Reid Lanpher celebrates victory in the Granite State Pro Stock Series feature at the New England Short Track Showdown Sunday at New Hampshire Motor SpeedwayLOUDON, N.H. – Winning any race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for any young driver carries some extra special cache over most other places.
On Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Reid Lanpher found a way to make that feat of winning even more special, by using a last lap pass of one of the best drivers in New Hampshire Motor Speedway history.
Lanpher passed Eddie MacDonald on the final lap to win the 50-lap Granite State Pro Stock Series feature Sunday at the New England Short Track Showdown at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It was the first victory on the 1.058 mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the 20-year old Lanpher, from Manchester, Me.
MacDonald, of Rowley, Mass., has ten career victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and won the Granite State Pro Stock Series event at the inaugural New England Short Track Showdown in 2017.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for the guy,” Lanpher said. “He’s a heck of wheelman. And if there’s one place he’s good at it it’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway. So to beat him, especially on a last lap pass, it feels incredible. It’s just awesome.”
In addition to his 2017 Granite State Pro Stock Series win, MacDonald has three K&N Pro Series East wins, five American-Canadian Tour victories and one Pro All Stars Series win at NHMS. He is the only driver in track history with victories in four different divisions.
MacDonald ended up second and Derek Griffith of Hudson, N.H. was third.
MacDonald spent most of the event out front, fending off the challenges of Griffith. But Lanpher moved to second with 13 laps left, closed on MacDonald’s bumper coming to the white flag.
Lanpher used the high lane through turn two to ride past MacDonald on the final lap.
“I don’t know,” Lanpher said. “It was kind of one of those laps where you throw it into turn one and hope it will stick. It was amazing. Eddie and I just kept driving harder and harder and harder as the race went on. I can’t believe it. We were able to get on the outside of him there and get a really good run off the corner.”
Said MacDonald: “He got a really good run and he had enough power to get on the outside of me and move and he got right by me. Congratulations to those guys, they did a great job.”
Cory Casagrande of Stafford was fifth.
Alby Ovitt of Barrington, N.H. won the Street Stock feature, which was shortened from 30 laps to 22 because of the possibility of weather issues.
Corey Hutchings of Salem, the defending champion of the event, rallied to finish second after spinning off of turn four on the first lap.
“I hit the gas real hard like I had been all weekend and all of the sudden I was spinning off,” Hutchings said. “I was just like ‘Oh my god I just threw it away.’ But I have a great crew. We came up and tightened it up a little bit and we came close. We’re happy.”
Hutchings said he wasn’t sure he would have had anything for Ovitt even if the race went the distance.
“I used up what I had to get to where I was,” Hutchings said. “I would have loved to have had a restart. You never know what could happen.
“I worked really hard this winter just for this one race. Come up one spot short.”
Kyle Hewins of Leeds, Me. was third.
Nick Maniatis won the 30-lap North East Mini Stock Tour event. Joe Kendall was second and Devin Guy third.
Lanpher has won at NHMS before. He won when he was 13 or 14 on the road course. Someone mentioned after the race that he may be the only one to have won on toth the full oval and full road course.