James Hanson.  From Wedding to Winners Circle

The Winged Warriors of SCoNE (Sprint Cars of New England) flew into Canaan Dirt Speedway www.canaandirtspeedway.com Friday evening for their third race of the 2009 season at the Canaan Fairgrounds.  There were 10 of these alcohol gulping, fire breathing, 360 cubic inch cars on hand.  Racing started promptly at 6:30 pm as advertised and the rain held off for the evening.

Eli Deshaies made the long trip from Rhode Island to make his first SCoNE start of the season.  Welcome Eli.

The racing gremlins made their appearance early in the evening for the sprints as three cars, the 91 of Eli Deshaies, the 17 of  Si Allen and the 60H of James Hanson got together in turn four during hot laps.  Eli was done for the night, Si had a bent front axle and James had minor damage.  Fortunately there were no injuries to the drivers.

The James Hanson crew lent Si a front axle and crews from several race teams put the new axle in and had Si ready for the heat.  Thanks, James.

The track surface was a dry/slick dirt track for the start of the heats.

Finishing order for the 1st heat:
1st was the 60H of James Hanson, 2nd the 5 of Mike Kondrat, 3rd the 82 of Randy Howe and 4th the 10 of Bruce Kimball.

Finishing order for the 2nd heat:
1st was the #18L of Shawn Lawler, 2nd the 11 of Tunk Berry, 3rd the 33 of Lacey Hanson.   Si Allen was 4th with mechanical problems.

SCoNE had 9 cars to start the feature as the 6X of Mark Cole arrived too late for the heats, but in time for the feature.  Some grader work was done during intermission and the track was tacky on the inside and loose on the outside but with pretty good grip overall.

For the feature, James Hanson, who was married last weekend, started on the inside pole with his cousin, Lacey Hanson on the outside pole.  The race was green to checker with no cautions and James led from the start.  SCoNE was due a caution free race as they lost 4 cars to accidents between last week and hot laps this week.  Lacey held second with a strong outing, until Shawn Lawler got by her around the 20th lap. 

Finishing order for the feature:
1st James Hanson, 2nd Shawn Lawler, 3rd Tunk Berry, 4th Lacey Hanson, 5th Mike Kondrat, 6th, Randy Howe, 7th, Si Allen and 8th was Bruce Kimball.  Mark Cole was 9th with mechanical problems.

The SCoNE Winged Warriors will make their next appearance on Saturday, July 11th at Bear Ridge Speedway www.bearridgespeedway.com in Bradford, VT.  Racing starts at 6:30 pm.

The last time SCoNE raced at Bear Ridge the track was tacky leading
to many long, high wheel stands and plenty of passing with 3 wide
racing and a thrilling last lap pass for the win by ESS racer,
Anthony Cain in his 15C car.

C’mon out and watch the winged sprints of SCoNE.
These are the fastest dirt race cars in New England.

Check SCoNE out online at: http://www.nesprintcars.com