LEE, NH – Defending NASCAR New England Champ Wayne Helliwell Jr. won Friday night’s “Moneybags 100” overall point championship here at Lee USA Speedway.
Driving the Witkum No. 21 winged supermodified, Helliwell combined a win with a pair of second place finishes to take the overall title. He won $5,000 paid to him from moneybags full of cash in Victory Lane plus a Championship Trophy from race sponsor Benson Lumber and Hardware.
Helliwell of Pelham, NH, started his night off well by setting a new track record in time trials, earning the pole position in the opening 35-Lap Segment of the main event. Turning the three-eights mile oval in 13.796 seconds, he narrowly edged P. J. Stergios by .34 of a second.
While Helliwell had a big night, Mike Netishen of Auburn, NH, reached into the “Moneybags 100” cashing in for $2,850 finishing second overall. Mike Ordway of Fremont, NH, was third overall, grabbing $2,000.
Invading supermodified star Lou Cicconi, of Aston, PA was fourth overall in the Jason Phillips No. 99 from Haverhill, MA, winning $1,350.
Sparky MacIver and Stergios rounded out the top six, MacIver winning $1,000 and Stergios winning $1,200.
Some of the best racing took place during the opening 10 laps when Helliwell and Stergios went at it in a torrid wheel-to-wheel, side-by-side battle for the lead. Just inches apart, both drivers never flinched, Stergios on the outside and Helliwell on the inside at full speed.
Stergios twice inched ahead by a half car-length only to have Helliwell catch him, pull along side and eventually take the lead. Netishen, Stergios and Cicconi made up the top five.
The 18-car field was inverted for the second 35-Lap Segment from the finish of the first segment. Ordway won that 35-Lap session while Helliwell stormed his way to second with Cicconi third and Netishen fourth.
Inverted again from the second race finish, Netishen took the final 30-Lap Segment over Helliwell and Stergios, who charged from 11th place. A restart for a minor spin with four to go created a wild dash to the Checkered Flag while Cicconi shuffled back in some three-abreast racing.
Along with the overall championship Helliwell, Stergios and Mike Sperling won Bentley’s Saloon Hard Charger Awards. Helliwell and Netishen won the Harrington Paving Pole and Outside Pole Awards.
Tommy Tombarello, one of the pre-race favorites, was the Bentley’s Saloon “Tough Luck” Award winner. Tombarello was eliminated in a three-car crash on the 24th lap when Mike Murphy spun on the back straightaway, hit the wall, causing Joey Scanlon and Tombarello to crash.
The Small Block Super will return to Lee this Friday Night.
“Moneybags 100”
Overall Finish (By segment finishing positions) and total prize money.
1-#21, Wayne Helliwell Jr. (1-2-2), $5,000; 2-#55, Mike Netishen (2-4-1), $2,850; 3-#10, Mike Ordway Jr. (6-1-5), $2,000; 4-#99, Lou Cicconi (4-3-7), $1,350; 5-#22, Sparky MacIver (5-7-4), $1,000; 6- P. J. Stergois (3-11-3,) $1,200; 7-#7 Ryan Gath (7-8-6), $800; 8-#2, Tony Carroll (9-6-8), $700; 9-#27, Leslie Keysa (8-5-10), $600; 10-#61, Mike Sperling (10-12-12), $600; 11-#44, Mike Murphy (11-10-13), $450; 12#19, Matt Seavey (17-9-9), $425; 13-#59, Moe Lattime (12-13-11), $400;
14-#00, Ricky Wolf, (13-14-14), $375; 15-#98, Tom Tombarello, $450; 16-#47, Matt Riley (14-16-16), $300; 17-135, Joey Scanlon (16-17-17), $300; 18-#38, Jim Barker (18-18-18) $300.