Vanasse, Martin, Axon, Buffington and Rain Take May 7 Features
Seekonk, MA — Warwick’s Ryan Vanasse was up to his old tricks, quickly coming to the front of the Late Model feature race, then dominating the rest of the way to the finish. He started the race behind polesitter Jeramee “The Hammer” Lillie from West Warwick, spent four laps edging by, and led the final 26 laps to the checkers.
Lillie had problems on the initial green flag, stalling as the field came up to speed. Ron Barboza, Jr., starting 4 rows back, bore the brunt of the action, as he nosed into Randy Burr, cracking a piece of his nose, dropping it on the track. He was black-flagged, as body metal attached to the lost piece was hanging out from the driver’s side, and retired on the fourth lap.
After working under Lillie into the lead, Vanasse led Lillie, Fall River’s John Paiva, Dylan Estrella of North Attleboro, Middleboro driver Randy Burr and Pawtucket’s Gerry DeGasparre, Jr., followed by last week’s winner, Matt Breault from Acushnet. Vanasse was holding a 5-car lead by lap 9.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
DeGasparre began working to the outside of Burr on lap 11. Estrella began falling back, under Burr, which set DeGasparre in a three-wide situation. He brushed the wall in lap 13, but held his place, as Estrella shuttled back.
Estrella spun into the front stretch wall with his rear end, bringing out a caution. Tyler Thompson bounced off the careening Estrella and both retired to the pits. Thompson returned for the restart, but Estrella was finished after 17 laps. Breault was called for an assist on Estrella’s spin and restarted at the back of the field.
On the restart, Vanasse and Lillie again faced off at the front. Burr and DeGasparre made up the second row with Paiva and Bob Pelland III behind them. Vanasse went back to the front and Burr followed underneath Lillie, gaining second. DeGasparre followed, shuttling Lillie back to fourth. Vanasse had worked his way to a 5-car lead by lap 21.
From this point on, it was a pace line to the finish, with DeGasparre trying to get by Burr and Paiva working to oust Lillie from fourth. Neither prevailed, and at the checkers, it was Vanasse outlasting Burr to the line by 1.81 seconds. DeGasparre was third, 2.061 off the pace, with Lillie, Paiva and Breault behind. Pelland, Thompson, and Jariah Roderick completed the field.
Trucks division champion Rick Martin had left his pickup home in Westport on opening day in favor of running a Late Model, but got back into his old seat for last week’s feature. The results were typical for Martin, as he worked his way from the fifth row to the front by lap 18. Last week’s winner, Seekonk’s own Mike Cavallaro, popped into second on the same rotation and hounded the leader to the checkers. North Dighton’s Dan Leach, Lenny Guy from New Bedford and West Warwick rookie Peter Donato rounded out the top 5.
Donato had made a great show after losing his starting spot low on the second row to a loose fuel cell cap before the start. Officials saw a spreading puddle of track gas under his rig and he retired to the pits to secure it, returning just in time to make the start at the rear.
Seekonk native Billy Clarke jumped off from his pole spot on the front row with Fall Riverite Ronny Cornell, to lead the first lap, but Cornell, with a move underneath, edged ahead to complete the second,. Meanwhile, Martin was charging up hard from ninth, making it to third spot by lap 6. However, he had dangerous Ed Gannon in tow, and the Fall River hot shoe got by Martin into second on lap nine.
Somerset driver Ted Berube had climbed past Cornell and Clarke on the fourth turn of lap three, and led the race into lap 7, when Greg Boone of Tiverton spun on the front stretch. The spin cost the Somerset driver a 10-car lead and set him up for a faceoff with Cornell. Martin started behind the leader and Gannon was on Martin’s shoulder. North Dighton’s Dan Leach and Mike Ronhock of Mashpee made up the third row. Bob Andreozzi from Portsmouth followed with Cavallaro on his outside.
The order held until lap 14 when Andreozzi lost traction and spun at the start/finish line. He, too, was able to keep the motor going and headed up the track, just as leader Berube came up behind him. Gannon and then Martin were all over Berube’s bumper as he had to ease off to avoid Andreozzi. He retained his lead, but the dangerous duo behind were poised for an assault. Gannon stayed on Berube’s tail, hoping low, while Martin chose to go to the high side.
Gannon got into Berube’s tail in turn four of lap 17, solving Martin’s problems for the moment as Berube spun out, bringing the caution flag, and Gannon was assessed an assist, sending him to the rear with Berube.
Martin had the pole on the restart with Leach on the outside. Cavallaro was directly behind Martin and Ronhock was on Leach’s tailgate. Donato had come back up through the field, to restart low on the third row with Lenny Guy to his right. The lead went to Martin on the restart with Cavallaro nipping at his back bumper. Leach, Guy, Donato, Ronhock, Cornell, Berube and Gannon strung out behind.
The field remained unchanged through lap twenty with Cavallaro chasing Martin with a vengeance and Leach looking for any kind of an opportunity against them. The remainder of the field about 12 cars back. Leach fought it out with Cavallaro through the final lap to the finish, but Cavallaro held him off. Guy came across in fourth with Donato earning a fifth.
It was former champ versus former rookie as Attleboro’s Steve Axon held off hard-charging sophomore driver Joe Kohler of Johnston for a big win in a hotly-contested Street Stock feature. It wasn’t an easy day for Kohler, as hard-charging Ryan Lineham roared up from mid-pack at mid-race while Kohler battled Tiverton’s Scott Bruneau for second. Axon, Kohler and Lineham finished 1-2-3; last week’s opening day winner from East Taunton, Justin Travis came from the rear to take fourth from Bruneau on the final lap.
