By Gary Dutton
 
CLAREMONT, N.H. – There was no fire, but plenty of smoke Friday, as three 2018 champions and the track’s only 11-time winner performed celebratory victory donuts as Claremont Speedway host its final event of the season.
           
Ricky Bly is king of the R.E. Hinkley Super Streets for the second summer in a row, as the 37-year-old Sunapee star tamed a car that began the season with a thud, turning it into a championship ride that he guided to four feature wins this summer.
           
Zach Lyn, like Bly, earned back-to-back titles, his scored in the T-Bird Mini Mart Wildcats. The 28-year-old hometown hot shoe turned the trick with seven 2018 feature wins.
           
Pepsi Street Stocker Bryan Town is also a two-time champion, adding his 2018 title to another won in 2007. Town tallied six feature wins and topped a dozen heat races to edge 11-time feature winner Chris Riendeau 1,015-1,013 for this year’s crown.
           
All’s Bell the ends Bell. Well, almost.
           
Mark Blair, Alex Poisson, and Ryan Bell hit the stripe three across as lap one of the R.E. Hinkley Super Street 40-lapper went in the books. Bell then took charge, bringing Kenny Fowler and Dylan Bodreau with him.
           
Bodreau got up for second a lap later, trying to somehow overcome the 11-point deficit he carried behind Ricky Bly into the season finale. Mark McClay dropped Bodreau to third on lap 17, with Bly still further back but marching methodically toward the front.
           
Bell and McClay battled tooth and nail over the next 20-plus laps, the latter inching ahead on occasion only to see Bell do the same over and over. But the classic battle ended with the checkers almost in sight as Bell’s second victory of the summer was denied in a cloud of tire smoke when the leader spun with plenty of help in turn two.
           
Bodreau, third when it all broke lose, charged past the looping Bell to claim his third victory of 2018, but Bly made a quick evasive move to come home second, claiming his second championship seven points ahead of the night’s feature winner.
           
Ben Poland, strong all night, earned the third-place hardware, Solomon Brow was fourth, Jack McClay gained 11 positions to finish fifth. Bell, who appeared headed for victory for most of the race, finished tenth.
Pepsi Street Stock star Chris Riendeau had two goals in mind when the night’s 25-lap feature began; somehow erasing the six-point lead that Bryan Town carried into the season’s final event and, if possible, earn his track-high 11th stop of the summer in Daddy’s Pizza Victory Lane. He accomplished only the latter.
           
Town, firing from up front, led the first 11 go-rounds, then putting up little fight as Riendeau sped past him through turn three as the race neared its halfway point. Once in front, the Ascutney pilot drove away, winning in a landslide but coming up two markers shy of the championship.
           
Town’s runner-up finish netted him his second track championship, the first earned more than a decade earlier. His teammate Dave Greenslit completed his strong night’s work in third, Lenny Silver was fourth, and ROY Robbie Streeter dashed under the flags in fifth.
           
Birthday boy Chris Carver led the T-Bird Mini Mart Wildcats to their feature green, but this one was all Zach Lyn. The 2017 and 2018 divisional champion – he’d clinched his current title a week earlier – led all the way en route to his seventh win of the summer.
           
Super rookie Kyle Templeton got up for second on lap six but on this night had to be content with the runner-up finish. Templeton also finish the season second to Lyn in the points parade.
 
Rookie Haydon Grenier was solid in third, fellow first year man Raven Streeter powered to fourth, and Seth Melcher came home fifth.
           
Friday night’s Championship Night event concluded the 2018 racing season at Claremont Speedway. The season was comprised of 21 events run on 21 consecutive weekends, with the speedway’s next-night rain date policy utilized twice to complete the campaign without the cancellation of any event.
           
The speedway’s annual awards banquet is still ahead. For information, please visit www.claremontspeedway.net or the track’s Facebook page.
 
CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY SEPT. 28 TOP TENS:
SUPER STREET: Dylan Bodreau, Ricky Bly, Ben Poland, Solomon Brow, Jack McClay, Ken Fowler, Tyler Lescord, Alex Poisson, Tyler Searles, Ryan Bell.
STREET STOCK: Chris Riendeau, Bryan Town, Dave Greenslit, Lenny Silver, Robbie Streeter, Jeff Morse, Mike Burke, Nick Little, Mike Salois, Chris Emerson.
WILDCAT: Zach Lyn, Kyle Templeton, Haydon Grenier, Raven Streeter, Seth Melcher, Kyle Currier, Chris Carver, Jim Carley, Cody Schoolcraft.
 

By Gary Dutton
 
CLAREMONT, N.H. – High schooler Cody Schoolcraft scored his first career feature win Friday, September 21, night at Claremont Speedway.

Super Street star Ben Poland took his second victory lap this year, and it was business as usual for Chris Riendeau, who rocketed to his track-high tenth win to close to within six points of title-points-leading Bryan Town entering the season finale.

Friday’s event at the Thrasher Road speedplant was the third-mile oval’s 20th consecutive race meet without rain stoppage this summer. When it was concluded, one divisional championship had been decided but two were left very much up for grabs entering its Championship Night event.

T-Bird Mini Mart Wild Cat ace Zach Lyn had a forgettable night, struggling to a tenth-place finish, but all wasn’t bad for the Claremont star, whose night’s work netted him his second consecutive championship in the four-cylinder division.

R.E. Hinkley Super Streeter Dylan Bodreau’s runner-up finish brought him to within 11 points of Ricky Bly in their championship battle, and Riendeau’s Pepsi Street Stock victory brought him to within a half dozen markers of points leader Bryan Town, who earned runner-up honors in Friday’s 25-lap feature.

Pole sitter Tyler Lescord set a fast pace the first eight go-rounds of the Super Street main event, giving way to Ben Poland on a restart caused when points leader Ricky Bly looped in turn four, compliments of a friend, to bring out the race’s first caution.

Dylan Bodreau followed Poland forward, then racing under a blanket with him most of the way to earn the runner-up finish. Magic Mark McClay, strong all night, claimed the three spot, just ahead of his brother Jack, while Bly rocketed back through the field to claim fifth, losing six points to Bodreau but still going home atop the leader board in quest of his second speedway crown.

Riendeau inched past Briana Akusis to grab the lap one lead in the Street Stock main, then left the field in his dust as he made his tenth stop of the season in Daddy’s Pizza victory lane. His gains were minimal, though, as top points man Bryan Town held the deuce the final 24 go-rounds.

While Riendeau’s victory came easily, Town’s runner-up finish was anything but. Fellow hometown hot shoe Lenny Silver was glued to Town’s bumper most of way, with Town earning the valuable two extra championship points as Silver took the checkers in his shadow.
Dave Greenslit, victorious a week earlier, came home fourth in Friday’s Street Stock main event, and Canaan’s Robbie Streeter was fifth under the checkers.

Rookie Cody Schoolcraft, who started this season in the grandstands, completed his fast learning curve Friday, leading all the way and winning by a country mile to become the eighth different Wild Cat winner this summer, the fourth rookie pilot to turn the trick.

Points king Zach Lyn rode in second the first five laps but abruptly slowed on lap six, staying trackside another five go-rounds before dropping out, his second championship already assured. Rookie Hayden Grenier got up for second on lap 17 but on this night would have needed binoculars to see the speedy Schoolcraft’s back bumper.

Kyle Templeton ran third the last six laps and will finish his impressive rookie campaign second to Lyn in points. With the all-rookie trio of Schoolcraft, Grenier and Templeton making up the top three, Seth Melcher was fourth, and Kyle Currier came home fifth.
           
Next Friday, September 28, Claremont Speedway will close out its very successful 2018 racing season when it hosts its 21st and final event of the summer, Championship Night. That event will be rain-dated until Saturday if necessary.
 
CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY SEPT. 21 TOP TENS:
SUPER STOCK: Ben Poland, Dylan Bodreau, Mark McClay, Jack McClay, Ricky Bly, Alex Poisson, Allen Fellows, Tyler Searles, Ken Fowler, Tyler Lescord.
STREET STOCK: Chris Riendeau, Bryan Town, Lenny Silver, Dave Greenslit, Robbie Streeter, Briana Akusis, Lucas Wheeler, Travis Cass.
WILD CAT: Cody Schoolcraft, Haydon Grenier, Kyle Templeton, Seth Melcher, Kyle Currier, Raven Streeter, Steve Morris, Jim Carley, Chris Carver, Zach Lyn.
 

 By Gary Dutton
 
CLAREMONT, N.H. – Ryan Bell was on a rail Friday, September 14, at Claremont Speedway, topping the R.E. Hinkley Super Street feature and, with his first career victory in the highly competitive division, becoming the ninth different Super Street winner this summer.
           
NEMST star Emerson Cayer was the night’s big money winner, earning more than $3,000 for his victory in the Four-Cylinder Nationals 100-lapper, but Street Stock star Bryan Town scored a victory of his own.
           
Town’s big night came without benefit of a victory, as the hometown speedster was able to combine his own strong runner-up outing with Chris Riendeau’s misfortune to move back atop the Pepsi Street Stock point standings. With only two events remaining in the 2018 season, Town now leads his division by 11 points.
           
The Red Neck Enduro made its speedway debut, with former Wildcat winner Kyle Buck topping the 36-car field in an adventuresome 35-lapper. Unity’s Bruce Adams earned the runner-up hardware in the no-caution-flags event, and long-ago Street Stocker Todd Maguira came home third.
           
Tyler Searles, the only Green Mountain Boy in the starting field, set fast time the first trip around in the Super Street 40-lapper, but Charlestown’s Ryan Bell – firing from row two – then took charge and never looked back en route to his first stop in Daddy’s Pizza Victory Lane.
           
Iron man Jack McClay got up for second on lap four, bringing points leader Ricky Bly with him into the top three but, with the final 37 laps run caution free, Bell was never challenged, taking the checkers eight lengths ahead of McClay.
           
Bly’s third-place run gave him a small but important boost in the championship points race. Mark McClay was fourth on the night, and Dylan Bodreau came home fifth, ending the night 18 points behind Bly. Craig Smith, who had a violent meeting with the backchute wall in his heat race, came back to finish sixth in the main event.
           
Stevens High School sophomore Briana Akusis was fast in the Pepsi Street Stock feature, hitting the stripe even with Chris Colburn as lap one went into the books and then taking charge and leading the pack the next 18 go-rounds.
           
Dave Greenslit, strong all night, grabbed the lead on a lap 18 restart bringing Bryan Town with him. That caution – the first of the race – was important, as the yellow waved when points leader Chris Riendeau coasted to a stop on the backchute. With Town in second, and Riendeau reduced to spectator status in the pits, the points pendelum that had clobbered Town on the last lap a week earlier, swung back his way Friday.
           
Greenslit’s win was his third of the summer. Lenny Silver earned the third-place hardware, and Akusis’ impressive run netted her the fourth-place finish. Joe Tetreault came home fifth.
           
Emerson Cayer got to the front in the NEMST 100-lapper on lap 34, battled back and forth with Matt Kimball for ten laps, and then led the rest of the way to earn more than $3,000. Hometrack hot shoe Kodi Sabins was second on the night, Bay State veteran Louis Maher came home third, and Cliff Bennett – making the haul all the way from Pleasant Lake, Indiana – finished fourth.
           
Former Mod champ Joey Jarvis set fast time in a round of mid-show radar runs around the fast third-mile.
           
Next Friday, September 21, Claremont Speedway will host its annual Race Against Cancer event, giving fans a chance to meet their favorite drivers up close and personal, as the speedway community comes together to help the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
           
The R.E. Hinkley Super Streets, Pepsi Street Stocks, and T-bird Mini Mart Wild Cats will all be in action in their 20th racing event of the summer, and children are advised to bring their bicycle helmets so they can participate trackside in the summer’s last outing of the Kiwanis of Claremont Big Wheel races. Post time is 7 p.m.
           
For more information, please visit www.claremontspeedway.net or stop off at the speedway’s face book page.
 
CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY SEPT. 14 TOP TENS:
SUPER STREET: Ryan Bell, Jack McClay, Ricky Bly, Mark McClay, Dylan Bodreau, Ben Poland, Craig Smith, Alex Poisson, Tyler Searles, Ken Fowler.
STREET STOCK: Dave Greenslit, Bryan Town, Lenny Silver, Briana Akusis, Joe Tetreault, Robbie Streeter, Chris Emerson, Lucas Wheeler, Chris Colburn, Chris Riendeau.

 By Gary Dutton
           
CLAREMONT, N.H. – Ricky Bly and Chris Riendeau both stayed hot when it counted the most Saturday, September 8, at Claremont Speedway, while Nutmeg State flyer Ron Silk was the night’s big money winner, duplicating his victory of three weeks earlier in the Open Modified 75-lapper.

In Saturday’s nightcap event, Wildcat Kyle Templeton continued his potent rookie campaign, storming to his fourth stop of the summer in Daddy’s Pizza Victory Lane.

Ryan Bell and Tyler Lescord sat on row one of the R.E. Hinkley Super Streets as their 40-lapper went green, with Bell quickly taking charge and then holding the point position until fellow Charlestown pilot Ben Poland scooted past both Bell and Ricky Bly to lead the pack on lap ten.

Poland, like Bell before him, would stage a strong run at the head of the field until Bly dove low through the east end of the track to take charge at the 20-lap mark. A lap later Dylan Bodreau muscled up to second and the top two – locked in a tight points battle for the 2018 Super Street crown – would run nose-to-tail until Bly widened the margin with two laps to go.

The Sunapee speedster’s win was his fourth of the summer, and third in a points race, giving him a 14-point lead over Bodreau with three events remaining. Jackpot Jack McClay was third on the night, Craig Smith, victorious a week earlier, came home fourth, and Bell completed his strong night’s work in fifth.

The Pepsi Street Stock feature totally changed in the last half trip around the speedplant. Bryan Town, who’d entered the night’s action six points ahead of Chris Riendeau, had taken the lead from Chris Colburn on the sixth go-round and, with the checkered flag in sight, was holding Riendeau at his back bumper as he charged toward his sixth win of the summer.

Fate, though, then slammed down its hammer, as Town’s ride went up in smoke and Riendeau sailed past the crippled leader to score his track-high ninth victory, moving back atop the points parade, five markers better than Town.

Dave Greenslit, solid all night, earned the runner-up spot; Lenny Silver was third, Briana Akusis fourth, and Robbie Streeter fifth. Town’s nightmare finish netted him the sixth-place finish.

Kyle Currier and Kirby Goodrich went to war early in the T-Bird Mini Mart Wild Cat 25-lapper, with Goodrich holding a slim advantage when the caution waved on lap eight. After a quick shuffle, Currier led again as lap nine went in the books before then giving way to row-four starter Kyle Templeton.

Once in front, the Claremont rookie quickly drove away from the field to post his fourth victory of the summer. Rookie Raven Streeter – who earlier in the day had competed on the football field for his Mascoma Royals – scored a career-best runner-up finish, and Seth Melcher came home fifth.

Currier and Goodrich rounded out the night’s top five, and division leader Zach Lyn could only muster an 11th-place finish but still ended the night 94 points ahead of Templeton.

Russ Hersey led the first 64 go-rounds of the Modified 75-lapper and appeared destined for his first visit of the summer to Daddy’s Pizza Victory Lane. Powerhouse Ronnie Silk, though, had other plans and, on this night, a superior tire use strategy, reeling Hersey in, taking charge on lap 65, and taking the checkers seven lengths ahead of the Swanzey star.
           
Silk, this time at the controls of the ride Chase Dowling had guided to a fourth-place finish here three weeks earlier, earned his second big Thrasher Road payday, this one worth $3,000. Former track champ Dana Smith was strong in third, Charlestown’s Brian Robie came home fourth, and Mainiac Brad Babb claimed the five spot.
           
Next Friday, September 14, Claremont Speedway will host the second annual Four-Cylinder Nationals, an event that drew 39 cars last year.

The Super Streets, Street Stocks, and Wildcats will all be in action too, battling for valuable championship points as the 2018 racing season nears its completion and the all new four-cylinder Red Neck Enduro division will compete in its first official race. Post time at Claremont Speedway is 7 p.m. each Friday.

For more information, please visit www.claremontspeedway.net.
 
CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 8 TOP TENS:
MODIFIED 75 LAPS: Ron Silk, Russ Hersey, Dana Smith, Brian Robie, Brad Babb, Andy Jankowiak, Dana DiMatteo, Jeff Gallup, Les Rose, Jeff Murray.
SUPER STREET: Ricky Bly, Dylan Bodreau, Jack McClay, Craig Smith, Ryan Bell, Ben Poland, Jeremy Zullo, Tyler Searles, Alex Poisson, Matt Sonnhalter.
STREET STOCK: Chris Riendeau, Dave Greenslit, Lenny Silver, Briana Akusis, Robbie Streeter, Bryan Town, Luke Wheeler, Jeff Morse, Erin Aiken.
WILD CAT: Kyle Templeton, Raven Streeter, Seth Melcher, Kyle Currier, Kirby Goodrich, Jim Carley, Victor Branch, Cody Schoolcraft, Chris Carver, Haydon Grenier.

