7/13/2024
Claremont Motorsports Park
FELLOWS, GRAY, ADRIAN SMITH WIN FRIDAY AT CLAREMONT
FELLOWS, GRAY, ADRIAN SMITH WIN FRIDAY AT CLAREMONT
Claremont Motorsports Park Friday, July 12, event story
CLAREMONT, N.H. – Victory lane was cluttered with multi-race winners and current and past track champions Friday at Claremont Motorsports Park. Fellows, Gray, Templeton, Gauffin and Miller read the names atop the leader board. And then there was Adrian Smith.
With the storied Thrasher Road speedplant spinning out a near-perfect six-division event in only three hours flat, the sophomore star won his second CMP Pure Stock victory – and with it his first Claremont victory lap – as he outraced an All Star field on McGee Automotive Group night at the historic third-mile oval.
The night’s main event, the eighth annual running of the Dean Smith Memorial 52-lapper presented by the McGee Family Automotive Group of Claremont, went to bed Friday with its official finish still up in the air. But after technical inspection was complete the finish was made official. On the Thrasher Road asphalt, the $1,200-to-win biggie went fast and furious,
Brandon Gray, doing double duty on the scorching mid-July night, led the first eight laps, then giving way to fellow Green Mountain Boy Nick Sweet, a titan of the ACT campaigns but a novice on the CMP third-mile. Friday, he looked like he’d been there for years.
Superman Aaron Fellows, gunning for his fourth Smith Memorial victory, took the lead on lap 32 and never looked back. Radical Ricky Bly, who’s battled Fellows wheel-to-wheel for decades, took second a lap later, and Sweet impressed in third, just ahead of Gray, who added fourth in this one to his earlier Super Street win.
All-world Super Streeter Dave Greenslit had struggled mightily over the first half of the 2024 season. Friday, he showed signs that things have changed. Point’s leader Brandon Gray, though, showed that not much has changed at all.
Greenslit took the lead from speedy Jason Laffin on lap two of the RE Hinkley Fuels main event and found only one obstacle between himself and a victory lap: Brandon Gray. Gray dropped Dylan Zullo to third on lap 15 and quickly set his sites on Greenslit, turning fast laps ten lengths ahead.
Taking charge from the low line on lap 20, Gray then rocketed off to victory, a week after having to watch from behind the wall as teammate Robbie Streeter scored the win. This time it was Gray, Greenslit and Zullo posing on trophy row, with Streeter fourth, and Laffin finishing his hard night’s work in fifth.
Adrian Smith scored his second LaValley Building Supply Pure Stock victory of the summer – and of his young career- Friday. And while he had to celebrate his first in the tech barn, this one came with a celebratory victory lap, as he wowed Friday’s crowd by holding off a pair of strong veterans to top the 25-lapper.
Jake Snide led the first seven laps but when the lead pack wobbled out of turn four, stacking the field up behind them and scattering cars along the frontstretch, Smith moved up to row one. Former track champ Kodi Sabins sat beside him but Smith never wavered.
Coming from way back in row seven, Sabins’ longtime teammate Josh Rondeau, who’d earlier left his heat race in a ball of flames, charged into third on lap 13, and the race was on. Rondeau got up for second on lap 18, but while he would race under a blanket with Smith the rest of the way, he could not top the second-generation star. Sabins, strong all night, was a close third.
Kyle Templeton made easy work of winning the caution-free Race Day TV Mini Stock feature. Starting up front, the hometown hot shoe rocketed off to take the checkers a full straightaway ahead of his closest competitor. Nolan McClay got up for second on lap three but, on this night, had no answer for Templeton. Colton Hull came home third.
Steve Miller Jr. took the lead from his father, point’s leader Steve Sr., on lap three of the Avery Insurance Six Shooter feature and never looked back, speeding off to victory Friday as Miller Sr. and Dave Aiken raced wheel-to-wheel for second.
Aiken prevailed to score the silver medal finish, while Miller Sr’s third kept him atop the point’s parade.
Matt Gauffin blasted off to another landslide victory in the nightcap Four-Cylinder 50-lap Enduro. Bre Nelson was second, early leader Keith Walton Jr. third, with Drake Nelson and Joe Monette rounding out the top five.
Claremont Motorsports Park will present another exciting card of racing next Friday, July 19, when it hosts JS Automotive Night presents Fan Appreciation night, featuring $5.00 General Admission and a seven-division features-only, double -points event featuring Sportsman Modified, Super Street, Pure Stock, New England Tour-Type Late Model and much more competition.
CLAREMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK JULY 12 TOP PERFORMERS
NEW ENGLAND TOUR TYPE LATE MODEL 52 LAPS: (unofficial) Aaron Fellows, Ricky Bly, Nick Sweet, Brandon Gray, Kyle Goodbout, Ryan Currier, Cam Curtis, Aaron Fellows Jr., Craig Smith, Cole Littlewood.
SUPER STREET: Brandon Gray, Dave Greenslit, Dylan Zullo, Robbie Streeter, Jason Laffin, Matt Sonnhalter, Chris Lindquist, Joe Tetreault, Travis Sykes, Trevor Rocke.
PURE STOCK: Adrian Smith, Josh Rondeau, Kodi Sabins, Andrea St. Amour, Keegan Tabor, Jake Snide, Carlos Grenier, Gage Dillingham, Amy Jaycox, Carter Conroy.
MINI STOCK: Kyle Templeton, Nolan McClay, Colton Hull, Tim Paquette, Derek Farnham.
SIX SHOOTER: Steve Miller Jr, Dave Aiken, Steve Miller Sr, David Bell, Paul Colburn.
FOUR-CYLINDER ENDURO 50 LAPS: Matt Gauffin, Bre Nelson, Keith Walton Jr, Drake Nelson, Joe Monette.
Submitted By: Mike Parks
