Story By: JEFF BROWN / GRANITE STATE PRO STOCK SERIES – WALPOLE, NH – The Granite State Pro Stock Series proves that sometimes, you can go home again.
After a year’s absence from the schedule, Claremont Motorsports Park welcomes the New Hampshire-based touring series back to its de facto home for the Key Auto Group 125 this Sunday, May 26, the second race of the 2024 season and the first of two stops planned at the oval this year.
Few touring series can call a single venue home, but few words fit the relationship between Claremont and the GSPSS any better. The series’ first race ever was staged at Claremont in 2011. Since then, the GSPSS has run seventeen more races on the tricky third-mile, crowning ten different drivers winners over its history. Claremont has had the privilege of hosting some of the GSPSS’ crown jewel events over its thirteen-year history, with local stars like D.J. Shaw, Derek Griffith and Gabe Brown among those to claim those marquee races.
The last driver to wave the checkered flag at Claremont was Joey Doiron, who won a $7,500 bounty in the summer of 2022 en route to his second series championship. The recently-anointed winner of the inaugural North American Pro Stock Nationals at Lee USA Speedway threw his hat into the ring for this weekend’s $5,000-to-win show shortly after hoisting the trophy Sunday night.
Plenty of Doiron’s challengers at Lee will be making the trip, too. Fellow Berwick, Maine, competitor Ryan Green, two-time GSPSS winner Casey Call, title hopeful Evan Beaulieu and Maine veteran Gary Smith are among the early entries. Series newcomers Jamie Wright and Miller Buzzell are planning to make the trip west to Claremont as well, as they continue to make the GSPSS their touring home. Cory Casagrande, a veteran campaigner, will also make the trip.
Extra laps at Claremont always make for extra excitement, and this is one homecoming party you will not want to miss.
Sunday’s GSPSS Key Auto Group 125 anchors the second of two days of action-packed competition at Claremont Motorsports Park this Memorial Day weekend. Joining the GSPSS teams on the day’s itinerary are the R&R Race Parts Open Street Stocks, as well as Claremont’s own LaValley Building Supply Pure Stocks and Avery Insurance Six Shooters. Grandstand gates open at 3:00pm. Adult admission is $20.00; Senior/Military tickets are just $15.00, and kids from 6 to 12 are only $5.00.