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SCHEDULERESULTS & PHOTOSDEREKTEAMSPONSORSCHAMPIONNEWSHISTORY

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2009 Results & Photos - 6/11/09 to 7/30/09


Derek's 2009
Schedule


Race Results
Directory for

2006, 2007,
200
8 & 2009
 

 


www.contactibp.com


(508) 347-2700

 

www.charter.com

1-800-Get-Charter


Thompson Discount

 


MOLD, Inc.
John Walker Jr.
(508) 949-2200
Webster, MA
Designers & Builders
of Blow Molds for
Plastics

 


Truck Service
and Towing

2 Boutelle Road
Sterling, MA  01564

978-422-0079

 

Ed McHugh'ss
West Boylston
Auto Parts


(508) 835-8865
 

 

 


RAMSTROM'S

SERVICE
CENTER

133 W. Boylston St.
Worcester, MA
01606
(508) 853-6606
RamstromsService
Center.com

 



Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/30
Derek Scores a 3rd
TRACK RACE REPORT: Norm Wrenn of Nashua, NH, led the closing laps of a suspenseful Super Late Model main event. George Bessette battled with pole sitter Jay Macedonio in the opening laps of the event to take the early lead. He had moved out to a sizable advantage as Ricky Fuller, Wrenn, Macedonio, Mike O’Sullivan and Derek Ramstrom jockeyed for position.

An incident involving Jeff Hartwell and Steve Desmarais brought out the first caution at lap 14. On the restart, Fuller was able to get the advantage over Bessette to take over the lead. Wrenn and O’Sullivan were also able to get by Bessette. The night turned from bad to worse for Bessette as contact with Ramstrom sent both cars pit side for service. Both were able to continue.

Two aborted attempts at a restart found Fuller on the receiving end of the black flag for starting before the designated area. The ensuing restart pitted O’Sullivan and Norm Wrenn on the front row. Before the battle could really develop, another quick caution flew for an incident involving Larry Gelinas and Les Rose.

Finally back under green, Wrenn motored out to the lead over O’Sullivan. But the show was Rick Fuller, who restarted 14th. He was inside the top-five and looking for more with five laps remaining. Wrenn and O’Sullivan went nose-to-tail. Fuller was pressuring Ramstrom for the third spot. On the final lap, Fuller had to settle back in line. In the end, Wrenn was able to score his first victory of the season over O’Sullivan. Ramstrom rebounded from his early race woes to finish on the podium. Fuller settled for fourth over the legendary Mike Stefanik, who took over driving duties from Jeff Zuidema in the #19.

PASS Summerfest 150 - Riverside - 7/25
13th at Groveton 
Involvement in two incidents during the Summerfest 150 produced a disappointing finish of 13th for Derek at the Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH.

A lot of action always takes place on the Groveton main straight. In the heat race, Derek, running on the inside, hit some of the bumps and pushed up into the #14m of Matt Fraham. (First two pix below.) The #35 rode up the side of the #14m and then had the #8 of eventual race winner Cassius Clark drive under the tail as all the cars tried to slow. The #53 of Allan Wilson went into the dirt bank on the inside of turn one. All involved escaped with just cosmetic damage and started the main race.

In the 150 feature that flew by in forty-three minutes with only two cautions, Derek was the second caution. Having moved up from 13th to 6th, Derek ran hard and high out of turn four and bounced off the main straight wall. As usually happens at Riverside, Derek wound up spinning over the top of the bank in turn one. The #35's battery didn't have enough power to crank the hot engine over so Derek fell one lap down before the yellow flew so he could be pushed off. With not much time left, Derek had no chance to pick up any postions or get on the lead lap with a lucky-dog free lap.

Johnny Clark holds onto the points lead with 1939 markers, and Adam Bates moves back into second with 1899. Ben Rowe is in third with 1888 with Derek just 1 point back in fourth with 1887.
     
