LOUDON, N.H. – Well over 120 drivers got their New Hampshire Motor Speedway race weekend off to an early start at Northeast Classic Practice Day on Saturday, April 18. Although time was precious to ongoing weather issues, several notable contenders emerged in each division as they prepared for Sunday’s big-money showdowns.
After practice started a little late due to track-drying efforts from Friday’s snow, and despite a couple brief showers, each division was able to get in two rotations. Shortly after 3:00pm, though, more steady rain moved in. Faced with the prospect of needing at least two hours to re-dry the 1.058-mile oval, officials elected to call the day short. Sunday’s forecast is much more favorable with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 50s.
A total of 26 American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Models and 27 Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models took advantage of the time they had to dial in their cars. Double-duty racer D.J. Shaw of Center Conway, NH ended up topping the ACT charts. Shaw, a five-time PASS champion and last year’s ACT Late Model Tour runner-up, set the day’s fast time at 31.689 seconds in a brand-new car from the Arny Hill Racing stable.
East Bridgewater, MA’s Ryan Kuhn and reigning ACT champion Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, VT were the other Late Model drivers to crack the 32-second barrier. Hebert did so in his first outing after converting his title-winning car to a Ford engine and sheet metal over the winter. Stephen Donahue, Woody Pitkat, Tom Carey III, and Derek Gluchacki also looked string throughout the afternoon.
The only ACT driver to encounter significant trouble was Lancaster, NH’s Shawn Swallow. For the second time in as many events this year, the veteran developed engine valve trouble in the first practice session of the day. His team reportedly had finished patching up the car by early evening and is ready to race in tomorrow’s point-counting opener.
On the Super Late Model side, it was 2019 PASS National Champion Mike Hopkins of Hermon, ME showing the way. Hopkins followed up third-place finishes in the first two PASS National events of the year with a lightning-fast 29.534-second time in an abbreviated second session.
To no one’s surprise, Rowley, MA’s Eddie “The Outlaw” MacDonald wasn’t far behind. Even though MacDonald was “only” second-fastest on the PASS time sheet at 29.609 seconds, the 11-time New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner has to be considered the Northeast Classic favorite. Shaw, Brandon Barker, Johnny Clark, and NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Alex Labbe looked like potential threats to dethrone him.
The North East Mini Stock Tour (NEMST) and Open Street Stocks also had solid turnouts, with car counts unofficially reaching the mid-20s by day’s end. Multi-time NEMST champion Emerson Cayer of Contoocook, NH was the fastest 4-cylinder racer by a longshot on Saturday. His quick time of 35.189 second was nearly half a second faster than Oxford, MA’s Nick Anderson. Defending NEMST champion Desmond Skillings of Antrim, NH also looked strong. On the 8-cylinder side, Jimmy Renfrew Jr., Devon McConologue, and Jordan Russell were among the drivers to watch.
The Tour-type Modifieds got a chance to tune up for their $5,000-to-win, 50-lap Sunday sprint. Major Modified stars such as Bobby Santos III, Mike Christopher Jr., Anthony Nocella, and Eric Goodale were in attendance for practice. However, it was Harvard, MA’s Matt Swanson topping them all with a 29.253-second lap.
That blazing time, equal to 130.202 MPH, came in a rules package that sees the Modifieds racing at “The Magic Mile” without a restrictor plate for the first time in nearly 30 years. Ronnie Williams, Andy Shaw, Sam Rameau, and Chase Dowling were some of the other drivers enjoying some high-speed action.
Last but not least, the EXIT Realty Pro Truck Challenge turned their first laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. By day’s end, Lowell, MA’s Jason Ferreria was the only trucker who came in below the 34-second mark. Gerard Giordano, Jr., the winner of the season-opening thriller at Thompson Speedway, was in a near dead-heat with Andy Lindeman for second on the charts.
By unofficial count, at least four racers will do double-duty on Sunday. Ben Rowe and D.J. Shaw running both the PASS and ACT features. Renfrew will pilot both an ACT Late Model and a Street Stock, while Giordano has his Late Model and Pro Truck in the pits. All of them are legitimate contenders in at least one of those events, adding another interesting foil to the day ahead.
The Northeast Classic at Loudon’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway goes green this Sunday, April 18. A six-division card features $5,000-to-win events for the ACT Late Model Tour, PASS Super Late Models, and Tour-type Modifieds. The EXIT Realty Pro Truck Challenge, 8-Cylinder Street Stocks, and North East Mini Stock Tour are also on the card.
Qualifying begins at 11:00am with features at 1:30pm. General admission is $30 for adults and $10 for kids ages 12 and under. Tickets will be sold at the track on race day. A live pay-per-view is available on Speed51.TV for $29.99.
For more information, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact [email protected] or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don’t forget to “Like” the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.
No restrictor plates on the mods will make for some serious action. Matt Swanson fastest is a surprise. This could be a huge day for him however the experience that BS III has still makes him my pick.
How many modifieds?
Pretty sure with the gear rule they are using the Mod lap times are pretty close to the same as the PASS SLM’s I was not exactly expecting a good turnout for the Mods. Sometimes open shows can be a crapshoot for car counts. People my forget but the numbers for the SBM at Star and Open Wheel Wednesday at Seekonk started to drop off before they became part of the Tri Track Series. Also, years ago Star tried running several open shows for Mods one season and started off with about 30 cars in the beginning, but were down to like 14 cars for the last race. Even for Pro Stocks several years ago Seekonk put together a good purse for their DAV event that paid a lot more to win than the standard PASS or Granite State Pro Stock race, but only around 12 or 13 cars entered.(for that race they had to change it to a Granite State race and now a PASS race to try to get entries in the following seasons)
29.253 is the benchmark. That compares to the fastest practice speed at the Musket last year of 28.97. Actually 5 cars practiced last year at speeds faster then Swanson. Then there was the fastest qualifier clocked at a slower 29.52.
Tires and track conditions are everything but at first glance the speeds resulting from the restrictor plate elimination don’t appear to be at the break neck, engine popping speeds that were mentioned.
Can’t help but wonder what exactly was there about this event that caused so many teams to take a pass .
Doug wrote, “Can’t help but wonder what exactly was there about this event that caused so many teams to take a pass .”
Cost-benefit ratio, payout, number of days up there, small event, time of year and risk of weather, etc.
It’s gonna be a cold track, hard to get grip. High of 55º for today, after being in the low 30s overnight.