THE LOCAL auto racing season shifts into high gear this weekend, with some venues hosting season openers and others ramping it up with special events.
Among the special event sites is Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, where the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour comes to town for the first of three events there this season. The third annual Granite State Derby 150, which comes with a total purse of $85,547, will mark the first test on Monadnock’s new pavement.
Fresh off two consecutive race wins at Monadnock and Claremont in the weekly headlining 604 Modified division, Brian Robie of Sunapee enters Saturday’s derby with both momentum and an experience advantage. Robie comes home to the quarter-mile oval sitting 11th in the season standings after competing at three less-familiar venues.
Monadnock is the Whelen tour’s fourth of 16 stops scheduled in 2024. The tour hits 11 race tracks across seven states. Among the favorites to win Saturday are Justin Bonsignore, Ron Silk, Matt Hirschman, Jon McKennedy and Austin Beers.
Bonsignore has five Monadnock wins, but the new pavement will bring faster speeds and render past track information useless. He trails reigning NWMT champion Silk by eight points in the season standings.
Matt Kimball from Bennington hopes to parlay his 2023 Monadnock Modified Open win into success. Last year’s NASCAR Weekly Series New Hampshire state champion Nathan Wenzel is entered, along with Wakefield’s Melissa Fifield and Kyle Ebersole, who has relocated to the Dover area from North Carolina.
April’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner Anthony Nocella could also be a factor.
Several other divisions are on the schedule, including the NEMA Lites Midgets and Pro Four Modifieds. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 2:20 p.m., with the main event set for a 6 p.m. green flag.
Around the tracks
Star Speedway in Epping hosts the Granite State Pro Stock Series for a 100-lap event Saturday night that pays $3,000 to the winner. Wayne Helliwell Jr. of Dover and Pembroke’s Casey Call are among the early entries. They will compete against invaders including Dave Darling and Travis Benjamin. The race winner becomes a guaranteed starter for the May 18 Pro Stock Nationals at Lee.
The 350 Supermodifieds will go 40 laps to open their season at Star. Last weekend, Jeffrey Battle reached victory lane with his 350 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. Star opened its season last Saturday and Joey Ventrillo beat Charlie Baldwin to the finish of the Woody’s Street Stock season opener. They resume their weekly wars this weekend at Star as well.
The Hudson Speedway racing season begins on Sunday afternoon, headlined by the R&R Street Stock Open Series going 49 laps in memory of Carl Tirone. Jimmy Renfrew Jr. of Candia and George Baldwin from Lowell, Mass., are among the favorites for that event. The race will pay $2,000 to win, with four other weekly divisions competing as well.
Claremont Motorsports Park begins the weekend of racing on Friday night with a six-division event and spectator drag racing. The 604 Modifieds, Super Streets and Outlaw Late Models are part of the event. Last Sunday, Robie took home $3,000 in a 77-lap Modified race, while Jimmy Renfrew Sr. of Candia came out of retirement to win the Pro V8 Sportsman main.
Many Granite State drivers will visit Vermont this weekend, as the American-Canadian Tour heads to the Thunder Road Speedbowl for a season-opening Community Bank 150 at the historic Barre oval on Sunday afternoon. The weekend festivities will also include a Celebration of Life for the late Ken Squier, who helped open the track 65 years ago. Squier died in November at age 88.
Jesse Switser won race two for the ACT Tour at Oxford last Sunday. It was redemption for the Vermont driver, who was disqualified five days after his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on April 13. His race-winning motor was torn down and found to have been altered against tour rules. He beat Center Conway’s Gabe Brown to the checkers at Oxford.
Just over the border in Bradford, Vermont, the 57th season opener on the dirt at Bear Ridge Speedway is set for Saturday night. Racing will be headlined by the DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds. Max Dolliver of Londonderry finished second in the 2023 standings, with James Fadden of Plainfield in fourth. The Modified Coupes and DMA Midgets are also on the opening night schedule.
Weekend schedule
Claremont: Friday, 7 p.m.
Monadnock: Saturday, 2:20 p.m.
Star: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Bear Ridge (Vt.): Saturday, 6 p.m.
Hudson: Sunday, 1:15 p.m.
Thunder Road (Vt.): Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
