Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – WINCHESTER, NH – Mike Lichty won the CARQUEST Genden Auto Parts 75 presented by T-Bird Mini Marts 75 lap race at Monadnock Speedway Saturday night.
In time trials Lichty was 9th fastest with a speed of 11.511 seconds. By lap 20 Lichty was making the top line work and moving forward. He said he didn’t use the top line in practice he just decided to see if he could make it work since everyone was using the bottom line and you couldn’t really pass a lot of cars. When using the top line, he passed four cars in laps to take the lead on lap 56 and ultimately winning the race.
“When we were in 4th/5th I backed off gradually and caught up with the guys. We ran the bottom/middle during practice and heats but, came up with something before the feature and found a groove on top that the race car liked.” Said Lichty
Dan Bowes finished second in the event.
Jon McKennedy finished third in the race. Jon had the fastest lap in time trials with an 11.138-second lap. He said he was disappointed with the lap because he practiced on the track a couple weeks ago and was under 11 seconds. He beat the track record which was 11.865 driven by Bobby Santos in the NEMA Midgets. He received a $1,000 bonus from Bentley Saloon. McKennedy started 14th in the race. On lap 30 McKennedy’s wing on the car split in half and eventually fell off and landed in the woods. He started passing more cars and in the last five laps, he went from being in the top 10 to finishing 3rd.
“Had a disappointing day team gave me a good car and had the fastest time and during the race, it was way too loose and we had the problem with the wing. With these cars, the wing is your best friend when the wing broke I had no traction and no downforce.” “ Finishing 3rd place with the wing falling off was not a bad run.”
Chris Perley finished 7th in the race. He was 8th fastest in time trials with a time of 11.459. He started 11 in the race, he said he made gains in the race. He had never seen the track before Saturday. “the track freed up a bit at night, we didn’t adjust enough then we probably should have. For being here for the first time Perley said he had a good night and learned a lot.
It was the first time in over four decades Monadnock Speedway had a Supermodified race. They will be back in action with the Valenti Modified Racing this Saturday night with a special start time of 5 p.m.
