Racin’ With Jason: Youth movement continues

Two of Franklin County’s youngest drivers visited Victory Lane last Saturday at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H.

J.D. Stockwell, 15, of Turners Falls, earned his second victory of the season in the Pure Stock division, while 11-year-old Owen Zilinski of Gill triumphed for the third time in the Young Guns class.

The headliner of the night was the NHSTRA Modified class’ Apex Racing Firecracker 100, which was won in dominant fashion by Matt Kimball. The Bennington, N.H. driver, who posted the fastest time in qualifying, grabbed the lead on lap 18 and never looked back. By staying out front, Kimball avoided calamity behind him, as he was the only one in the 17-car field not involved in one of the six yellow and three red flags. Hatfield’s Tyler Leary recovered from a lap-58 incident to finish second. Deerfield’s Ben Byrne was 13th.

In the Pure Stock race, Stockwell took the lead from Zach Zilinski of Gill on lap eight and held on to win. Zilinski had a podium finish in his sights until a multi-car incident on lap 24 of 25 shuffled the field. Chris Davis and Kyle Robinson Newell, who sat atop the division points standings entering the night, finished 13th and 11th, respectively, which allowed Stockwell to pass Davis and wind up tied with Robinson Newell for first.

Zilinski finished 12th after the incident. Northfield’s Mike Douglas and Millers Falls’ Dominick Stafford were seventh and eighth, respectively, and Greenfield’s Jimmy Zellmann was 16th.

Orange’s Littlewood brothers, Justin and Cole, finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Late Model Sportsman feature, which was won by Ryan Currier.

Holyoke’s Tim Wenzel prevailed in the Street Stock class, while Gordon Farnum was again a winner in the Mini Stock class. Orange’s Kevin McKnight was sixth.

Monadnock hosts a six-division NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series event Saturday, which will also include a race from the New England Dwarf Car Series.

For fans of two-wheeled racing, the best motocross riders around are coming to western Massachusetts on Saturday for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship’s Southwick National at The Wick 338 in Southwick. Eli Tomac will be the one to beat in the 450 Class.

I will be on vacation next week, so I won’t be able to preview the NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. The event features NASCAR Xfinity Series and Whelen Modified Tour races on Saturday, July 16, followed by the NASCAR Cup Series’ Ambetter 301 on Sunday, July 17. Tickets can be purchased at nhms.com.

Jason Remillard is a copy editor and page designer at the Recorder. He can be reached at jremillard@recorder.com and followed on Twitter @racinwithjason.