CLAREMONT, N.H. — With snow covering both the top of the backstretch and turns three and four, a field of four dozen combatants battled for 100 laps Saturday in the first event of the year at Claremont Motorsports Park.
Competitors from five New England states filled the CMP pits for the Feb. 24 event, and it was clear from starter Dylan Zullo’s first wave of the green that two would dominate.
Enduro whiz Matt Gauffin and Weekly Racing Series regular Brandon Gray battled for the top spot early and often, with Gauffin, aboard his battle-scarred but many-time victorious Saab 900 first under the checkers,
Racing through a blur of traffic often five cars wide, the pair battled bumper-to-bumper over the first half of the race, with Gauffin taking a lap-48 lead and then holding a slim advantage as the event hit its fast-paced halfway mark.
The Antrim, N.H., pilot would turn up the fire over the final 50-laps, almost lapping East Thetford, Vt.’s Gray at the checkers. Each, though, pocketed a sizable check for his short afternoon’s work on the third-mile speedplant.
Gauffin easily topped the four-cylinder division, while Gray brought his Volvo wagon home first atop the mixed six- and eight-cylinder division. Keith Walton was second in the fours, while Green Mountain Boy Eric Griffin earned the bronze medal award.
Maine pilot Danny Gilll was second to Gray in the big cars, and Lebanon’s Matt Boucher came home third.
In a show-opening 15-lapper, Weekly Racing Series ace Cameron Houle outdistanced Heather Sandini.