Astle Wins Pro Stock Marquee at Thompson; Pitkat, Palmisano, Sundeen, Vigeant, & Taylor Win Again
Thompson, CT — Fred Astle, Jr. and car owner Rollie Lindblad stood in victory lane at Thompson International Speedway after Thursday night’s 50-lapper for the Pro Stock division. A host of drivers scored their second wins of the season during Thursday Thompson Thunder. Woody Pitkat of Stafford, CT, led the charge to two; winning in the Sunoco Modified division. Other repeat winners included Marc Palmisano of Hadley, MA in the Late Models; Jay Sundeen of Douglas, MA, in the Limited Sportsman division; Kurt Vigeant in the TIS Modifieds, and Tim Taylor in the Mini Stocks.
Fred Astle, Jr. of Westport, MA, scored the victory in the caution-filled extra-distance event for the Pro Stock division. Astle took the lead on lap four and would never be headed. After a failed attempt at a start, Mike O’Sullivan was the first driver to lead laps in the 50-lapper. A spin by Greg Nanigian brought out the second caution on lap three.
The high-side being the fast way around on the restart, Astle was the new leader on lap four. O’Sullivan settled back in second followed by Ramstrom in third.
Astle held the top spot through lap 13, holding back persistent challenges from O’Sullivan. Giving it all he had, O’Sullivan went deep into the corner, looping his ride in turn two to bring out the caution.
This time Astle had to contend with Norm Wrenn, who had gotten by Ramstrom laps before, on the restart. Wrenn continued his charge; getting alongside the leader. Ramstrom was glued to the duo.
On lap 15, Jay Macedonio spun to start a rash of cautions. During the yellow fever, Astle was able to retain his lead. Once things settled down, Astle continued to show the way. He never got any breathing room as Wrenn, Ramstrom, and a fully recovered O’Sullivan were never out of reach.
With only a handful of laps remaining, Astle got some relief when Ramstrom began to pressure Wrenn for the second spot. Ramstrom looked both high and low but was met with resistant at each lap.
Even when the kid doesn’t win he continues to thrill the crowd. It was a photo-finish for the second position behind winner Astle. Ramstrom edged Wrenn by inches for the runner-up spot. O’Sullivan and Macedonio rounded out the top five.
Woody Pitkat of Stafford, CT, proved his prowess running to his second Sunoco Modified victory of the season at Thompson. The Sunoco Modified main event started with a bang. Contact between pole sitter Josh Steeves and Tommy Cravenho sent Steeves spinning in front of the field.
A number of good cars were collected including point leader Kerry Malone, Keith Rocco, Jimmy Blewett, Josh Sylvester, Bobby Grigas III, Shelly Perry, and several others. A number of other cars sustained damage but were able to continue. Todd Ceravolo headed down pit road for service to his machine as well. The only contender not able to rejoin the field for the restart was Rocco, who suffered right front suspension damage.
When racing went green, Cravenho led a pair of laps before relinquishing the position to Woody Pitkat, who made an impressive move on the outside to take over the lead. Cravenho immediately had his hands full with Bert Marvin. Things settled down with Cates running in fourth and Blewett, who had reappeared, in the top-five.
Ten-laps in, the best battle on the track was the three-car battle for sixth position with Eric Goodale, and rookies Josh Sylvester and Tim Sullivan. The youngsters got a bit of a lesson from veterans Kerry Malone and Todd Ceravolo as they worked their way into the seventh spot behind Goodale.
The second caution flew when Anthony Burr made hard contact with the outside wall. Under the caution both Ceravolo and Blewett headed down pit road for service once again.
On the restart, Pitkat retook his place at the head of the field. Marvin worked over Cravenho to take over the second position. A lap shy of halfway, Malone was able to skate past Goodale to enter the top-five for the first time during the night. Rocco had rejoined the field a number of laps down.
While making a bid for the fifth spot, Goodale spun on lap 16 to bring out the caution. The top-three remained Pitkat, