By Gary Dutton

CLAREMONT, N.H.- Both Aaron Fellows and Desmond Skillings wrapped up their 2020 Claremont Motorsports Park championship seasons with feature wins on September 25.
 
And while neither Kodi Sabins or Dustin Thibodeau earned a Championship Night victory lap, each left the third-mile oval Friday as the champion of his division. Dave Greenslit, on the other hand, came into Friday’s Street Stock feature already a back-to-back champion, having clinched the title on September 11.
 
Sunapee speedster Ricky Bly, himself a former track champion at the Thrasher Road speedplant, had a night to remember too, topping the Street Stock thriller and then quickly ducking pitside to strap into his LMS entry, in which he finished second on the night.
Bly was one of two first-of-season feature winners Friday. On the 15th event of the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season, Josh Rondeau also earned his first victory lap this year.
 
Aaron Fellows, with nine wins and a runner-up finish in ten Late Model Sportsman runs this summer still could have lost the championship Friday. A slim chance, perhaps, but his 13th track championship was not a done deal.
 
Confusing? Consider Friday’s Late Model Sportsman starting grid: three number eights, a pair of twenty-nines, and two drivers both answering to Craig Smith. But there was only one Aaron Fellows.
 
Coming from row four, Fellows pulled alongside race leader Joe Brown on lap 14, with Brown then coming down-track and spinning, moving Ben Poland up to the deuce and bringing Ricky Bly along with him.
 
After a friendly nudge, Bly was up for second on lap 27, but had nothing for Fellows, whose tenth win of the season ran his two-season, two-championship stat line to 27-1. Poland completed his strong 2020 campaign in third.
 
Dave Greenslit, his second championship in a row all wrapped up, had nothing to prove Friday. Ricky Bly, a late-season entry into the Street Stocks, could imagine nothing better than winning the Championship Night main event. Together, they staged the best battle of the night.
 
Bly took the lead from Robbie Streeter on a lap ten restart, with Greenslit moving to his bumper two circuits later. Never more than inches apart, they raced tooth-and-nail over the final 18 laps, with Bly prevailing. Greenslit smoke-showed his championship year in second, and Kyle Buck was strong in third.
 
Antrim’s Desmond Skillings took the lead from his son Cale on lap 13 of the Mini Stock feature and never looked back, en route to his fourth win of the season and, with it, the 2020 championship.
 
Hometown hot shoe Hayden Grenier, victorious September 11, entered Friday’s Championship Night go-round only eight points behind Skillings but finished deep in the field after being bounced about twice. Nick Skillings, Desmond’s younger brother, claimed runner-up honors, with Baltimore, VT teen Camdyn Curtis strong in third.
 
It was a huge night for the Rocketman team in the Pure Stock feature. Josh Rondeau won his first event of the summer, while Kodi Sabins locked up the championship farther back in the top ten, and Joey Jarvis, aboard a Rondeau ride, came home second.
 
Dylan Adams, competing in his first full season, was tied for the title lead two weeks ago, only to fall to mechanical failure. Friday, he was strong in third but unable to overtake Sabins.
 
Race leader Chris Colburn floated high in turn two with one lap to go in the Six Shooter feature, then watching three cars quickly sail past him. Paul Colburn inherited the top spot and, with it, his fifth win of the summer. Colburn, though, could gain only two points on race runner-up Dustin Thibodeau, who won his first career championship.
 
Friday’s Championship Night event concluded the regular weekly racing series 2020 season at Claremont Motorsports Park. The storied oval will, however, host one more event this season, the two-day Fall Challenge on October 17 and 18. For more information, please visit
www.claremontsmotorsportspark.com.
 
CLAREMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK SEPTEMBER 25 TOP TENS:
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN: Aaron Fellows, Ricky Bly, Ben Poland, Chris Riendeau, Allen Fellows, Bucky Demers, Joe Brown, Craig Smith, Tyler Lescord, Cole Littlewood.
STREET STOCK: Ricky Bly, Dave Greenslit, Kyle Buck, Trevor Rocke, Jimmy Zullo, Chris Lindquist, Ronnie Carman, Erik Smith, Robbie Streeter, Robert Hagar.
MINI STOCK: Desmond Skillings, Nick Skillings, Camdyn Curtis, Dave Pratt III, Aaron Thompson, Dave Thibodeau, Ray King, Richard Stockwell, Hayden Grenier, Erin Aiken.
PURE STOCK (unofficial): Josh Rondeau, Joey Jarvis, Dylan Adams, Robert Shaw, Nolan McClay, Bruce Adams, Jim Carley, Kodi Sabins, Zach Richardson, Andrew Brousseau.
SIX SHOOTER: Paul Colburn, Dustin Thibodeau, Ryan Carman, Chris Colburn, Jeremy Blood, Dakota Lanou, Ray Luce, Todd Maguira, Chooch Snide, Scott Wade.

By Gary Dutton

CLAREMONT, N.H. – Ryan Bell topped Friday, September 11, night’s 50-lap main event at Claremont Motorsports Park, as Aaron Fellows’ 26-race winning streak steamed to an end and Dave Greenslit locked up his second track crown in a row.
 
While Fellows quest for back-to-back perfect seasons stopped Friday, the speedway’s winningest driver wasn’t beaten on the track, falling rather to a crash-caused overheating problem while leading midway through the LMS feature.
 
Other winners Friday included Hayden Grenier, scoring his first victory of the summer in the Mini Stocks, Pure Stock superstar Kodi Sabins, and top Six Shooter points man Dustin Thibodeau.
 
With two first-of-season winners on the track’s14th night of the season, things tightened, if only slightly, in their respective points races entering the final regular season event. Of the third-mile oval’s six divisions, only the Street Stock championship has been decided.
 
It took a bit for the Late Model Sportsman Patriot’s Day 50 presented by Joe’s Family Car Care to get underway. After two aborted tries at the original start, the third attempt was a mess, with Joe Bates and a half-dozen others scattered along the frontchute and still no completed laps in the books.
 
On attempt number four, Ben Poland took charge, then holding the point until Fellow’s took charge on lap 24. Fellows’ lead would be brief, though, as he quickly headed pitside, his ride badly overheating due to air dam damage sustained in the lap-zero pileup.
 
The next rapid-fire caution was for Poland, with Bell then inheriting the lead and never looking back en route to his first win of the summer, Fellows’ first loss. The Charlestown pilot’s victory Friday left him 32 points behind Fellows entering the September 25 season finale.
 
Ricky Bly, a former track LMS champion, finished Friday’s 50-lapper in Bell’s shadow, the second top-three of the night for the Sunapee star.
 
Raven Streeter led the first seven laps of the Street Stock feature, then getting rudely deposited in turn four. Cody Schoolcraft then moved to the top spot but Dave Greenslit, on a mission, took charge a lap later and never looked back. Joe Tetreault got up for second but had nothing for the two-time champ, and Ricky Bly came home strong in third.
 
Hayden Grenier led all the way in the Mini Stock 25-lapper, social distancing far ahead of the field. Nick Skillings was second, and his brother Desmond third. Desmond Skillings takes a ten-point lead over Grenier into the championship night event.
 
Kodi Sabins’ last-lap pass of Rocketman teammate Josh Rondeau led him to his ninth victory lap of the summer. With Rondeau rock solid in second and Kyle Templeton, aboard Sabins’ backup car third, it was a Rocketman sweep in the Pure Stock trophy row.
Dylan Adams, who entered the night’s action tied with Sabins atop the leader board, took a huge points hit when a broken brake line dropped him to last in the 20-car field.
 
Six Shooter star Dustin Thibodeau took the lead from Todd Maguira on lap 11 and then held Paul Colburn at bay to score his fourth victory of the summer. Maguira’s hard work brought him home in third. Thibodeau enters championship night competition 16 points ahead of Colburn.
 
Claremont Motorsports Park will be silent next Friday, September 18, but will return to action with its final Friday night event of the season when it holds its 2020 Championship Night on September 25. For more information, please visit www.claremontmotorsportspark.com.
 
CLAREMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK SEPTEMBER 11 TOP TENS:
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN: (Unofficial at press time) Ryan Bell, Ricky Bly, Ben Poland, Cole Littlewood, Hayden Scott, Bucky Demers, Leo Martin, Kenny Fowler, Tyler Lescord, Allen Fellows.
STREET STOCK: Dave Greenslit, Joe Tetreault, Ricky Bly, Trevor Rocke, Cody Schoolcraft, Travis Cass, Briana Akusis, Kenny Thompson, Kyle Buck, Raven Streeter.
MINI STOCK: Hayden Grenier, Nick Skillings, Desmond Skillings, Erin Aiken, Emerson Cayer, Ray King, Cale Skillings, Rye Greineder, Tim Paquette, Aaron Thompson.
PURE STOCK: Kodi Sabins, Josh Riendeau, Kyle Templeton, Jim Carley, Bruce Adams, Zach Richardson, Sean Lantas, Doug Nelson, Robert Shaw, Nolan McClay.
SIX SHOOTER: Dustin Thibodeau, Paul Colburn, Todd Maguira, Scott Wade, Todd Smith, Jeremy Blood, Chris Colburn, Ryan Carman, Ray Luce, Dakota Lanou.

 By Gary Dutton
 
CLAREMONT, N.H. – Derek Griffith put together the perfect night Sunday at Claremont Motorsports Park.
 
The 23-year-old Pro Stock star won his heat, then drew the pole starting position for Sunday’s Newport Chevrolet 150 Granite State Pro Stock Series main event at the storied third-mile. The top starting spot in hand, he then led all 150 laps to pocket the $10,000 winner’s purse, the biggest prize ever in series history.
 
But, while both Griffith and Street Stock Richard Tetreault Memorial 73 winner Jimmy Renfrew each led all the way, it was Red Neck Enduro daredevil Jimmy Zullo’s victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat move that got the loudest applause. Snaking through the some-kind-of-crazy traffic with two laps to go, Zullo darted past Kyle Buck to top the 63-car, 50-lap nightcap event.
 
Other winner’s in Sunday night’s Labor Day Weekend races at the Thrasher Road speedplant included Windsor’s Kodi Sabins, who sizzled in winning his eighth Pure Stock feature of the summer, and Six Shooter strong man Paul Colburn, who earned his fourth 2020 victory lap.
 
Griffith and Gabe Brown had the fastest times in GSPSS qualifying, with Griffith almost eclipsing the track record. They then each won their respective heat race, with Griffith garnering the pole in a redraw, and starting up front alongside Luke Hinkley as the 150-lap main event went green.
 
Griffith led all 150 laps, with first Brown, and then Angelo Belsito, from lap 27 on, trying to reel him in. Slowed only by two quick cautions, the Griffith-Belsito-Brown express sailed by quickly. Belsito, who won here July 24, was strong in second, but had no answer for Griffith.
 
Like Griffith, Street Stock ace Jimmy Renfrew started up front and never looked back, holding the point for all 73 laps. But hometrack hot shoe Dave Greenslit, second under the checkers Sunday, was a big winner too. Greenslit’s runner-up performance was all he needed to wrap up the multi-track NHRSTA 2020 Battle for The Belt series title.
 
Greenslit and Brian Robie battled tooth-and-nail for the deuce spot before Robie was dumped out of third by an overzealous fourth-place runner. That moved Joe Tetreault, who’d been strong all night, up to third, where he finished his strong night’s work in trophy row in his father, Richard’s, memorial event.
 
Sunday’s victory was Renfrew’s second of the summer at the Claremont oval. He also topped a Street Stock feature here on June 12.
 
Kodi Sabins stormed past Sean Lantas on lap two of the Pure Stock feature and never looked back. Slowed by just a single caution en route to his eighth win of the summer, Sabins held off Dylan Adams and Kyle Templeton, the latter aboard Sabins’ backup 36X machine.
 
