Rieser, Robidoux, Bissel, Sprague, Dion & Belcher Win at Seekonk
Seekonk, MA — On Friday, June 24th, Seekonk Speedway’s “Fast Friday” program resumed for the first time since the season premiere following two weeks of rain. In the SYRA 600s, Chase Belcher survived a late charge from Curtis Rolando to pick up the feature victory. Branden Dion earned his first victory in the SYRA 750s, while Rich Sprague grabbed his first career victory in the Sport Fours. The C.D.G Industries New England V6 Modifieds made their first appearance of the season at Seekonk, andPresident Allan Rieser Jr. took the checkered flag. In the nightcap, John Robidoux emerged once the smoke cleared with his first victory of the season.
In the Sport Four feature Jewett City, Connecticut’s Chris Bissell had a strong run early, and jockeyed with Ed Gould and Rich Sprague for the top spot for most of the race. In the closing laps, Sprague made his way around the field and took the checkered flag, sweeping the heat and feature.
The SYRA 600s took to the track for a twenty lap feature event. Austin Blais led nine of the first ten laps. Jason Enos hung tough battling for the lead, but after making contact with the leader on multiple occasions, trouble stuck the top two. On the exit of turn four, both Enos and Blais spun their mini cups to the apron on lap eleven. The caution grouped Chase Belcher and Curtis Rolando to the front row, and just like in their heat, Belcher pulled away and maintained the lead despite a trio of spins by Kiera Carpenter, hanging on for his first victory of the season in front of Rolando, Shelby Donovan, Tyler Boudreau, and David Lougee.
Nick Lascuola had some difficulties climbing through the SYRA 750 field in the feature, but Branden Dion, who started in fifth, had little issues and passed Christine Cavallaro and Tylar Nailor to lead lap four. Dion’s car set the pace for the field and by lap fifteen he could see nothing in his rear view mirror. In dominating fashion, leading the final seventeen laps and acquiring his first taste of victory lane in the SYRA 750 class, followed by Ashley Kuhn, Nick Lascuola, Willy Sanchez, and Kaitlyn Donovan to round out the top five.
The New England V6 Modifieds presented by C.D.G Industries headlined the evening as the touring division, bringing with them an entry list of six. In both the heat and the feature, NE V6 Modifieds President Allan Rieser Jr. set the pace. In both races, scrums for the lead ensued between the 69 of Louie Maher, points leader Keith Caruso in the 11, and the 3 driven by part time driver and former winner Anthony Frissora. By the mid-point in each event, however, Rieser put his money where his mouth is and notched the victory in the series he promotes. .
The scintillating action in the Pure Stock heats was amplified in the twenty five lap feature race. Out front, Ed Flanagan Jr. led the way followed closely with Jamie Burch and Dan Massa Jr. However, Massa made contact exiting turn four on lap three and spun his machine around to the apron to bring out the caution flag. On the ensuing restart, John Robidoux began his ascend from fourteenth to fourth to battle with Earl Curtin, Burch, Flanagan Jr., Derek DeMoura and Doug Benoit for positions in the top five. On lap 11, Doug Benoit slid his machine up the track and around, dropping from fifth to the tail end of the line. On lap 21, things took a scary turn for the worse in the battle for third. Earl Curtin, driver of the 55, launched into the turn three wall nearly head on. After freewheeling down the track, Curtin was struck in the driver’s side door by Nick Uhrig, season premiere winner and defending pure stock champion. During a lengthy red flag delay, both Curtin and Uhrig walked away from their totaled race cars, able to drive another day despite their hair raising misfortunes. Out front, John Robidoux held off a fierce charge from Randy Moretti and grabbed his first victory of the year to cap off an exciting night of racing, followed by Hinckley, Flanagan Jr., and Melberg.
With a week of for the Independence Day Celebration, Fast Fridays returns on July 8th, with another full night of Action. The New England Pro 4 Late Models make their first appearance at Seekonk to go along with the Pure Stock, Sport4 and SYRA Classes racing. Action starts at 7pm, with adult admission at just $5.00. Kids under 12 are FREE. For more information, check out seekonkspeedway.com.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR