Cole Littlewood knows the way to Victory Lane at Monadnock Speedway.
The Orange driver notched his seventh win of the season last Saturday in the Late Model Sportsman division at the Winchester, N.H., quarter-mile. He started in row three and drove to the lead on lap 12 of the 25-lap feature. He held off Ryan Bell and brother Justin Littlewood to score the win. Cole leads his brother by eight points in the championship chase, with Ryan Currier still within striking distance in third.
While the night was sweet for Littlewood, it was one to forget for Deerfield’s Ben Byrne, who entered the night leading the NHSTRA Modified points standings.
Byrne took the lead from Aaron Fellows on lap 16 of 40 and held it until the lead pack — Byrne, Fellows and Palmer’s Brian Chapin — got caught up in lapped traffic on lap 25. The trio got piled up and each saw his night come to an unfortunate end. Todd Patnode, who led the way in time trials, drove away for his second win of the season.
Meanwhile, Byrne was relegated to 14th, and he lost his points lead back to Hatfield’s Tyler Leary, who finished fourth. Leary now leads Byrne by 12 points with three races remaining.
Hillary Renaud, of Vernon, Vt., has been driving with a broken arm as of late. She did not let that bother her last week, as she led from wire to wire in the 25-lap Street Stock feature, holding off Winchendon’s Keith Johnson. Points leader Tim Wenzel of Holyoke was third.
They call Gordon Farnum the “Fitzwilliam Flyer,” and for good reason. The New Hampshire hotshoe prevailed for the 10th time this season in Mini Stock action. He has two chances to match or surpass his 2021 win total of 11. Kevin McKnight of Orange and Tim Griffith of Athol were sixth and seventh, respectively. Farnum holds a whopping 98-point advantage over Winchendon’s Kevin Clayton.
The Young Guns division saw another new winner as Hunter Duquette, of Palmer, took the checkers for the thirst time in his career. Gill’s Owen Zilinski was second.
Devin Deshaies led all but the first lap of the Exit Realty Pro Truck Series’ 55-lapper.
The Pro-4 Modified Series headlines Saturday’s racing action with the Paul Roach Memorial Race. They will be joined by the NHSTRA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Late Model Sportsmen, Pure Stocks, Young Guns and the STAR Antique Racers.
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.