Pierson earns dominating Coupe win; Durkee tops Four Cylinder Madness

–by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
VMM Editor

BRADFORD – Josh Sunn rebounded from an incident one week ago to park his Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modified in victory lane on Saturday night at Bear Ridge Speedway.

The White River Junction driver started in the 15th spot in the 35-lap feature and steadily made progress through the field to sit in the third spot on lap 15.

As Sunn challenged Gary Siemons for the second spot, leader Thomas Kimball would slip up in turn one on lap 17 and allowed the Sunn-Siemons battle to his inside. Sunn and Siemons would clear Kimball off of turn two and drag race down the backstretch before Sunn took the top spot on the exit of turn four for the lead.

From there, Sunn held on through two restarts to claim his first win of the season.

Siemons, of Orford, N.H., got past Ryan Christian on the race’s final restart after he lost the second spot on the previous restart to finish runner-up while last week’s feature winner Kevin Chaffee of Bradford made a thrilling late race charge to finish third.

Christian, of Canaan, N.H., settled for fourth while James Fadden of Plainfield, N.H. continued his impressive freshman season to finish fifth. Todd Buckwold, Terry Williams, Kimball, Josh Currier, and Allan Hammond finished sixth through tenth, respectively.

Melvin Pierson earned a dominating win in the 25-lap Wells River Chevrolet DIRTcar Sportsman Coupe feature event.

The Corinth driver jumped into the lead on lap seven on the outside of then leader Stan Otterman and drove away from the field.

Matt Ellsworth of Corinth finished second while hometown driver Jason Horniak completed the podium. Multi-time champion Josh Harrington of Topsham and Otterman of West Topsham finished fourth and fifth. Sixth through tenth was scored as Tim Hodge, Thomas Placey, Michael Danforth, rookie Chris LaForest, and Earl Maxham.

Wayland Childs scored the win in the 15-lap Mike Rivers Automotive Limited Late Model feature. Childs finished ahead of White River Junction’s Tim Martin and Waterbury’s T.J. Morse.

Jim Durkee of West Hartford won the three-segment Weglarz Property Service Four Cylinder Madness event.

Durkee picked up the win in the first segment and finished second in the second segment to sit tied with Danny Doyle as they entered the final segment. Doyle zoomed ahead early, but was forced to pit under caution due to a flat left rear tire. That allowed Durkee to get the advantaged and score a third place finish in the final segment and net the overall win.

Doyle, of Rochester, finished second overall after he worked his way back to a fourth place finish in the final segment. Buddy Welch of East Corinth earned the win in the final segment, which placed him in an overall tie with Jesse Durkee. Welch was awarded the final spot on the podium for his better final segment finish. Mike Ryan completed the top-five overall.

Bear Ridge Speedway races again on Saturday, June 18 with Jiffy Mart of Bradford night and New Digs for Dogs benefit. The USAC Dirt Midget Association will also be on hand. Post time is set for 6:00pm.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS – Mekkelsen RV Night
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, Vt.
Saturday, June 11, 2016

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds (35 laps)
1. Josh Sunn, White River Junction
2. Gary Siemons, Orford, N.H.
3. Kevin Chaffee, Bradford
4. Ryan Christian, Canaan, N.H.
5. James Fadden, Plainfield, N.H.
6. Todd Buckwold, Orange, N.H.
7. Terry Williams, Wells River
8. Thomas Kimball, Lebanon, N.H.
9. Josh Currier, Newport, N.H.
10. Allan Hammond, Orange, N.H.

Wells River Chevrolet DIRTcar Sportsman Coupes (25 laps)
1. Melvin Pierson, Corinth
2. Matt Ellsworth, Corinth
3. Jason Horniak, Bradford
4. Josh Harrington, Topsham
5. Stan Otterman, West Topsham
6. Tim Hodge, Vershire
7. Thomas Placey, Bradford
8. Michael Danforth, Corinth
9. Chris LaForest, Barre
10. Earl Maxham, Enfield, N.H.

Mike Rivers Automotive Limited Late Models (15 laps)
1. Wayland Childs, Chelsea
2. Tim Martin, White River Junction
3. T.J. Morse, Waterbury

Weglarz Property Service Four Cylinders (3 x 23 laps)
1. Jim Durkee, West Hartford
2. Danny Doyle, Rochester
3. Buddy Welch, East Corinth
4. Jesse Durkee, South Royalton
5. Mike Ryan, Chelsea

PHOTO: Josh Sunn celebrates his Bear Ridge Speedway DIRTcar Sportsman Modified feature win on Saturday night with representatives of Mekkelsen RV. (T.J. Ingerson/VMM photo)