     
     
   
Charter Communications Night -
Once again Rained Out and now
Postponed to Thursday, August 27th
 

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/16
Another Win for Derek
Photos by Scott and Trevor Nickel
TRACK RACE REPORT: Jeff Connors led the Super Late Models down to the green flag for the start of their 50-lap feature.  Rick Fuller, Derek Ramstrom,and Larry Gelinas were the top 4.  The battle for the fifth spot was between Jay Macedonio and Jim Banfield.  Macedonio took the spot.  Banfield  wasn’t going to let him get too far ahead as he fought back.  During this battle Norm Wrenn reeled them in.  Banfield took the fifth spot bringing Wrenn along for the ride. 

The top 3 of Connors, Fuller and Ramstrom had checked out on the rest of the field.  Gelinas was running by himself in fourth.  Banfield still held the fifth position.  On lap 16 ,Fuller went under Connors for the lead bringing Ramstrom with him.  Gelinas had managed to catch up to Connors.  It was now a 2 car battle for the lead and a two car battle for the third spot 

At the halfway mark it was Fuller, Ramstrom, Connors, Gelinas and Banfield in the top 5.  The field had settled into single file racing.  At lap 29 Ramstrom took a peek under Fuller.  A lap later he made the pass for the lead.  Fuller battled back under Ramstrom but the youngster held him off.  Ramstrom then opened up a sizeable lead. Mike O’Sullivan nosed his way under Wrenn trying to grab the sixth spot.  With ten laps to go this was the heaviest contested spot.  Gelinas was trying to make a move on Connors with 5 to go looking to grab the fourth spot.  With 2 to go O’Sullivan took the spot from Wrenn and set his sights on Banfield.   

Ramstrom took home his second consecutive race.  Connors held on by inches to take the second spot.   Connors, Gelinas and O’Sullivan rounded out the top 5.

9th at the PASS Bastille 200
-Moves into 2nd in PASS North Points-
After starting from 13th and battling into a what looked like a fantastic third place finish, Derek was turned around in a tangle with lapped cars racing the leaders even though they were three laps down. Derek got going to finish 9th, completing all 200 laps.

With Adam Bates #98 and Ben Rowe #4 running into trouble and posting 13th and 20th place finishes respectively, Derek moves into 2nd place in the
points standings behind reigning champ Johnny Clark.

Race Results HERE
One year ago, Derek Ramstrom was on track to win his first career PASS North race at Thompson International Speedway (CT). He started deep in the field and worked his way towards the front, but found himself bouncing off the walls instead of headed to victory lane as a result of some late race contact from another competitor.

Later in the summer, Ramstrom would become a winner in PASS, but it wasn't in front of his hometown crowd and the young racer still had some unfinished business at Thompson - where he wins regularly in the weekly Super Late Model ranks in his free time from traveling with PASS North.

So when the PASS North teams went back to Thompson for this year's race, the pressure was definitely on Ramstrom. He had revenge to execute and a gaggle of home track fans that he didn't want to disappoint.

Ramstrom delivered by leading every lap of the
PASS North feature on Saturday night and winning the race. For that, he has been voted as putting forth our Speed51.com Quarter Master Clutch Performance of the Week.
SPEED51 LINK HERE
Full Fender Frenzy - Sat. July 11th
DEREK WINS THE PASS RACE
- Leads Every Lap -
-18th in CWES after a wreck -
 
 
Derek Ramstrom Rumbles to PASS
Full Fender Frenzy Win at Thompson
PASS RACE REPORTS: Thompson CT (7/11/2009) Derek Ramstrom turned in a dominant performance to win Saturday night's Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Model Full Fender Frenzy 75 at Thompson International Speedway. Ramstrom took the lead on lap one and kept the field in his rear view mirror, leading from green to checker. Richie Dearborn continued his streak of top five finishes with a second place run and Johnny Clark finished third.

