Shaw Sails to Victory in Inaugural GSPSS Race at Wiscasset

The Granite State Pro Stock Series inaugural race at Wiscasset Speedway started Saturday afternoon with two practice sessions and autographs in the evening. The practice sessions on Saturday saw series regulars Derek Griffith of Hudson, NH, and Mike O’Sullivan of Springfield, MA clocking laps at 15.1 seconds. However, on Sunday this changed with Maine drivers Andy Saunders of Elsworth, ME, Jacob Dore of Sanford ME, and Scott Chubbuck of Bowdoin, ME achieving those times. The mix of experienced versus inexperienced drivers made for some interesting racing.

The first two heats of the afternoon were relatively clean and had some good racing. Heat three however saw some action as Mike O’Sullivan, Brandon Sprague of Edgecomb, ME, and John Rideout of Washington, ME went three wide into turn one and Rideout made contact with the wall, bringing out the red flag. The ensuing laps saw a battle in the front between DJ Shaw of Center Conway, NH and Jeremy Davis of Tamworth, NH. On the last lap Davis was sideways and managed to save it to hold off Shaw for the heat win.

The feature saw Griffith and Saunders pace the 27 car field. Saunders pulled out to an early lead and held that lead for the first 16 laps of the race until Shaw took the lead for the first time in the feature. Lap 25 saw the first caution of the night when Travis Dunbar of Auburn, ME spun in turn two. The restart saw Shaw retake the lead from Saunders until the caution flag waved again on lap 27 for Dillon Moltz of Waterford, CT. After the restart Mike O’Sullivan fell off the pace and pulled into the pit on lap 33.

Shaw kept the lead until lap 50 when Griffith took the lead after chasing Shaw down amongst lap cars. Shaw took the lead again seven laps later and held it for the remainder of the race. Glenn Martel brought the final caution on lap 73 as he went into the turn four tire barrier. This left 25 laps for Tracy Gordon of Strong, ME to chase down Shaw to catch the win. Unfortunately for Gordon by the end of the race Shaw had a strong lead and lap cars protecting him as he crossed the finish line. Derek Griffith crossed the line third rounding out the top three.

Saturday, September 10th the Granite State Pro Stock Series will be at Star Speedway in Epping, NH for the NH Star Classic. For more information follow the Granite State Pro Stock Series on Facebook or at www.gspss.net

Unofficial Finish

1 60 DJ Shaw

2 41 Tracy Gordon

3 12 Derek Griffith

4 01 Andy Saunders

5 05D Jacob Dore

6 51 John Peters

7 15H Nick Hinkley

8 29 Barry Gray

9 09 Jeremy Davis

10 2 Nicholas Cusack

11 5 Dillon Moltz