moses Auto Body, C. A. Miller Plumbing and Heating, Always Green Landscaping, Upper Valley Equipment Rental, R. D. Edmunds and Son and Hawthorne Automotive.

Dow worked both the inside and outside in an exciting effort to get by Robie and was able to pull alongside in the late stages of the event. “I could catch him, but I couldn’t get by him, that’s two really different things,” Dow explained. “We’re starting to come back strong at the end of the year and it feels good to be on the podium for the second week in a row.”

“Starting in the back makes it great for the fans but it makes it hard for us because everyone has gotten so good,” defending champ Douville said.  “Both Clay and Matt did a great job tonight and we’re looking forward to racing against them again on Friday.”

Wheeling the SCoNE guest car in his first Sprint Car start, five time Bear Ridge Speedway Champion Adam “Bomb” Pierson came from dead last in the 16 Car field to finish eighth. “These things are a blast to drive and they’re so much different than a Modified. I want to thank Si Allen and Mike Kondrat for giving me the opportunity.  I think I was starting to get the hang of it there at the end and I could definitely see myself in one of these in the future.”

Although both heats – won by Robie and Mark Cole- were green-to-checker affairs, the main event saw both a yellow and a red flag. The yellow came out on lap 5 when Butch Valley got together with Jake Williams and Jim Lowrey. More serious was a lap 19 flip and impact with the front stretch wall by rookie Eldon Towns, who was making only his third Sprint Car feature start. Although Townes was only shaken-up, his car sustained serious damage.

SCoNE heads into its annual Triple Crown Weekend racing on Friday at Canaan, Saturday at Bear Ridge and Sunday at Legion, with the top ten finishers earning extra purse money.  The annual championship points battle is put on hold as drivers compete for a separate Triple Crown points title and if a driver is able to win all three nights he’ll receive an extra $1,500.  Three time and defending NEMA Midget Champion Randy Cabral makes his Sprint Car debut in the SCoNE guest car at Canaan on opening night of Triple Crown weekend.

SCoNE (25 laps) 1. Matt Robie, 2. Clay Dow, 3. Dan Douville, 4. Tyler Rich, 5. Will Hull, 6. Chris Donnelly, 7. Kevin Chaffee, 8. Adam Pierson, 9. Shawn Lawler, 10. Jake Williams, 11 Butch Valley, Jr., 12. Bob Giuliani, 13. Jim Lowrey, Jr. 14. Bruce Kimball, 15. Eldon Townes, 16. Mark Cole.