Thompson, CT — A partly cloudy day was had at Thompson Speedway’s Saturday opener to the 50th Icebreaker weekend with plenty of rain to darken the spirits on an exciting opening day schedule of events. The crew at Thompson Speedway kept the track dry enough to get in full feature events for both the Thompson Street Stocks and the PASS Super Late Models but the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series was a casualty to the rain and will be postponed to the Friday of World Series weekend on October 11.

Following qualifying for all divisions originally scheduled for Saturday’s festivities, the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models took the field. After taking the victory lap in their respective heat race qualifiers, New Hampshire drivers D.J. Shaw and Wayne Helliwell, Jr. led the field to green. An early caution for a back-field squabble in turn three saw Massachusetts’ hot-shoe Eddie MacDonald chase down early leader Shaw and, after battling side-by-side, took over the lead before a lap 39 rain delay.

Two restarts led to two spirited battles between Shaw and MacDonald with ‘The Outlaw’ taking charge but facing a mirror full of Derek Griffith. With fifteen laps remaining Griffith began to show his hand, growing ever closer to MacDonald while maintaining a safe distance, poised to pounce as laps wound down. While a second and third rain delay dashed Griffith’s original chase, the Hudson, New Hampshire native powered by MacDonald on the final restart to claim the Icebreaker gold over Shaw and MacDonald.

The Street Stocks started the 2024 Thompson Speedway track championship chase on Saturday with a three-wide start in their 25-lap feature event. Multi-time Waterford Speedbowl champion Al Stone III took advantage of a slip-up for ‘Leadfoot’ Larry Barnett to take the lead and growing it ahead of 2023 title contenders Corey Fanning and Ryan Waterman. A short rain delay re-racked the field with Stone and Waterman battling as Aaron Plemons took over third from Fanning.

While Stone quickly reasserted his dominance, a spinning Austin Flannagin in turn two brought out the final caution to set up an eight-lap fight to the finish. Waterman gave it all he had left in the tank on the final restart but Al Stone III took charge on the outside lane and rim rode the Thompson highbanks to the Icebreaker victory! Aaron Plemons followed Stone and Ryan Waterman to round out the top three.

The inaugural event for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series fought the on-again, off-again rain clouds all day long, much to everyone’s dismay. Matt Hirschman, Ronnie Williams and Anthony Nocella were able to claim heat race qualifying wins but constant rain and inability to dry the track after sunset pushed both track and Monaco Modified series officials to postpone the Constantine Paving & Sealing 75 to headline Friday, October 11; The opening day of Sunoco World Series weekend.

Kevin Moore and Dave Trudeau split the Mini Stock heat wins on Saturday while Jon Puleo won the first race, a qualifying heat, for the new Sunoco 604 Modified class. The Mini Stock feature will be run tomorrow, Sunday, April 7 and the Sunoco 604 Modifieds will run both their Saturday make-up and the originally scheduled Sunday event. The Evolve Bank & Mortgage Pro Truck Series will not run a make-up event on Sunday, plans for their make-up will be announced in the near future.

Tomorrow, Sunday April 7, brings the return of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to Icebreaker weekend alongside double features for the Sunoco 604 Modifieds and feature events for Thompson Late Models, the AZ Roofing SK Light Modifieds and the Mini Stocks. The revised Icebreaker Sunday schedule will be posted on the website soon.

For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.

For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact passracing@roadrunner.com or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don't forget to "Like" the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.

For general Thompson Speedway inquiries, call (860) 923-2280, email oval@thompsonspeedway.com, or visit www.thompsonspeedway.com. You can follow Thompson Speedway on Facebook and Instagram at @ThompsonSpeedway or on Twitter at @ThompsonSpdwy.

50th Icebreaker – Day One

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Saturday, April 6, 2024

UNOFFICAL RESULTS

Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models – Icebreaker 75 (75 Laps)

1. 12G Derek Griffith Hudson, NH

2. 60 D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH

3. 17MA Eddie MacDonald Rowley, MA

4. 27NH Wayne Helliwell, Jr. Dover, NH

5. 72 Ryan Kuhn E. Bridgewater, MA

6. 94 Garrett Hall Scarborough, ME

7. 54 Johnny Clark Hallowell, ME