Belanger Perfect, Shannon takes Triple Crown title at Riverside Speedway
Rookie driver Ben Belanger made a serious statement Saturday night at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH. The high school student took home a pair of feature wins including the third segment of the 50 lap $500 to win Bond Auto Parts Triple Crown series.
Groveton’s Luc Shannon took home the overall points title in the Bond Auto Triple Crown series and will be honored at the Speedway’s banquet of Champions in November.
Street Stock driver’s Mike McGee and Matt LeBlanc brought the field of 22 to green to begin the night’s events. Both drivers suffered night ending mechanical difficulties early in the feature. LeBlanc broke a right front hub and McGee’s motor went sour, opening the door for several of the top contenders.
Groveton’s Chris Caron assumed the lead and he was chased down by the very fast Belanger. The duo raced well a head of the pack and began putting several racers down a lap.
Back in the pack, the real race unfolded for the overall Triple Crown championship. Shannon and Dean Switser were separated by just a few points. A caution flag for a spin on lap forty-five, set the stage for some edge of your seat racing. The field was aligned with the lead lap cars in front of the lapped field. Shannon and Switser were together for the five lap shoot out. Over the final five laps, Belanger was able to hold off the hard charging Jason Kennison for the win, and Shannon captured the sixth spot, just three in front of Switser to take the overall title.
The second event of the night was a make-up feature for the Budweiser Super Stocks. Youth would reign supreme for the second race in a row. Groveton’s Nick Gilcris took the lead on lap one and set sail for the 25 lap victory. Joanna Christman made it two podium finishes in a row in the runner-up spot and the very steady Shawn Hood rolled home in the third spot.
The regular racing began after two breath taking features. It was Passumpsic Savings Bank night and there were 97 cars in the pit area. Those numbers led to some great heat and feature racing over the course of the next few hours.
The Sign Depot and Caron Building Center youth Daredevils were put all together for their feature race. In the rookie class, Anthony Lacoss scored his first ever win. Cody Smith powered his #18 into the runner-up spot and Jenna Randall took home the third spot.
In the veteran class, Tyler Austin took the jump at the start of the race and then held off the challenges from second place finisher, Aaron Poulin, and the third place run of Randy Whittum, winning his third feature of the season. Lacoss and Kristen Switser won the heat races.
The Isaacson Structural Steel Angels raced through their feature without a caution. The race itself had a great story line. Rookie driver Tina Leveille led the first 19 laps and was nipped at the finishing stripe by Stark’s Shauna Randall on lap 20. An emotional Leveille thanked her family for all of their support in earning her very first racing trophy, taking home the runner-up spot. Point leader Lyndsey Christman beat fourth place finisher Cynthia Litvin to the line and Desirae Sicard held down the fifth spot. Randall and Traci Nelson won their qualifying races.
The Mason Enterprise Outlaw/Sportsman division has the tightest point battle going of all the divisions at Riverside Speedway. The feature finish tightened the group even more with Jefferson’s Jeff Marshall taking the feature win. Chandler Davis roared to his runner-up finish with Ron Watson coming from the back of the field to take home the third spot. Jourdan Davis took the checkers in the heat event.
Just when you thought the Street stocks were all raced out because of their earlier 50 lap feature, the hard racing group was back on the track for their encore performance.
On this night, it was the Ben Belanger show. Belanger started ninth and was knocking on the rear bumper of Chris Caron before the halfway point. The duo then raced side by side for ten laps before Belanger inched his way into the lead. Belanger raced across the line first with Caron in pursuit. Shauna Randall made it her second visit to the winner’s circle on the evening, taking home the third spot. The #03 of Jason Kenison finished fourth and the steady Aaron Smith went fifth. Caron and Belanger won the heat events.
The Twisted Tea Dwarf cars came out in force, sporting a field of 16 cars. The division has had many outside appearances from several racers. These invaders have heard of the competitive and clean racing put on by the growing group. The division had the Tetreault brothers from Quebec taking on the locals. Gaby had the best run of the two finishing tenth and Claude rolled home in 14th.
Colebrook’s Bobby Riley worked his #20 machine to the front from his ninth place starting position. Riley had two of the division’s hottest driver’s in his rear view mirror in Eric Corum and point leader Howard Switser. That duo finished two, three, with Dave Gyger in the fourth spot and Dennis O’Brien finishing fifth. Heat wins went to Riley and the #44 of Anthony Leary.
The Jiffy Mart Cyclone division had a combined enduro race with four, six, and eight cylinder cars. The twenty-seven car 100-lap race had just one red flag. Cyclone regular racer Cole Kilby took a hard roll over in turns one and two. Kilby emerged from the violent tumble unhurt.
Once the racing went back to green, it was Nick Pilotte rolling into victory lane. Pilotte had missed the Triple Crown event earlier in the evening, due to his regular mini-stock racing at WMMP. However, Pilotte and his crew arrived on time for the feature and weaved in and out of traffic for the big pay day. Aric Cole raced home in second place and Luc Shannon in the third spot. Andy Hill and Lorin Vear finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the 6&8 cylinder portion of the race, dirt track racer Roland Bigelow took the win, followed by the #41 of Dan Roy and first timer Shawn Savage.
The Speedway will take the weekend off this coming week. The LeBlanc family would like everyone to enjoy the Lancaster Fair.
Riverside Speedway is located off of Brown Road in Groveton NH. You can visit the speedway’s web site at www.riversidespeedway.org.