The NESCCA Challenge racing series got off to a great start this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. 12 drivers took the wins in their respective classes on this demanding circuit and 8 new laps records were set during the weekend.
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Saturday was bright and sunny for the both the practice and qualifying sessions and temperatures were cool but nice. Sunday dawned dark, dreary and cold. Rain was moving in. But the rain would hold off until the end of group 6 at about three on Sunday afternoon. The cool temperatures with dry conditions made for some very hot lap times in the earlier groups.
In the small bore race (Group 1) three new lap records were set. Ron Bartell sm.jpg)
in HP (1:17.3), Jonathan Leitner in EP (1:14.5) and Eric Heinrich in STU (1:12.3). In the FV race (Group 2 ) Roger Siebenaler set a new lap record of 1:14.9 while taking the win. In Group 3 both Brian Kleeman and Yiannis Tsiounis set new records on their way to wins in T2 (1:13.8) and SM (1:16.2). Group 4 saw Trevor Hopwood set a new lap record for SRF with a 1:14.2 while trying to chase down Derrick Defonce who took the win.
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Group 6 was the last group to run in the dry conditions. It proved to be the most exciting race of the day as the AS competitors fought it out tooth and nail down to the last lap. Michael Lavigne set a new lap record for AS at 1:12.4 as he and eventual race winner Brian LaCroix battled back and forth for the entire 30 lap race. Michael was faster in the outfield in his Mustang while Brian’s Camaro grabbed the lead back inside the oval and at the flag when it counted.
Unfortunately. for the wings and things in Group 8, the sky opened up and the rain came forth. Joe Sammut took the win in FE and Kevin Boekle captured top honors in FC.
Report submitted by:
Chris Mosley
