Granite State Ace Alby Ovitt Claims Enduro 200

BARRE – For the 38^th time, enduro cars from across New England converged onto the Thunder Road International Speedbowl for the “People’s Race.” The annual $3,000-to-Win event for junkyard stars brought in 91 cars of all makes, models, shapes, sizes and colors.

Along with the once-a-year, slam-bang tradition came the annual Street Stock Special. The 50-lap special brought a former champion triumphant in victory lane.

After Patrick Tibbetts, Kyle MacAskill and Jeffery Martin took down the three heat wins, the Street Stock field went all out with driver introductions in front of the crowd. Tibbetts’ heat race luck went sour early with his shifting cable disconnecting leaving him stuck in the pits as the field rolled out, relegating him to a last-place starting position. Led to green by fan favorite Thomas Peck and MacAskill, the 30-car field screamed past the start/finish line.

The first caution came early on Lap 4 with the spinning crunch and bunch between the Ford Mustangs of rookies Paige Whittemore and Curtis Franks. On the restart Scott Weston and Todd Raymo brought the field down for the green flag. The next 27 laps were filled with tight, two-wide racing across the Speedbowl as Jeffery Martin, Dean Switser Jr. and Taylor Hoar made their way methodically up through the field. The second caution flag would fly on lap 31 as Jesse Laquerre got into the #24 of Todd Raymo, both sent to the rear. Being an extra distance race, the Lucky Dog rule was given to Justin “El Chopo” Blakely as the first car a lap down. Cam Powers, who has shown consistent speed in the last several events, parked his #30 machine with a leaking gasket.

Once again, the field took off until lap 47 with the third and final caution as Paige Whittemore and Eric MacLaughlin spun with Mike “The Biffer” Gay earning the final Lucky Dog. In the final three laps, Jeffery Martin put the power down, keeping the lead and taking his first win of the season in the Bolduc Metal Recycling Street Stock Special. Tyler Whittemore and Dean Switser Jr. rounded out the podium.

Afterward came the carnage of the Enduro 200. From the drop of the green, it was Alby Ovitt’s race to lose. His 929 machine took off like a rocket and carefully navigated his way to lap 200 through the slimmest openings, several near misses and a couple love taps and T-bones, here or there. In the final 100 laps, Ovitt’s greatest threats were the 517 of Richie Turner and the 292 of Adam Grey.

While 2015 Enduro victor and “Pretty Car” Contest winner Turner was a bit more careful than he needed to be, Grey charged up through the field, passing Ovitt at least three times. With 20-to-go, Grey ran out of luck after he slammed headlong into a slowing car on the backstretch, ending his night with a ballooning radiator. From then on it was smooth sailing for Alby Ovitt as Richie Turner could not break through two-wide and chicane-averting traffic to gain the needed laps on the leader. Alby Ovitt won the Enduro 200, and is now the 35^th different winner of the event and the first Granite Stater to take the win since North Haverhill’s Butch Elms took the win in 1988. Richie Turner took second one lap down while Nick Deblois earned third, four laps down.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

50-Lap Special

local competitors

27. 5, Kyle Gravel, Wolcott

28. 34, Patrick Tibbetts, Plainfield

Enduro 200

1. 929, Alby Ovitt, 200 Laps

2. 517, Richie Turner, 199 Laps

3. 97, Nick Deblois, 196 Laps

4. 51, Danny Doyle, 195 Laps

5. 24, Caleb Bedard, 193 Laps

6. 21, Andy Benoit, 190 Laps

7. 7, Ben Bushey, 190 Laps

8. 11, Josh Turner, 189 Laps

9. 18, Dennis Perry III, 188 Laps

10. 066, Dave Brooks, 188 Laps

11. 333, Steven Patenaude, 186 Laps

12. 13, Kira Jennings, 186 Laps

13. 04, Kelly Miller Jr., 186 Laps

14. 001, Peter Childs, 186 Laps

15. 911, Sean Ford, 182 Laps

16. 115, Tyler Gaudette, 182 Laps

17. 292, Adam Gray, 180 Laps

18. 19, Nevin Post-Kinney, 180 Laps

19. 174, Jerry Davis, 179 Laps

20. 2, Carson Desranleau, 178 Laps

21. 22, Nick Cain, 176 Laps

22. 73, Dale Cookson, Jr., 175 Laps

23. 55, Devon Jackson, 173 Laps

24. 33, Jacob Hall-Larson, 172 Laps

25. 1, Cayden Green, 172 Laps

26. 069, Jason Vezina, 148 Laps

27. 450, Josh Cutler, 146 Laps

28. 173, Larry Underwood, 143 Laps

29. 767, Tyler McRae, 143 Laps

30. 253, Patrick Underwood, 137 Laps

31. 12, Brian Rodgers, 136 Laps

32. 10, Bailey Erwin, 133 Laps

33. 32, Branden Dennis, 131 Laps

34. 74, Keith Benoit, 130 Laps

35. 3, Dylon Murphy, 129 Laps

36. 23, Dillon Botala, 128 Laps

37. 41, Tony Burrington, 124 Laps

38. 226, Tracy Gaudette, 120 Laps

39. 711, Jeremiah Little, 118 Laps

40. 8, Matt Murphy, 116 Laps

41. 31, Paul Stevens, 113 Laps

42. 16, Chris LaForest, 110 Laps

43. 83, Skylar Schuck, 107 Laps

44. 25, Kyle Botala, 106 Laps

45. 144, Justin Prescott, 93 Laps

46. 26, Kyle Bedard, 91 Laps

47. 310, Nick Aja, 90 Laps

48. 17, Ryan Deuso, 84 Laps

49. 411, Andy Botala, 68 Laps

50. 03, Robert Catchapaw, 65 Laps

52. 186, Levi Jackson, 65 Laps

53. 00, TJ Bohannon, 65 Laps

54. 36, Erika Williams, 64 Laps

55. 77, Andrew Lopes, 56 Laps

56. 110, Gavin McGinnis, 48 Laps

57. 91, Thomas Kirkpatrick, 47 Laps

58. 49, Steven Chapman, 44 Laps

59. 81, Tyler Rhodes, 44 Laps

60. 40, Justin Langlois, 42 Laps

61. 062, Gregory Davis, 42 Laps

62. 4, Jason Chapman, 37 Laps

63. 9, Jenny Stevens, 37 Laps

64. 200, Trevor Irwin, 37 Laps

65. 6, Riley Harness, 36 Laps

66. 28, Luke Peters, 32 Laps

67. 66, J.T. Blanchard, 32 Laps

68. 320, Anthony Butts, 30 Laps

69. 96, Bill O’Connor, 29 Laps

70. 171, Brodie Frazier, 29 Laps

71. 100, Jordan Matte, 29 Laps

72. 44, Steven Corbett, 28 Laps

73. 426, Stephen Donahue, 26 Laps

74. 113, Bill Davis, 25 Laps

75. 30, Trevor Mears, 25 Laps

76. 69, Brice Rancourt, 22 Laps

77. 026, Amber Rich, 20 Laps

78. 102, Devin Bell, 20 Laps

79. 126, Cole Gaudette, 17 Laps

80. 95, Justin Bascomb, 11 Laps

81. 14, Austin Blais, 8 Laps

82. 108, Corey Martin, 7 Laps

83. 86, Joe Fuster, 6 Laps

84. through 91. no score card submitted