Heat race winners Jay Fogleman and Ramstrom brought the field to the green and Ramstrom quickly jumped out front over Travis Benjamin, Kelly Moore, DJ Shaw and Fogleman. The young man who calls Thompson his home track built up a ten car advantage by lap ten and looked dominant from the get go. The race stayed under green for better than fifty laps as Ramstrom continued his drive into the sunset, but the battle for second through fourth between Moore, Shaw and Dearborn heated up. Fogleman took the fifth spot away from Rowe on lap fifty three and set sail after the front four.

D.J. Shaw's great run ended abruptly in the turn three wall with an apparent flat right front tire. The first caution flag of the night brought Ramstrom back to the field, erasing a huge advantage. The caution remained out for a few additional laps when Fogleman's ride quit on the front stretch and the Durham North Carolina-based PASS South star was done for the evening. When the green flew it was Ramstrom and Moore with Dearborn and a resurgent Travis Benjamin in the first four spots. The caution lights came on a second time when Ben Rowe stopped at the top of turn two. Rowe pitted for a right front tire and returned to the speedway but the four time PASS North champ received a one lap penalty for stopping on the track to draw the yellow.

Ramstrom held the point on a wild three wide restart but the third and final caution came four laps later when series point leader Adam Bates pounded the turn three wall in a carbon copy of DJ Shaw's crash.

Ramstrom, Moore, Dearborn, Benjamin and Johnny Clark took the green on lap fifty-eight, and Ramstrom once again held sway but Dearborn, Clark and Benjamin all made their way around Moore.

Ramstrom continued to build on his advantage as Johnny Clark looked for a way around Richie Dearborn. Dearborn was able to pull away from Clark in the waning laps, but there was no challenging Ramstrom. The seventeen year old from just up the road in Worcester, Massachusetts earned his second career PASS super late model victory in convincing fashion.

Eight cars finished on the lead lap in a fast paced shoot out slowed three times for cautions. Ramstrom is the fifth winner in the seven PASS SLM races to date. Only Johnny Clark and Ben Rowe have visited victory lane twice as the season reaches the half way mark.

The Pro All Stars Series super late models get back on track in a hurry with a special Tuesday night July 14 appearance at Lee USA Speedway for the PASS Bastille 200. The PASS Mods return for race number two of the Twin State series, and Lee's own small block supermodifieds and Iron Man series will fill the bill. The racing goes green at 6:00 PM.
 
 

18th in CWES After Lap 64 Wreck
 Follow the race lap by lap at localracing.nascar.com
Photos by
NormMarx.com
Special Thanks to www.vandykbaler.com
Derek Ramstrom Looking To Make Camping World East Series Debut at Home Track on 7/11
By Shawn Courchesne - The Backstretch - curant.com on July 2
Derek Ramstrom will be a busy driver on July 11 at Thompson International Speedway.

In addition to competing in the 75-lap Pro All Stars Series North feature at Thompson that night, the 17-year old from West Boylston, Mass. will attempt to make his Camping World East Series debut.

Ramstrom will attempt to qualify for the 100-lap Camping World East Series event at Thompson in a car owned by Robert Torriere, who fields a car full-time in the division for former Sprint Cup Series star Steve Park.

Ramstrom competes full-time in the PASS North and also in the Super Late Model division at Thompson. With one victory this season, he sits second in the Super Late Model standings at Thompson, six points behind division leader Norm Wrenn. He is currently fourth in the PASS North Standings with four top-10's in six events this season.
FULL STORY AT COURANT.COM HERE

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/9
A Fifth for the #35 puts Derek
in the SLM Points Lead

TRACK RACE REPORT: Les Rose, Jr. of Southbridge, MA, scored his first win of the season in the Super Late Model division. Rose took over the top spot early and held back some stiff competition to score the win. Jay Macedonio jumped out to the early lead but relinquished the top spot to Rose on lap four.

During a long green flag run, Rose was enjoying a sizeable lead over Jeff Connors, who had taken over the second spot. The battle for the fourth position behind Macedonio was heating up between Jim Banfield, Rick Fuller, and Derek Ramstrom. The action was slowed when a number of front runners tangled on lap 13 including Larry Gelinas, George Bessette, and Norm Wrenn.  

