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By Jeff Brown, for Granite State Pro Stock Series
Rich Hayes Photo
Just as Spring is the season for fresh growth and green leaves, Saturday night’s Spring 100 at Star Speedway is all about fresh opportunities and the green flag for the Granite State Pro Stock Series 2024 season.
The Epping, N.H., bullring welcomes the GSPSS for the kickoff of its thirteenth full season of competition, with a mix of new and old faces squaring off for the first checkered flag of 2024.
A steady presence on the GSPSS schedule since its inception, the Seacoast quarter-mile has hosted nineteen rounds of racing for the series, with former series champions Derek Griffith, Joey Polewarczyk and Joey Doiron among those to claim victory at “The Place to Race.”
Leading the charge at this year’s lidlifter is reigning GSPSS champ Travis Benjamin. The decorated veteran from Belfast, Maine, won twice at Star last year en route to the crown, and a win Saturday would kick off Benjamin’s title defense in grand fashion.
New Hampshire’s Casey Call has seen both good and bad at Star, winning last July’s summer showdown but finding himself stuck on the sidelines for the green flag of last year’s opener. Call will try to repeat his winning ways while in search of the consistency to keep him in the running.
Speedway 95 winner Josh St. Clair and two-time series winner Wayne Helliwell, Jr. are also likely to be in the mix as they look to add to their own winning records.
Evan Beaulieu, meanwhile, will be looking to break out. After running most of the series’ races last year, Beaulieu plans to chase the championship this time around. The Durham, Maine, native, counts Star among his best tracks as he still seeks his first touring victory.
Also in the hunt for long-awaited first wins under the GSPSS banner are Maine’s Ryan Green, Connecticut’s Cory Casagrande, Vermont veteran Josh King and Mike Mitchell from Rhode Island.
Multi-time touring champion Andy Shaw will make his series debut this weekend, racing for winning car owner Dale Drew as he looks to add a GSPSS trophy to his case. Mainers Tiger Colby, Matt Dow and Miller Buzzell will be making their first GSPSS attempts as well. Bangor, Maine, veteran Gary Smith and Morgan Call will make the long trek to Epping, too.
Rounding out the early entries are Granite Staters Frankie Eldredge, a Lee USA Speedway veteran, and Dan Winter, who hopes to make his first GSPSS start since 2017 after shaking his car down in a preseason test last week.
From the seasoned veterans to the series newcomers, there are plenty of intriguing stories to follow as the GSPSS season takes shape. And it all comes together with Saturday night’s first hundred laps of door-to-door action.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series proudly returns to Star Speedway for the Spring 100, headlining a night of action that includes Star’s N.E. Concrete Foundations 350 Supermodifieds, Woody’s Auto Street Stocks, Six Shooters and Cruisers. Grandstands open at 3:00pm with heat races scheduled to start at 5:00pm. General admission tickets are just $22, Senior/Military admission is $20, Juniors are $15 and kids 10 and under are free.
For more information on the Granite State Pro Stock Series, visit www.gspss.net or find us on Facebook and Instagram.
