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Former Monadnock Speedway Regular Returns Home For $5,000 Prize
By Jeff Brown, for JDV Productions
PHOTO: Rob Branning/JDV Productions
Saturday night’s inaugural Winchester Open 100 might have been a new experience for fans and racers alike, but it ended with a familiar face in victory lane.
Monadnock Speedway graduate Matthew Kimball put his home-track expertise to work, besting a 24-car field to win the first-ever JDV Open Modified feature at the Winchester, N.H. bullring.
Kimball held off Carl Medeiros Jr. and Ryan Doucette to score one of the biggest wins of his Modified career thus far.
Inclement weather delayed the start of Saturday’s main event, but did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Kimball, who raced Mini Stocks at “Mad Dog” before making a career shift to Tour-type Modifieds. The Bennington, N.H. racer started from the pole, yielding to Monadnock veteran Todd Patnode on lap eight of the 100-circuit feature. Chris Pasteryak settled into third with Kirk Alexander fourth when a turn-three spin brought out the night’s first caution.
Patnode immediately ducked down pit road, handing the lead back to Kimball. Alexander and Sam Rameau charged into third on the restart, while Pasteryak’s hopes for a solid finish turned bleak when contact left the Connecticut racer sideways in turn two with 60 laps to go.
Rameau, who started 22nd, pounced on Kimball two restarts later to take the lead. Rameau set a fast pace, but Kimball was able to keep up, turning up the heat as slower traffic came into play. Early contender Alexander went for a backstretch spin with 17 laps left, though, eliminating the lapped-traffic wildcard and pitting Rameau against Kimball for the restart.
On the green flag, Rameau cleared Kimball for the lead, but Kimball loomed large in his mirror, tracing the curbs and keeping Rameau from building an advantage. With 11 laps left, Kimball dove inside on the backstretch, getting alongside Rameau in the turns and taking the lead back. Ryan Doucette threw his car to Rameau’s inside to steal second, upsetting Rameau and letting Kimball escape. Another bobble from Rameau slowed the field, with Medeiros charging from the high line to take second as the top five shuffled.
Kimball was hardly home free, as another spin with six laps left forced a late-race restart. But the youngster got the jump on Medeiros coming to the green, and as Doucette made a bid for second, Kimball was able to get away once again, coasting home to one of his biggest Modified wins yet and pocketing $5,000 for the evening.
Medeiros held on for a strong second-place finish, with Doucette third at the line. Richard Savary drove back from a late pit stop to finish fourth, while Pasteryak salvaged a fifth-place finish.
Leading into the Winchester Open 100, Tom Harwood won his second straight New England Dwarf Car Series feature only a week after capturing the checkers at Lee USA Speedway. Adrian Smith won the Young Guns feature, while Robert Hagar topped the NHSTRA Late Models feature and Chris Davis came away with a win in the Pure Stocks main event.
JDV Productions’ next scheduled event is the second annual Clash at Claremont on Saturday, July 29, featuring the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in their fourth-ever appearance at Claremont Motorsports Park in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley. Further information on this special event will be released in the coming weeks.
For more information on JDV Productions, visit JDVProductions.com and follow on social media for the latest updates throughout the season, including updates from the track on race day with feature winner posts.
RESULTS: WINCHESTER OPEN MODIFIED 100; MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY; JUNE 3, 2023
1. (43) Matthew Kimball
2. (50) Carl Medeiros, Jr.
3. (55) Ryan Doucette
4. (99) Richard Savary
5. (5CT) Chris Pasteryak
6. (02) Geoff Rollins
7. (1) Nathan Wenzel
8. (76) Kirk Alexander
9. (11X) Tyler Leary
10. (24) Todd Patnode
11. (04) Joey Jarvis
12. (17) Donnie Lashua
13. (95) Cory Plummer
14. (23) Bradley Zahensky
15. (13) Cameron Sontag
16. (06) Sam Rameau
17. (27) Derek Robbie
18. (02MA) Paul LaPlante
19. (99X) Kimberly Rivet
20. (7) Kurt Vigeant
21. (47) Jacob Perry
22. (51) Adam LaPoint
23. (24X) Cornelius Flynn
24. (30CT) Gary Byington
