8/25/2024
Monadnock Speedway
Kimmy Rivet Tops Mad Dog Modifieds Saturday on High Banks
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Kimmy Rivet stormed to her first victory of the season Saturday at Monadnock Speedway, leading all the way to win the Mad Dog Modified main event.
Finishing second a week earlier, Rivet continued her late-season surge by wiring the 40-lap Saturday night feature. After earlier coming up a single one-thousandth of a second shy of setting fast time, she was unmatched while blasting to victory aboard her Perry Family Dental Care open-wheeler.
While veteran pilots did their share of gracing Saturday’s winner’s circles – Erin Aiken and Michael Yeaton both won - the Back To School Night presented by Savings Bank of Walpole event also featured many great runs by legitimate back-to-schoolers.
Returning to high school this week, teens JD Stockwell, Dominick Stafford, and Markus O’Neil all rocked their Saturday night events with feature wins. Colton Martin, Owen Zilinski, and Andrea St. Amour each impressed in second, and then, of course, there was the entire Mad Pup field that finished behind O’Neil. In all, there were 13 teen top-fivers Saturday.
Rivet and JT Cloutier led the Mad Dog Modifieds to the green, with Rivet launching from the start and never looking back. Super rookie Colton Martin – he had the night’s fastest in-race lap at 12.031 – was up to second on lap two but could never quite match the leader. He’d pull to within a single length, only to watch Rivet flat foot it again to lead by five.
Defending track champ Nate Wenzel had a big night too, finishing third and, with it, making the championship points race a close one again. With top points man Tyler Leary struggling to 15th Saturday, Wenzel pocketed a 22-point gain to now trail Leary by only 14 markers entering the 2024 stretch run.
August had been a mean month for teen Super Street star JD Stockwell. Closing out July very much in the championship hunt, he’d then seen his season blow up in numerous ways. Saturday, though, he closed August out in style, wiring the night’s 30-lap main event.
Top points man Chris Riendeau nudged Robert Hagar out of second on lap 25, and while he had to settle for second in Saturday’s feature, he still pitched a winner. Bidding for his first career championship, the Ascutney, VT star now carries a 46-point advantage over Stockwell into the final month of the season.
Erin Aiken continued her march to the 2024 Mini Stock championship, romping to victory in Saturday’s 50-lapper. Taking the lead from 2023 Mini Stock king Louie Maher on lap ten, she then pulled away to score her 20th overall victory of the summer, those wins scored at four different tracks, eight of them here on the high banks.
But while Aiken dominated, the fans in this one were watching 14-year-old Owen Zielinski. In his first run ever aboard the former Bob Williams 41, the recent Mad Pup grad blasted into second on lap 29 and then outran third-place finisher Julia Kendall to the checkers.
Sixteen-year-old Dominick Stafford wired the Pure Stock feature to score the second win of his sophomore season. Points leader Andrea St. Amour, again aboard her stepdad’s ride, followed him all the way to finish second, and five-time speedway champ Chris Davis came home third.
Jimmy Zellman, fourth in Saturday’s Pure Stock feature after winning his heat, now sits 15 markers shy of St. Amour in the 2024 championship points parade.
Markus O’Neil led early and often Saturday, wiring the Mad Pups 15-lapper to win on Back To School Night on the high banks. Hunter Duquette, who brought a two-race winning streak into Saturday’s event, was second, with Jordon Gonyea third.
The Mini Cup series made its only stop of the summer Friday on the high banks, with Carl Rackliff scoring the 20-lap win. Hayden King was second, Ryan Nelson came home third, and early-race leader Kendall Whitehill finished behind the wall.
Strongly contested mid-race, Six Shooter titan Michael Yeaton pulled away in the closing laps Saturday to stay perfect on the season at eleven-for-eleven in the Six Shooter division. Garrett Barry was second.
Monadnock Speedway will be silent next Saturday, August 31, but will roar back into action on September 7, when JDV Productions will present Triple Crown Championship Night, with six divisions in action on the third leg of the 2024 Monadnock Speedway Triple Crown Series.
MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY AUGUST 24 TOP PERFORMERS
MAD DOG MODIFIEDS: Kimmy Rivet, Colton Martin, Nate Wenzel, Andy Major, Trevor Bleau, JT Cloutier, Ty LeClerc, Brad Zahensky, Joey Kendall, Kevin Pittzinger.
SUPER STREETS: JD Stockwell, Chris Riendeau, Robert Hagar, Hillary Renaud, Erik Smith, Zach Zilinski, Mike Lashua, David Boisvert, David Piper, Wesley Stedt.
MINI STOCKS: Erin Aiken, Owen Zilinski, Julia Kendall, Louie Maher, Jarrod Soucy, Tim Paquette, Gordon Farnum, Kevin Clayton, Tommy Silva, Craig Chaffee.
PURE STOCKS: Dominick Stafford, Andrea St. Amour, Chris Davis, Jimmy Zellman, Addison Brooks, Teagan Edson, Ron Burgess Jr., William Graham.
MAD PUPS: Markus O’Neil, Hunter Duquette, Jordon Gonyea, Maya Bell, Nathan Waterman, Ella Grabowski, Sofia Rego.
MINI CUPS: Carl Rackliff, Hayden King, Ryan Nelson, Keith Chandler, Jason Romprey, Keith Levigne, Jordon Cote, Kendall Whitehill, Jacob Raby.
Article Credit: Gary Dutton
Submitted By: Taylor Pelletier