In the Six Shooters, upstart Todd Smith led the 17-car field on its first three journeys around the third-mile oval. Paul Colburn, from row three, then took charge. But while nobody would slow the speedy Colburn, Smith was strong too, picking up his second trophy in as many weeks with Sunday’s career-best runner-up finish. Top points man Dustin Thibodeau came home third.
 
And if you think traffic is crazy where you live, you should have seen Sunday’s 63-car Red Neck Enduro. Like veteran city cabbies, Jimmy Zullo, Kyle Buck, and Leon Keniston got the job done in this 50-lapper. Sunday’s victory was Zullo’s second Red Neck win this year.
 
NELCAR Legends kingpin Shawn Buffington topped the motorcycle-powered racers’ 25-lapper. Brandon Martinez was second, and Luke Lebrun, victorious here earlier this year, came home third.
 
Claremont Motorsports Park returns to action this Friday, September 11, with a full card of racing on its 14th week of the exciting 2020 season. For more information, please visit www.claremontmotorsportspark.com.
 
CLAREMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK SEPTEMBER 6 TOP TENS:
GSPSS NEWPORT CHEVROLET 150: Derek Griffith, Angelo Belsito, Gabe Brown, Cory Casagrande, Joey Doiron, Joey Polewarczyk, Luke Hinkley, Mike O’Sullivan, Jake Matheson, Josh King.
STREET STOCK RICHARD TETREAULT MEMORIAL 73 LAP: Jimmy Renfrew, Dave Greenslit, Joe Tetreault, Jaret Curtis, Ricky Bly, Tommy O’Sullivan, Robert Hagar, Chase Curtis, Brian Robie, Trevor Rocke.
PURE STOCK: Kodi Sabins, Dylan Adams, Kyle Templeton, Amy Jaycox, Sean Lantas, Robert Shaw, Bruce Adams, Zach Richardson, Doug Nelson, Nick Little.
SIX SHOOTER: Paul Colburn, Todd Smith, Dustin Thibodeau, Chris Colburn, Ray Luce, Ronnie Carman, Dakota Lanou, David Piper, Ryan Carman, John Vorhees.
RED NECK ENDURO 50: Jimmy Zullo, Kyle Buck, Leon Keniston, Chad McAlpine, Shane Lebraney, Desmond “Rattlesnake” Skillings, Drake Nelson, Cody Hodge, Josh Thibodeau Jr., Bre Nelson.

 CLAREMONT, N.H. – The powerful Granite State Pro Stock Series returns to Claremont Motorsports Park this Sunday, September 6, for 150 laps of big time feature racing presented by Newport Chevrolet, and with a $10,000 winner’s purse up for grabs, this one is sure to draw a crowd.
 
There will be no racing this Friday, September 4, at the Thrasher Road speedplant, as promoter Mike Parks, who also heads the GSPSS series, is bringing the big show to town on Sunday, when the seven-decade-old oval will celebrate Labor Day Weekend in style.
 
Along with the Granite State Pro Stock Series event – the biggest race is series history – there will also be an added-laps, added-payoff event for the Street Stocks, as the multi-track NHSTRA brings its Battle for The Belt series to town.
 
Better yet, the popular Redneck Enduro Series rolls again, with the likes of Jimmy Zullo, Matt Gauffin, and Leon Keniston leading a field of up to 50 cars in Sunday’s nightcap event.
 
The Pure Stocks and Six Shooters will be in action too, but the night’s main attraction is the Pro Stock biggie. Among those pre-entered for this one are Ray Christian III and Angelo Belsito, both previous GSPSS winners here earlier this season, hometown hot shoe Luke Hinkley, former series champions Mike O’Sullivan and Joey Doiron, and a virtual all-star lineup including Larry Gelinas, Joey Pole, Ben Rowe, and D.J. Shaw.
 
CMP weekly racing series competitors will be going all out Sunday, as there are now only two points races remaining in the 2020 season. Post time for Sunday’s Newport Chevrolet Pro Stock 100 event is 5 p.m.