TOURING NEWS: SCoNE Sets 2014 Schedule
Posted By Tj Ingerson On January 27, 2014
Categories: Granite State Pro Stock | Pro All Stars Series | Sprint Cars | Valenti Modified
PHOTO: The Sprint Cars of New England have announced a tentative 13-race schedule which will see the series potentially make their first appearance at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. (Alan Ward photo)
GSPSS gears up for third season; Bonsignore joins championship VMRS team; PASS National slate set
--by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
VMM Editor
CENTER OSSIPEE, N.H. -- Sprint Cars of New England officials have announced a tentative 13-race schedule for their 2014 season, including a potential race date to be determined at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y.
The series will split the majority of its season between Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Vt., and Legion Speedway in Wentworth, N.H. Each quarter-mile clay oval will host the Sprint Cars of New England six time.
The Sprint Cars of New England will run two sets of doubleheader events in 2014, first on Friday and Saturday, July 4 and 5, and again on Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31.
Legion Speedway will open the 2014 Sprint Cars of New England Season on Sunday, May 11 and will welcome the Sprints Cars again one month later on Sunday, June 8. A special Friday night race at Legion Speedway will see the Sprint Cars celebrate America's birthday on the Fourth of July. Legion will welcome the Sprint Cars on three additional Sundays, first on August 3, then again on August 31 and September 14.
Bear Ridge Speedway will welcome the Sprint Cars of New England for the first time of the 2014 season on Saturday, May 24 as part of their Memorial Day event. The Sprint Cars will return to Bear Ridge on Saturday, June 14 before the Bradford track welcomes the second half of the Fourth of July weekend event for the Sprint Cars. Bear Ridge will host a pair of Sprint Cars races in August, first on Saturday, August 16 and then again on Saturday, August 30. The Sprint Cars of New England season will conclude at Bear Ridge on Saturday, September 20 as part of the New England Dirt Track Championships event.
2014 Sprint Cars of New England Schedule
Event-Day-Track
1. Sunday, May 11 -- Legion Speedway
2. Saturday, May 24 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
3. Sunday, June 8 -- Legion Speedway
4. Saturday, June 14 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
5. Friday, July 4 -- Legion Speedway
6. Saturday, July 5 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
7. Sunday, August 3 -- Legion Speedway
8. Saturday, August 16 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
9. Saturday, August 30 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
10. Sunday, August 31 -- Legion Speedway
11. Sunday, September 14 -- Legion Speedway
12. Saturday, September 20 -- Bear Ridge Speedway
TBD -- Albany-Saratoga Speedway
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The Granite State Pro Stock Series has undergone a few changes since the final event of the season in 2013 with a change in series ownership and those changes will continue onto the race track.
The series will award double the points for heat races for the upcoming 2014, raising the total from six points the 12 points for a heat race win.
"Heat races are so important," reigning series champion Mike O'Sullivan said. "With more points being awarded, the heat races are magnified. My brother (Tommy) and I have circled them as an area of importance."
The series roster will see a mixture of new and old in 2014 the current competitors that are returning will be joined by new drivers.
Multi-time Monadnock Pro Stock champion Barry Gray announced his intentions to return, as has series champion Mike O'Sullivan. Those two top drivers will be joined by a pair of Maine drivers, 2012 Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Pro Series champion Brad Babb and former Oxford Plains Speedway Late Model competitor Matt Sanborn.
"If everything goes well, we are going after the 2014 championship," Babb, of Windham, Maine, said. "(When) we came down to the World Series at Thompson last year, (we) were treated well, felt appreciated, and had a pretty good time.
"We are looking forward to the 2014 season, espeically the races at Lee USA Speedway and White Mountain Motorsports Park."
Sanborn will compete for the series Rookie of the Year honors.
"Each year we are seeing an increase in car counts and talent," series president Mike Parks stated. "We have more true rookies coming in and more drivers in general. Every year, the bar is being raised."
The Granite State Pro Stock Series season will kick off at the Ice Breaker at Thompson Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6.
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NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regular Justin Bonsignore will pilot the famed No. 21 Art Barry owned Modified in the Valenti Modified Racing Series in 2014.
The Holtsville, N.Y., driver is a multi-time winner with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and will join the 2012 championship team for the upcoming season.
"It's been something we've been talking about for a while," Bonsignore told RaceDayCT.com. "I know Ken (Barry) and Art (Barry) pretty well. We talked a little bit and I'm always looking to get more seat time and that was a big deciding for me. I look at guys like (reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion) Ryan Preece that race so much more, it can't hurt, it can only help."
The Valenti Modified Racing Series will open their 2014 seaso non Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30 at Waterford Speedbowl.
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Pro All Stars Series officials have finalized the 2014 National Championship Series which will begin on Saturday, February 8 at Floriday's New Smyrna Speedway.
The series will be made up of six of the biggest PASS Super Late Model events in the Northern and Southern Series. The second event will take place at the legendary Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, April 19 for the Easter Bunny 150.
Arguably the largest event on the PASS National calendar will take place on Sunday, July 20 with the 41st running of the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway. After a quiet month of August, the PASS National Series will ramp up with back-to-back events in September with a 200-lap event at Autodrome Chaudiere on Saturday, September 6 and the 300-lap event at Beech Ridge on Saturday, September 13.
The PASS National Series will conlude on Saturday, November 15 at Southern National Motorsports Park with the 200-lap Mason Dixon Meltdown.