Doiron claims Lee’s $30,000 North American Pro Stock Nationals

Faced with a rainout and two races booked on the same day, Joey Doiron was forced to make a choice. He chose to stay right where he was.

And Doiron’s decision paid off.

The two-time Granite State Pro Stock Series champion from Berwick, Me. fended off Eddie MacDonald and Derek Griffith in the closing laps to claim Lee USA Speedway’s inaugural $30,000-to-win North American Pro Stock Nationals.

Joey Doiron shares Lee’s victory lane with third-place Derek Griffith and runner-up Eddie MacDonald. (STS/Jeff Brown)

“We didn’t have the best year last year,” Doiron said in victory lane. “I thought we’d win a few races, and we kind of struggled. But Peter [Petit] didn’t give up on me, and here we are.”

Sunday night’s main event capped off Lee’s opening weekend, albeit a night later than intended. A wet Saturday forecast forced the track to consider options, and while all local police details were spoken for by a local college graduation, arrangements came together Saturday morning to allow the track to run Sunday instead.

That put the race in direct conflict with a Pro All Stars Series show an hour and a half away. Johnny Clark and Jeremy Davis withdrew and loaded up to head north for the PASS race.

Doiron, with PASS and GSPSS victories at Lee as well as a win in the 2022 Freedom 300, decided to stay put at one of his best tracks.

Qualifying, though, told a different story at first. Derek Griffith eclipsed the field in time trials, while Doiron’s best lap was only good enough for 23rd. Relegated to a 13-car consi to make the starting grid, Doiron wasted little time getting to the front, leading Corey Bubar and veteran Mike Rowe to the checkers.

Promoter Ben Bosowski added a dash of drama as the cars assembled on the frontstretch for the feature, offering a $10,000 bonus if a top qualifier would forfeit their starting position and go on to win. Griffith and outside polesitter Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. declined the challenge. Third-place starter Nick Cusack accepted, filing in at the tail of the 28-car field under pace laps.

But Cusack would have to make moves quickly. From the drop of the green, Griffith was in clear command, and as the field settled into a rhythm early, there were no incidents to slow his pace. Renfrew held steady in second as Griffith shuffled lapped cars behind him to maintain his advantage. Cusack finally broke into the top twenty, but not before Griffith slipped past to put him a lap down a quarter of the way through.

Griffith leads Renfrew in the early laps of the Pro Stock Nationals. Griffith led the first 125-lap segment without facing a serious threat. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Griffith kept up the torrid pace out front as Renfrew, racing a Hamke chassis from his exploits down south, faded from view. By lap 80, Mainers Max Cookson and Mike Hopkins had moved to second and third, with former Lee GSPSS winner Casey Call in hot pursuit.

Nick Cusack worked over traffic early, but still went a lap down to the leaders in the early stages, making his $10,000 gamble all for naught. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Doiron, meanwhile, had quietly worked forward from 20th at the start to the edge of the top ten. And as the leaders contended with slower cars, Doiron masterfully picked his way through on the inside, climbing to fifth at the halfway point. Only a few laps later, Doiron slipped past Hopkins and Cookson to take second.

Griffith, who was struggling to put Garrett Hall a lap behind, was still in control, but Doiron’s long-distance pace was clear.

The long-distance element evaporated on lap 125 with a scheduled competition caution, the first yellow flag of the night. After four-tire pit stops for all, Griffith and Doiron lined up first and second for the restart, with Hopkins, Cookson and Eddie MacDonald rounding out the top five.

Griffith took control on the restart, but even as the Hudson, N.H. phenom closed on slower traffic, Doiron was shaving tenths from his advantage. Behind them, MacDonald was putting his home-track prowess to work, picking off Hopkins and Cookson for third. With MacDonald in pursuit, Doiron turned up the heat, testing Griffith for weaknesses with forty laps left on the scoreboard.

“Dynamite” Dave Dion, a New England racing legend, was tapped as the event’s grand marshal and threw the green flag to kick off the 200-lap feature. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Doiron had drawn even with Griffith when Angelo Belsito skidded off turn two and onto the apron, bringing out the race’s second caution and the first for an incident. Griffith took the inside line for the restart, forcing Doiron to the outside. The arrangement surely brought back memories for both drivers; on a late restart at Lee last July, Doiron chose the outside line to defend the lead, only to slip on the restart, with Griffith going on to win.

This time, Doiron kept his momentum, filing in behind Griffith with just over thirty laps to go. For ten laps, Doiron stalked Griffith, waiting for the ace driver to slip.

On lap 176, Griffith left the inside open.

Doiron pounced, filling the hole as Griffith clung to the outside line. For four laps, the two ran door-to-door, never touching, never forcing the issue, as Doiron gradually inched ahead. At last, Doiron cleared Griffith for the lead, pulling away and leaving Griffith in the clutches of a red-hot MacDonald.

Despite leading only the final 20 laps, Doiron coasted home to the inaugural North American Pro Stock Nationals victory, his first win since joining Petit Motorsports last year.

“We did Ben’s back-of-the-pack challenge for free tonight,” Doiron told the crowd. “We did terrible in qualifying. I don’t know why we can’t qualify here. But I said during the consi, like halfway through it, that this is probably the best car I’ve ever had here.

