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Bradford, Vt. May 11, 2008

Bear Ridge Speedway delivers on its promise for hot racing action opening night Saturday May 10, 2008. The KDD NAPA of Bradford sponsored 41^st opening night of racing was action paced with fireworks both in the air and on the ground. With the previous week’s activities rained out, there was a lot to cram into one evening, and still be able to get the fans on their way before the chill of the late spring night set in. Car show winners from the week before were honored with the following top three in each division claiming the awards: Bond Auto Parts Sportsman Modifieds: #4 Dave Lacasse Thetford Ctr VT, #26 Jeremy Huntoon Bradford VT, #19 Mike Capra Alstead VT. Wells River Chevrolet Sportsman Coupes: #01 Mike Gendron West Newbury VT, #33 Melvin Pierson E Corinth VT, #X Bryan King Corinth VT. A Notch Above IMCA Modifieds #32 Mark Parker Fairlee VT, #34 Richie Simmons Bradford VT #15 Adam Pierson Fairlee VT. Journal Opinion Fast Fours: #33 Chucky Simmons Bradford VT, #51 Danny Doyle Hancock VT, #57 Kevin Harran St Johnsbury VT. WYKR Ridge Runner Hornets #3 Charlie Lakin Groton VT, 15vt Matt Swift, #96 Rob Williams Orange VT. Judging of these machines gets tougher every year, as they were all fine looking machines, and we thank every driver who attended each of our car shows over the spring months.

Racing is what we are here for, so racing is what we will talk about!

Up first for the 2008 racing season were the A Notch Above IMCA Modifieds. If the color schemes hadn’t changed, one would think that we had only taken a week off for this division, with Chris Donnelly in the #17 from Orford NH claiming the first checkers of the season. Coming in second would be the #12 of Brian Piper of Fairlee VT and completing the victory lane slots would actually be a face of last year not often seen in victory lane #71 Todd Dunham of Fairlee VT.

Second on the grid for the night would be the newly named Wells River Chevrolet Sportsman Coupes. Rich Marsh would bring the field to the green with Toby Tatro along side. This fast paced event of 25 laps would offer plenty of excitement for the fans as these drivers start to work out the winter kinks of their machines. The unofficial finish would change with #X Brian King of E Corinth VT crowned the winner, followed by #1 Adam Osgood of Bradford VT, and the #01 Mike Gendron of W Newbury VT in third.

The Bond Auto Parts Sportsman Modifieds were the featured division of the night with 16 cars registered for competition! We told you the racing would be hot in the Mods, and they showed up to deliver, putting on a whale of a show for the excellent showing of fans. A mishap on lap one would claim the #01 of Ryan Avery from competition and after the track was cleared, the rest of the field would regroup for the best racing action found in New England in this division. One disadvantage to being a part of a team, (especially when it is a father son team) is that if the son has a bad night in the semi dad might just find himself watching from the sidelines in the feature. Dad Gene would surrender his #44 machine to son Adam for the feature. Adam would have to start from the rear, would survive the mishaps on the track, and patiently work his way to the front of the field as the laps ticked off. This heavily laden field of “ages of talent” is not going to be an easy one to finish in the top three every week and is sure to offer up some surprises throughout the season if week one is any indication. When the dust settled Adam Pierson (#15) driving the #44 of Fairlee VT would take home the checkers, with last year’s reigning champ #5 Gary Siemons of Orford NH working his way from mid pack in second, and Blake Shepard #181 of Newton NH coming from the back end of the pack with a very impressive run in third. Rounding out the top five were #78 Frank Hoard, and #23 Ron Wanamaker with a very impressive run in fifth.

The Journal Opinion Fast Fours put on a fast paced race with Jeff Perry returning to helm bringing the field to the green on the outside of pole sitter Chucky Simmons. Where you start would not be where you ended in this feature as Simmons would have to work to hold on to the top spot and eventually relinquish the honors to the #50 of Tyler Stygles of Bradford VT. Stygles would cruise on the first win of 2008 with #33 of Chucky Simmons holding on for second, and last year’s champ #51 of Danny Doyle of Hancock VT coming home in third.

