Column By: STEPHEN DURHAM / RPW – WOODSTOCK, NH – In less than a week, White Mountain Motorsports Park will be able to be heard from the mountain tops all weekend long as they prepare for their NAPA Blue and Gold weekend celebrating the 25th anniversary of the high banked quarter mile.
The headliner races of the weekend are the PASS North 150 on Saturday and the NAPA Blue & Gold 250 lap late model race with $10,000 up for grabs, with $1,000 to take the green flag in the main event.
The defending winner of the race is Derek Griffith out of Hudson, New Hampshire. Griffith is sitting third in points and trying to close the gap on points leader DJ Shaw and the runner up of Travis Benjamin. Derek Griffith is thrilled to be coming back to a place where he has had good runs and is looking to pick up another win in the 2018 campaign.
Last year DJ Shaw had issues around the mid-point of the race and ended his night early, so he will be back for redemption to keep his 2018 championship lead over Benjamin who had a very strong run but came up short in second to Griffith. Ben Rowe who rounded out the top 3 last year also had a very strong car but late restarted hampered his efforts for the win.
2016 winner at WMMP was Johnny Clark who was able to salvage a top 5 after pitting around the halfway point will be another driver to keep an eye on for the race as well.
The top 5 points has Shaw leading over Benjamin by 40 points, with Griffith sitting back 110 points back from the points leader. Garrett Hall sits eighteen points behind Griffith and rounding out the top 5 is Ben Rowe 105 points behind Hall.
Also on the card to race to help celebrate 25 years of racing will be on Saturday featuring a 75 lap segment of the Tiger division, Kids Trucks, and the Dwarf cars and the headliner PASS North 150. On Sunday racing will include Monster Trucks, Mini Stocks, second segment of 75 laps for the Tiger Division, Legends, and of course the NAPA Blue and Gold 250 late model race. Racing starts at 6 on Saturday, and at NOON on Sunday.
