7/7/2020
Sprint Cars of New England
TRIPLE HEADER WEEKEND RACE REPORT
Sprint Cars of New England ( presented by SPONSOR WANTED ) was put to the test of starting of the 2020 season with what usually is the Triple Crown Weekend with three races in three days at three different tracks. It all started on a hot Thursday July the second at the Devil's Bowl Speedway in West haven VT. With a pre sold tickets only allowed in the grandstands there was a good crowd of race fans who enjoyed the night of racing. SCoNE had fourteen 360 sprint cars on hand . Led by two time defending series champion Will Hull . The action started off with the first heat race sponsored by FK Rod Ends with the 71 of Jim Lowery and the 69k of Floyd Billington along side. At the drop of green flag Lowery got a little jump down and took the lead going into turn one when behind him the 33 of Lacey Hanson spun out to bring out the yellow . Lowery maintained his lead on the restart until lap 4 when Billington got by , Chris Donnelly was moving up and got by Lowery on lap 6, and taking down the win in the 8 lap FK Rod Ends was the 69k of Floyd Billington. In heat race number two sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts it was the 88 of Travis Billington and the 8 driven by Adam Pierson along side. Billington got a good jump as the green flag waived as the field came by the rookie Caleb Lamson spun in turn one but kept on going . Billington was in the lead but Pierson was coming quickly as laps went by. On lap 6 the 68 of Lamson spun again right in front of Pierson and again no caution and after 8 laps of racing it was Travis Billington picking up the win in the O'Reilly Auto Parts heat race action. With the invert pill being three the top three rows were inverted to start the NGK sparkplugs feature .The starting lineup was set as follows
73 Jake Williams 07 Matt Hoyt
17 Chris Donnelly 8 Adam Pierson
69 Floyd Billington 88 Travis Billington
90 Matt Tanner 61 Will Hull
71 Jim Lowery 31 Mike Bosco Jr
33 Lacey Hanson 41 Rick Stone
2 Mike Horsch 68 Caleb Lamson
At the drop of the green flag the 07 of Hoyt got a jump and by lap two the 8 of Pierson has taken the lead followed by the 07 , 73 , 17 . On lap 6 the 68 spun in turn two and brought out the only caution flag of the event. Adam Pierson went on to win the first SCoNE race of 2020 followed by the 17 of Chris Donnelly , 90 of Matt Tanner , 73 Jake Williams and the 61 of Will Hull just edging out the 07 of Matt Hoyt for fifth, 69k Floyd Billington, 33 Lacey Hanson, 88 Travis Billington, 31b of Mike Bosco jr rounding out he top 10.
Night # 2 was a Friday night visit to RumTown Speedway in Wentworth , NH with a smaller field of cars due to some guys having mechanical issues the night before. With New Hampshire allowing race tracks up to 50% capacity , we again raced in front of some great sprint car racing fans. Seen visiting the teams in the pit area was former SCoNE champion Dan Douville and his father Dennis . It was good to see them roaming the pit area at their hometown dirt track . The night started with the FK Rod Ends Heat race #1 with 73 Jake Williams starting up front with 69 Floyd Billington along side. The 8 lap race went by fast with Jake Williams taking the win followed by 69 Floyd Billington, local favorite 07 Matt Hoyt , 91 Scott Holcomb, and the 68 of Caleb Lamson. Heat race #2 sponsored by O'reilly Auto Parts saw the 61 of Will Hull and the 88 of Travis Billington up front. The 88 got a quick jump and got to the lead and continued on for the win with the 17 of Chris Donnelly getting second , 61 of Will Hull in third followed by Tanner Siemons driving the 8 car. After the invert the starting lineup was set
69k Floyd Billington 17 Chris Donnelly
73 Jake Williams 88 Travis Billington
07 Matt Hoyt 61 Will Hull
91 Scott Holcomb 8 Tanner Siemons
68 Caleb Lamson
As the sprint cars were getting the field set and ready for the one to go , the skies opened up and rain was falling . After a few laps of trying to make it a go , it was raining too hard and the feature race was cancelled for the evening. The event will be run on 9/12/20 as SCoNE will run double features that night. So please come out and enjoy.
Night #3 saw the series travel back into Vermont for Saturday night at the Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford. Again the problem with running three nights in row to start the season had affected the car count . With four or five cars still hurting from problems on night one and the travel back home to repair proved to be a strain. But that didn't stop the teams from putting on good racing at the Ridge. Two heat races were run to please our sponsors with 17 Chris Donnelly winning the FK Rod Ends race and 61 Will Hull winning the O'Reilly Auto Parts race. The invert was three again so the field was set.
88 Travis Billington 73 Jake Williams
69 Floyd Billington 91 Scott Holcomb
17 Chris Donnelly 61 Will Hull
8 Tanner Siemons 68 Caleb Lamson
As the field came to green it was 88 Travis Billington jumped out front and the 91 of Holcomb hit the 17 of Donnelly and sent him spinning in turn one. On the restart the 88 of Billington continued out front with the 73 of Williams tailing him. By lap ten the field was changing quickly and catching Billington, now the 91 was in second followed by the 61 of Hull, 73 Williams and 17 Donnelly. Just past the half way flags the 91 of Holcomb took the lead from the 88 and the 17 of Donnelly was moving up to third fast. On lap 18 the 91 hit the tractor tire in turn one which slowed him down enough for Donnelly to catch him and race for the lead. Lap 21 the 17 got by and held on for his first NGK Sparkplugs feature race win of the season , followed by 91 Holcomb, 61 Will Hull, 73 Jake Williams , 88 Travis Billington, 69k Floyd Billington, then the two rookies of 8 Tanner Siemons and 68 of Caleb Lamson. Chris Donnelly also picked up the $100 hard charger award given by SCoNE member Dave Bowser and his wife Linda.
All in all with everything going on with the COVID-19 and not sure when or where SCoNE would race , we were able to have visited three tracks in three days and almost three races. Which makes me just want to say " 3 for Dale "
So after a week off the teams will work hard to get their cars repaired , set up to race again on July 18th at RumTown Speedway in Wentworth , NH. Gates open at 3pm and racing starts at 4pm.
Submitted By: Ron Giroux