The last show of the night would be the ever popular and fun division of the WYKR Ridge Runner Hornets. Your car show winner Charlie Lakin in the #3 would not see the waving of the green from the seat of his car but rather from the side lines as his engine would let go in practice earlier in the night. Hopefully this is not as bad as one first thinks and he will be able to make the repairs to get back out for week two. While over 20 cars would be on hand to do battle at the beginning of the night, this division would see some losses before feature time came. When it was finally time to hit the track it would be the #10 of JT Descoteaux and the #42 of Robert Tucker bringing the field to the green. Not much would slow the pace as the laps ticked off and in the end Carl Sweet #85 of E Corinth would grab the checkers followed by #19 Karl Sheldon of St Johnsbury VT and the #17 George Osgood of Corinth VT. Rounding out the top five were #82 Allan Birch Jr and #8 Brett Fifield.

OVER ALL RESULTS:

Bond Auto Parts Sportsman Modifieds

Heat winners: #15 Adam Pierson, #73 Kevin Chaffee

Black Mount Semi Feature winner: #73 Kevin Chaffee

Feature finish: #44(15) Adam Pierson, #5 Gary Siemons, #181 Blake Shepard, #78 Frank Hoard, #23 Ron Wanamaker, #26 Jeremy Huntoon, #92 Dave Sanville, #73 Kevin Chaffee, #20 Ron Casey, #4 Dave Lacasse, #00 Jason Gray, #19 Mike Capra, #1nh Jack Cook, #01 Ryan Avery. DNS #44 Gene Pierson

Wells River Chevrolet Sportsman Coupes

Heat winner: Toby Tatro

Feature finish: #X Brian King, #1 Adam Osgood, #01 Mike Gendron, #21 Matt Ellsworth, #8 Rich Marsha, #29 Tom Meyette, #33 Melvin Pierson, #13 Buster Kathan, #19 Toby Tatro.

A Notch Above IMCA Modifieds:

Heat winner: #17 Chris Donnelly

Feature finish: #17 Chris Donnelly, #12 Brian Piper, #71 Todd Dunham, #15 Adam Pierson, 34 Richie Simmons, #32 Mark Parker.

Journal Opinion Fast Fours

Heat winner #50 Tyler Stygles

Feature finish: #50 Tyler Stygles, #33 Chucky Simmons, #51 Danny Doyle, #77 Dennis Perry, #64 James Capps, #10 Steve Bell, #7 Jeff Perry

WYKR Ridge Runner Hornets

Heat winners: #15 Matt Swift, #96 Rob Williams

Feature finish: #85 Carl Sweet, #19 Karl Sheldon, #17 George Osgood, #82 Allan Birch JR, #8 Brett Fifield,#51 Kyle Ashford, #48 Peter West, #10 JT Descoteaux, #56 Clayton Hatch Jr, #15 mark Swift, #71 Chris Mooney, #96 Rob Williams, #24 Bobby Lee Bell, #86 Mike Ryan, #5 Steve Dube, #1 Buster Porter, A#42 Robert Tucker, #19x Steve Sheldon. DNS #3 Charlie Lakin.

Coming up May 17^th is a full card of racing sponsored by Wicked Racing Products & Graphics of Orford NH plus the first of the season SMOKE SHOW and the Granite State Mini Sprints

Monster Truck Tickets are on sale now (June 21^st & 22^nd). So be sure to get your purchased early. Prepay for $10.00 at the door will be $13.00.

Bear Ridge Speedway continues to offer the best source of GREAT inexpensive high quality entertainment for families as an alcohol free family friendly entertainment spot, with our goal to make each experience at the Ridge better than the last. Remember “Dirt where every lap is the last lap”. Any and all one race passes and/or season passes are good for the grandstand gate only. Pit gate fees will be $20.00 for members (cannot be combined with free one race or season passes.) Master card and Visa accepted.

General admission tickets: adults (ages 17 to 61) $10.00, $8.00 for teens 12 to 16 and seniors 62 and older, children 11 and under free.

Bear Ridge Speedway is located off exit 16 of I91 on to rte 25 west 1 mile to South Road up the hill to Kidder Rd. The green waves every Saturday at 6:30 pm. Be sure to check the web www.bearridgespeedway.com. Questions can be sent to brsdirt@earthlink.net