• 11-11-07: Sorry for the delay in updates, but we have news and more news. 
  • First, Lees Motorsports is growing, Racelyn Lee Lippa was born 7/24/07 and Matthew Shawn Lees Jr. was born 11/3/07. We are proud parents and grandparents here. 
  • Now for the other news, Matt "Bones" Lees will be back behind the wheel of his familiar #05 for the 2008 season. Lees Motorsports and Cline Racing are teaming up to field 2 cars; Matt in the #05 and Mark Cline in the #81. We are excited about racing in 2008 and hope to improve on our top 5 finish in the NASCAR SST division at Spencer Speedway. Both cars will be at the Greece car show this spring. Plans are to race at Oswego in the ROC again next year.
  • Teaser: Stay tuned for some EXCITING news concerning "Bones" driving duties.
• 9-20/21-07: Oswego ROC Weekend: We made the show! Matt finished 26th out of the 36 cars that started. It was a roller coaster of emotions weekend. 
  • We unloaded early Thursday morning for practice. Matt has never raced at Oswego before, but hopes were high that we would qualify. After the first few practice sessions, Matt was very competitive. Every time we went out, the car went faster due to chassis changes based on Matt's input on how the car was handling and Matt feeling more comfortable on this fast track. We went to sleep thinking we had a very good chance for qualifying. 
  • Friday morning brought our first semi-disappointing moment. We drew a very poor number for our qualifying spot. We hoped for the best, not knowing how all the numbers drawn would turn out. Going out for the first set of practice, we found out that we had to make more changes to fine tune the car. Changes were made for the second and last set of practice and again the changes worked. Our worst fears came true when the heat race line-ups were posted. Not only were we starting last on the outside in the last heat, 4 of the fastest cars were also in our heat (only the top 4 qualify). After watching 2 days of hot laps, we knew there would be very little passing being done. Even if you were a touch slow, you could keep a faster car behind you by driving a good line. (Our observations were correct, passing was almost non existent, in 5 out of the 6 heat races, first and second place finishers started first or second.) Long story short, Matt started sixth and finished sixth, just missing fifth by inches at the line. This meant Matt had to qualify through one of the consolation races, where he started 6th out of 12 (only the top 3 qualify.) 
  • In the consi, Matt worked his way up to 4th and was positioning himself for a run at third, when he was hit hard from behind. I thought we were going to have a wrecked racecar, but somehow Matt made a GREAT save. He not only stopped the car from hitting the wall, but he also only lost one position. Unfortunately, he didn't qualify, finishing 5th out of 12. Matt was upset that he let us down, but we all knew how hard it was to get in the race, and that we should be proud on our great year. 
  • We only had 1 more chance to get in the race. Through one of the 6 provisional spots determined by finishing position in the consi, total SST series points, and home track points. By finishing 5th in our consi and 5th at Spencer Speedway, we got the 35th starting position (second to last.) Our spirits went from rock bottom to sky high when we learned the we earned one of the provisional positions. Thirteen good cars ended up going home. 
  • On to the feature. Knowing the track was going to change, we made one more change for the 100 lap race. At the green flag, Matt dropped to last place (1 spot), giving himself maneuvering room in case there was an early caution. Once the cars started to spread out, Matt started to race. Our car and Matt were fast! He started passing cars both on the inside and the even harder to pass outside. By lap 45 Matt was up to TWENTY THIRD! That is when disaster struck....Matt got the black flag. Obeying the flag, Matt pulled into the pits to find out why. The track officials said that they thought our right front was dragging because they saw sparks. We explained we run a hard brake pad that DOES spark. They checked our suspension, saw that it was ok, and sent us back out......3 laps down. All that hard racing for naught, Matt went back out to race. Even though he was 3 laps down, it did not hinder his driving. At one point Matt was up to 18 place (not 18th position) on the track. Matt said that he could have raced harder and pass a few more cars, but why press his luck or others when he was not running for position. Matt's great run ended on lap 95 when he ran out of gas. There were many long caution periods. Never running that many laps before, we thought we had put in enough fuel. Our mistake.
  • Final thoughts: we found out (for sure) that Matt can race at Oswego and be competitive. We had a great year.
  • OUR THANKS go out to everyone at Cline Racing who supported us at Oswego and the whole year. Mark, Lyn, Marcus, Jason, Todd, Charlie, Melissa, Sandy. Without you guys we wouldn't have been able to race! Special thanks go out to Jim Steffenhagen Jr. (Thursday) and Bobby Lippa Jr. (Friday)for being our spotters. AND thanks to YOU, our fans, for supporting us.
  • What can I say....a great weekend at Oswego....a great year at Spencer Speedway......and GREAT FRIENDS
    

THANK YOU!!!!!!

• 9-7-07: Week#18: The season is over at Spencer Speedway and we finished the year FIFTH in points! We can't thank Cline Racing enough for giving us this opportunity to compete. Our thanks go out to Mark Cline, Lyn VanLare, Marcus VanLare, Jason VanLare, Todd, Melissa and anyone that I might have missed. We may not have had the fastest car out there, but we were competitive. We raced every week, persevering through both good times and rough times. But most important, we had FUN. Our original goal was for a top ten finish in the points. With the level of talent out there we are ecstatic with our finish. Our season is not over yet, we are going to Oswego for the Race of Champions weekend. We have a new set of tires all ready and we hope to qualify, giving Cline racing one more hurrah. Again, THANKS!
• 8-31-07: Week#17: I don't know where to start. Almost a full moon? That must be it. Matt earned another TOP 10, finishing 9th in the 75 lap feature. In the heat race, Matt crossed the finish line in second, but was penalized 2 spots for "aggressive driving". Not only did this take away points, but it cost Matt a better starting position in the feature. The driver Matt got into to cause the penalty said he missed the entrance to the corner, causing him to slow quickly. This caused Matt to hit his rear bumper. The other car got loose, Matt slowed, letting the other car recover, then passed him. The other driver said it was not Matt's fault. Oh well, the flagman saw it differently. In the 75 lap feature, Matt started 10th and worked his way up to 6th, when a car hit Matt sending him spinning. I guess the flagman missed that as he didn't put the car that hit Matt to the rear. Restarting in the rear, Matt was working his way back to the front and spun two more times on purpose to avoid hitting cars that were spinning in front of him, both times sending Matt to the rear again. He drove his heart out to get back into the top ten before the checkered flag flew. After the race we found out Matt lost his power steering on lap 51. He was exhausted. Great job Matt! Good news/bad news, we are still in 5th place in points, but tied for 5th. One race (double points) and the regular season will be over at Spencer Speedway. Have a happy holiday, see you Friday.
• 8-24-07: Week#16: Oh what a night! Another HEAT WIN for Bones and the Cline SST modified at Spencer Speedway. Matt followed up his heat win with ANOTHER TOP 10 in the feature race, finishing a strong 6th. With the heat win and 6th place finish in the feature, Matt moved up to 5th in points for the season. The good news is, Matt only has to start one of the remaining 2 races to lock up 9th place points position for the season. Hard work, great driving skills, and consistency in this very competitive class have paid off. The bad news, fifth through ninth place is a tight race, and up for grabs, anything can happen. We, Matt and the whole Cline team, are up to the challenge. Either way we are having fun and great year racing. On another note, the CLINE RACE TEAM would like to thank JIM STEFFENHAGEN JR. of the Street Stock Class for both dedicating his win to the memory of Sherry Cline AND also giving his TROPHY to Mark Cline. It was a class act. You see, Jim wrecked hard in his first race and Matt and our team helped Jim get his car back together. Jim let us share his win in victory lane and he even had a small #81 put on his car. Thanks again Jim, glad we could help.
• 8-17-07: Week#15: Week 15 was rained out. Matt remains 6th in the points standings. See you next week!
• 8-10-07: Week#14: ANOTHER TOP 5 FINISH. It was double points night for the NASCAR SST Modifieds at Spencer Speedway. Matt started the night out with a great 2nd place finish in his heat race. He even lead a few laps on the oldest tires we have. We put on our best tires for the feature (no new tires this week). Matt started 3rd. At the drop of the green flag, with a full field coming out of turn 2 on the first lap, Matt was hit hard on his right front tire by another car. He got very loose but was able to save it, dropping him to 9th place. Matt brushed the back stretch wall avoiding a multi car accident saving his car and not loosing any positions. By lap 12 Matt was up to 4th. He was able to hold off many challenges by at least 3 other competitors and finished in 4th. The track decided to tech the top 4 cars, and of course, we passed. With a 4th place double points finish, Matt moved from 9th to 6th in season points. After the congratulations in the pits, Matt told us the car turned hard. A quick inspection revealed that a rod end on the front steering was bent, a result from brushing the wall earlier. We hope you enjoyed the show and our good finish. See you next week.
• 8-3-07: Week#13: Another HOT night of racing! The Cline Racing team bought 2 right side tires for the nights events. With 2 new tires, we were hoping for a good finish in the feature. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Matt started the heat race on the outside pole position. We used the old rubber for the heat race, saving the new tires for the main event. Matt went on to a nice top 3 finish, taking the checkered flag in the 3rd position. Matt said the car was handling well, so no adjustments were made to the car except putting the new tires on for the feature. He started the feature in 5th spot and held his ground for the first few laps. During a caution on lap 10, still running in 5th, he made an unscheduled pit stop and told the crew the car was really loose, so loose that he thought he had a tire going flat. The crew jumped into action and checked air pressure and stagger and found both were within acceptable range. Matt went back out on the track and had to restart at the back of the field in 19th spot. After returning to the track, Matt realized the loose car he felt was the result of the car in front of him leaking transmission fluid. He was able to race up to the 12th position by the time the checkered flag flew. Just another case of Matt taking care of his/Cline's equipment. Better safe than sorry, giving up a sure top ten finish, being on the safe side. Hope to see you next week!
• 7-27-07: Week#12: Week 12 was rained out. Matt remains 8th in the points standings. See you next week!
• 7-20-07: Week#11: Not a top ten, but close. In the longest race of the year (75 laps) and the largest field of the year (28 cars), with the best drivers around, Matt finished just out of the top ten in 12th. In the qualifying race Matt finished 4th, enabling him to be in the redraw for the feature race. Debbie, Matt's wife, drew the number 2 position allowing Matt to start on the outside of the front row. Nice draw Debbie! Twice on the double wide starts, Matt was able to get down to the low line and follow in second place for while until the third place car got under Matt, forcing him to the outside causing him to drop a few positions. On another restart, this time in 6th position, Matt had to back way off as a car starting up front on the outside got loose. This caused Matt to fall back to 11th. Keeping pace with the leaders, just saving his tires, Matt was hit hard going into turn 3 and spun causing the caution to come out. Luckily no one else hit him, but Matt had to restart the race in the back of the field. The hit from behind might have been an accident, but the race officials put the car that hit Matt to the back also. From there Matt was able to work his way back towards the front, finishing in 12th. Flat spotting the tires didn't help from the spin. Oh well, that's just racing. The car is in one piece and we will be ready for the race this coming Friday. Stop by and say hello to the whole crew.
• 7-13-07: Week#10: WOW, what can I say, Matt impressed me last night. "Bones" finished second in the heat race and 7th in the feature, earning his 6th top 10 of the season. Twenty four cars showed up for the double points, mid season extra distance race. If you read my remarks from last week, I didn't think we would do too well because we had to race on WORN OUT tires. Matt asked a competitor if he had any tires that might be better than the ones we had. The competitor told Matt to take any of the used tires he had in the back of his trailer. THANKS! Matt found a tire that had a few rips and tears in it, but it had less laps on it than ours. We made this our right rear tire. The tire held air and worked great. Matt started his heat in 2nd spot, led a few laps, and ended finishing 2nd. All in all a great night racing. By finishing 2nd in his heat and 7th in the feature, Matt moved up to 9th in season points. He gained a lot of points on the top 8 and pulled away from 11th on back. We are looking forward to next weeks 75 lap SST TOUR race at Spencer Speedway. Cars from all over NY will show up for this race, raising the competition level, but we will be ready with 4 new tires. As always hope to see you there....
  
• 7-6-07: Week#9: FIRST CHECKERS! Matt got his first checkered flag this year in the Cline Racing #81 by winning his heat race. 
  • Matt started the heat race in second place. He immediately grabbed the lead by out driving the pole sitter into turn 1. He never looked back and went on to win the race. CONGRATULATIONS MATT!!! 
  • Due to his win in the heat, Matt started the feature in third spot. Unfortunately, his tires had already seen 2 feature races and were nearly worn out. He slowly dropped back to 9th spot, where he finished, earning his 5th top 10 of the season. Even with worn tires, Matt was able to beat four  competitors ahead of him in season points. By doing this, Matt gained two spots in the seasons point standings and is currently 10th. Next weeks race is the mid-season, extra distance, double points race. Unfortunately, Matt will have to use the same set of tires that we already used in 3 feature races and 1 heat race. We will give it our all, but in reality, a top ten finish looks doubtful. Matt will go out and drive his hardest and have fun. See you there. 
• 6-29-07: Week#8: Friday night....what can I say. Full moon? We were excited about the twin 20's as we were able to buy 3 new tires, but sometimes things just don't work out. 
  • Starting 5th in the heat race is where our problems began. The outside pole sitter missed a shift coming to the green flag for the start of the race and wrecked/collected ALL 8 cars in the heat. Matt went airborne for a wild ride. He slowed to miss the wreck, but got nailed in the left rear, sending him into the cars in front of him. Matt pulled into the pits so we could assess the damage. Due to all of the cars in the heat having some degree of damage, the track officials decided to delay the heat race so all competitors could check out/fix their cars. We had to adjust the toe, pull the front sheet metal out (for cooling) , and adjusted the sway bar. We didn't have time time to fix the damage in the rear, causing the spoiler to be ineffective. Once back out, Matt was able to finish 4th. We straighten the front and rear sheet metal and checked for everything that we thought needed to be  checked before the twin 20s. 
  • Matt started 9th in the first twin 20. He worked his way up to 4th by the time the first caution came out. During the restart, he got hung out to dry on the outside and faded back to 8th. Coming out of turn 4, Matt lightly brushed the outside wall resulting in a collapsed upper A-frame. We were able to quickly replace it, but went 4 laps down and finished 19th (out of 24). During the intermission between the twin 20's, Matt said that the outside groove just wasn't there, but the car was running well, so no adjustments were made. During the second twin 20, Matt worked his way up to 12th where he finished. Not too bad. He said something broke in the rear suspension with 2 laps to go, so he just rode it out. Upon inspecting the car, we found a broken panhard bar. That trip into the air in the heat race resulted in a VERY HARD landing, causing more damage then we thought. New bolts and rod ends will be installed and we will attempt to race to the front again next week. We have been around racing long enough to know that there will be days like this and not be discouraged. See you next week!

• 6-22-07: Week#7: Another TOP TEN Feature finish, 9th !!! The racing action was hot this past Friday evening. The team bought 2 new tires for this weeks action. 

  • As always, we raced the heat race on the older tires, saving the newer ones for the feature. We started the heat race in the 4th position, but quickly went back to 6th because the entire outside lane was hung out by a slower car. Matt's driving skills and the car were up to the challenge. He was able to charge back through the field to 3rd and was gaining on the leaders with some vary fast lap times, but the checkers flew before we caught them. 

  • After looking at the fast lap times in the heat race, we decided to keep the older tires on for the feature race, saving the 2 new tires for the twin 20 lap races next week. We started the feature in 6th in a field of 25, but unfortunately, the same slow car was starting on the outside pole. A lot of fast cars were on the inside row and we knew we were going to drop back some at the start of the race. Taking the green, our predictions came true and we got hung up on the outside and dropped to 12th. Matt's superb driving skills saved the car twice by avoiding wrecks. On one occasion, Matt was forced to go off track, resulting in a very bumpy ride in the grass down the front straight. That bumpy ride caused some damage to the front suspension (toe out) that we discovered post race. The toe out condition slowed down Matt's charge to the front, limiting him to a 9th place finish. With all the top cars and talent out there we feel any top 10 finish is hard earned. The top 12 cars were all running nose to tail...very close racing. On to next week with high hopes of another top 5 or at least a top 10 in both of next weeks features. Our first goal is to survive the first race. See you there. As always, feel free to stop into the pits after the races, and say "Hello."
    

• 6-18-07: Matt and Debbie found out today they will be bringing a SON into the world on or about November 7th 2007! Congratulations!

• 6-15-07: Week#6: THIRD PLACE FINISH !!! Matt got his first top 5 finish this year on a really strong run by finishing 3rd. His 3rd place was even more impressive once you know what he had to do just to finish. Matt also had his best finish in a heat race this year, finishing 2nd. 

  • Matt started on the pole for the feature race. The second place car got a great start and beat Matt into turn one. Matt settled behind him letting his tires warm up. He made his move on lap 9, passing for the lead on a daring outside move between turns 1 and 2. Matt stretched his lead out to 7 car lengths before starting to slow down a bit on lap 15. On lap 19 the eventual race winner was able to get around him. Three laps later Matt dropped to 3rd and was able to hold on to that position for his best finish ever in a feature race at Spencer Speedway. After the race, during Tech Inspection (which we passed), we found out why Matt started to slow....oil coming out of the engine breathers was completely covering his windshield. He couldn't see his race lines for braking and turning points. He was driving only by instinct for TEN LAPS!  FANTASTIC SKILLS. Matt was very disappointed knowing he had the car to beat and giving up his first feature win at Spencer Speedway. But, on the plus side, it was his best feature finish AND we know for sure that the Cline Racing Team/Lees Motorsports car/driver combo is capable of winning. Thanks again to Cline Racing for the opportunity to drive their car! We'll get them next week. Till then.............

• 6-8-07: Week#5: We were ready to race Friday night with 3 new tires. Unfortunately mother nature didn't cooperate and a strong thunderstorm ran through the area and the races were called off. As for Matt's DIRT debut, well that didn't happen either, a family emergency came up with Fred Kibbe, (Matt's friend and co-car owner) so Matt didn't think it was appropriate that he should drive. Hopefully when Fred returns, Matt will give it another try. Until next week............

• 6-7-07: BREAKING NEWS: Matt "Bones" Lees is going to get a shot of driving a DIRT PRO STOCK at 
  Genesee Speedway in Batavia NY this Saturday, June 9th. Kibbe Racing plans on giving Matt the helm of their number 11K Pro Stock for warm ups and possibly the heat race. This will be Matt's first taste of dirt since racing Microds at Paradise Speedway over 13 years ago. Matt lent a hand to the team on chassis setups and they are rewarding him with some seat time. Can't predict the outcome, but we can guarantee some FUN. Thanks Kibbe Racing.

  6-1-07: Week#4: Twenty-five cars showed up ready to race this week. After fixing the damage on the car from last week, we were hoping for better luck this week. 

  • Matt started on the pole in his heat race, but dropped back to 5th, where he finished. We made a decision to run the heat race with older tires, saving our best tires for the feature race. This decision was based on our limited budget. Fixing the car from last weeks wreck was costly, not allowing us to buy any new tires. We figured, even though we had worn tires in the heat race, our best bet would be to save the best set of tires for the feature race. 

  • The plan paid off. Matt started the feature 14th and finished 8th...another top ten finish. We were happy to get another top ten finish as competition is very, very close this year. Our finishing position makes it look as though we passed 6 cars to finish 8th, but the fact was we had to pass a lot more than that. 

    • Matt fought his way up to 9th place by lap 9, but a couple of cars got together right in front on him and he (along with 5 other cars) had to spin the car to avoid the wreck. Matt's quick reflexes enabled him to avoid the crash and save the car. The only bad part was that he was back in 14th spot! So he had to work his way back up from mid pack again! 

  • The 81 car will be ready for action next week. Weekly maintenance will be performed and hopefully we will be able to afford at least 1 new tire, maybe 2, and be poised for another top 10 finish. As we left the track late Friday we were told that we would be the headline division at Spencer Speedway for the next 2 weeks. This will increase our feature race from 25 laps to 35. This will put more pressure on the team, but we are up to it. Hope to see you there.

• 5-25-07: Week#3: The third night of racing was HOT.......hot as in the temperature and hot in 
  our radiator. 

  • Matt finished a strong third in his heat race but the engine was running hot. The crew had to really hustle to get the radiator changed before the feature race, finishing just in time to make the start. 

  • Matt started the feature in 4th and had a very fast first lap considering that he was trapped on the outside. On lap 2, still on the outside, going through turn 2, Matt got loose when the car on the inside pushed up into him a little. As a result, Matt got hit from behind sending him hard into the wall. Matt had to be towed back into the pits as the right front suspension was destroyed, ending our night. We were disappointed finishing 22nd, but it was just one of "those racing deals." We spent the rest of the night working on the car so it could be loaded into the trailer. Then we made plans on what needed to be done to get the car ready for next week. The last place finish dropped Matt from 8th to 18th in the points....OUCH! Oh well, we'll be back contending for a win next week.

• 5-18-07: Week#2: Matt's prediction of a second straight top ten finish almost came true. Unfortunately, an overheating problem sent him to the pits only 6 laps from the finish. 

  • Matt started 3rd (out of 8) in the heat race. A mishandling racecar dropped him to 5th, but he still managed to fight back and finish 3rd, qualifying for the feature race. During the intermission between the heat races and the feature, we made changes to the tires, tire pressures and panhard bar, hoping to improve the cars' handling.

  • Matt started 5th in the feature, but was shuffled back to 9th at the start of the race. The changes made during intermission seemed to make the car handle much better so Matt was able to work his way back up to 6th. During a late race caution, with just six laps to go, Matt had to bring the car into the pits and was done for the night due to overheating.   The overheating condition was caused by a screen put over the radiator opening to protect the radiator from debris. It protected the radiator from debris, but also limited the amount of air let into the radiator. We were disappointed with a 14th place finish (instead of a 6th or better), but realized that Matt DOES take care of his equipment. He could have tried to finish, but saved the engine instead. Great job Matt on being alert. We will change the screen for next week and feel that Matt will be running up front again. 

• 5-11-07: Week#1 The Cline Racing/Lees Motorsports combo produced its first top ten finish in the first race of the season. "Bones" started the main event in 11th (out of 20) and made it up to 7th by the time the checkered flag fell.

  • Matt started 2nd in the heat race but got hit hard in turn one of the first lap, sending him back to 3rd.  A few laps later, while coming off of turn four going for the lead, the leader and Matt made contact, spinning both cars out. Matt came into the pits due to front end damage caused by climbing the other car's wheel. The nose of the #81 ride was damaged pretty bad. The crew did what they could to fix the car with the little time they had and sent Matt back out on the track. He charged from a back-of-the-pack restart to finish the race 3rd. Unfortunately, he was penalized one position for jumping the restart. After the heat race was over, the driver of the car the Matt "jumped" apologized, saying that "he messed up on the restart", and that Matt should not have been penalized. We appreciate his honesty. 

  • Between the heat race and the main event, we had to work hard and fast taking the front sheet metal apart, straightening what was left of it, and putting it back together. We were concerned about being black flagged for loose/dragging sheet metal, so we didn't have enough time to get the front end aligned. Matt started the feature in 11th, but the car had a bad push that progressively got worse as the race continued. He was still able to better his position and earn a nice top ten, finishing 7th. The front end damaged sustained in the heat race will repaired during the week. We look forward to another successful race next week. Even though we will be running the same tires again due to budget constraints, Matt feels that another fine top ten finish is in the works.

• 4-3-07: Lees Motorsports and The Cline Racing Team are proud to announce that Matt "Bones" Lees will be piloting the NASCAR© Sportsman Modified SST #81 at Spencer Speedway for the 2007 season! Lees Motorsports would like to thank Mark Cline and his crew for the opportunity! 

• 3-13-07: Lees Motorsports is proud to announce the addition of a new pit crew member. This new team member will begin their journey to race stardom on or about November 7th, 2007. Congratulations to Matt and Debbie on the news of their baby!

• 2-8-07: Lees Motorsports would like to welcome Landmark Fence as a new sponsor for the 2007 season!

• 2-6-07: New team website developed. Check back for updates!

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