At the halfway marker, Rose again had developed a comfortable margin over Connors, Macedonio, and now Fuller. Mike O’Sullivan had moved into the top five. Both Fuller and O’Sullivan made their way by a faltering Macedonio.

In the late stages of the event, Connors had caught Rose while Fuller and O’Sullivan were closing the distance. On the backstretch with three laps remaining, Connors made a bid for the lead; moving to the inside of Rose. Rose took evasive action with the two making significant contact. Connors barely missed a beat holding on to the second spot. O’Sullivan meanwhile was able to get by Fuller.

A spin by Macedonio gave Connors another shot at the leader. Rose rocketed out on the single file restart to maintain his lead. The #51 of Connors was not as strong as it had been earlier relinquishing the second spot to Sullivan. Four cars battled door-to-door and nose-to-nose for the third spot. At the checkers, it was Rose scoring the win over O’Sullivan. Fuller came out of the three-wide dash to the checkers with the third position followed by Connors and Ramstrom.

 POINT STANDINGS: With Derek scoring a fifth but Norm Wrenn winding up 13th after a wreck, Derek moves into first place in the standings with 276 to Wrenn's 266.


Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/2
RAINED OUT - REPLACED WITH A
NEW 7/9 EVENT!
Welcome Matthews Truck Service
The Ramstrom Racing Team is pleased to announce our newest sponsor, Matthews Truck Service and Towing located in Sterling, MA. Matthews specializes in road side repair and will travel anywhere in New England. Their number is 978-422-0079.

Owners John and Janice McJunkins are avid race fans and have been for many years. John has worked on race crews in the past at various race tracks around New England. Janice has many fond memories of watching the action at Thompson Speedway with her Dad.

Derek and the team welcomes Matthews Truck Service and we thank them very much for their support!

Beech Ridge Motors Speedway
Saturday, June 26th
10th after a Late Race Wreck
Derek and points leader Ben Rowe were caught up in a lap 143 multi-car wreck on the Beech Ridge back straight. Needing repairs, Derek headed the
#35 directly into the pits before the green flag at pit in was shown to indicate the pits were open. The #35 was therefore not scored for that lap and the #35 finished 149 laps and in 10th place.

Derek will hold onto 4th place in the points standings.
Jamie Williams Photos

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 6/24
Sure hope some of you were able to make it to the race on June 24th. If so, you know what a lot of fun we had. Derek's fan base seems to grow by the week, and last night it included a birthday party! A nice group of 10-year-olds donned Derek Ramstrom T-Shirts, ate pizza, soda & cake and enjoyed the evening watching Derek battle it out for a win.

If any of you would like more information on planning a party down at the track, please feel free to contact Cherie Dugan at cdugan61@msn.com or you can reply to this email and we will get you the information. The mom who planned the party said it was the best birthday party they'd ever had!

While first place eluded Derek, taking second wasn't too bad, and the show that the drivers put on was really entertaining.

Track Race Report: George Bessette took the early lead from Jeff Zuidema. He had his hands full with the likes of Ramstrom and Mike O’Sullivan. As quickly as he took the lead, the #15 dropped off the pace; relinquishing his lead to Ramstrom just after halfway. Bessette was not able to continue.

On the restart at lap 15, O’Sullivan used the outside groove to take the lead away from Ramstrom. A pile-up involving a number of cars slowed the pace once again. Back under green, O’Sullivan continued to show the way over Ramstrom. Larry Gelinas was able to take the third spot away from Norm Wrenn.

With only a handful of laps remaining, the race was far from decided as Ramstrom began to apply heavy pressure to O’Sullivan. Wrenn was battling back while Rick Fuller made it a three-car battle for the third position.

On the final lap there was contact between the top two but neither missed a beat. At the checkers, O’Sullivan was able to edge out Ramstrom for his first win of the season. Ramstrom finished a strong second followed by Gelinas, Wrenn, and Fuller.

