7/14/2024
Monadnock Speedway
Leary Wins Firecracker Modified 100 Saturday at Monadnock
LEARY WINS FIRECRACKER MODIFIED 100 SATURDAY AT MONADNOCK
Monadnock Speedway Saturday, July 13, event story
By Gary Dutton
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Tyler Leary won the biggest race of his still-young Mad Dog Modified career Saturday, dominating the 15th annual Firecracker 100 main event at Monadnock Speedway.
The huge crowd on hand for Saturday’s gigantic event was treated to an epic battle, just part of a once-in-a-decade night at the storied high-banked oval. The JDV Productions Independence Day spectacular, postponed by rain two weekends earlier, fired on all cylinders and no one was happier than Tyler Leary.
The night’s Modified main event had something for everyone; a defending race winner, two former track champions, a 69-year-old hot shoe, another only 15, and a deep, deep field of combatants. All it was missing was Nutmeg State pilot Nancy Muni Ruot, who had wrecked heavily in earlier qualifying.
While Leary would lead the final 88 laps, his victory was never assured until he blasted under the checkered flag for the second event in a row, boosting his 2024 divisional points lead with Saturday’s victory. While he looked untouchable on paper, he had rivals draped all over him every inch of the way. No fewer than nine different cars filled the top three in this one.
JT Cloutier and rookie sensation Colton Martin sat on row one as the race went green. Leary, who’d earlier set fast time for the third event this year with a blistering lap of 12.115 seconds fired from row three. Cloutier, like he’d been fired from a missile launcher, blasted into the lead.
Two laps later Cory Plummer, last summer’s Firecracker 100 winner, took charge, bringing Leary with him. Taking the lead on lap 12, Leary never looked back. If he had, he’d have seen one car after another glued to his bumper.
Nate Wenzel had second, then Kimmy Rivet, them Plummer again, more Wenzel, then Trevor Bleau and, on lap 77, Brad Zahensky. Martin, who’d backpedaled early wasn’t done yet either.
Muscling his way into third on lap 91, he took second from Zahensky with four to go, then pulling up to Leary’s bumper before finishing a length behind. Zahensky, Bleau, and Wenzel completed Saturday’s top five.
Super Street super star Chris Reindeau wired his Saturday main event, winning for the third time this summer. With reigning track champion Tim Wenzel not in the house, big points gains were very much up for grabs, and Riendeau took full advantage.
Super soph JD Stockwell was quickly up to second, taking the deuce spot on lap two, but could never find a path to the front around the sizzling Riendeau. Another Bay State teen star, Zach Zilinski, was strong all night to earn the third-place hardware, while Hillary Renaud, who brought a two-race winning streak into Saturday’s Firecracker 100 event, finished deep in the pack after an early-race brush up with an errant lapper.
While Kimmy Rivet, Hillary Renaud, Isabella Minchella, and Meghan Bell all got roughed up at some point Saturday night, one female star raced unscathed. Claremont’s Erin Aiken led all the way to continue her domination of the Mini Stock division.
Saturday, though, she faced a new top contender. With Bob Williams not in the house, former speedway dominator Gordon Farnum made his first run of the summer. Aboard an older ride, Farnum - he of the recent dozen-win summers - finished at Aiken’s bumper. Monadnock newcomer Dylan Quinn impressed in third, while home tracker Kevin Clayton, second in points coming into Saturday, was caught up in a lap-one wreck.
Teenaged hot shoe Dominick Stafford scored his first Pure Stock victory of the season Saturday. Taking charge on lap 15 when race leader Jimmy Zellman was thumbed to the rear for clobbering a lapper, Stafford never looked back.
Zellman, who had the fastest car on the track all night, blasted back to finish second, taking the points lead from third-place finisher Andrea St. Amour, who recovered from an early-race pit stop to finish third.
Owen Zilinski closed out his three-summer Mad Pups career in style Saturday, winning for the second event in a row and third overall this summer. That accomplished, he now moves on to weekly Pure Stock competition.
Markus O’Neil, who led the first dozen laps Saturday, was second on the night, and Hunter Duquette came home third.
Six Shooter ace Michael Yeaton stayed undefeated on the year. After winning his heat race, Yeaton took the lead from Garrett Barry on lap 15 of their feature and sped off to victory. Meghan Bell was able to walk away from a lap-six rollover atop turn two.
Monadnock Speedway will roar back into action next Saturday, July 20, when the storied quarter-mile hosts the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which returns for its second event of the summer, the much anticipated third annual 250-lap Duel at The Dog, along with the Mad Dog Modifieds, NEMA Midgets, NEMA Lites and much more. Post time for this very special event is 5 p.m.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY JULY 13 TOP PERFORMERS
MAD DOG MODIFIED FIRECRACKER 100: Tyler Leary, Colton Martin, Brad Zahensky, Trevor Bleau, Nate Wenzel, Kimmy Rivet, Eric Leclair, Adam Lapoint, Andy Major, Cory Plummer.
SUPER STREET: Chris Riendeau, JD Stockwell, Zach Zilinski, Eric Smith, Dan Petrowicz, Mike Lashua, Isabella Minchella, David Boisvert, Wes Stedt, Hillary Renaud.
MINI STOCK: Erin Aiken, Gordon Farnum, Dylan Quinn, Louie Maher, Eric Pomasko, Reagan Buffum, Matt Lambert, Chris Fultz, Jon Fultz, Dick Lamotte.
PURE STOCK: Dominick Stafford, Jimmy Zellman, Andrea St. Amour, Teagan Edson, Ron Burgess, Billy Graham, Addison Brooks, Owen Zilinski, Carter Chamberlin.
MAD PUPS: Owen Zilinski, Markus O’Neil, Hunter Duquette, Sofia Rego, Emma Blake, Ella Grabowski.
Article Credit: Gary Dutton
Submitted By: Taylor Pelletier
