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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.
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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. |
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Charter
Communications Night -
Once again Rained Out and now
Postponed to Thursday, August 27th |
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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 |
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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. |
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SPEED51 LINK HERE |
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Full Fender Frenzy - Sat.
July 11th
DEREK WINS THE PASS RACE
- Leads Every Lap -
-18th in CWES
after a wreck - |
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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. |
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18th in CWES
After Lap 64 Wreck |
| Follow
the race lap by lap at
localracing.nascar.com |
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| 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.
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FULL STORY AT COURANT.COM HERE |
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Thursday
Thunder - Thompson - 7/9
A Fifth for the #35 puts Derek
in the SLM Points Lead
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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.
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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
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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. |
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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. |
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Speedway 660 - New
Brunswick
Saturday, June 13th |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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