LOUDON, N.H. — For the third consecutive year, the Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway has started the season off in style.
Great fields in all five divisions graced the storied asphalt of the Magic Mile with five deserving winners standing proud in victory lane.
Thirty-six American-Canadian Tour teams were on hand to begin the 45th season of Championship Stock Car Racing for the international touring series at the Northeast’s biggest stage.
D.J. Shaw began on the pole position alongside Tom Carey III to his outside. While Carey snuck away with the lead to start, Shaw powered back to take control on lap three. Quickly forming a four-car breakaway at the front which included Carey, Derek Gluchacki and Jimmy Hebert, Shaw led the class of the field.
Gluchacki jumped past Shaw to overtake the lead on lap 24 just before the competition caution on lap 26, allowing teams to make adjustments and change tires on their machines.
The side-by-side battle between Shaw and Gluchacki would begin again on the restart until lap 30 when a stalled Bryan Wall, Jr. called up the first and only natural caution of the event. Back in high gear, the real battle on track was for third between a hard-charging Carey and Hebert alongside.
Through the final five circuits, Carey began picking up speed and valuable time on the leaders, but it was too little, too late. Coming down to the line, with the Brookside Ride breathing down his neck, Gluchacki took down his second-consecutive Northeast Classic victory over Carey by just 0.060-seconds.
Shaw took home third followed by Jimmy Hebert and Jimmy Renfrew Jr. to round out the top five.
The Pro All Stars Series twenty-seven car field of Super Late Models was bested by Eddie MacDonald. It was MacDonald’s third PASS win at the Magic Mile.
The largest field of tour-type Modifieds to date at the Northeast Classic had their 50-lap feature won by Jon McKennedy.
The Mighty Mini Stocks had their second event of the season following their debut at Thompson Speedway just one week ago. Nick Anderson was victorious.
Over the course of the Northeast Classic weekend, the R&R Street Stock Open Series called in thirty teams from across New England to take their turn at the Magic Mile. After a stout qualifying run, Connecticut’s Ryan Waterman showed he was the class of the field and took down the 25-lap win.