By Gary Dutton
 
CLAREMONT, N.H. – On the 17th night of the season – 17 up and 17 down, as the third-mile speedplant continued its rainout-free roll through its 2018 schedule – Craig Smith roared to victory in the night’s 40-lap R.E. Hinkley Super Street main event August 31 at Claremont Speedway.
           
Smith, who has suffered through varied mechanical woes since falling out of the points lead a month ago, put it all together Friday, leaving the field far behind him as he stormed to victory, the eighth different Super Street feature winner of the season and 21st unique weekly racing series competitor to grace Daddy’s Pizza Victory Lane this summer.
           
Pepsi Street Stock strongman Chris Riendeau topped the night’s twin-25 event to score his track-high eighth feature win of the summer and pull to within six points of division-leading Bryan Town.
           
Rookie speedster Kyle Templeton scored his third victory in the T-Bird Mini Mart Wildcat 25-lapper, cementing his hold on second in the seasonal points parade, still far behind defending champ Zach Lyn, who was Friday’s runner-up.
           
Smith started up front in the Super Street go-round, leading Ryan Currier around the track the first ten laps, with Mark McClay then completing his charge from deep in the pack to take over the deuce. Jack McClay would power into third two laps later but on this night the brothers would have to content themselves battling for second, as Smith simply drove away.
           
Ricky Bly’s fourth-place outing kept him atop the championship points chase, nine markers ahead of Dylan Bodreau, the night’s fifth-place finisher. Smith and Jack McClay were heat race winners.
           
Lenny Silver was victorious in the first Street Stock 25-lap segment, setting fast time the final 20 laps to take the checkers ahead of Chris Riendeau and Bryan Town. Riendeau, though, saved his best for last.
           
Chris Emerson led the first five go-rounds of the nightcap, then giving way to Dave Greenslit, who would set fast time for nine laps before Riendeau stormed to the front where, once there, he would easily outdistance Silver and Kenny Thompson to the checkers.

Riendeau’s nightcap win gave him the tie breaking overall victory ahead of Silver, moving him to within six points of Town in the points chasse. Town had earlier helped himself by earning his 11th heat race win of the season, each worth five championship points. Town was fourth overall on the night, and Greenslit came home fifth.

Kyle Templeton led early and often in the night’s Wildcat 25-lapper, as the race of the night roared on behind him between Zach Lyn and upstart Haydon Grenier. Lyn prevailed by inches to earn the runner-up hardware just ahead of the rookie. Cody Schoolcraft and Seth Melcher rounded out the top five.

In an 11-car exhibition race, the Red Neck Enduro division made its speedway debut, with Dave Lescord guesting on the flagstand. Former Wildcat strongman Kyle Buck won the four-holer event.
           
Next Saturday, September 8, Claremont Speedway will host its third and final Open Modified event of the season, a 75-lap, $3,000-to-win showcase of the finest open-wheeled racers in the Northeast. The Super Street, Street Stock, and Wild Cat divisions will each compete in support of the Modified main event.
           
There will be no racing Friday, September 7, at Claremont Speedway. The Saturday night event will start at 6 p.m. and is not rain-dated. For more information, please visit www.claremontspeedway.net.
 
CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY AUGUST 31 TOP TENS:
SUPER STREET: Craig Smith, Mark McClay, Jack McClay, Ricky Bly, Dylan Bodreau, Ben Poland, Alex Poisson, Hayden Scott, Andrew Martell, Ryan Currier.
STREET STOCK: (Cumulative finish: twin-25 event): Chris Riendeau, Lenny Silver, Kenny Thompson, Bryan Town, Dave Greenslit, Robbie Streeter, Jeff Morse, Chris Colburn, Chris Emerson, Briana Akusis.
WILDCAT: Kyle Templeton, Zach Lyn, Haydon Grenier, Cody Schoolcraft, Seth Melcher, Kirby Goodrich, Raven Streeter, Kyle Currier, Chris Carver, Ken Lafont.