Bear Ridge, NHMS, Unity to showcase SCoNE
BRADFORD, Vermont (September 7, 2025) – The McGee Automotive Family Sprint Cars of New England Tour (SCoNE) is gearing up for three big events in three states to wrap its 2025 season. The September stretch begins at Vermont’s Bear Ridge Speedway on Saturday, September 13, continues at The Flat Track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, September 19, and closes with a doubleheader at Maine’s Unity Raceway on September 26-27.
The Bear Ridge event next Saturday will have a special format with time trial qualifying and a two-segment main event with cumulative scoring. Drivers will make the trek up the Bradford, VT mountain to run two laps against the clock to determine the starting order, with the fastest driver earning the pole position. The first 25-lap segment will run with “scoring points” distributed by position – first place will score one point, second place two points, and so on through the field.
After a break, the lead-lap cars will be inverted with the winner starting last among them and the final car on the lead lap starting first; the balance of the field will start in their running order behind the lead-lap cars. After 25 laps and another set of scoring points, the driver with the lowest combined total score will be the overall winner.
That format proved popular at the Bear Ridge finale in 2024, which was the 100th SCoNE race contested at the quarter-mile track. Matt Tanner finished first and third in the two segments for a total low score of four points, topping Chris Donnelly’s score of seven.
The race is also the final round of the five-race Bear Ridge Speedway SCoNE Track Championship Series, where Caiden Herbert leads Tanner by 13 points. Herbert won the Bear Ridge title as a rookie last year, and he has a perfect record of top-five finishes at the track so far in 2025, with two runner-up finishes, a third, and a fifth. Tanner has won twice at the track this year, while Donnelly and first-time winner Nick Kruger each have a victory.
Just six days later, the McGee SCoNE Tour makes its lone appearance of 2025 in the Granite State on Friday, September 19, as the lead-off event to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Sig Sauer Academy Dirt Duels at The Flat Track at NHMS will host an exciting, all-new format for SCoNE, which will see three different drivers score feature wins.
Time trials will set the lineups at NHMS for a pair of 15-lap, split-field features that each pay purse money and regular championship points toward the McGee SCoNE Tour championship. Feature 1 will take the odd-number qualifiers to the starting grid (first, third, fifth, etc.), and Feature 2 will have the even-number qualifiers (second, fourth, sixth, etc.). Each race pays $500 to win and a minimum of $150 to start.
Each Feature will then take the top eight finishers, plus one provisional driver, to transfer into a special, 20-lap, 18-car, non-points race for $1,500 to win, $150 to start, and a wheelbarrow full of bragging rights as the first-ever Sprint Cars of New England “All-Star Showdown” Champion.
The season wraps up for the second year in a row at Maine’s Unity Raceway, with a two-night, two-event show on Friday and Saturday, September 26-27. Each night will have a full card of qualifying heats and features, with full purses and championship points. Those races will determine both the three-race Maine State Championship and the overall 2025 McGee Automotive Family Sprint Cars of New England Tour Championship; Matt Hoyt won both titles last season on the strength of a win and two runner-up finishes at Unity.
Tanner leads the current championship standings as he chases his first SCoNE title, ahead of veteran Jake Williams, Hoyt, second-generation spitfire Travis Billington, and Herbert. Any of the five, save for Hoyt, would be a first-time SCoNE Tour champion.
“We are beyond excited for these next three weekends,” SCoNE president Justin St. Louis said. “Between our home crowd at Bear Ridge, the bright spotlight at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the fans who have embraced us at Unity, this is everyone’s favorite stretch of the season. We’ll have three championships decided and our first All-Star Showdown winner, and it all adds up to a great way to end the year.”
SCoNE rules require axle tethers, cockpit safety bars, and mufflers on all cars. Any tire and any fuel are permitted for competition, and wicker bills may be three inches (3”) maximum height. In-cockpit adjustments are not allowed, except wing sliders. Drivers are required to purchase either a full-season or temporary SCoNE license and file a $20 race entry fee. Qualifying heat starting lineups will be set by the SCoNE handicap system, with a two-group redraw for the A-Main feature lineups.
To learn more about the Sprint Cars of New England, visit nesprintcars.com or find the “SCoNE – Sprint Cars of New England” page on Facebook. For more information about McGee Mazda Claremont, NH, McGee Toyota of Claremont, NH, and McGee Toyota of Epping, NH, visit their award-winning dealerships or click on McGeeCars.com.
(Don MacIntosh photo)