A week after a crash put him out of the race, Deerfield’s Ben Byrne did the one thing guaranteed to put him back in championship contention — win.
Byrne climbed to within four points of first-place Tyler Leary of Hatfield by winning last Saturday’s NHSTRA Modified feature at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. Driving with a hand injury suffered in the previous week’s calamity, the 41-year-old Byrne took command of the 40-lap event and scored his fifth win of the season. Leary, who was second for a good chunk of the race, fell back over the final 10 laps to finish fifth. Leary holds a 584-580 points advantage over Byrne with two races remaining.
Turners Falls teen J.D. Stockwell is tied with veteran Chris Davis for the points lead in the Pure Stock division after finishing second and third, respectively, last Saturday. Kyle Boniface drove away for his fourth win of the season. Gill’s Zach Zilinski was fifth and Greenfield’s Jimmy Zellmann was seventh.
Orange’s Cole Littlewood secured his eighth checkered flag of the season in the Late Model Sportsmen division, passing Ryan Bell for the lead on lap five of 25. Brother Justin Littlewood came home second. The other member of the points chase, Ryan Currier, did not compete, which leaves the Littlewood brothers separated by only 10 points heading into the final two races.
Hillary Renaud won for the second straight week in Street Stocks, while Aaliyah Tacy dominated the Young Guns race for her second win of the season. Gill’s Owen Zilinski was second.
Jake Dumas (Pro-4 Modifieds), Greg Gilbert (Senior Tour Antique Racers Sportsman) and Alan Zemia (STAR Modifieds) won in visiting divisions.
Monadnock returns to action Saturday with its annual Open Track Party held from 5 to 6 p.m., followed by a six-division card of racing including a 50-lap NHSTRA Late Model Sportsman Race For The Ring event.
Jason Remillard is a copy editor and page designer at the Recorder. He can be reached at jremillard@recorder.com and followed on Twitter @racinwithjason.