Matt Tanner Beats the 360’s With a 305

The Winged Warriors of SCoNE (Sprint Cars of New England) arrived at Bear Ridge Speedway www.bearridgespeedway.com Saturday evening for their final race of the 2009 season.  There were 12 of these alcohol gulping, fire breathing, sprint cars on hand.

Here in southern NH the weather forecast for Saturday was for occasional showers.  Mother nature didn’t listen to the forecast.  It rained steady all morning long with occasional downpours.  We called Bear Ridge around 1:30pm and Butch said “C’mon up.  It’s not raining here.”  It was a pleasant surprise to get to Bear Ridge and find no rain and the track humming with activity.  When we arrived back home around 2:30am it was still raining here.

Matt Tanner with his #90 car and Jim McCaffery with his #7 car came to represent the Capitol Region Sprint Association (CRSA).  Also 16 year old Dylan Campbell was with us in Si Allens #88 car. There were also two cars representing Empire Super Sprints (ESS) Lonnie Lacillade in the 5C car and Anthony Cain in the 15C.  Welcome Matt, Jim, Dylan, Lonnie and Anthony.

The Bear Ridge crew had the track in good condition and did grading work at intermission.  The track was mostly dry/slick for the sprint races.

Hot laps turned out to be the most exciting event of the night.  Dylan Campbell in the 88 was tapped by the 15C of Anthony Cain and just took off.  Took off as in out of control and flying.  We have wings on the cars but they really aren’t meant for flying.  Dylan caught the concrete Jersey Barrier on the back stretch, drove along it a bit then launched over it into the trees.  He took several of the 4’ x 8’ sponsor signs out as he went over.  Fortunately Dylan was unhurt but the 88 car was done for the night.

This was a non points race for SCoNE and the track had a couple pleasant surprises for us.  The first was that the cars would time trial for position and the second was that there would be no heats, but a monza style race of two 15 lap segments with the scores of the two segments combined to determine the winner.  The first segment lined up according to the time trial results and the second segment lined up in inverse order of the finish of the first segment.  

During time trials Mark Cole in the 6X lost his fuel pump, Tunk Berry lost his oil pressure and Clay Dow broke a rocker arm.  Clay, along with help from Mike Kondrat was able to repair his engine with a rocker arm from Mark Cole and made the first segment race.  Mark was able to repair his car with a fuel pump from Si Allens car, but missed the first segment race.  Tunk was done for the night.

The first segment lined up with Robby Bodwell in the 9 car on the pole with Shawn Lawler in the 18L outside pole.  Shawn had the lead by the second turn but the start was called back because Robby had jumped.  On the second try Shawn again had the lead by the second turn and the race was on.  Clay Dow was second after starting 9th.

Finish order for the first segment is:
1st was the 18L of Shawn Lawler, 2nd the 59 of Clay Dow, 3rd the 90 of Matt Tanner, 4th the 9 of Robby Bodwell, 5th the 10 of Bruce Kimball, 6th the 7 of Jim McCaffery,  7th the 15C of Anthony Cain and 8th the 38 of Bob Giuliani.  The 5C of Lonnie Lacillade was 9th with mechanical problems.   

The second segment lined up with Bob Giuliani on the pole with Anthony Cain outside pole.  At the drop of the flag, Anthony was off and running.  He held the lead until lap 8 where he spun himself out and had to restart at the rear,  Matt Tanner had been running second and inherited the lead and kept it the rest of the way.  Clay Dow again finished second with a charge from his 7th place starting position.

Finish order for the second segment is:
1st was Matt Tanner, 2nd Clay Dow, 3rd Robby Bodwell, 4th Shawn Lawler, 5th Bruce Kimball, 6th Anthony Cain, 7th Bob Giuliani, 8th Jim McCaffery and 9th Mark Cole in the 6X.  Lonnie Lacillade was 10th with mechanical problems.

Overall finish for the Monza race is:
1st Matt Tanner, 2nd Clay Dow, 3rd Shawn Lawler, 4th Robby Bodwell, 5th Bruce Kimball,  6th Anthony Cain, 7th Jim McCaffery, 8th Bob Giuliani, 9th Mark Cole and 10th Lonnie Lacillade.

It is interesting that Both Matt and Jim, racing with CRSA have 305 cubic inch engines while everyone else had 360 cubic inch engines.  On a dry/slick track it isn’t about horse power, it’s about setup and handling.  Score one for the 305’s.

That concludes the season for the winged sprints of SCoNE.  Check back often as things will be going on with various drivers.  Rumor has it that Mark Cole will be going to NC for the season ending race with the World of Outlaws at Charlotte Dirt Speedway in November.  Shawn Lawler will be going to FL to race with the 410 sprints in Jan/Feb.  We’ll do our best to keep you posted.

Some of the guys plan on bringing their rides down to Florida for some winter shows.
We’ll see you in February at the Racin’Paper car show with our new schedule for 2010. SCoNE may be trying out at least one new track next year. Check in with the web site (http://nesprintcars.com) for updates. In May of 2010 the winged warriors of SCoNE will be flying again. C’mon out and watch the fastest dirt racecars in New England.

In May of 2010 the winged warriors of SCoNE will be flying again.
C’mon out and watch the fastest dirt racecars in New England.