Courtesy photo Angelo Belsito is all smiles in victory lane after winning the recent Gate City Classic at Hudson Speedway.

HUDSON – Angelo Belsito finally sealed the deal in the recently held Gate City Classic at Hudson International Speedway.

The Auburn, Mass. driver had lead many laps and contended for the win in both of the first two Granite State Pro Stock Series races of 2020, only to watch victory slip away.

Belsito was good in practice, good in his heat race and dominant over the last two thirds of the feature event but victory was not easy. The Crazy Horse Racing fast time challenge was removed from the schedule as time was tight due to local regulations so Cory Casagrande’s track record survives for another year. As a result heat races would be lined up based on each drivers fast lap in the second practice session.

Belsito would start second in his heat race and finish in the same position after a spirited battle with defending series champion Joey Doiron. Doiron would end up victorious and the top three from each heat would go to the redraw.

For the second race in a row the redraw would be where Belsito would struggle as he pulled the worst number possible, nine.

Winner of the last three series events, Ray Christian III, and local Wayne Helliwell, Jr. joined Doiron as heat race winners. Christian’s crew chief Mickey Greenpull starting position number one while Helliwell would do just one spot better than Belsito starting in eighth and Doiron would pull five.

Early in the going Christian and Doiron seemed to be the drivers to beat as they battled through several restarts and traded the lead back and forth until Belsito arrived on the scene. He would take the lead on a restart and never truly be challenged.

“The team gave me a great car,” Belsito said in victory lane. “I was really just pacing myself once I got the lead and trying to save the car.

“We’ve had a couple of things cost us the win in the first two races but today we were able to put it all together.”

Christian wound up in second, his worst finish of the year.

“Its a good day when we can be disappointed in second,” Christian said. “The car was really good we just didn’t have quite enough for Angelo.”

Polewarczyk held on to finish third, tying his best series finish of the season. “That’s sort of the story of our season”, said the Hudson native. “It was a good day we just didn’t have what we needed for the front two”.

Wayne Helliwell, Jr. finished the day in the fourth spot while 2018 champion Devin O’Connell rounded out the top five.

Gabe Brown raced on the tight quarter mile track for the first time and finish a solid sixth right in front of another youngster, Jake Matheson, and Nick Lascuola would come home eighth in his return to the series. Another local driver, Jimmy Renfrew Jr. ended the day in ninth with Casagrande finishing out the top ten.

The next event has the series returning to the Claremont Motorsports Park for a final tune up on July 24 before the $10,000 Labor Day weekend race, said to be the biggest event in the history of the series.

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