Thompson Speedway played host to another round of TNTT, though a bit on the cool side it was a great
night for racing. The Mini Stocks started the feature rotation and after a yellow flag plagued heat race, they
got their act together come feature time. Just one caution slowed the event and it came in the opening laps
when Andy Publicover spun himself out coming out of turn four. All the drivers but one made it through as
Roger Ducharme planted his Mustang firmly into the turn four wall trying to avoid Publicover ending his
night. Mike Romano took command early and led most of the way. Hoe Godbout weeded his way through
the field and challenged Romano for the lead during the last half of the event even getting credit for leading
a lap or two. Their battle for the lead was great clean racing as the only time they rub was about 10 feet
before the checkered flag. It was Romano scoring his first career win by inches over Godbout, with Shelly
Perry, Rick Blanchard, and Scott Michalski rounding out the top 5. Big congrats to Romano for a great win….
plus he’s from my town so I root for him abit as well.
The TIS Mods were up next and things got a little wild early on. While battling in midpack traffic, Roger
Larson made contact with Roger Ducharme and climbed the backstretch wall. He rode the on two wheels
about 2/3rds the way down the backstretch before finally rolling over on his roof and sliding to turn three.
The race was immediately red flag while the pulled Larson out. He was fine as he walked all the way back to
the pits to the cheering crowd. Once the race got back to green it was Leo Adams leading the way, until
halfway when Tim Sullivan got a little over anxious and punted Adams out of the lead, earning himself a spot
in the rear of the field as well. On the restart Leo Oliveira inherited the lead and went on to win his 2nd of the
year. Following him were Kurt Vigeant, Mike Veins, Tim Sullivan and Leo Adams.
The Pro Stocks were up next and it looked as if Dave Berghman might run away with the race. He set the
early lead and wasn’t really challenged. A caution for a spin in turn 1 slowed the field, well most of field
anyway as Ron Smith must of forgot what the yellow flag meant as he never slowed and made hard contact
with Berghman, ending his night. If I were the officials I would of ended Smith’s night as well, as he is just a
hazard out there. Once they got back to green, Freddy Astle set the pace and went on unchallenged for the
win. Following him to the strip would be George Bessette, Jeff Zuidema, Jeff Connors, and Mike O’Sullivan.
The Late Models took to the track next and things got a little heated in this one. Dave Trudeau and RJ
Marcotte set the early pace with most of the heavy hitters midpack still battling their way to the front. A
caution on lap 11 bunched up the field and allowed Marcotte to slip back a few positions. It was there where
things got ugly. While battling for positon, Marcotte and Corey Hutchings made contact on the backstretch
sending Hutchings nose first into the backstretch wall. Hutching headed pitside with smoke pouring from the
car (and evidently from under his helmet) as his crew attempted to make repairs. During the caution period,
Hutchings drove back onto the track looking for Marcotte and finding him. He then spun Marcotte around
and jumped from his car and climbing through the right side of Marcotte’s car. It took awhile but track officials
finally pulled Hutchings away and parking both drivers for the night. Now I’m not a fan of either driver but
nothing screams, “I’m a B*tch”, more than attempting to assault another driver while they are fully strapped
into their racecar. I would love to see management sit Hutchings for the year but I doubt that will happen.
Once back to green the race was pretty clean as Trudeau held off a slowing Rick Gentes for the win.
Rounding out the top five would be, Jeff Hartwell, Jeff Zuidema (after bouncing off the wall at the start of the
race), Conrad Cote and Pete Yetman.
The SK’s took to the high banks next for their 30 lapper. Things looked great til lap 10 when the leaders
caught a big pack of lapped cars. Almost everyone made it through as Jeff Malave got bounced around abit
and lost some ground. A lap 13 spin by Joe Lemay slowed the field and allowed Malave to pit for repairs. It
was during this caution period that officials summoned leader Keith Rocco pitside for an apparent leak.
Tommy Cravenho inherited the lead when the green flag dropped and held off the advances of Woody Pitkat
to take down the win. Pitkat would hold on for 2nd with Todd Ceravlo, Malave and Buddy Charette rounding
out the top 5.
The Limited Sportsman capped off the night with their 20 lap affair. Eric Grant a former Stafford competitor
led the early stages of the race until Keith DeSanctis came charging to the lead bringing Danny Cates with
him. Only a couple cautions slowed this event and it was DeSanctis going unchallenged for the win. Glen
Boss got by Cates for 2nd, with Cates, Grant and Scott Sundeen rounding out the top 5.