Points Chase: Derek stands in 2nd with 234 points to Norm Wrenn's leading total of 240.
Speedway 660 - New Brunswick
Saturday, June 13th
DEREK 13th after Damage
A solid run to a second place in Heat #1 gave Derek and outside second starting spot for the 200 lap feature. The race was broken into two 100 lap segments with a 10 minute tire change (two only) and refueling break in the middle. Derek dropped a few spots in the first half and was looking for a few chassis changes to pick up some speed.

But just four laps into the second segment, with all 22 SLMs in a tight bunch, Derek tangled with the #8 of Cassius Clark and spun in front of everyone at the start of the back stretch. Multiple impacts did a lot of body damage and some suspension damage to the #35. About eight cars were left scattered with damage all over the track. After driving away from the scene of the wreck, Derek headed for the pits at the next caution. A broken front sway bar couldn't be fixed so Derek struggled on off the pace. The #35 wound up scoring 198 completed laps for a 13th place finish.
West Boylston Public School Night
at Thompson on Thursday, June 11th
- Jared Peterson Wins a Ride with Derek
- 4th for Derek before Rain Halts the Program
Mother Nature was somewhat cooperative for West Boylston Public School Night at Thompson Speedway. We managed to get two features in but the sky opened up 10 laps into the Late Model 50 lap race bringing a halt to the racing.

Thompson Speedway offered tickets to any student, parent, faculty member or school employee to watch West Boylston Jr. Derek Ramstrom race his #35 Super Late Model. Many students, classmates and friends of Derek made it to watch him race. The threatening skies kept quite a few people from venturing out but the team was delighted with the turn out. The team held a raffle to win a "ride along" with Derek. This would be in a specially designed two-seater race car, courtesy of Ken Bouchard Driving School. Jared Peterson, also a Junior at West Boylston was the lucky winner.

Jared was issued a pit pass upon arriving at the speedway. Jared was escorted to the pit area and was promptly whisked away in a golf cart. He was given a driver's suit, a helmet and was strapped into the car. Following the heat races Derek rolled the car out on the backstretch. Derek went slowly for about a 1/4 lap at which point it was evident he was going to give Jared a ride. Derek hit the throttle giving Jared a little scare going into turn 1. It was hard to tell who was enjoying it more, Derek or Jared but it looked like Derek had no intention of coming off the track until the flagman put on the yellow lights on. The car stop at the start/finish line and the boys had an interview with Russ Dowd. Jared said "it was a pretty amazing ride" and said "it was awesome, I can't even describe it".

The Super Late Models were the second division to take the track. Derek started deep in the field and got caught up in a wreck on lap 2. As a result of being involved in the wreck the #35 had to go to the rear of the field. Derek wasted no time trying to get back to the front of the field. Derek was in the top 5 by lap 19, desperately trying to get the lead with only 11 laps to go. Derek once again got caught in a wreck, fortunately causing no damage but once again relegating him to the rear of the field. Once again the green flew and Derek fought hard and came back to top five yet again. A spin on the final lap by Fuller gave Derek the extra spot, giving him a well deserved fourth place.

Derek and the entire Ramstrom Racing Team would like to thank his friends and fans who turned out to watch him race. If you saved the "rain check" part of your ticket stub you can turn it in at any future race at Thompson for face value. The event was called for rain following the Super Late Model race. The team appreciates your support and we hope to see you all at his future races. We also want to thank the staff at Thompson Speedway for making the evening possible.
Thompson Website Race Story: The night started out with a special event. Derek Ramstrom driver of the #35 Super Late Model has been racing here at Thompson since before he was licensed to drive on the street. He is a junior at West Boylston High School in West Boylston, MA. Many of his friends have never seen him race; tonight they got the chance.

To make it extra special there was a drawing held at the school and the winner was Jared Peterson. By winning the drawing, he got lucky enough to get a ride-along in a modified provided by the Ken Bouchard Driving School with Derek driving. When track announcer Russ Dowd asked what Jared thought he said,” It was a pretty amazing ride.” He said he wasn’t nervous but anxious while waiting to get out on the track- “it was awesome I can’t even describe it.”

