Lee USA Speedway has always been good to Hudson, New Hampshire’s Derek Griffith. Since notching his first career Pro Stock win at the track, Griffith has amassed wins in almost every division he has raced at the 3/8-mile bullring. Griffith’s hot relationship with Lee continued on Sunday night, as he led 94 of 100 laps to win the Granite State Pro Stock Series feature on Lee’s Oktoberfest weekend.
Griffith started the race in third position, but quickly moved past David Darling to secure second. He got past polesitter Dylan Estrella on Lap 6 and led the rest of the way, winning his second straight Oktoberfest Pro Stock feature.
“We just had a good car all day,” Griffith said after the race. “We unloaded good, and we were on old tires that we never scuffed until the heat race
“We started third, and ended up inheriting the lead early. The car was just on rails tonight, couldn’t have asked for it any better than it was. It’s good to be back, I love racing here. Lee, Star, Hudson, it’s home for me, so to come back here and run good these last few weeks means a lot to me.”
2019 series champion Joey Doiron, piloting the Wright Peterson No. 16D, rallied late to bring home a solid second-place finish, but felt like he could have had something for Griffith had he saved a bit more earlier in the race.
“I saved enough for second, not enough to win,” Doiron said. “Derek just had more grip off at the end. We were close, I could hang with him for a couple of laps, but didn’t get a very good restart. He was just a little bit better than us today, but it’s nothing to be disappointed about.”
Local New Hampshire racer Jimmy Renfrew Jr, who won the Street Stock feature earlier in the program, continued to show his speed in a Pro Stock by finishing third. Renfrew battled hard with Wayne Helliwell earlier in the feature, and used a flurry of restarts at the end of the race to work his way to the front.
“It’s a good run, I haven’t been in this car in a while,” Renfrew said. “Dropped back to seventh, eighth early, just trying to save, because this track just eats tires. Couple cautions at the end lined us up pretty good, just gave it all I had and ended up third.”
Series points leader Joey Polewarczyk finished fourth ahead of Waterford winner David Darling. Polewarczyk tightened his grip on the championship, finishing ahead of both Ray Christian III and Angelo Belsito. However, it was not enough to wrap up the title early, so the fight will still go down to the season finale at Waterford on October 24.
Christian finished sixth, followed by Estrella, Helliwell, Rusty Poland, and Angelo Belsito.
Speed51.TV will have video highlights of Sunday’s 100-lap Granite State Pro Stock Series race in the coming days.
-Story by Ian Pettigrew, Speed51 Northeast Correspondent
-Photo credit: GSPSS / Tom Morris
GSPSS 100 – Full Results (Unofficial)
1 12G Derek Griffith
2 16D Joey Doiron
3 00 Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
4 97 Joey Polewarczyk
5 52 David Darling
6 93 Ray Christian III
7 46 Dylan Estrella
8 27 Wayne Helliwell Jr.
9 44P Rusty Poland
10 8B Angelo Belsito
11 90NH Casey Call
12 52NH Jake Matheson
13 29 Adam Gray
14 18 Jeff Fagan
15 2 Tom Scully Jr.
16 55 Cody LeBlanc
17 77 Jeremy Sorel
18 48G Larry Gelinas
19 3 Travis Buzzell
20 56 Evan Beaulieu
21 17MA Eddie MacDonald
22 88 Brandon Barker
23 82 Bobby Bailargeon
24 88 Kevin Casper
