Stergios, Cabral Claim Iron Mike Scrivani, Sr. Memorial Hardware.
WINCHESTER, NH — Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH hosted the NEMA Iron Mike Scrivani, Sr. Memorial Saturday night and a star-studded field put on a classic battle, each looking to add their name to this prestigious race. In the NEMA Lites, PJ Stergios of Candia, NH started deep in the pack and wasted little time charging to the front, but it wasn’t an easy march as he had to maneuver his way by the best that the NEMA Lites had to offer.
Two young chargers, Richie Morocco of Plainville, MA and Anthony ‘Tornado’ Payne of Fairlawn, NJ paced the field to green and Morocco charged to the lead. Instantly, two and three wide battles were common throughout the field. By lap three, Morocco, Kevin Hutchens of E. Waterboro, ME and Christian Briggs of Mattapoisett, MA ran three wide for the lead with Hutchens prevailing.
The first of only two caution flags came on lap seven for a spin, and by that time Stergios had just passed teammate Ryan Krachun for second, but had to give it back because the lap wasn’t completed. The restart saw Hutchens and Krachun drag race down the front straight with Hutchins powering back into the lead. By lap 12, Stergios out powered his teammate for second and the three lead cars of Hutchens, Stergios and Krachun ran in a tight draft pulling away from the rest of the field. With the leader board showing halfway, Stergios made his move and shot by Hutchens for the lead.
The battle for the lead may have been over, but the war for every other position was raging all over the quarter mile high banks. Krachun and Scott Bigelow of E. Hampton, CT ran wheel to wheel for third, while Paul Bigelow of Kensington, CT and Danny Cugini of Marshfield, MA dueled for fifth place. In the final few laps, the field finally stretched out and at the checkered flag Stergios beat Hutchens by 3.629 seconds. Scott Bigelow was third, Ryan Krachun was fourth and Danny Cugini brought his damaged racer home in fifth.
1. #11 PJ Stergios
2. #27 Kevin Hutchens
3. #32 Scott Bigelow
4. #29 Ryan Krachun
5. #51 Danny Cugini
6. #31 Paul Bigelow
7. #46x Andy Barrows
8. #93 Jake Smith
9. #42 Juris Kupris
10. #25 Richie Morrocco
11. #3 Dennis Potter
12. #21 Anthony Payne
13. #52 Kevin Park
14. #41 Megan Cugini
15. #44 Christian Briggs
16. #16 Dennis O’Brien
Randy Cabral of Kingston, MA brought the K& N Engineering number 47 home to victory after a hard-fought battle with Jim Chambers of Atkinson, NH. Chambers darted into the lead from his second row starting position and tried to make it a runaway for the fast flying number 21, but Cabral would have none of that and sliced his way through traffic, first picking off defending champion John Zych, Jr. of Mendon, MA for fifth spot, then worked over and passed Bethany Stoehr of Bridgewater, MA for fourth place.
A lap 17 yellow flag allowed everyone to close the gap on Chambers. The restart had Chambers and Ryan Bigelow of E. Hampton, CT in row one, Todd Bertrand of Suffield, CT and Cabral in row two. At the drop of the green Cabral used his awesome power to slip into second and a lap later shot by Chambers on the inside and came away with the lead.
Cabral, a four-time champion, wasn’t about to give up the lead and held off Chambers through three more caution periods to notch his second win for 2014. An impressive Jim Chambers held on to finish second. Third through fifth were John Zych Jr., Ryan Bigelow and Todd Bertrand.
1. #47 Randy Cabral
2. #21 Jim Chambers
3. #9 John Zych Jr.
4. #13 Ryan Bigelow
5. #39 Todd Bertrand
6. #29-Ian Cumens
7. #15A- Avery Stoehr
8. #8-Paul Scally
9. #44-Russ Stoehr
10. 87-Doug Cleveland.
11. #99-Jim SantaMaria
12. #80- Pete Pernesiglio
13. #71- Seth Carlson
14. #5B- Bethany Stoehr
15. #46- Kenny Johnson
Time of race: 17:59.005
Margin of victory: 1.285
Best lap time: 11.879
Best lap: #47-Randy Cabral
Sources: Jim Snape
Photo: Crystal Snape