The Race - Derek comes back through the field twice to a 4th: The Super Late Models had a hard time getting started as there was a multi-car wreck going into turn 2 on the first lap. Involved were George Bessette, Jay Macedonio, and Derek Ramstrom just to name a few. Marc Curtis took the worst of it as his car was towed off the track. Larry Gelinas was the new driver of the Rolly Lindblad #48; he was also collected in the crash but continued on.

Jim Banfield led the field down to the green on the restart with Steve Desmarais outside him. Desmarais took the lead to complete lap 1. George Bessette came along for the ride into third with Norm Wrenn and Jeff Zuidema rounding out the top five.

Mike O’Sullivan was putting pressure on Zuidema in fifth looking low lap after lap. Ramstrom was also on a mission picking off cars on his charge back towards the front. The leader, Desmarais, was being shown the black flag for leaking fluids giving the lead to Banfield. The yellow flew on lap 15 as Mike Rivard hit the wall on the front stretch.

Banfield and Bessette brought the field back to the green with Bessette taking the lead. Norm Wrenn and Jeff Zuidema were battling for third. O’Sullivan and Dave Silvia were also looking to make some moves. O’Sullivan got past Zuidema on lap 18. Ramstrom got by 2 cars on lap 19 to bring him into the top 5.

The yellow flew again for an incident with Les Rose and Jeff Hartwell. Zuidema brought his car onto pit road for some attention by his crew during this yellow. Gelinas pulled his car behind the wall in his debut in the 48 car.

On the restart George Bessette had to battle with Wrenn for the lead. Wrenn got into Bessette sending him around. Ramstrom was once again involved as well as Jay Macedonio. Wrenn again brought the field to the green. Banfield was holding strong in second. Rick Fuller was in third. The yellow flew again on lap 21 for a spin by Mike O’Sullivan

Wrenn again took the lead on the restart. Silvia was now moving up taking fourth and looking under Fuller. Les Rose was trying to muscle his way past Silvia. He settled back in line and now had pressure from behind from Bessette. Ramstrom now was battling past Bessette and set his sights on Rose. He took the spot on lap 26.

Coming down to get the white flag Fuller and Silvia were battling hard for the lead. Fuller spun giving the spot to Silvia. Norm Wrenn took down his third win of the season. Banfield held on to finish second followed by Silvia, Ramstrom and Rose.
 West Boylston Public School Night
at Thompson on Thursday, June 11th
Thompson Speedway in Thompson Ct. is proud to be a part of West Boylston Public School night featuring West Boylston High junior Derek Ramstrom. Thompson Speedway is giving every student in the West Boylston School System a free general admission ticket to watch Super Late Model driver Derek Ramstrom on Thursday, June 11th. There will be a special section in the grand stands for Derek's fans to watch the race. Thompson Speedway is located just twenty minutes from West Boylston, just outside of Webster.

Goodale Park - June 3rd - Autographs & Race Car Ride Raffle
Derek will be signing autographs at Goodale Park in West Boylston (at the corner of Goodale and Crescent Streets) on Wednesday, June 3rd from 2 to 4 pm. Also at the event will be the #35 race car, the Thompson Speedway Pace Car, and some of the pit crew.

The Ramstrom Racing Team will be selling raffle tickets, with the proceeds being donated to the West Boylston School System. The lucky winner will get to ride with Derek for a couple of laps the evening of the race. Derek will be driving a specially designed two seater race car courtesy of Ken Bouchard.

We will be giving the free tickets and selling the raffle tickets on June 3rd. We will also have #35 stickers and T shirts on sale at that time. Raffle tickets will be available at West Boylston Auto Parts on Rt. 12 as well.

If you have any questions please call Cherie at 774-696-1993.

For more information or directions to Thompson Speedway please visit www.thompsonspeedway.com.
Previous Race Results, Stories & Photos HERE