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photo by Rich Hayes

Lee, NH – The battle for the 2014 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season championships continued at the Lee USA Speedway Friday night, with Groveland, MA racer Mike Murphy collecting his first win of the season in the EKeys 4Cars Supermodified feature event.

 

Jimmy Russell of Brentwood scored his second straight win in the Prime Storage and Warehouse Late Model Sportsman main, Dennis Dumas grabbed his third win of the year in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stocks, and both Adam Knowles and Jessie Tellier doubled up in the Ironman main events.

 

In addition to the weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series competitors, the stars and cars of the Valenti Modified Racing Series were on hand for the first of their two events of the 2014 season, with an impressive field of entries entertaining the crowd with a fast-paced 100-lap main event.

The field went green with the missing man formation leaving the pole position open in honor of the late Jim Boniface, a past Lee USA Modified Racing Series winner who passed away earlier in the week at the age of 60 after a difficult battle with cancer.

 

Former NASCAR Busch North Series standout Tom Carey, Jr. was first out of the gate to lead the VMRS feature in his sharp #42 machine, setting the pace for 54 laps before yielding the lead to the hard-charging Savary.

 

Putting aside the typical “wait and see” strategy that has benefited multiple VMRS race winners in the past, where drivers typically save their tires for late in the race, Savary used up much of what he had in a furious charge to the front that got him from his eleventh place start to the lead just past the halfway mark, and kept him there until the checkers waved.

Justin Bonsignore was up to challenge in the late going aboard the famed Art Barry Spafco #21, and after a hard-fought challenge over the last two laps, he came up just a few feet short of the win, despite giving Savary his toughest challenge of the night with the checkers in sight.

Steve Masse, a past winner here at Lee, finished up the night with a strong third place run, followed by former series champion Dwight Jarvis, who started scratch on the field after finding himself in someone else’s trouble during his qualifying heat.

Fifth spot went to defending series champion Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, PA, who wrapped up the 2013 series title here at Lee USA during Oktoberfest 2013 weekend, followed by Chris Pasteryak, David Schneider, Carey, Donnie Lashua, and Max Zachem.

In the Lee USA portion of the program, Murphy broke out from the pole to grab the lead early in the event, and he was never headed, leading every lap on the way to his first trip to victory lane of the 2014 season aboard the MASS Chassis, Haffner’s-sponsored #44 machine.

Fresh off his first win of the season two races back, Mike Spurling put in another solid performance to grab second place honors, with rookie contender Kyle Sawyer third across the stripe. Fourth went to Jake Stergios, with Lance Barthelemy, Tommy Tombarello, Jr., Sparky MacIver, Leslie Keyser, Bobby Webber, and Jim Barker rounding out the top ten.

Former Hobby Stock champion Jimmy Russell made a statement in the Prime Storage and Warehouse Late Model Sportsman main event, grabbing his second straight win over another impressive field of entries.

With Russell quickly out to the lead, Mark Parenteau found trouble for the second race in a row, taking the Brian House, A Family Cab ride hard into the first turn wall after suffering a stuck throttle. Russell had things under control all the way, leading from green to checker to score his second win of the 2014 season.

Alby Ovitt put in a strong run to collect runner-up honors, followed by Ricky Porter, Geoff Rollins, Frankie Eldridge, Bobby Melvin, Kyle Roy, Niko Maniatis, Tom Harton, and Jesse Bousquet.

Dylan Bilodeau looked as if he was going to break the stronghold that Dennis Dumas had on the Hobby Stocks, but after post-race tech, it was once again Dumas being awarded the win, his third of the 2014 campaign.

Brian DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA collected his best finish of the season in the runner-up slot, and kept his trophy in one piece for a change. Matt Kawejsza was credited with the third place finish, followed by defending champ Patrick Tanguay, Jim Piaseczny, rookie Jay Avery, Dave MacDonald, Zac Fraser, Chris Harding, and Torrey Kovalesky.

The Ironmen were on tap for double features on the night, with Adam Knowles of Seabrook not only capturing his first career win in the opener, but doubling it up with a second win in the nightcap. Jeff Nadeau and Wayne Osborne completed the podium in race number one, Osborne and defending champ Travis Hollins filled out the podium in race number two.

Jesse Tellier led the way in both ends of the 4-cylinder Ironman competition, with Steve George taking both runner-up trophies for the night. Both drivers outran all of the 6-cylinder entries to finish one-two in the nightcap.