It’s not who leads for the most laps that counts, but rather who is leading at the end.

Les Hinckley held the lead for most of Friday’s All Star 100 at the Lee USA Speedway, but Tony Ricci’s black number 4 passed him high on lap 94 and hung on for the win.

“I love this place,” Ricci said of the Lee, NH, track, where he also won the Oktoberfest 2004. “I think this place was built for me.”

Ricci, a 24-year-old Westbrook native, started in the middle of the 24-car lineup and drove a smooth race to ensure tire maintenance for the end, gradually making his move to the front. The race was slowed by six caution flags and one red flag when a late race incident involving five cars created a blockage of the speedway.

“I tried to ride the middle part of the race and save my stuff. I knew we were going to be there at the end. I knew the car was going to be there,” he said. “I have had a fast car every time I have unloaded it this year, but patience has not been one of my virtues. It’s time to be patient and it paid off in the end.”

The race was part of the 2006 True Value Modified Racing Series, which has seen six winners in the season’s first six events. This Friday night the tour will run at the Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, NH, and on Aug. 5 Ricci and his competitors will race at Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

“When we won on 2004 we had a good car, but this is the first time I’ve won a race in my own car, out of my own shop, and my guys,” said Ricci. “We work all week to prepare, but yes, this one is right up there with that first one.”

Ricci began his competitive career in 1997 at age 15 driving a mini-modified pulling tractor. In 1998 he won state championships in four divisions. The same year he took his competitive drive to Beech Ridge, finishing sixth in his first year of stock car racing.

Ricci then went to Laramie, Wyo., to attend the Wyoming Technical Institute, an automotive specialty school with a nationwide reputation for excellence. Since 2001 he has divided his time as a race car driver, crew member and car builder.