Friday night at Stafford saw just feature action, as track management decided to axe the heat races for
whatever reason…and for someone like myself who drives over an hour to get there, I don’t like it, would
rather see as much racing as possible for my $$$. But anyways here’s how it went down Friday. The SK
Lights were out for their 20 lapper and it was clean and green. Brit Anderson started near the rear of the
field and worked his way through and had the lead before halfway. His closest competitor, Chris Matthews
hung tough for abit but was no match for Anderson as he cruised to victory. Matthews was second, with
Glen, Reen, Rich Pallai and Matt Gallo all earning top 5’s.
The DARE Stocks took the track for their 15 lap affair and it was another 1st timer in victory lane. Jim Brice
took advantage of his outside pole starting position and cruised to victory for his 1st ever win. Point leader
Norm Sears tried a few times to take advantage of restarts but didn’t have enough to motor by Brice. Sears
faded towards the end of the race allowing Vince Gambacorta, Steve Berardi, and Tom Stirk all to get by for
top 5’s.
The Late Models were next with their 30 lap presentation and Scott Foster took his first win of the year which
was long overdue. He did it the hard way as he used the high line to motor by Rick Lanagan on a lap 15
restart. And from there Foster went on for the win followed by Peterson (who made a nice move to take 2nd),
Tom Fearn, Ryan Possocco, and Tom Butler back with his famous green #4.
The Limited Late Models were up next with their 20 lapper. After a rough first lap which eliminated several top
runners like point leader Bill Davis, George Nocera and others the race ran smooth and went green to
checker. Kevin Gambacorta took down his 2nd win of the year getting by Corky Hinze at the halfway point
and held back all charges. Hinze held on for second, with Charlie Newman, Mike Nadeau, and Mike Sweeney
all getting top 5’s.
The SKs rounded out the night for their 40 lapper. Rowan Pennick who tows in from PA every week started
on the pole and led the first few laps til Eric Berndt took command. Berndt fought back the charges of the
likes of Bo Gunning, Todd Owen, Willie Hardie and others to earn the win, which was a well needed one.
Gunning would settle for second with Jeff Malave, Frank Ruocco and Willie Hardie rounding out the top 5.
night for racing. The Mini Stocks started the feature rotation and after a yellow flag plagued heat race, they
got their act together come feature time. Just one caution slowed the event and it came in the opening laps
when Andy Publicover spun himself out coming out of turn four. All the drivers but one made it through as
Roger Ducharme planted his Mustang firmly into the turn four wall trying to avoid Publicover ending his
night. Mike Romano took command early and led most of the way. Hoe Godbout weeded his way through
the field and challenged Romano for the lead during the last half of the event even getting credit for leading
a lap or two. Their battle for the lead was great clean racing as the only time they rub was about 10 feet
before the checkered flag. It was Romano scoring his first career win by inches over Godbout, with Shelly
Perry, Rick Blanchard, and Scott Michalski rounding out the top 5. Big congrats to Romano for a great win….
plus he’s from my town so I root for him abit as well.
The TIS Mods were up next and things got a little wild early on. While battling in midpack traffic, Roger
Larson made contact with Roger Ducharme and climbed the backstretch wall. He rode the on two wheels
about 2/3rds the way down the backstretch before finally rolling over on his roof and sliding to turn three.
The race was immediately red flag while the pulled Larson out. He was fine as he walked all the way back to
the pits to the cheering crowd. Once the race got back to green it was Leo Adams leading the way, until
halfway when Tim Sullivan got a little over anxious and punted Adams out of the lead, earning himself a spot
in the rear of the field as well. On the restart Leo Oliveira inherited the lead and went on to win his 2nd of the
year. Following him were Kurt Vigeant, Mike Veins, Tim Sullivan and Leo Adams.
The Pro Stocks were up next and it looked as if Dave Berghman might run away with the race. He set the
early lead and wasn’t really challenged. A caution for a spin in turn 1 slowed the field, well most of field
anyway as Ron Smith must of forgot what the yellow flag meant as he never slowed and made hard contact
with Berghman, ending his night. If I were the officials I would of ended Smith’s night as well, as he is just a
hazard out there. Once they got back to green, Freddy Astle set the pace and went on unchallenged for the
win. Following him to the strip would be George Bessette, Jeff Zuidema, Jeff Connors, and Mike O’Sullivan.
