Friday, September 9, 2011

NHMS ~ 9/3/11

reprinted from www.nelcar.net

Buffington Back On Top At NHMS

The Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour headed to the final regular season oval race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. The last time the series raced the oval, it was Tom Gray who found himself being the first driver not named Shaun Buffington, to find victory lane this season. Buffington however, was ready to go for another win here today. He also had points leader Evan Beaulieu and former Nelcar champion Max Zachem to compete with as well. It was set to be another exciting day for racing as the 17 car field roared to life on the quarter mile oval.

For the first heat, Buffington once again found himself on the pole after morning time trials. He was able to get the jump on Matt Bourgoine as Beaulieu followed him through. The heat race was incident free as once again, Buffington took the heat victory. Beaulieu and Bourgoine had a great race going with Beaulieu finishing second and Bourgoine in third.

Tom Gray was on the pole for heat race number two with the 79 of Max Zachem on his outside. Gray was able to get the jump, and with Zachem right on his bumper, the two ran each other hard throughout the heat. Gray was victorious in another incident free heat race, with Zachem finishing second and the 399 of Bob Weymouth in third.


Buffington started the feature on the pole with Gray on his outside. However, Gray’s car would not fire on the start and he was forced an early exit. Zachem moved to the outside of row one as the green flag flew. Buffington was able to grab the early lead, leaving Zachem and Beaulieu to fight for the second spot. Around the midpoint of the race, Zachem and Weymouth made contact in turn two, sending the 79 car for a spin and the first caution of the afternoon. The next restart had Buffington with a new challenger to his outside in Beaulieu. The two were able to distance themselves from the rest of the field, and just a few laps into this run, Bourgoine went for a spin in turn two running in the top five. The race had reached it’s halfway point and another restart was coming. This time however, the 33 of Alan Smith found the wall and ended his day early. At the final restart, Buffington was able to distance himself from Beaulieu, and get himself back into victory lane at the finish! Beaulieu finished second and Bourgoine was able to make his way up to third at the finish. Zachem and Weymouth rounded out the top five.

All Buffington needs to do when the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour heads to the next points race at NHMS, is start and he will be crowned the NHMS Legends Champion. Before that however, the Tour will be at NHMS for the Nascar Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300, once again the pre race for the big race on Sunday, September 25th. The next time the Tour races will be at Unity Raceway this coming Saturday, September 10th. Racing action starts at 6PM! For more info, news and how you can get behind the wheel of a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.
Photos by Chris Roy, official Nelcar photographer