WINCHESTER, N.H. — Sam Rameau passed Ron Silk during the second half of Saturday’s Tri Track Open Modified Series race at Monadnock Speedway and held on to earn his first series victory.
The Westminster, Mass., native earned his first career Tri Track win in thrilling fashion, holding off some of the country’s best modified talent over the final stretch of the third race of the season.
Rameau pocketed a $6,000 check with the victory as part of a lucrative purse that was more than $40,000. It was the second stop of the season at the Winchester, N.H., oval for Tri Track.
“We put a lot of work into this,” Rameau said. “A lot of people don’t know that its my full-time job to prepare these race cars. I put my heart and soul into this. The emotions are high.”
The final corner was nearly a repeat of the July 5 Tri Track race at Monadnock. While Rameau took the top spot from Silk on lap 72, and looked to be driving off to victory, a caution flag with four laps to go doubled the field back up. Rameau spun his tires on the restart, but got away, before another quick caution stopped the action.
Although Rameau hit the final restart perfectly, he couldn’t quite get away from Ronnie Williams.
Williams, the two-time and defending SK Modified champion at Stafford Motor Speedway, drove deep into turn three, slammed the back of the No. 06 Central Mass Tree machine of Rameau, and lost control. Williams would spin as the car dropped fluid, while the rest of the field rushed to find a way around. Some made it, some didn’t.
Monadnock Speedway NHSTRA Modified regular Brian Robie escaped the final corner carnage to finish second, while Matt Hirschman, a winner at Star Speedway on July 25, finished third. Woody Pitkat drove the Stan Mertz prepared No. 6 to a fourth-place finish, with Anthony Nocella finishing the top-five.
The finish:
Sam Rameau, Brian Robie, Matt Hirschman, Woody Pitkat, Anthony Nocella, Matt Kimball, Craig Lutz, Ron Silk, Carl Medeiros Jr., Austin Kochenash, Les Hinckley, Matt Swanson, Tommy Barrett, Ronnie Williams, Richard Savary, Kirk Alexander, Dave Sapienza, Cameron Sontag, T.J. Bleau, Derek Robbie, Calvin Carroll, Ben Byrne, Ryan Doucette, Chase Dowling, Chris Pasteryak, Anthony Sesely, Kurt Vigeant.