9/15/2024
Monadnock Speedway
Triple Crown Series Champs Crowned Saturday at Mad Dog
WINCHESTER, N.H.- Both Nate Wenzel and Chris Riendeau rocketed to complete two-win weekends, Michael Yeaton stayed perfect on the summer, and while Kevin Clayton ended a 22-year winless drought, Erin Aiken celebrated a pair of championships behind pit wall. What a night Saturday at Monadnock Speedway.
And with only one Weekly Racing Series event remaining in the 2024-racing season, there are now two airtight points championship points races up for grabs. Wenzel closed to within four points of Tyler Leary entering next Friday night’s Modified 40-lapper and Pure Stock hot shoe Jimmy Zellman went from minus-15 to plus-one as he and Andrea St. Amour battle for their first Monadnock crown.
Ty LeClerc and Tyler Leary led a thundering pack of 18 Mad Dog Modifieds to the green in Saturday’s main event. Taking no prisoners, Leary took quick control, but by lap five he had Wenzel, from row three, knocking at his door.
Wenzel took the lead with a lowline blast into turn one on lap 22 and then had to survive a half-dozen restarts – including one after a 30-minute race delay when the lights suddenly went dark at the south end of the track – to score the win and, with it, move himself very much back into next Friday’s championship race.
While Wenzel, Leary, Kimmy Rivet and Joey Kendall made most of the noise up front, it was Cory Plummer aboard the Larry Cirillo entry, quietly slicing through the field for a season’s-best second. Teen sensation Colton Martin came home third.
Leary survived a hurried pit stop to return for sixth on the night, enough to earn the Triple Crown title just ahead of Andy Major, who faltered late in the 50-lapper. Leary now takes a four-marker lead over Wenzel into Friday’s season finale.
As he’d done the night before at Claremont, Super Street super star Chris Riendeau blew away the field Saturday to win the Triple Crown title and virtually lock up the first championship of his career.
Blasting off from row four, the Green Mountain State pilot took the lead from 2023 champ Tim Wenzel on lap eight and sailed off into the night. Wenzel was second, and 17-year-old Bay State pilot JD Stockwell, his title hopes now dashed, came home third.
After winning Saturday’s 35-lapper, Riendeau has only to take the green flag Friday to lock up the 2024 Monadnock Speedway Super Street championship.
Teen star Dominick Stafford won the Pure Stock feature for the second week in a row. Saturday’s victory, his third of the summer, also earned him the Triple Crown championship. Jimmy Zellman, second on the night, had much to celebrate too.
Zellman’s runner-up finish, coupled with his earlier heat race win, moved him to the top of the points parade entering Championship Night. He’ll take a single point advantage over Andrea St. Amour into next Friday’s final event.
There was a slight clank as outgoing Mini Stock champion Louie Maher passed the baton to his successor Erin Aiken on lap ten of their Saturday night feature. When the air had cleared, Aiken departed on the hook, with Maher circling the track like a rolling pyrotechnic display.
When their dance had concluded, Kevin Clayton’s long winless streak had ended and Aiken, helmet in hand, had won both the 2024 Mini Stock championship and the division’s Triple Crown title as well.
As he had earlier in his heat race, Michael Yeaton went to work early from the high groove in the Six Shooter feature, leading by inches on lap three, and then sped off into the night to stay undefeated on the season. Saturday’s victory gave him the Triple Crown championship and set him up to win the 2024 crown next Friday. Garrett Barry, again, finished second.
Markus O’Neil passed Hunter Duquette before lap two had been completed in the Mad Pups 20-lapper and simply drove away. Winning his fifth feature of the summer by a country mile, the 13-year-old hot shoe led Duquette and Jordon Gonyea under the checkers in the caution-free event.
Monadnock Speedway will close out its 2024 racing season with two huge events next weekend, as JDV Productions presents a pair of very special shows. On Friday, September 20, it’s the 53rd annual Championship Night on the high banks, as the speedway’s 2024 track champions will be crowned in five exciting divisions of racing, along with Mad Pups and Pro V8 Sportsman competition. Post time Friday is 7 p.m.
And then, Saturday, September 21, in the high-banked oval’s grand season finale, it’s the second annual Winchester Fair presented by USNE Power, featuring 200 ground-pounding laps of competition by the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, making its return to the high banks for its third and final time of the season in the deciding event of the 2024 Whelen Tour Granite State Cup Series. The JDV Open Mini Stocks, Pro 4 Modifieds, and NEMA Lites will all be in action too, with post time for Saturday’s event set for 3 p.m.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, TOP PERFOMERS
MAD DOG MODIFIEDS: Nate Wenzel, Cory Plummer, Colton Martin, Ty LeClerc, Trevor Bleau, Tyler Leary, Brad Zahensky, Adam Lapoint, Kimmy Rivet, JT Cloutier.
SUPER STREETS: Chris Riendeau, Tim Wenzel, JD Stockwell, Hillary Renaud, Erik Smith, Trevor Rocke, Zach Zilinski, Wesley Stedt, David Boisvert, Greg Williams.
PURE STOCKS: Dominick Stafford, Jimmy Zellman, Chris Chambers, Addison Brooks, Billy Graham, Teagan Edson, Chris Davis, Andrea St. Amour, Carter Chamberlin.
MINI STOCKS: Kevin Clayton, Louie Maher, Erin Aiken, Owen Zilinski.
SIX SHOOTERS: Michael Yeaton, Garrett Barry, Mike Comtois, Trystin Bodwell, Meghan Bell.
MAD PUPS: Markus O’Neil, Hunter Duquette, Jordon Gonyea, Maya Bell, Ella Grabowski, Nathan Waterman.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY 2024 TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPIONS: Mad Dog Modifieds, Tyler Leary; Super Streets, Chris Riendeau; Mini Stocks, Erin Aiken; Pure Stocks, Dominick Stafford; Six Shooters, Michael Yeaton.
Article Credit: Gary Dutton
Submitted By: Taylor Pelletier