Kohler started on the pole with Axon on his shoulder, and went to the lead on the green, but West Warwick’s Nick D’Alessio got sideways on the backstretch, bringing out the caution before a lap could be completed. Travis and current champ, Mike Mitchell pitted, and then returned at the rear of the field. Mitchell only lasted four laps before being forced to retire.
The complete restart saw Kohler come out ahead of Axon with Bruneau nabbing third. Smithfield driver Craig Pianka, North Dighton’s Chris DeMoura and last year’s Pure Stock champ, Scott Cestodio, followed. North Attleboro’s Tim Eaton went around on the front stretch in lap 3 with Mitchell going around and Paul Lallier bouncing off the frontstretch wall, sending him to the pits for the remainder of the race.
On the restart, Axon got out ahead of Kohler, Bruneau and Pianka. Bruneau started working under Kohler for the lead, but in the fourth turn of lap 4, Mitchell lost his right rear wheel, sending him into a spin. The wheel flew high into the air, then bounced off the outside wall at the pit entrance, rebounded down the track and struck Mitchell’s car, where it came to rest at the exit to the turn. Mitchell had to be wreckered into the pits, ending his evening prematurely.
Axon and Kohler led off the restart with Bruneau and Chris DeMoura behind, followed by Pianka and Cestodio. Axon roared off to the lead and DeMoura followed him through underneath Kohler for second place. Back in the pack, a big three-wide in the corner saw former Champ Sparky Arsenault squirt free for fourth place with Lineham surviving into fifth.
By lap ten, Axon led Bruneau, Kohler, Arsenault, Lineham, Chris Rioux and George Rego.
The laps wound down, with a tenacious group holding the line. Back in the pack, rookie Travis, a former Seekonk Youth Racing Association competitor, had been moving steadily up from his starting position near the rear, owing to his opening day victory. As they entered the white flag lap, Travis moved from seventh to fifth. Rey Lovelace, running eleventh, spun in turn two, setting up a green-white-checkered restart for the end of the race.
Restarting on lap 23 were: Axon, Bruneau, Kohler, Lineham, Arsenault, Rioux, Travis, Rego and Crystal Serydynski. Axon, lined up with Bruneau on his outside and Kohler at his rear, went right to the front at the stripe and Kohler attached himself to the rear bumper of the leader, getting under Bruneau and into second spot. Lineham was fourth. Travis, Arsenault and Rioux got into a 3-wide with Travis surviving into fifth behind Lineham.
The dash to the checkers saw Axon across the stripe, .309 seconds ahead of Kohler with Lineham just .2 second back. Travis also finished on the same second as the leader in a tight mob, brawling across the line.
Shaun Buffington, from Plainfield Connecticut reigned supreme over the NELCAR Legends tour on their visit to Seekonk Speedway, leading the 30-lap feature from his spot on the pole all the way to the green flag, including battling off a number of restarts. Voluntown CT’s Nick Ladyga did nearly as well: he started on the outside pole and held the position from start to finish in a show of 1-2 power. He finished .765 seconds behind the leader. Bob Weymouth promoted himself from fourth on the starting grid to third at the checkers. Troy Talman and Ed Field rounded out the top 5.
Durham, Maine’s Evan Beaulieu came to grief in the first lap, as something in his front suspension began dragging in the first lap, leaving a trail of sparks. He had started low on the second row and had to slow due to the condition. The field divided around him. He completed the first circuit, but had to limp toward the pit exit. He made it to the end of the wall, but couldn’t get off the racing surface, bringing up a caution and a lap 4 restart.
Buffington and Ladyga roared off again at the green and put a good deal of distance between themselves and the field, with Buffington also distancing himself from Ladyga. Tom Gray from Sprague, CT, promoted himself to third with Topsham, Maine driver Bob Weymouth nabbing fourth.
Bethany, CT’s Mike Blaskey spun in turn three on lap nineteen, bringing out the yellow. Buffington and Ladyga powered away again, while Weymouth elevated to third, moving Talman back to fourth.
The final 10 laps were pursuit driving, with Buffington unable to pull away from Ladyga and Weymouth holding on about a second back. Talman, from Oxford, Mass, moved up at the restart into fourth place, along with Deep River, CT competitor Ed Field into fifth.
The field finished in that order. Sixth through tenth went to Newport, Maine’s Matthew Bourgoine, Blaskey, Terry Kirk of Durham, ME, Allan Smith, Lisbon, Maine and Milford, CT’s Carl Blandina.
The event marked the return to Seekonk of 1010 SYRA 600 champion, Nicholas Lascoula. Lascoula drives one of the 5/8 size mini cup cars in the youth division as a rookie this year. Lascoula, making his first start in the division, took the green on the last row, in twentieth position and moved up to fifteenth at race end, one lap down to the charging Buffington.
. . . And then the rains came down! Following an afternoon and evening of outstanding racing, the first drops began falling as the Late Models feature – with just the Pro Stocks left to run – wound their final laps into the record books. The Pros had promised topnotch competition with their preliminary heats, but it was not to be. As the crowds filtered homeward, a decision on when the makeup feature would be held was still up for debate.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR