Saturday afternoon’s New England Supermodified Series season finale came down to two of the discipline’s undisputed titans. But while the race between Jon McKennedy and Jeffrey Battle was not about the title, it had plenty of gravity for both of them.
McKennedy outgunned Battle in a five-lap duel to win the VoteReady.com 50, his third NESS win of the season in a limited campaign.
But Battle’s runner-up result was more than enough to clinch the young racer’s second consecutive NESS championship over P.J. Stergios and Dan Bowes.
The thirteen-race NESS schedule drew to a close at Lee USA Speedway’s Oktoberfest, marking the return of big-block Supermodified racing to the coastal New Hampshire oval’s traditional season finale. The 2026 season featured NESS’ debut at “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed” earlier in the year, with the track operated under a lease agreement with Maine’s Pro All Stars Series and Vermont’s American-Canadian Tour.
Battle, the Dunstable, Mass. wunderkind and Supermodified specialist, entered the day with a 47-point advantage over Stergios and 2023 champion Bowes in pursuit of a second NESS crown.
Having swept the season’s two races at Lee, including August’s Ollie Silva Mid-Summer Classic, Battle’s chances of capping a dominant season off with another win were strong.
Super Late Model ace Derek Griffith earned the pole and led early, looking for his first NESS victory since his 2022 series debut. Battle, starting sixth on a winner’s handicap, picked his way by traffic on an early green-flag run, catching and dispatching Griffith.
But tenth-place starter McKennedy, a four-time International Supermodified Association feature winner at Lee, needed just a bit more time than Battle to get to the front. With seven laps to go, McKennedy was in second and gaining on Battle at the front of the field.
McKennedy drew alongside Battle, and the two ran wheel-to-wheel for the final five laps before the Chelmsford, Mass. veteran inched ahead on the final lap, nipping his young rival by 0.218 seconds to take his eleventh career NESS victory.
Griffith held on for third, with Battle’s title rivals Stergios and Bowes in fourth and fifth. Veteran Russ Wood, who returned to racing earlier this year after a health scare, was sixth. Battle’s uncle Eddie Witkum, Jr., a veteran of 350 Supermodifieds and a former ISMA competitor, was seventh in his NESS debut. Tyler Thompson, Keith Morrill and Mark “Sparky” MacIver rounded out the top ten.
Saturday’s win is another feather in a heavily-laden cap for McKennedy, whose resume counts him among New England’s best open-wheel racers. In his part-time NESS campaign, McKennedy earned three wins, including his sixth Star Classic victory, a win that leaves him one short of tying Russ Wood for the most all-time. His eleven NESS wins are second among all drivers in the series’ five-year history despite never running a full season. Before NESS’ inception, McKennedy was an ISMA standout, with his current car following him from years of success for car owners Lee and Pam Vinal.
McKennedy’s exploits in Tour-type Modified racing almost need a cap of their own. The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour titlist was third in Tour points this year with three wins. McKennedy also runs full-time with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series, where his four wins have him atop the standings as he pursues a third championship.
Star Speedway, the Epping, N.H. bullring where McKennedy’s career took shape, is also home to Battle, who closed out his own career year. Dominant for years in Star’s 350 Supermodifieds, the division pioneered by his uncles and grandfathers in the 1990s, Battle won six races en route to last year’s NESS crown while competing full-time at Star and making select Tour-type Modified starts for Star owner, car owner, and future father-in-law Bobby Webber, Jr.
This year, Battle took a less-is-more approach, paring back his Tour-type and weekly itineraries to focus on the big-block car. The increased focus paid off with seven wins in 13 NESS starts, with no finishes worse than fourth en route to a second consecutive NESS championship. Battle also earned his first ISMA-sanctioned victory in August at Oswego Speedway, the renowned birthplace of Supermodified racing.
Battle wasn’t quite done with 350 Supermodifieds, either, jumping back into his old car and winning Star’s Dennis McKennedy Memorial 79, the race named for Jonathan’s late father. And last week at Thompson Speedway’s Sunoco World Series, Battle picked up his first career Tour-type win in a one-off start for car owner Gary Casella.
A decade and a half younger than the 39-year-old McKennedy, Battle is forging an open-wheel career in McKennedy’s image.
Amassing McKennedy’s statistics will be another story entirely.
Unofficial Results
New England Supermodified Series | VoteReady.com 50
Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H.
1. (79) Jonathan McKennedy
2. (14) Jeffrey Battle
3. (47) Derek Griffith
4. (41) P.J. Stergios
5. (25) Dan Bowes
6. (29) Russ Wood
7. (52) Eddie Witkum, Jr.
8. (11) Tyler Thompson
9. (29X) Keith Morrill
10. (22) Mark “Sparky” MacIver
11. (97) Matt Swanson
12. (4) Rich Eaton
13. (77) Mike Keddy
14. (53) Dave Duggan
15. (45) Mike Mayberry
16. (13) Bobby Timmons III
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