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photo by Rich Hayes

Lee, NH – The highly-anticipated 75-lap Ollie Silva Memorial Mid-Summer Classic for the International Supermodified Association (ISMA) was the featured attraction at Lee USA Speedway on Friday night, with a capacity crowd filling the grandstands at New Hampshire’s Center of Speed for the event.

 

Several alumni from the Lee USA Small Block Supers were among the strong field of speedsters on hand for the evening’s racing action, but one of them was sidelined before qualifying had been completed. On the first lap of the first ISMA heat of the night, Danny Lane took a scary ride into the wall in turn one with an apparent stuck throttle, ending his night before it had even started.

 

Two laps later while leading the same qualifier, “Liquid” Lou Cicconi had problems of his own and spun into the wall in nearly the same spot, putting his Clyde Booth entry on the shelf for the night as well. Jon Gambuti, Mark Sammut, and Rob Summers collected the heat race wins.

At feature time, it was Ryan Coniam first out to the lead, setting a torrid pace while the field sorted out behind. Coniam appeared to be the class of the field in the early going, but mechanical woes forced him off the pace and to the pit area at the 26-lap mark.

 

Local favorite Eddie Witkum, Jr., a former champion in the Lee USA Small Block Supermodified division, took over the lead after Coniam’s demise, and he quickly pulled away to open up a full straightaway lead on his nearest challenger.

 

The laps clicked off quickly as the field ran caution-free for the first 48 circuits before former race winner and all-time ISMA win leader Chris Perley found trouble and spun, with another quick yellow a lap later for a three-car tangle involving Perley, Justin Belfiore, and Alison Cumens the only other slowdown.

 

When racing resumed, Witkum picked up the lead once again, but Jon McKennedy was already up to fourth and on the move. He quickly worked past Ben Seitz and Rob Summers to get to second, and when Witkum fell to his charge on lap 57, it was the final lead change of the night.

 

McKennedy was in control from there, leading the rest of the way to post a popular win, his second ISMA score of 2014. After leading the most laps, Witkum settled for second, with Seitz, Summers, Sammut, Cumens, Belfiore, Dave Duggan, Jeff Locke, and Dan Bowes the remainder of the top ten.

 

The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Supermodifieds were also part of the program, running a quick 30-lap feature event which was won by Jake Stergios of Candia over rookie Kyle Sawyer of Kingston and defending champion Tommy Tombarello, Jr. of Haverhill, MA.

 

Fourth spot in the EKeys 4cars-sponsored event went to two-time winner Lance Barthelemy of Fremont, followed by Sparky MacIver of Sandown, Rochester’s Mike Spurling, Bobby Timmons if Windham, ME, Moe Lattime of Kingston, Leslie Keyser of Northfield, and Bobby Webber of Topsfield, MA.

 

Brentwood’s Jimmy Russell continued to be the man to beat in the Prime Storage and Warehouse Late Model Sportsman division, rolling to his fourth feature event win of the 2014 campaign in the 35-lap feature event. Groton, MA racer Bobby Melvin led from lap three until lap 25, and eventually chased Russell across the line for a solid runner-up finish.

 

Another Groton MA driver, Geoff Rollins followed the lead pair in the third spot, with Hooksett’s Niko Maniatis, Epping’s Ricky Porter, Jesse Bousquet of Pittsfield, David Piper of Goffstown, Mark Parenteau of Groveland, MA, Kyle Roy of Barrington, and Ray Dinsmore of Alfred, ME the rest of the top ten.

 

A multi-car incident late in the David’s Race Cars and Components Hobby Stock 30-lapper eliminated several drivers from contention, but Merrimack’s Jim Piaseczny avoided all the trouble and took down the checkers to add another win to his 2014 resume.

 

Brian DeStefano of Tewksbury, MA scored runner-up honors, with Manchester’s Billy Clement, Jr. rounding out the podium in third. Chris Harding of Lebanon, ME was fourth, followed by Brian Thompson of Sandown, Patrick Tanguay, Jay Avery, Dennis Dumas, Kevin Bowman, and Dave MacDonald.

 

Dracut, MA driver Tyler Mitchell returned to his winning ways in the Benson Lumber and Hardware Ironman main, taking the checkered flag ahead of Travis Hollins of Milford and Wayne Osborne of Raymond.

 

Epping drivers Jeff Nadeau and Jeff Bennett were next across the stripe, followed by Tewksbury, MA’s Christin DeStefano, Hannah Shaw of Epping, Lindy Lambert, and Adam Knowles of Seabrook. Jesse Tellier of Dracut, MA scored again in the 4-cylinder portion of the Ironman event.