5/13/2024
Monadnock Speedway
Nate and Tim Wenzel, Erin Aiken Win Saturday at Monadnock
NATE AND TIM WENZEL, ERIN AIKEN WIN SATURDAY AT MONADNOCK
By Gary Dutton
WINCHESTER, N.H.- Monadnock Speedway, two big matinee events already completed, hosted its 53rd annual Weekly Racing Series season opener under the lights Saturday, as JDV Productions served up a huge six-division card of racing on the newly paved quarter mile.
Picking up right where they’d left off last autumn, the champion Wenzel brothers- Nate aboard his Mad Dog Modified, and two-time Super Street titlist Tim – each eked out a narrow victory as he began defense of his 2023 crown.
Erin Aiken topped the Mini Stocks, and Andrea St. Amour won a thriller in the Pure Stocks, while Mad Pup Hunter Duquette prevailed in the youth 15-lapper and reigning Six Shooter kingpin Michael Yeaton won for the second time on the young season.
Fast, frisky, maybe sometime even a little over the top, the JDV Mad Dog Modifieds raced fast and furious Saturday. Pole sitter Tyler Leary, he the track champ two summers ago, blasted into the early lead, holding off first JT Cloutier and then Nate Wenzel over the first 23 laps of the 40-circuit main event. Wenzel, though, was on a mission.
Rocketing around the top groove on a restart, Wenzel grabbed the lead. Leary, though, stayed with him, as the two raced under a blanket. But Leary would sail off the top of turn three a dozen laps later, ending his bid for victory and moving 15-year-old rookie phenom Colton Martin up to second.
Attacking repeatedly from the bottom of the track, Martin had the crowd on its feet as he came up just shy of winning his first career Mad Dog Modified main event. With Wenzel holding off the upstart charger, Brad Zahensky ran strong and steady all night to come home third.
Leary, with a blistering lap of 12.170, had set fast time earlier in the night, although it was Martin, with an incredible circuit of 11.894, who turned the fastest lap in the 40-lap main event.
Super soph JD Stockwell led lap one of the night’s Super Street feature by a wheel, as division titan Tim Wenzel set his sights on 2024 win number two, closed in. The next time around the high banks, it was Wenzel leading by a wheel.
Chris Riendeau got up for third on lap 11 but while he and Stockwell battled for second, Wenzel pulled away. Riendeau, if he was going to repeat his April20 win, would need a caution.
Riding second, he got the caution he needed on lap 14, then pulling alongside Wenzel on the restart. While the potent pair would race under a blanket over the final 15 laps, Wenzel would prevail, upping his points lead as he repeated his May 4 victory. With Riendeau strong in second, Stockwell impressed in third.
Mini Stock ace John Fultz looked bound for glory over the first 15 laps of Saturday’s feature race, bidding for his second win in as many races. Erin Aiken, though, would have none of it. Dogging Fultz all the way around the track, she low-lined to the lead on lap 16 and never looked back.
Cameron Sontag pressured Fultz high and low before settling for second, as Aiken finished two lengths ahead to score the third victory of her busy weekend. Reigning division champ Louie Maher missed the feature after throwing a wheel and sailing heavily into the turn four wall during qualifying.
Seventeen-year-old star Andrea St. Amour led all the way in the Pure Stock 25-lapper, holding Chris Chambers in her shadow to win her first event of the season. Two-time winner Jimmy Zellman, carrying an added 50 pounds Saturday, finished at Chambers’ bumper in third.
Dominick Stafford came home fourth in the caution-free event, and five-time champion Chris Davis, who has struggled mightily in the early 2024 going, stayed out of trouble to salvage fifth.
Hunter Duquette wired the Mad Pups feature to score his second career victory on the high banks. His win was well earned, as opening day winner Owen Zilinski rode just inches away over the final seven laps before settling for second. Just behind, Markus O’Neil came home third.
Reigning speedway Six Shooter champion Michael Yeaton added to his early season points lead by topping Saturday’s feature. Mike Comtois was second, and David Bell picked up the third-place hardware.
Monadnock Speedway returns to action next Saturday, May 18, when JDV Productions presents the inaugural Monadnock Salutes Pure Stock Special, as the storied high-banked oval honors the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives to defend the great ideals of America.
The exciting Pure Stock division will square off in its longest event of the season, a 50 lapper, joined by the Mad Dog Modifieds, Super Streets, Mini Stocks, Mad Pups and Six Shooters. Post time is 6 p.m.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY MAY 11 TOP TENS
MAD DOG MODIFIEDS: Nate Wenzel, Colton Martin, Brad Zahensky, Tyler Leary, Trevor Bleau, Kyle Robinson, Kyle Boniface, Kevin Pittzinger, Kimmy Rivet, Scott Zilinsky.
SUPER STREETS: Tim Wenzel, Chris Riendeau, JD Stockwell, Chris Curtis, Dan Petrowicz, Hillary Renaud, Zach Zilinsky, Isabella Minchella, Mike Lashua, Daniel Robinson.
MINI STOCKS: Erin Aiken, John Fultz, Cameron Sontag, Chris Sontag, Kevin Clayton, Reagan Buffum, Eric Pomasko. DNS – Louie Maher.
PURE STOCKS: Andrea St. Amour, Chris Chambers, Jimmy Zellman, Dominick Stafford, Chris Davis, Adrian Smith, Teagan Edson, Carlos Grenier, David Smith, Carter Chamberlin.
MAD PUPS: Hunter Duquette, Owen Zilinski, Markus O’Neil, Addison Brooks, Carter Conroy.
SIX SHOOTERS: Michael Yeaton, Michael Comtois, David Bell, Garrett Barry.
Article Credit: Gary Dutton