NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. — Chief rivals in the King of the Mountain championship chase, Kasey Beattie and Quinny Welch, led the final round in the Wall’s Ford Platinum Series across the line in the Leaf Peepers 100.
Beattie quickly took control and launched off with the lead with Welch keeping pace two car-lengths back. Beattie faced his toughest competition as he pulled up to a four-way battle with all four drivers attempting to stay on the lead lap.
It went haywire with Jason Woodard and Brian Whalley spinning in front of the leader to call out the first caution on lap 39.
Back under green, Beattie now faced his closest Wall’s Ford Platinum Series adversary Kyle Goodbout but once again pulled away up front. While maintaining a strong lead up front, steam began shooting out of the overflow in the #45NH machine on lap 82, leaving fans to count each lap as it could’ve been his last. The final caution for Hayden Bushey with fourteen-laps remaining didn’t quell the anxiety. Nevertheless, Beattie kept his foot in the firewall and took the Leaf Peepers 100 en-route to his second Wall’s Ford Platinum Series championship. Kyle Goodbout maintained second across the line with Kaiden Fisher rounding out the podium.
The Farmyard Store Flying Tigers kicked off feature racing Saturday night at White Mountain with their 35-lap trophy dash headed by Austin Sicard and his Uncle Shane Sicard. Young-gun Kiptyn Aldrich brought out the first caution on lap 5 with a flat right rear tire but back under green all eyes were on point leader Luke Peters. Peters had made his way into the top three, running side-by-side with Austin Sicard by lap 7 and leading lap 9! While Peters made headway out front, Cameron Ouellette was making hay in his run from the tenth-place starting spot as the latest division winner.
Ouellette was up to fourth by the halfway marker and running in third with fifteen to go before a prolonged battle against Kyle Willis stalled his forward momentum. In amongst the lap cars of Steve Violette and Kiptyn Aldrich, Willis and Ouellette came across the line three-wide with Ouellette nabbing second by 0.051-seconds over Willis while Luke Peters was gone with his eighth win of the season.
Top point leaders Jacob Roy and Donnie Baumgardner rode the handicap to lead the Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Strictly Minis to green. Baumgardner set the pace out front while Tyler Whittemore drove hard on the outside groove to take second from Roy with Tyler Thompson in tow. The entire outlook changed with a lap 16 melee that sent both Whittemore and Baumgardner to the rear for their involvement and reracked the field for the final time. In the end, Tyler Thompson nailed down the win over Jacob Roy by a door at the line with Lucas Sidney coming home third.
The Caulder Construction Dwarf Cars were next on track with Jason Wyman on the pole looking to bounce back from a season of mechanical woes at White Mountain. The defending champ launched into the lead as point leaders Jeff Ainsworth, Ethan Tyrrell and Chad Dufour swarmed Dan Brofman for second. The three broke free with four laps remaining, now putting all the pressure on Wyman but time went the other way. Jason Wyman took the 20-lap win with top point chasers Tyrrell and Ainsworth rounding out the podium.
The Crown Vics rounded out Saturday’s racing action with a 25-lap barnburner. Ethan Williams quickly took over the lead from polesitter Mike Gilbert as the rest of the field did their very best to wreck while maintaining full race speed! The rolling road block was four and five wide at times in the back of the pack as Connecticut invader Mike Caprio marched up through the pack. Defending winner Todd Derrington hit mechanical trouble to end his day on lap 11 while Caprio and Frank Sweeney fought it out behind the leaders. In the end, Ethan Williams nabbed his first career White Mountain win ahead of a hard-charging Caprio and Oxford Plains invader Tyler Moore.
