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Mike Hopkins Rebounds From Contact For Speedway 95 Checkers

Mike Hopkins Rebounds From Contact For Speedway 95 Checkers
By Jeff Brown, for Granite State Pro Stock Series
HERMON, ME. – For the second week in a row, a driver hailing from an “H” hometown visited his hometown victory lane with the Granite State Pro Stock Series.
This time, it was Mike Hopkins showing the way to the winner’s circle in Saturday night’s bout at Speedway 95, the first of two GSPSS events this summer in the state of Maine.
The Hermon, Maine, veteran racer took control after a lap-50 incident and outdueled Josh St. Clair to win his first GSPSS race in only his fourth start with the series.
St. Clair and Evan Beaulieu brought the field to the green flag, with Beaulieu taking the point early on. An early incident sidelined points leader Casey Call, giving Beaulieu renewed hopes of closing ground in the points battle. The championship hopeful set a quick pace out front, but fourth-place starter Hopkins steadily reeled him in.
With 50 laps on the scoreboard, Hopkins was looking for a way around Beaulieu when the two made contact, sending Beaulieu spinning and handing Hopkins the point.
Hopkins lined up at the tail of the field due to the contact, and wasted no time carving his way through traffic to get back to the front. St. Clair, who won last August’s GSPSS feature at Speedway 95, was angling for his second series win, but he had nothing for Hopkins in the closing laps.
With his win, Hopkins earned a long-awaited first touring win at his home track, despite finishing no worse than fifth in six starts dating back to 2016. Hopkins finished second and fourth in last year’s races.
St. Clair came up short of his second career GSPSS win. Reigning series champ Travis Benjamin, in his second start of the year, raced his way to third. Bryan Lancaster finished fourth, while Beaulieu fought back from his spin to round out the top five.
With Hopkins’ hometown win, a driver from Maine has won the last seven GSPSS contests in the Pine Tree State, dating back to 2017.
Next up for the Granite State Pro Stock Series is Friday night’s Clash on Calef 125 at Lee USA Speedway, the first of two visits this year to “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed.” Details on Friday night’s program will be released shortly.
For more information on the Granite State Pro Stock Series, visit www.gspss.net.
Results, GSPSS 125 @ Speedway 95:

1. (15) Mike Hopkins
2. (14) Josh St. Clair
3. (7) Travis Benjamin
4. (81) Bryan Lancaster
5. (56) Evan Beaulieu
6. (22) Ryan Deane
7. (01) Jet Decker
8. (28) J.R. Robinson
9. (32) Nick Jenkins
10. (50) Andy Shaw
11. (84) Jamie Wright
12. (95) Morgan Call
13. (75) Gary Smith
14. (90NH) Casey Call

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