The Late Models took to the track next and things got a little heated in this one. Dave Trudeau and RJ
Marcotte set the early pace with most of the heavy hitters midpack still battling their way to the front. A
caution on lap 11 bunched up the field and allowed Marcotte to slip back a few positions. It was there where
things got ugly. While battling for positon, Marcotte and Corey Hutchings made contact on the backstretch
sending Hutchings nose first into the backstretch wall. Hutching headed pitside with smoke pouring from the
car (and evidently from under his helmet) as his crew attempted to make repairs. During the caution period,
Hutchings drove back onto the track looking for Marcotte and finding him. He then spun Marcotte around
and jumped from his car and climbing through the right side of Marcotte’s car. It took awhile but track officials
finally pulled Hutchings away and parking both drivers for the night. Now I’m not a fan of either driver but
nothing screams, “I’m a B*tch”, more than attempting to assault another driver while they are fully strapped
into their racecar. I would love to see management sit Hutchings for the year but I doubt that will happen.
Once back to green the race was pretty clean as Trudeau held off a slowing Rick Gentes for the win.
Rounding out the top five would be, Jeff Hartwell, Jeff Zuidema (after bouncing off the wall at the start of the
race), Conrad Cote and Pete Yetman.
The SK’s took to the high banks next for their 30 lapper. Things looked great til lap 10 when the leaders
caught a big pack of lapped cars. Almost everyone made it through as Jeff Malave got bounced around abit
and lost some ground. A lap 13 spin by Joe Lemay slowed the field and allowed Malave to pit for repairs. It
was during this caution period that officials summoned leader Keith Rocco pitside for an apparent leak.
Tommy Cravenho inherited the lead when the green flag dropped and held off the advances of Woody Pitkat
to take down the win. Pitkat would hold on for 2nd with Todd Ceravlo, Malave and Buddy Charette rounding
out the top 5.
The Limited Sportsman capped off the night with their 20 lap affair. Eric Grant a former Stafford competitor
led the early stages of the race until Keith DeSanctis came charging to the lead bringing Danny Cates with
him. Only a couple cautions slowed this event and it was DeSanctis going unchallenged for the win. Glen
Boss got by Cates for 2nd, with Cates, Grant and Scott Sundeen rounding out the top 5.
Friday night at Stafford saw just feature action, as track management decided to axe the heat races for
whatever reason…and for someone like myself who drives over an hour to get there, I don’t like it, would
rather see as much racing as possible for my $$$. But anyways here’s how it went down Friday. The SK
Lights were out for their 20 lapper and it was clean and green. Brit Anderson started near the rear of the
field and worked his way through and had the lead before halfway. His closest competitor, Chris Matthews
hung tough for abit but was no match for Anderson as he cruised to victory. Matthews was second, with
Glen, Reen, Rich Pallai and Matt Gallo all earning top 5’s.
The DARE Stocks took the track for their 15 lap affair and it was another 1st timer in victory lane. Jim Brice
took advantage of his outside pole starting position and cruised to victory for his 1st ever win. Point leader
Norm Sears tried a few times to take advantage of restarts but didn’t have enough to motor by Brice. Sears
faded towards the end of the race allowing Vince Gambacorta, Steve Berardi, and Tom Stirk all to get by for
top 5’s.
The Late Models were next with their 30 lap presentation and Scott Foster took his first win of the year which
was long overdue. He did it the hard way as he used the high line to motor by Rick Lanagan on a lap 15
restart. And from there Foster went on for the win followed by Peterson (who made a nice move to take 2nd),
Tom Fearn, Ryan Possocco, and Tom Butler back with his famous green #4.
The Limited Late Models were up next with their 20 lapper. After a rough first lap which eliminated several top
runners like point leader Bill Davis, George Nocera and others the race ran smooth and went green to
checker. Kevin Gambacorta took down his 2nd win of the year getting by Corky Hinze at the halfway point
and held back all charges. Hinze held on for second, with Charlie Newman, Mike Nadeau, and Mike Sweeney
all getting top 5’s.
The SKs rounded out the night for their 40 lapper. Rowan Pennick who tows in from PA every week started
on the pole and led the first few laps til Eric Berndt took command. Berndt fought back the charges of the
likes of Bo Gunning, Todd Owen, Willie Hardie and others to earn the win, which was a well needed one.
Gunning would settle for second with Jeff Malave, Frank Ruocco and Willie Hardie rounding out the top 5.