4/19/2026
Claremont Motorsports Park
POLAND. CABRAL, CHAMBERS TOP CLAREMONT SPRING FLING OPENER
POLAND. CABRAL, CHAMBERS TOP CLAREMONT SPRING FLING OPENER
CLAREMONT, NH - Former track champ Ben Poland won the 79-lap Outlaw Late Model main event Saturday at Claremont Motorsports Park. Midget car legend Randy Cabral topped the NEMA feature, and former speedway Pure Stock king Chris Chambers outran a 20-car field to win his opening day top event.
On a perfect April Saturday afternoon, the historic third-mile oval began its 79th consecutive season with a blockbuster eight-division Spring Fling event. And although day two of the scheduled weekend-long event was scrubbed due to rain, the Saturday biggie set the stage well for the oval’s 2026 Weekly Racing Series schedule that kicks off next Friday, April 24, with the green flag flying at 7 p.m.
Other winners Saturday at CMP included Chase Curtis, scoring his first career CMP victory in the Crown Vics, Michael Yeaton, who topped the Six Shooters, and Zach Martinez, a first-time speedway winner in the NEMA Lites. Powerhouse Andrew Harmon topped the New England Dwarf Car Series feature, Kendall Whitehill was first under the checkers in the 603 Mini Cups.
Season 79 began at the Thrasher Road speedplant with Pure Stock rookie Eric Lanou circling the track in a memorial victory lap honoring his late grandfather, former top racer and later oval general manager Jim Lanou. Meghan Bell was the new season’s first winner, victorious in her ten-car Six Shooter heat race.
Ben Poland beat Tyler Lescord to the stripe by inches as lap one of the Asetex Tire and Auto Outlaw Late Model feature got underway. Poland cleared his challenger by lap three and began to quickly pull away, with Robbie Streeter moving up to second on lap seven.
Poland had rocketed off into another time zone when former multi-time track champ Guy Caron got up for second on lap 29, This one was never close, but Caron showed his championship stock by pulling to within two lengths of the Charlestown mailman at the checkers Streeter held strong to claim the third-place hardware, with Trevor Rocke and Cody Schoolcraft rounding out the top five.,
Travis Handt and Ben Bushey started up front at the 20-car LaValley Building Supply Pure Stock field started their 25-lapper. It was Handt quickly to the front, holding the top spot until former division champ Chris Chambers took over on lap ten, with Carter Conroy very much in the mix too.
With Chambers and Conroy battling for the top spot, Bay State hot shoe Jimmy Zellman, always the master of the restart blastoff, pulled into third on lap 22, then settling for the bronze medal finish as Chambers won the season opener and Conroy sailed home second. Gage Dillingham impressed in fourth, and reigning CMP Pure Stock king Colton Hull was fifth.
Rocketman Randy Cabral had an almost perfect day in the afternoon’s two NEMA divisions. The Bay State school teacher - a nine-time series champion and king of both the Midgets and the Lites a summer ago, won both of his heat races, was a close second in the Lites main, and then blew the field away in the NEMA Midget main event.
Zach Martinex led early and often in the Lites feature, with Cabral blasting up to second on lap eight and then finishing five lengths behind the younger competitor. Dylan Coutu was third in the Lites,
In the Midget Butch Walsh Memorial main event, Cabral took control on lap 13 and simply drove away. Mike Horne was second, and Brayden Egn was third
Six Shooter ace Michael Yeaton is no stranger to victory lane, at CMP or where ever he goes, He made another stop there Saturday, leading all the way to earn top spot in a thriller. ,
Yeaton led early and often, with Michael Casey draped all over him all the way, as the potent pair traded paint but never places, Heat race winner Meghan Bell was third under the checkers, with David Bell fourth, and Lincoln Herschel in the five hole.
The Crown Vic feature, with those wild and crazy former V8 cop cars racing wheel to -wheel, was a race-long battle of twin brothers, as Rutland, Mass. siblings Chase and Jaret Curtis let it all hang out. Chase was victorious by the slimmest of margins over his twin, former CMP Six Shooter champ Steve Miller Jr was third, with Chris Curtis - he, the twin’s dad - fourth, and Green Mountain Boy Josh Muir fifth.
In the New England Dwarf Car feature, Andrew Harmon blasted through the 13-car field to score the win.Ryan Carman was second and series super star Tom Harwood third.
Slowed only by a single caution for debris on the track, Kendall Whitehill won a close one in the 603 Mini Cup Series first event of its 15-race 2026 season. Whitehill also won his heat race. Jason Romprey was second in the feature, and Jacob Raby came home third.
Claremont Motorsports Park will open its 2026 NASCAR Weekly Racing Seres season next Friday, April 24, with an exciting full card of racing beginning at 7 p.m.
Submitted By: Mike Parks
