Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – WINCHESTER, NH – Anthony Nocella won his first Valenti Modified Racing Series event in 2018.
Nocella had a great restart to get the lead. It was Nocella’s first time here with a new car and haven’t been there in a while. Tire management was key to winning a race there, epically in a 100-lap race where you can’t change tires. Nocella has had a great start to the 2018 season with a third-place finish at the Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park just a couple weeks ago
Woody Pitkat had struggles last night he did well at the beginning of the race but, then got a penalty for an unapproved tire change. He said before the race that he was hoping to get a win here because he has come close with 2nd and 3rd place finishes here, “this a track that maybe owes me a win”- Woody Pitkat Said
He wanted to have a better start to the season, in the past he’s had a slow start and then in the middle and end of the season gets better.
Top 5 finishers: 1. Anthony Nocella, 2. Todd Patnode, 3. Richard Savary, 4. Tony Ricci, 5. Cameron Sontag
Monadnock Speedway had their 2018 season opener on Saturday night. In the Sportsman Modified race, there are a lot of first-timers racing at Monadnock Speedway. Ed Chicoski, the driver of the #45, it’s his first time at Monadnock, “Just looking to have fun and keep the car off the wall and in one piece”-Ed Chicoski said
Another driver who is hoping to get a good start to the season is Tyler Jarvenpaa, he had local sponsors on the car for last night race and wanted to be able to finish decently for them. One guy who has been to Monadnock Speedway before and has been successful there is Glenn Griswold, the driver of the #60, he hasn’t been to this speedway in a while and was looking to get a win last night he came up short but still drove very well. “Monadnock Speedway is the only speedway I haven’t won at in New England”-Glenn Griswold.
Geoff Rollins ended up winning the Sportsman Modified race last night. He started 4th and made his way through the cars, he had a great run. There were some cautions, most were one car spins. There were a couple of cautions with multiple cars involved but no serious accidents.
The top 5 finishers were: 1. Geoff Rollins, 2. Joe Kendall, 3. Keith Carzello, 4. Matt Kimball, 5. Ben Bryne. Tyler Jarvenpaa finished 8th, Glenn Griswold finished 13th, and Ed Chicoski finished 17th.
Geoff Rollins was able to win the Super Stocks. Mike Stebbins won the Mini Stocks. Richard Vincent won in the Thunder Stocks. Matt Gauffin won in the Lightning Stocks and Sammy Silva won in the Young Guns.
Monadnock Speedway will be back in action on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. The Valenti Modified Racing Series will be back at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday, May 5.
