Bear Ridge races now worth $1,000 to win; mini-series champion to earn $500
BRADFORD, Vt. (May 23, 2024) – Drivers on the Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) Tour can officially call themselves “Gear-Heads” in 2024. The brand-new Green Mountain Gear-Heads Championship Series presented by Hull Motorsports kicks off on Saturday, May 25, at Bear Ridge Speedway, and race teams are ready to cash in on the new deal.
Saturday night’s race is the first of five SCoNE events to be held at Bear Ridge Speedway in 2024, as the “winged, wild, and wicked fast” machines visit the rustic quarter-mile perched high atop a mountainside in Bradford, Vermont. The Bear Ridge events will carry their own mini-series championship points in addition to awarding points for the overall McGee Automotive Family SCoNE Tour crown.
Because of the support from Gear-Heads and Hull Motorsports, the purse for each Bear Ridge race has increased and is guaranteed to pay a minimum of $1,000 to the winner. At the end of the season, the driver with the most points accumulated in the Bear Ridge events will be named champion of the Green Mountain Gear-Heads Championship Series presented by Hull Motorsports and will earn a $500 bonus and a custom trophy; the runner-up takes $200 and third-place grabs $100.
Additional events will follow once per month at Bear Ridge during the season, to be held on June 29, July 20, August 17, and September 14. The September finale is scheduled to be the 100th SCoNE event held at Bear Ridge since the series was founded in 2004.
Green Mountain Gear-Heads is a full-service engine shop providing performance automotive services for street vehicles, motorcycles, and racecars. Services include vehicle maintenance, performance upgrades, dyno tuning, fabrication, vapor blasting, engine building, and more; Green Mountain Gear-Heads has served many SCoNE competitors on its full chassis dynamometer for several years, often working closely with Hull Motorsports of Orange, Vermont. To learn more, click www.greenmountaingearheads.com or visit the shop at 85 Shunpike Road in Williston, Vermont.
If last season’s performances are any indicator, Chris Donnelly has the upper hand entering the Gear-Heads Series. In 2023, Donnelly won four of the five SCoNE events held at Bear Ridge and finished a very close second in other race, all of which helped him breeze to his record-extending eighth SCoNE championship.
However, that does not mean that he’ll have an easy go of it on Saturday. Top veteran drivers like Matt Tanner, Jake Williams, Scott Holcomb, Troy Comeau, Floyd Billington, Mark Cole, and Hull Motorsports’ own Will Hull – a two-time SCoNE champion – will be ready to dethrone Donnelly on Saturday night. And standing next in line behind them is a crop of talented younger drivers, newcomers, and rookies including Caleb Lamson and Matt Hoyt, who are each returning to full-time SCoNE competition in 2024, reigning Rookie of the Year Jason Goff, Chase Moran, Kadyn Berry, Nick Comeau, Caiden Herbert, Nick Kruger, Travis Billington, Donnie Ottati, and more.
“The Green Mountain Gear-Heads Championship Series presented by Hull Motorsports is a great addition to the SCoNE Tour this year,” SCoNE President Justin St. Louis said. “Bear Ridge Speedway plays such an important role in our schedule, and we wanted the track to have its own rewards. If you’re going to be successful with SCoNE, you’d better figure Bear Ridge out, and the added prestige and bonus money from Josh Munson and his team at Gear-Heads really helps to elevate our monthly trips to Bradford this year.”
Racing is scheduled to begin at the famous “6:00-ish” post time at Bear Ridge Speedway on Saturday, May 25. General admission is $15 for adults, $13 for teens and seniors, and just $2 for children aged 11 and under. Bear Ridge Speedway is located at 1058 Kidder Road in Bradford, Vt., just off Exit 16 on Interstate 91.
For more information about the McGee Automotive Family Sprint Cars of New England Tour, visit www.nesprintcars.com or find the “SCoNE – Sprint Cars of New England” page on Facebook.
(Bill McGaffin photo)