THOMPSON – It’s been a season of feast or famine for reining Thompson Speedway Limited Sportsman division champion Shawn Monahan.
The 2019 season at Thompson has been a roller coaster ride for Monahan on his mission to win a third consecutive division title.
Last week it was famine, Sunday the Waterford driver was back to feasting.
Monahan scored his fourth victory in nine starts in the 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature Sunday at Thompson.
It was the bounce back from a rough and tumble 16thplace finish in the Limited Sportsman feature on Sept. 1 that cost Monahan the division point lead.
“I love the lord with all my heart and soul,” Monahan said. “I want to do the right thing at all times and today we’re in victory lane because I did the right thing. I kept my mouth shut all week. Those guys drove me ragged. I took the velvet off the hammer if I needed to, but I really didn’t need to today. The seas parted. It got a little rough a few times but I’m down here in victory lane and I never take it for granted.”
Monahan saw an eight point lead disappear after Sept. 1 and came to Sunday’s event third in the standings, trailing Kyle Gero by 17 points in the standings.
Sunday Monahan moved past Meghan Fuller to second place and closed to 10 points within Gero with one event remaining. Fuller sits 16 points behind Gero in third place heading to the season finale.
Mark Jenison went to the front at the start and never let up on the way to victory in the 25-lap Late Model feature.
It was the first victory of the season for the Warwick, R.I. driver.
“We’ve been struggling this whole year,” Jenison said. “We had a little wreck in the mid-season and once you have those wrecks it’s hard to come back and be perfect again. It takes time. We’ve gotten it back. We feel good now.”
Derek Gluchaki of Dartmouth, Mass. was second and Matt Lowinski-Loh of Milford, Mass. third.
Dave Trudeau Sr. of Mansfield won the 15-lap Mini Stock feature.
Charles Canfield of East Haven was second and Doug Curry of Norwich third.
Hey Shawn, why did Ryan Waterman get DQ’ed?
Raceddict24,
I was told Waterman refused tech. Inspectors were checking clutches and flywheels.
So was Waterman cheating or just didn’t feel like taking stuff apart? And why wasn’t he driving the 75 that he won with last week?