9/22/2024
Monadnock Speedway
Huge Day for Emerling in 2nd Annual Winchester Fair presented by USNE Power at Monadnock
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Empire State Modified star Patrick Emerling had a huge day Saturday at Monadnock Speedway, topping the 200-lap second annual Winchester Fair main event and, with that win, securing the 2024 Granite State Short Track Cup championship while also moving just shy of the top of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points parade.
The quarter-mile oval’s last event of the 2024 season ended with a large fireworks display lighting up the crisp autumn air with all the oomph and pizzazz that JDV Productions shows have been known for this summer, but not before Emerling had basked in the glory of victory lane, as had Chris Riendeau, twice, Randy Cabral, and Rob Richardi Jr...
No fewer than seven drivers turned in blistering sub-12 second laps in pre-event qualifying for the USNE Power presents the second annual Winchester Fair main event. Youthful rocketman Austin Beers was quickest, setting fast time at 11.723 seconds around the high-banked quarter-mile.
A top-four redraw would switch Beers and Craig Lutz spots on row one, with Lutz taking over the inside groove pole. From there, he was all over the lap-one lead, setting a fast pace that would keep him at the head of the 21-car pack for 76 laps.
Matt Hirschman, Big Money Matt, firing from row three, took second from Beers on lap 18, then grabbed Lutz in a high-speed bear hug before low-lining to the point on the 77th circuit. He held the lead until lap 191 when Emerling sped by.
But while Lutz, then Hirschman, was putting on a show up front, much of the huge crowd’s eyes were on superstar Ron Silk. Involved in a lap-three tangle that dropped him to 19th on the grid, the Norwalk, Connecticut star was gobbling up positions like there was no tomorrow. But, somehow, he and five-time Monadnock winner Justin Bonsignore couldn’t get along.
When the potent pair tangled out of turn four to draw the event’s third and final caution on lap 183, changes aplenty took place. Along with both Silk and Bonsignore now refiring deeper in the field, Big Money Matt now seemed almost mortal.
Restarting lap 191 in second, Emerling quickly had the lead and never looked back. Anthony Nocella got up for second with six to go, and Hirschman held on for third. Lutz and Woody Pitkat, from way back in row nine, rounded out the top five, with former Monadnock regular Matt Kimball coming home sixth.
Emerling’s Sunday victory, coupled with earlier strong runs in both the Granite State Derby and Duel At The Dog events, earned him the $3,000 winner’s bonus atop the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup series conceived for the series by JDV Productions.
Front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, it made no difference Saturday for Chris Riendeau. Fresh off capping his nine-win championship summer atop the speedway’s Super Street division just 20 hours earlier, the Green Mountain State star was at it again.
First, aboard the Erin Aiken 2024 speedway Mini Stock championship car, Riendeau led all the way to score the victory far ahead of the field in the four-holer main event. Julia Raymond got up for second with three laps to go, and Jon Fultz, who won the season opener here way back in April, came home third.
Fourteen-year-old Owen Zilinski, who’d rocked the track with his first career Mini Stock victory the night before, kept Riendeau in his sights early, until his car’s feast-or-famine history reared up and bit him on lap 17.
Later, in the R&R Open Street Stock 50-lap feature, Riendeau was at it again. Taking the lead from Justin Beecher on lap seven, he then blasted off into the night to take the checkers far ahead of 2023 track champ Tim Wenzel. George Baldwin, in his first run of the season here at the high banks, came home third.
Midget racing royalty, thy name is Randy Cabral. Saturday, the Bay State superstar took charge on lap three of the NEMA Lites main event and soared off to victory by a country mile ahead of division strongman Paul Scally. Top Lites points man Kyle Valeri, who’d earlier romped to his heat race victory, finished out of the money in the night’s 30-lap main event.
If anyone deserves a reserved parking place in Monadnock Speedway’s victory lane, it’s Pro 4 Modified master blaster Rob Richardi Jr., who’s dominated his division on the Monadnock high banks for decades. Saturday, Richardi added to his legacy here by winning at the Winchester Fair.
Jack Dumas, as he’d done earlier in the day, finished second to Richardi in the Pro 4 feature, while a wild last-lap jingle moved top rookie Jon Provost up to third.
Saturday’s Winchester Fair event concluded Monadnock Speedway’s 53rd season of top-shelf oval-track racing.
TOP SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY PERFORMERS
NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED WINCHESTER FAIR 200: Patrick Emerling, Anthony Nocella, Matt Hirschman, Craig Lutz, Woody Pitkat, Matt Kimball, Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Austin Beers.
R&R OPEN STREET STOCK: Chris Riendeau, Tim Wenzel, George Baldwin, Charlie Baldwin, JD Stockwell.
JDV OPEN MINI STOCK: Chris Riendeau, Julia Kendall, Jon Fultz, Gordon Farnum, Owen Zilinski.
NEMA LITES MIDGET: Randy Cabral, Paul Scally, Trent Goodrow, Joey Bailey, Jack Dumas.
PRO 4 MODIFIED: Rob Richardi Jr., Jack Dumas, Jon Provost, Sofia Ashford, Jeff Heath.
Article Credit: Gary Dutton
Submitted By: Taylor Pelletier
