Epping, NH – Championships were on the line Saturday night at the Star Speedway and after a season-long battle with Rob MacRae, it was Russ Douphinette taking down the title in the Strictly Stocks.
Ray Patriacca of Wayland, MA closed out the night with his first career championship in the Roadrunners, and Ricky Porter took home top honors when the HLR Trucking Mini Stocks finished out their season.
The Mini Stocks were first to hit the asphalt for feature event action, with Ashley Rousseau of Amesbury, MA jumping out to take the early lead. Raymond’s Ricky Porter and Paul Brown of Epping soon worked their way past to fight for the lead, with Rousseau dropping back to third.
Porter and Brown were at it hard for the lead at the white flag, but Brown spun attempting to work lapped traffic, with Porter going on to score the win and championship. Rousseau checkered second, with Jay Merrifield, Shawn Marcotte and Tony Carroll next across the stripe.
The Hudson Speedway Thunder Lights were on hand for another special appearance, and it was Jessica Coulter of Tyngsboro, MA out of the gate first to pick up the early lead. “Fast” Eddie Gilman of Sandown was next to take a shot at the lead, but caution was on the field quickly.
On the restart, Joe Jodoin of Epping took the outside line to the lead, with C.J. McLaughlin of Framingham, MA following him to the front. McLaughlin applied pressure for the next several laps, and with just four laps remaining, he moved past Jodoin to take over the lead.
C.J. had things under control the rest of the way, leading the field under the checkers to post the win. Jodoin’s last-lap bid fell short in the runner-up slot, with Lance Barthelemy of Fremont, Gilman and Coulter finishing up the top five.
Rookie Scott Bonney, Jr. led the first three laps of the Roadrunner main before giving up the spot to Shaun Waites, who was looking to rebound from a tough run of luck in the late season. Waites held off repeated challenges from Steve Nichols of Danvers, MA for the next several laps, and looked to be well on his way to victory.
With the checkered flag in sight, Waites had a tire go down and spun from contention, with Nichols going on to pick up his fourth win of the year at the checkers. Patriacca locked up the championship with a second-place run, with Ricky Fisette of Litchfield, Billy Osborne of Plaistow and Loren Smith of Epsom the rest of the top five.
Steven Dubois of Kingston had a strong run going for the first half of the Strictly Stock feature, moving out to the lead from the drop of the green. Dubios continued to show the way at the crossed flags, with Chris Lee of Nottingham battling side-by-side for the lead at halfway.
Bob Crawford of Derry was right on their tails in the Mike White entry, and he quickly disposed of the lead pair to take his turn out front. Once there, Crawford was off and running, going the distance to pick up his second win of the year.
Steve “Pinball” Wilmot of Methuen, MA battled hard to score third at the checkers, with Lee, Dubios and Rob MacRae of Billerica, MA next across the line. Douphinette wrapped up his first-ever championship with a seventh place run in the feature.
In the Truck Enduro, Carl “Chico” Cicchetto of Deerfield made his retune to the winner’s circle, with Josh Plourde of Farmington right on his back bumper in the second spot. Bob Cicchetto of Deerfield grabbed third, with Russ Anderson of Portsmouth next in the final rundown.
Dennis Dube of Methuen, MA did a fine job of working traffic on his way to a convincing win in the 4-cylinder Enduro, with Jesse Tellier of Pelham the only other car on the lead lap in second. Tim Johnson of Salem grabbed third, with P.J. Herteau and Jeff Keaton the rest of the top five.
Ed Flannigan of Seabrook grabbed his second straight win the Grand Enduro, holding off a hard-charging Randy Rameau of Westminster, MA over the second half of the race to score the win. Steve Legere of Weymouth, MA, Mike Legere of Stoughton, MA and “Flying” Frank Bryan of Haverhill finished third through fifth.
Star closes out the 2006 season with the 21st running of the Halloween Howler, featuring the Strictly Stocks, Roadrunners and Thunder Lights, as well as the biggest Enduro program of the season. Four Enduros, a chariot race, one-on-one drags and a flagpole race will all be part of the action. Racing starts with a 1:30 p.m. green flag for the season-ending special.