“Honestly, I feel like we do better coming from the rear. We came from last to second, to lead the [Oxford] 250 with 25 to go last year. And today, twenty-first to win.”

Doiron and Griffith battle for the lead as MacDonald closes the gap in third. (STS/Jeff Brown)

MacDonald, the winner of April’s PASS Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, came up just short of his first Super Late Model win at the track his family operated for many years. Griffith finished a close third, fading in the final laps, but was one of the first to congratulate Doiron at his car.

Hopkins ended the evening in fourth, while reigning PASS champion Cookson was fifth.

Joey Polewarczyk drove a smart race to finish sixth. Bubar, the consi runner-up and winner of last October’s Bosowski Properties 150, found his way to seventh by the finish. Garrett Hall, after clinging to the lead lap in the first segment of the race, soldiered home eighth. Early frontrunner Casey Call faded to ninth in the second half, while Bryan Kruczek rounded out the top ten.

Cusack, after falling a lap down early, persevered for a 14th-place finish, earning a few extra dollars for his boldness in accepting the pre-race challenge.

MacDonald stole second in the closing laps, but had little time to run down Doiron for a shot at the win. (STS/Jeff Brown)

But the lion’s share of the spoils went to Doiron and his team.

“It’s the most money I’ve ever won,” he said. “We won about $18,000 in Canada about ten years ago, and thirty [thousand] today. I told Peter this winter when they announced this race and the big one up in Oxford, that if we have a chance, these are our best tracks. Hopefully we can get one of ‘em.

“We’re one for one. We’ll go in July and hopefully we can get another one.”

The “big one up in Oxford” is July’s All That’s Metal Celebration of America 300, PASS’ own star-studded $30,000-to-win event and a summer prelude to August’s $25,000-to-win Oxford 250.

But to clinch Sunday’s jackpot, Doiron had to miss the third PASS race of the young season, likely taking him out of the title race. It was a decision no racer wants to make.

“I like racing at Lee,” he said. “We came here Friday, spent all the money to be here. You know, we spent three or four grand to be here this weekend. It’s the way it worked out.

“It sucks, because White Mountain is one of my favorite tracks that we go to, it’s one of our better tracks, and Peter really wants to win a race there, and honestly, we probably could have won today at White Mountain. We came here Friday, we planned on being here [Saturday], and then going to White Mountain with the other car. It’s the way it goes sometimes. It just…”

Doiron shares the win with his family. (STS/Jeff Brown)

He paused, pondering the long season ahead. “We’ll see how the rest of the year goes. We’ll hit all the PASS races probably the rest of the year, and see how it shakes out. I mean, now we’re racing for wins.”

And racing for wins is easier with a $30,000 windfall. In the blue-collar New England racing world, a big purse is not play money; it’s operating cash.

“Peter’s gonna put it back in the race team,” Doiron said. “That’s all you can ask as a driver. I don’t do this to get paid or anything, I just do it because I love to race. Peter loves to race. Listen, we’re going to go to the race track and lose money way more than we’re going to go and win it. We’ll just, you know, put it back in the race team, get some extra tires here in the next couple weeks.”

Many thought the $30,000 purse would draw attention from well outside New England. And while it did attract a handful of entries from abroad, few made good on their entries. Brian Sones and Dennis Wenner hauled from Pennsylvania, with Sones making the grid on a promoter’s option. Bubba Pollard was an early entry, but bowed out without a car and engine to race. Two-time Oxford 250 winner Cole Butcher was another early entrant, but the Canadian also bowed out.

Saturday’s washout trimmed at least two more cars from the entry list, with only 33 of the 47 cars entered taking time in qualifying.

However, those who raced put on a clean show, a rarity in big-payout events. Only one incident merited a caution flag in a 200-lap race on a track known to be abusive to tires on a long run.

Doiron was not quite able to stay incident-free Sunday evening, though. In victory lane, two bottles of sparkling cider were provided for a post-race champagne spray. Doiron and his crew struggled with the bottles’ crimped caps. At last, Doiron opted for an improvised solution, one that indeed opened the bottle, at the cost of a nasty cut on his left hand.

Not that Doiron was actually out of his element.

“We used to go to Quebec and race all the time,” he said after the race. “I always used to finish on the podium at Vallée-Jonction and we used to spray champagne all the time.

“But those had corks.”

Unofficial Results
Inaugural North American Pro Stock Nationals
Lee USA Speedway

1. (73D) Joey Doiron
2. (17MA) Eddie MacDonald
3. (12G) Derek Griffith
4. (15) Mike Hopkins
5. (39) Max Cookson
6. (97NH) Joey Polewarczyk
7. (12X) Corey Bubar
8. (94) Garrett Hall
9. (90NH) Casey Call
10. (5) Bryan Kruczek
11. (7CT) Cory Casagrande
12. (00) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
13. (72) Ryan Kuhn
14. (2) Nick Cusack
15. (93) Ryan Green
16. (58VT) Jimmy Hebert
17. (32) Brandon Barker
18. (8) Angelo Belsito
19. (14) Josh St. Clair
20. (27NH) Wayne Helliwell, Jr.
21. (99) Charlie Buxton
22. (56) Evan Beaulieu
23. (81) Dan Winter
24. (24) Mike Rowe
25. (23) Dave Farrington, Jr.
26. (04) TJ Watson
27. (82) Bobby Baillargeon
28. (1) Brian Sones

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