October 18, 2025                    “The LenJet 500”

The second race event of the East Coast Outlaws 2025-2026 season took place on October 18^th at the amazing LenJet Raceway in Ashland, MA. The 3 races for this event would be: 1) Indys on the Shamrock Glen raceway, 2) E-Fray on the Bear track, and 3) Fray Super Stock on the Python raceway.

With the fall foliage just past peak in the Ashland area, it was a typical New England fall day with morning temperatures in the upper 30’s that would climb to the mid 60’s by afternoon. Unlike the typical fall weather, today’s ECO race event was anything but typical. With two of the race directors unable to attend, two new racers in attendance, and a breakout performance by one of the ECO long time racers, it turned out to be an exciting day.

First the new racers: It was great to see some new faces in the crowd of 15 racers. Tom Metcalf joined the racing today after a 30 year “lapse” from racing. Phil Petroska came down from Maine where he does a lot of oval racing. Phil was also heading down to CT on Sunday to attend a race at Rick Morisette’s home.

With two of the club’s directors unable to attend, Greg W. stepped forward to act as host and take charge of today’s racing event. As any good director would do, Greg delegated other duties to some of the other racers. Flash was our tech guy, performing pre-race tech on all of the cars and post-race tech on the podium finishers. Matt G. was responsible for tallying all the votes for Best Appearing. JoeRinn was responsible for setting up all the computers for the races. Thank you Greg, Flash, Matt, and Joe for all your help in making today’s race event run smoothly!

And last but not least, a breakout performance by Matt G. put him on the podium in all 3 races (two 3^rd place finishes and a 2^nd place). Personally, I know Matt has always put a lot of time in tuning his cars and practicing driving, and it appears his efforts are starting to pay off. Congratulations Matt!

Drivers Meeting

After practice, tech by Flash, and sign-in, Greg W. led the drivers meeting. Greg began by introducing the 2 new racers attending today’s race: Tom Metcalf and Phil Petroska. Greg also reminded everyone that the annual club dues are due. If you have not paid your annual dues, please see our treasurer, Jimmy C. at our next race event in November

Speaking of our club treasurer, Jimmy C. provided an update on the club finances. The club did donate $250 to this year’s Halloween Havoc. With that said, the club has a current balance of $929.

Greg W. then called an end to the driver’s meeting so that voting for best appearing car could take place.

Best Appearing

Best appearing honors went to Jimmy C. for his beautifully painted BMW M1 EFray car. Jimmy used a Greg’s Garage BMW M1 body and then painted the multi-color BMW “M” stripes across the body. Not seen in the photo below is the detailed painting Jimmy applied to the front grille, lights, and tail lights. A beautiful looking car with a contrasting blue Wizzard chassis. Congratulations and nice job Jimmy!

On to the races…

Indy on the Shamrock Glen

The L-shape of the Shamrock Glen provides a couple of L-shaped high speed straight aways joined by a wide 90 degree sweeping turn as well as a couple of tight 180 degree turns and a challenging esses section that requires a car with good speed and handling, and a driver that can drive their car through these challenging sections. This track becomes more challenging when running an Indy car with its high center of gravity.

With 14 of the 15 racers competing in this race (Tom Metcalf decided to sit this race out), there was a lot of close racing. A number of finishing positions were decided by sections as the racers finished on the same lap or within a lap of one another.

The battle for the top 3 podium positions had the top three drivers only separated by a couple of laps. Taking the win was Greg W. with 78 laps. Greg ran a strong race, taking the best lap time in 3 of the 4 lanes and the only racer to break into the 8.6 second lap time range. Finishing a little less than a lap behind was Flash with 77 laps. Starting out his breakout day was Matt G. in 3^rd with 76 laps. Great racing guys!

Another battle developed for the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th positions, with these 3 racers finishing within a lap of one another. Taking 4^th place was Jimmy C. with 74 laps who ran an almost flawless race (minimal “offs”). Jim K. was less than a full lap behind finishing with 73 laps/43 sections. Only 33 sections (about half a lap) behind Jim K., was Brian W. with 73 laps/10 sections. Very close racing! Rounding out the top half of the field in 7^th was JoeRinn with 72 laps.

Great racing by everyone!

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) along with best lap times for each racer in each lane.

Race Results

Lap Times

Here are the podium finishers and their cars.

E-Fray on the Bear

After lunch, the second race of the day was held on the Bear racetrack. For those of us who have raced on the Bear, we know the racetrack name is well deserved. With a long high speed straight, some tight infield turns and a series of esses, this track can be a “bear” to drive. The EFray cars seem to be the perfect car to run on this track, so they help take a little bit of the growl out of the Bear.

With all 15 racers participating in this race, the top third of the field was able to break into the “100 lap” club. Once again, there was some close racing among the racers.

Taking the overall win was Flash with 110 laps. Flash had fastest lap time in 3 of the 4 lanes, with an overall fastest lap time of 6.07 seconds in the white lane. 2^nd place went to Greg W. with 106 laps. Continuing with his breakout performance, Matt G. took the last podium position, 3^rd, with 103 laps. Great racing guys!

Rounding out the top half of the field (4^th thru 8^th) was Jim K. (101 laps) in 4^th, JoeRinn (100 laps) in 5^th, Terry A. (99 laps) in 6^th, Chief (97 laps) 7^th (Nice race Chief!), and Jimmy C. (95 laps) 8^th. Jimmy and Hal P. had a battle going for 8^th position with Jimmy taking the 8^th spot by 26 sections over Hal. Nice racing gentlemen!

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) along with best lap times for each racer in each lane.

Race Results

Lap Times

Here are the podium finishers and their cars.

Fray Super Stock on the Python

The final race of the day would consist of running the ECO Super Stock Fray class on the Python racetrack. With its large sweeping ess turns at both ends of the track, a challenging up and over infield and a long straight away, the Max Trax Python track is another good track for Fray cars.

With 14 racers participating in this race, once again the top 5 racers broke into the “100 lap” club.

When the checkered flag dropped in the final race of the day, it was Flash taking the win with 110 laps. In 2^nd place was Matt G. with 106 laps. Rounding out the podium in 3^rd was JoeRinn with 105 laps, who drove a strong race.

Rounding out the top half of the field was Greg W. in 4^th with 102 laps. The 3 Jims rounded out the rest of the top half of the field with Jim K. in 5^th with 101 laps, Jimmy C. in 6^th with 98 laps, and Jimmy Mac in 7th with 96 laps.

Looking at the lap times, Flash and Greg split the honors with both having fastest lap times in 2 of the lanes. Greg had the fastest overall lap time with a 5.991 second lap in the white. Greg’s car was fast but he had just a few too many offs that may have cost him a higher finish.

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) along with best lap times for each racer in each lane.

Race Results

Lap Times

Here are the podium finishers and their cars.

Checkered Flag

Wow! What a day of racing.

Matt G.: Breakout performance. 3 podium finishes. What more can I say! CONGRATULATIONS Matt!

Again, it was great to see the new racers, Tom and Phil. Tom and Phil held their own considering this was their first time seeing these tracks. Great racing guys! Hope to see you again!

And thanks again to Greg, Flash, Matt, and JoeRinn for taking on the responsibilities to make this racing day run smoothly.

For most of us, the Havoc will be our next race. If you have not signed up, you are missing a really great event, and I urge you to sign up by reaching out to Dave Lockwood.

Next month, November 22^nd, we’ll be at Rick Morissette’s FB Raceway in East Hartford, CT. to race Indy with Roadster bodies on the Oval, Fray Super Stock on the Pat Dube (road course) track, and back on the Oval with Coupes.

Happy Halloween!!!

Thank you and see you next month!