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Youth and Experience top Northern Modified Challenge Series entering Canaan

PHOTO: Jessey Mueller leads the Northern Modified Challenge Series standings entering Sunday's "Subway Fresh Fit 50" at Canaan Fair Speedway. (Alan Ward photo)

Teenager Mueller and veteran Gonyo sit 1-2 in standings

CANAAN, NH – An equal mix of youth and experience lead the all-new Northern Modified Challenge Series stock car tour to Canaan Fair Speedway on Sunday, August 11. Eighteen year-old Jessey Mueller has a small six-point advantage on Leon Gonyo – a veteran of five decades of racing – entering the Subway Fresh Fit 50. The event is round three of the five-race championship sanctioned by Devil’s Bowl Speedway management.

The Canaan event will be the first experience at the fast 1/3-mile New Hampshire oval for most of the Northern Modified Challenge Series drivers. Mueller, of Olmstedville, NY, has a history of success at new tracks; he won the NMCS opener at Thunder Road (VT) Speedbowl in his first start there in May and also won a special event in his first trip to Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway in 2012. Gonyo, of Chazy, NY has accumulated championships and dozens of victories at several tracks since the early 1970s.

The pair finished 1-2 in the first-ever NMCS race at Thunder Road on Memorial Day, and were second and third, respectively, behind winner Todd Stone of Middlebury, VT in the C.J. Richards Memorial at Devil’s Bowl Speedway last week. Mueller has 106 points to Gonyo’s 100 entering Canaan. Hunter Bates of Middlebury, VT is third with 92 points, Vince Quenneville, Jr., of Brandon, VT is fourth at 88 points, and Joe Williams of Scotia, NY sits fifth at 86 points. Stone’s Devil’s Bowl win moved him up to sixth place.

Other top drivers expected to join the championship leaders include two-time Devil’s Bowl champion Ron Proctor, Joey Roberts, who has won in Tiger Sportsman competition at Canaan, multi-time Airborne Park Speedway winner Adam Bartemy, up-and-coming drivers Jamie LaFountain, Cody Sargen, and Dave Snow, and several others.

In addition to being an NMCS championship event, the Canaan Fair Speedway event will award 50 bonus points for all participants toward the Devil’s Bowl Speedway title. In the interest of bringing outside competitors to the event, any Hoosier D400 or D500 compound tire will be permitted for use.

The Northern Modified Challenge Series race on Sunday, August 11 is part of a three-day weekend at the Canaan Fair Speedway complex, highlighted by the Subway Fresh Fit Late Model 150. Racing begins at 1:30pm. For event information, call (603) 523-4502 or visit www.canaanspeedways.com.

The Northern Modified Challenge Series is a five-race championship for dirt-style, center-seat, open-wheel Modified stock cars, with races at four tracks on both asphalt and dirt surfaces. The Northern Modified Challenge Series is sanctioned by Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT. For more information, call (802) 265-3112 or visit www.devilsbowlspeedwayvt.com. Follow the Northern Modified Challenge Series on Twitter at @NorthernModCS.

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