Thursday, August 25, 2011

NHMS ~ 8/20/11

reprinted from http://www.nelcar.net/


Tom Gray Takes Over At NHMS


The Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour was back in the Granite State this past weekend at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway once again for another exciting race on the quarter mile. With its tight turns and hard braking, it is without a doubt a very challenging track for the drivers to get accustom too. With 20 cars on the track things will get crowded in a hurry. Practice times as always determined the starting line up for the heat races and it was a few familiar faces at the front of the field.

Shaun Buffington in car 23 started on the pole with the 3 of Nick Ladyga on his outside for the first heat race. Buffington took off with the lead, but Ladyga was staying right on his bumper as he wanted the lead and the 56 of Evan Beaulieu right behind in third. Buffington and Ladyga swapped paint a few times in their battle for the win, but at the finish it was Buffington once again on top with Ladyga in second and Beaulieu in third.

For the second heat race, Tom Gray started on the pole with the 38 of Matt Bourgoine starting from second. The race went virtually incident free, as Gray pulled away with the win and Bourgoine finished second with the 59 of Reid Lanpher in third.

It was Buffington and Gray once again in the top spots for the feature, as they have been solid all season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finishing in the top two spots in each race ran on the oval so far this year. The first caution flew on lap three when Lanpher went for a spin off turn four. Buffington was able to get back out to the lead on the next restart as he and Ladyga challenged each other hard as Gray, Beaulieu and Bourgoine were right in tow. At the halfway point, contact between Ladyga and Buffington sent the undefeated driver at NHMS for a spin, and Ladyga a penalty to the rear, giving opportunity to Gray, who inherited the race lead. After a few challenges from Beaulieu, Gray was able to hold him off and take his first win at NHMS! Beaulieu finished right behind in second, with Buffington coming from the rear of the field with just 12 laps left to finish third. Bourgoine and Ladyga rounded out the top five.

With the second place run, Beaulieu is able to grow his points lead to 61 points over Bob Weymouth in the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour points, and Buffington still holds a 65 point lead over Gray. The Tour is off next weekend but will return to NHMS in two weeks on September 3rd. For more news, info, and how you can race at NHMS in one of the most fun cars to drive, visit Nelcar.net.