7/31/2023
Hudson Speedway
A Beautiful Day at The Racetrack!
Hudson, NH –
After all the rain and humidity mother nature decided to grace The Family Fun Track with a gorgeous day. The pits were packed as numerous drivers were looking to get back to racing action. Colton Martin (4) and Carlos Grenier (1NH) split the twin 20’s in the MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stock, “The Squirt Gun” Joey Fraser (37J) took the win in the Black Flagged Podcast Ridge Runners, Michael Yeaton (25NH) captured the checkers in the Granite State Gun Range Six Shooters, Jeffrey Battle (19) got his first career win in the NHSTRAVision Modifieds, and “The Skoal Bandit” Justin Harris (29nh) took his broom out and swept the twin 25’s for the New England Dwarf Car Series.
The MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stocks took to the track for their first of two 20 lap features with Colton Martin in the 4 and Leilei Daniels in the 40 car bringing the 18 car field to the green. Martin would shootout to the lead while the rest of the field would go 3 wide and then 4 wide down the front stretch, but they would stay green. Lap 3 would see Chris Davis motor his number 16 into the 2nd spot. A lap later the 24 of Colton Hull would rub wheels with Daniels when battling for the 3rd spot spinning Hull into the outside wall ending his day. Martin and Davis would restart on the front row, and it was Davis with the whole shoot. Davis would lead with Martin in tow while Zach Ziliniski in the 7z in 3rd. Lap 8 the 14H of Andrew Harmon passed Zach Ziliniski for the 3rd spot went into tracking the top 2 down but going into turn 3 the right rear hub snapped off Davis in front of the whole field but thankfully everyone would make it around. Martin and Harmon restarted on the front row, and it was Harmon who took off like a rocket into the lead with Martin and Zach Ziliniski looking to chase him down. Aiden White (5w) after starting shotgun on the field would catch Zach Ziliniski on lap 18 completing the pass a lap later. It would be Harmon in 1st, Martin in 2nd, White in 3rd, Zach Ziliniski in 4th and Doug Nelson in the 65VT wrapping up the top 5. Harmon would later be disqualified.
The New England Dwarf Car Series roared onto the track next for their first of two 25 lap features. Chris Sullivan in the 0No and “Cupcake” Sarah Hodgdon in the 31H made up the front row. The Sullivan took the early lead but the race would be slowed before a lap could be completed as the 88 of Eric Williams dove the car in low going into turn 3 making contact with the 23 of “The Mullet Man” Jeremy Rodiman and the 19 of Chris Waites causing Rodiman to make contact with the inside wall while Waites went up and off the track. William’s day would be over as he broke something in the rear end and Waites would not return in this feature. With no lap completed it would be a complete restart with Sullivan and Sarah Hodgdon and Sullivan would look to take right back off where he left off but it would be a caution again as the 67 of Alan Robidas made contact with the 30 of Duane Skofield spinning in the middle of the field sending cars scrambling but everyone was able to keep going. Sullivan would take the lead on the drop of the green as Ryan Carman took his 08 to the 2nd spot and Sarah Hodgdon settled into the 3rd spot. With hard racing thru out the field they were able to start click off some laps. The man on the move was Justin Harris in the 29NH who moved from his 13th starting spot into the 3rd spot on lap 8. Harris would start putting the pressure onto the top 2. The battle for 5th was a 4 car battle and it would be Cody Hodgdon in the 31 that would prevail. Harris snuck around Carman on lap 13 for 2nd spot. Lap 15 the caution would fly as the 94 of Doug Dawkins and the 04 of Stu McCormick spun out of turn 2. McCormick would head pit side as his race was over. It would be a single file restart but Harris would get to the outside of Sullivan thru turns 1 and 2 and power past him on the backstretch. Cody Hodgdon would take the 4th spot on the restart and would bring “Caveman” Kenny Scott in the 72 car into the 5th spot. Lap 19 the caution would fly one more time for the 08x of Caden Roberts spinning out of turn 2. Single File restart one more time as Harris would walk away from the field as the battle for 2nd and 3rd would be heat up. Harris took the win with Sullivan 2nd, Carman 3rd, Cody Hodgdon 4th and Scott rounding out the top 5. Bumpy’s Auto Service of Salem, NH provided a $50 bonus to the feature winner which is always much appreciated by the drivers.
Granite State Gun Range Six Shooters had a 75 lap Steve Krupski Memorial next on track. Trystin Bodwell in the 17x and the 25NH of Michael Yeaton started on the front row with Yeaton taking the early lead with Bodwell running 2nd with the battle for 3rd providing the heat as “The Space Cowboy” Steve Miller in the 68 and “The Gangster of Love” Steve Miller Jr. would go side by side for multiple laps before Miller Jr. took sole position of the spot. The 17 of Peter Jarek would sneak past Miller Sr. for the 4th spot. There would be beating and banging for multiple laps but we remained green. Lap 13 the black flag would fly for Jarek as race control had seen enough. Lap 17 the caution would fly as Jarek never left the track after getting the black flag. Yeaton wasted no time getting right back out front and Miller Jr. took 2nd from Bodwell. Lap 36 would see the caution fly for the 83ME of Doug Churchill loosing a tire and making contact with the turn 4 wall. Green Flag would fly and Yeaton was able to work his way back into the lead. Scott Vien in the 5 used the restart to get himself into the 3rd spot. Churchill would spin bring out the caution on lap 49 but under caution Vien would pull into the infield as his car would go up in smoke. Yeaton and Miller Jr. brought the field back to racing but Yeaton would get a little excited and go too early bringing the caution back out but they would restack quickly and go back racing with Yeaton back out front. Miller Jr. would run 2nd with Miller Sr. in 3rd, Bodwell in 4th and Chris Chadwick in the 20 found himself in 5th. The last 10 laps would see Yeaton and Miller Jr. almost bumper to bumper for the lead but lap traffic with 2 laps to go would impact the finish as Yeaton goes 3 wide thru the middle of lap cars but Yeaton would lead wire to wire to take the win. Miller Jr. finished 2nd, Miller Sr. 3rd, Bodwell 4th, and Chadwick in 5th.
The Black Flagged Podcast Ridge Runners were next on the track for the SBF Memorial race. Zac Fraser in the 37z and Ricky Marrocco in the 7 made up the front row. Zach Fraser lead the first lap before Joey Fraser wrestled the top spot away. Joey Fraser would set sail as the battle for the 2nd spot between Zac Fraser and Brain Caswell in the 63 car. Caswell would take control of the 2nd spot after a few laps. Lap 2 the 76 of Heath DeButts drove it hard into turn 1 on the inside of Marrocco making contact sending both cars into the spin cycle out of turn 2 with flat tires. Joey Fraser and Caswell would go into turn 1 side by side but out of turn 2 it would be Joey Fraser by a car length. Mike Dube in the 51 took full advantage of the restart to take the 3rd spot from Zac Fraser after they would go side by side for 5 laps. With 8 laps to go Marrocco would make hard contact with the backstretch wall but we would remain green. At the line it would be Joey Fraser in first, Caswell in 2nd, Dube in 3rd, Zac Fraser in 4th and Callie Osborne in the 59 quietly made her way to a 5th place finish.
NHSTRAVision Modifieds rolled onto the track to do 30 laps of battle. Jesse Jakubajtys in the 44 set fast time in qualifying with a 13.003. With points handicapping in place Tyler Leary in the 2 and Jeffrey Battle in the 19 would find themselves on the front row. Leary took off in lead with Battle glued to his rear bumper as they pulled away from the rest of the field. The race for third was heating up as Jeremy Zullo in the 46 was holding on as “Superman” Aaron Fellows in the 29nh was throwing everything he could at him. On lap 16 Battle was able to throw the crossover move on Leary to take the lead. Caution would fly on lap 18 for the 62 car of Todd Warren spinning by himself. Battle and Leary looked to restart the race with Battle jumping right back out to the lead as Leary settled in for 2nd. Fellows looked to use the outside groove to get around Zullo and it would take him a few circuits to take the 3rd spot and set his sights on the top 2. Zullo would feel the pressure from Jakubajtys for the 4th spot but would not be able to get around him. Battle would capture his first NHSTRAVision Modified feature win. Leary finished 2nd, Fellows settled for 3rd, Zullo in 4th and Jakubajtys in 5th.
The MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stocks were on the track for their 2nd feature and with the invert of lead lap cars we would see Owen Ziliniski in the 8z and 56 of Dominic Stafford lead them to the green. Owen Ziliniski would take the lead early followed closely by Leilei Daniels in the 40 and the 38 of the “Ogre” Jim Rhodes. Lap 5 Rhodes would making contact with Daniels getting them to spin out bringing out the caution. While trying to avoid the spin the 7z of Zach Ziliniski would make contact with Rhodes causing something to brake in the back of his car ending his evening. Owen Ziliniski would be joined on the front row by the 21x of Mackenzie Borchers. On the restart the 5w of Aiden White would spin in turn 1 and the 73jr of Owen Brandy spun to try and avoid White and made hard contact ending both of their days as well. Owen Ziliniski and Borchers would try it again with Owen Ziliniski getting the jump. Carlos Grenier in the 1NH took over the 2nd spot with a great restart. Going into turn 1 Borchers and the 14H of Andrew Harmon make contact but everyone gets away clean. A few laps later Colton Martin in the 4 and the 78 of Chris Conroy battled side by side for the 4th spot. On lap 9 Grenier used a lap car to take the lead from Owen Ziliniski. With all this going on Harmon was able to race his way back to the 3rd spot and on lap 12 was able to take he 2nd spot. Owen Ziliniski settled into 3rd but was feeling the pressure from Martin who was looking to use the high side to get himself on the podium. The battle for the lead and 3rd spot heated up and the question was which battle do you watch! With 3 laps to go Harmon made a move to the bottom off of turn 4 to take the lead going into turn 1. With 2 laps to go Harmon had solid control of the top spot and Grenier in 2nd the focus turned to the battle for 3rd; Martin made contact with Owen Ziliniski coming out of turn 2 getting Owen Ziliniski loose. Going side by side into turn 3 as they worked around a lap car Owen Ziliniski caught the bumper of Martin who got sideways and saved it. Coming off of turn 2 Martin made contact with the backstretch wall cutting a tire and dropping back. At the line it was Harmon in 1st, Grenier in 2nd, Owen Ziliniski in 3rd, Borchers in 4th and Conroy 5th. Harmon never reported to post race technical inspection and was disqualified.
New England Dwarf Car Series Feature number 2 was the last feature of the evening with young Caden Roberts in the 08x and veteran driver Doug Dawkins in the 94 made up the front row. Dawkins took the early lead with Zach Ziliniski in the 7z in hot pursuit. Derek Marsand in the 92 running 3rd as Alan Robidas in the 67 tried anyway he could to get around him. On lap 3 Robidas dove the car to the low side going into turn 1 for the 3rd spot but went a little too hard making contact with Ziliniski spinning him out. Avoiding contact was the 25 of Tim Griffith but going to the high side he broke something on the rear of the car ending his evening. Dawkins and Marsand restarted on the front row but it was a bad start. They would rerack the field and try it again with Dawkins taking the top spot with Duane Skofield in the 30 right on him. Justin Harris in the 29NH wasted no time on the restart to insert himself into the conversation too but as Harris was making the pass for the lead the caution would fly for Robidas spinning on his own. Harris took off in the lead on the restart with Dawkins and Skofield. “Caveman” Kenny Scott in the 72 raced into the 4th spot. Skofield made the pass for the 2nd spot on lap 9 as the battle for 3rd heated up between Dawkins, Scott and Cody Hodgdon in the 31 as something broke on the Cody Hodgdon machine. Ryan Carman in the 08 would inherit the 5th spot. At the end it was Harris in 1st, Skofield in 2nd, Dawkins in 3rd, Scott in 4th and Carman in 5th. Bumpy’s Auto Service of Salem, NH provided a $50 bonus to the feature winner in this feature as well.
The Family Fun Track is off next weekend but will be back in action on Sunday August 13th. Pits open at 1pm, Stands at 3pm, Practice at 4pm and racing to start at 5:15pm. On tap will be the MLM Diagnostic Services Pure Stocks, Open Pro Stocks, EVOVLE Pro Truck Series and the New England Dwarf Cars will be in town as well! Check out hudsonspeedwaynh.com for more information.
Article Credit: Ryan Lawliss
Submitted By: Mark Beaudry
