Friday, August 12, 2016
The Colebrook Chronicle
Sports
SPEEDWAY 51
Doug Crowningshield of
Barre, Vt. ended a long racing
career as only he could hope for,
with a trip to victory lane.
Crowningshield had known
going in that tonight was going
to be his final race as he had
agreed to sell his number fourteen Tiger to Speedway 51 Street
Stock driver Jaden Perry. It was
a three-segment race for the Sign
Depot Tiger Sportsman and
Crowningshield was the model of
consistency finishing third,
fourth, and fifth respectively. In
the third segment Mike Giroux
(36) finished inches behind Brendan Moodie (94) which gave the
win to Crowningshield by 1 point
and dropped Giroux to third
overall behind Moodie. After officially announcing his retirement
in victory lane he said of winning
his last race, “Everyone would
want to go out there, knowing it’s
their last ride and win. I couldn’t
be happier to end this way, yes
it is tough to let that car go, but
it’s going to a good kid and a good
driver.” When asked what’s next
he simply said, “I’m going fishing.”
Hardwick, Vt.’s Bunker Hodgdon (83) cashed in for his third
Schweppes Street Stock event of
the season. The point leader
bounced back from a hard wreck
earlier in the week to finish third
and second in the two segments
for the victory. Hodgdon thanked
his crew for working tirelessly to
get his car back together in time
for Saturdays race. Peyton Lanphear (22) got her best finish of
the season finishing second
including a dominant win in the
first segment. Cody Smith, who
had a substitute driver last week
after having his wisdom teeth
out, was back in the drivers seat
and drove his way to a third
place finish. Brandon Gray (00)
and Jered Plumley (12) rounded
out the top five.
It’s two wins in a row for
Cambridge, Vt.’s “Rowdy” Brad
Bushey (57) in the North Country Ford Late Model division and
pulling in $2000 in winnings in
those two weeks. Bushey, Shawn
Swallow (04) and Derek Ming (5)
all came into the final segment
tied for the overall win. Half way
through the final segment Ming
got into the back of Swallow
racing for the win sending both
drivers to the back and giving
Bushey the clear path to victory
lane. Ming would end up second
followed by Swallow, Kevin Boutin (25) and Doug Laleme (74).
Reigning track champion
Kasey Beattie (45) was back in
victory lane for the first time in
a month for his division leading
fourth win of the season. The St.
Johnsbury, Vt. driver also pulled
himself back into a tie with Garrett LaBounty (76) for the point
lead in the A.B. Excavating Dare
Devil division. Evan Hallstrom
(1vt) finshed second and
LaBounty third. Kailie French
(4) was fourth while Josh Plumley (12) completed the top 5.
The highly anticipated debut
of the new Cyclone division at
Speedway 51 in Groveton is set
Kailua French (4) goes around off the bumper of Kyle LaBounty (80).
Courtesy photo.
to take place this Saturday night,
Aug. 13. This new four cylinder,
front wheel drive car, or four
cylinder pickup division is catching fire quickly as interest is very
high.
“We have had a ton of inquiries about this new class” stated
Jean Leblanc, organizer of the
Cyclone division. “This division
is for basically bone stock vehicles with very few rules. Most
rules are safety oriented, and we
feel this is going to blow up to
some great numbers this season.
We have scheduled three races
for this year, and hopefully
expand it a little in 2017. We
aren’t looking to make it a
weekly division, but six or seven
races a year would be great.”
This weekend’s event will feature Scout Night, where all
Scouts in uniform will be admitted for free, plus there will be a
Corvette Display Show. All Corvette owners that display their
vehicle before the races will
receive a free grandstand admission ticket, and have the option
to parade their ‘Vette at intermission, weather permitting.
Joining the Cyclones will be
the
Sign
Depot
Tigers,
Schweppes Street Stocks, the AB
Excavating Daredevils, and the
White Mountain Community
College Pure Stocks. The North
Country Ford Late Models have
the weekend off. The new post
time is 6:30 p.m.
Don’t forget the new teen
admission pricing plan, where all
teenagers ages 13-16 get into the
races for just $5. For more information on this event and others
please visit our website at
www.speedway51int.com, or call
the Track hotline at (802) 4792074. Speedway 51 is located on
Brown Road in Groveton.
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