|
BY MARK McKEON
WENTWORTH, NH - Like many a returning vacationer, Chris Donnelly
spent Sunday night in traffic, except that Donnelly’s traffic had
wings on top and there was a slight odor of methanol in the air.
Donnelly raced from an eighth starting spot to win his heat and then
roared around the top of the track from 11th to win the Sprint Cars
of New England feature at Legion Speedway on Sunday.
Donnelly’s victory made him the first repeat winner of the season,
ending SCoNE’s seven race streak of no repeat winners.
“We’ve been struggling a lot with this car so I went back to some
old notes and apparently they worked pretty well... I should have
left it alone a year ago,” the winner quipped in victory lane.
Butch Valley, Jr. led the first five laps from the pole until former
champion Shawn Lawler, who started sixth, rim rode the cushion into
the lead. Lawler chose the inside to work through a blockade of
lapped traffic on lap 16 while Donnelly went high and slipped by,
leaving Lawler to settle for second.
Two red flags and two yellow flags disrupted the first six laps,
after which the race ran without a pause. Both Mark Cole and Clay
Dow flipped in separate incidents but neither driver was hurt.
“The Topside Tornedo” Dan Douville came from 14th to finish third.
Jim Lowrey, who recently changed to a different grade tire, won his
heat and finished a strong fourth. Tyler Rich was fifth in his
fourth top five of the season.
The Sprint Cars of New England will be at the Bear Ridge Speedway in
Bradford, VT this Saturday July 28 along with a full card of Stock
car racing and the USAC DMA Midgets. Don’t miss seeing seven time
and defending Bear Ridge champion and current DIRTcar Sportsman
Modified points leader Adam Pierson of Fairlee, VT as he makes his
Sprint Car debut in the SCoNE Guest Car.
SCoNE (25 laps) 1. Chris Donnelly, 2. Shawn Lawler, 3. Dan Douville,
4. Jim Lowrey, 5. Tyler Rich, 6. Will Hull, 7. Kevin Chaffee, 8.
Jake Williams, 9. Robbie Bodwell, 10. Bob Giuliani, 11. Bruce
Kimball, 12. Butch Valley, Jr., 13. Lacey Hanson, 14. Andy Seuss,
15. Brandon Valley, 16. Chris Downs, 17. Clay Dow, 18. Mark Cole.
DNQ Matt Robie, Randy Wimert, Shawn Berry. Heat Winners: Lowrey,
Donnelly. B Main: Bodwell. |
