THOMPSON, CONN. — It was a busy, but memorable, night at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Headlined by the inaugural Busch North Throwback 100, Saturdays festivities featured all the sights, sounds and excitement you’d expect from Northeast paved-oval racing. Stock cars, mini stocks, late models, modifides and more took over took over Thompson and gave fans plenty to cheer about.
Here’s a breakdown of Saturday night’s action:
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Busch North Throwback 100
K&N Pro Series East’s return to Thompson was the highlight of the night, and definitely lived up to the hype.
Chase Purdy, after setting a track record in qualifying, got out to an early lead. But it didn’t take long for Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland, whose names might ring some bells, to separate themselves.
Gilliland certainly gave Burton a run for his money. But in the end, it was the 16-year-old son of Jeff Burton who took victory at Thompson.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Mini Stock race (15 laps)
A late-race caution with two laps remaining nearly kept Wayne Burroughs Jr. out of victory lane.
The veteran driver maintained his lead after the restart on Lap 13, but ran into trouble along the back straightway, as contact with Eric Bourgeois almost sent the No. 20 to it’s demise. Burroughs recovered, though, and took the checkered.
Nate Taylor finished second, followed by Bourgeois in third.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Limited Sportsman race
Brent Gleason took the checkered flag, which was fitting.
The veteran driver will be the first to admit he hasn’t won many races, but when he does win, it’s usually a big race. That’s precisely what he did Saturday night in holding off Shawn Monahan and Scott Sundeen, who finished second and third, respectively.
Throwback night at Thompson certainly qualifies as a big stage, and Gleeson was understandably excited to visit victory lane.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model race
Matt Lowinski-Loh has visited victory lane at Thompson before. However, in his eyes, Saturday night’s checkered flag was the first one that counted.
Lowinski-Loh held off Brian Tagg and Glen Boss to win the Whelen late model race at Thompson, the driver’s first win at the track that didn’t come with caveat. His previous triumph at the oval resulted from the original race winner being disqualified.
As you might expected, this win was much sweeter.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Lite Modified race
By the end of this race, the real battle was for second place.
Glenn Korner coasted to victory at Thompson, finishing well ahead of Chris Viens in second and Glenn Griswold in third. It’s an especially sweet victory for Korner, who is a Canton, Conn. native.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Sunoco Modified race
Todd Owen, who hails from Somers, Conn., prevailed in an action-packed, 30-lap modified race.
Ted Christopher wasn’t far behind, as he trailed Owen by 0.279 seconds. Troy Talman rounded out the top three.
Thumbnail photo via NASCAR
