Hopkins savors Speedway 95 GSPSS victory

Mike Hopkins has found plenty of success on the road, but despite having a short track only a short drive from home, the Super Late Model veteran had yet to win a touring race there.

That changed on one Saturday night.

Hopkins overcame a mid-race penalty and drove from the back to the front to win the fifth round of the Granite State Pro Stock Series season at Speedway 95, the historic oval in Hermon, Me.

Saturday’s showdown was the first of two visits to Speedway 95 as the series builds on last year’s addition to the schedule, an addition that returned touring late models to the track for the first time since 2019, when it was an annual stop on the Pro All Stars Series schedule.

And Hopkins had come close before. After two finishes just outside the top ten, the Hermon native had finished no worse than fifth in six starts dating back to 2016, including second- and fourth-place outings last year.

Hopkins rolled off fourth Saturday, with former GSPSS winner Josh St. Clair and Evan Beaulieu bringing the field to the green flag. Hopkins contended early, but it was Beaulieu who slipped into the lead, on the hunt for his first GSPSS win.

Beaulieu defended the point as Hopkins kept pressure on Beaulieu’s bumper. But on lap 50, Hopkins pressured a bit too much, unsettling Beaulieu’s car and sending him around from the lead. Hopkins vaulted over the nose of Beaulieu’s spinning car, dealing heavy damage to the former leader as the yellow waved.

Dealt a penalty for contact, Hopkins lined up at the tail of the field. But armed with a fast car, Hopkins was undeterred, carving through contact and avoiding others’ calamity to emerge out front at the end.

St. Clair, winner of one of last year’s Speedway 95 visits, was in the running to notch a second straight win at the track, but Hopkins powered past to take the win, his first at his hometown track.

St. Clair was second, with reigning GSPSS champion and Star Speedway winner Travis Benjamin third.

Bryan Lancaster wound up fourth, while Beaulieu bounced back from the lap-50 skirmish with a top-five finish.

Hopkins was contrite for the lap-50 contact in his post-race interview, but for Beaulieu, apologies only went so far.

“Got turned from the lead on lap 50,” Beaulieu posted on Facebook. “Gutted for my team. All I want to do is get them, my wife and my daughter in victory lane. We had a shot at that taken from us.”

In the big picture, though, Beaulieu scored a win of sorts. Points leader Casey Call had a challenging day at Speedway 95, sustaining pre-race damage in a practice spin. Those woes got worse barely 9 laps into the feature, when he spun off the track and backed into an earthen berm. The damage was terminal for Call, but worse, the car would need major repairs to be race-ready for Friday’s GSPSS race at Lee USA Speedway.

With Call’s strong start to the season – two runner-up finishes and two fourth-place runs – suddenly stifled, Beaulieu’s slow start has proven less damaging, especially with the Durham, Me. racer starting to find promise with back-to-back top-five finishes.

And with fellow full-timers Ryan Green and Cory Casagrande sitting out the long road trip, rescheduled from its original June date to dodge a conflict with a Pro All Stars Series doubleheader at Oxford Plains Speedway, Beaulieu has fewer drivers chasing from behind.

But all the drivers were chasing Hopkins, who became the fifth different winner in five GSPSS races this season, shutting the series’ full-time competitors out of the winner’s circle yet again.

For Hopkins, who chases trophies over titles, that’s simply par for the course.

Unofficial Results
Granite State Pro Stock Series GSPSS 125
Speedway 95, Hermon, Me.
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) JR 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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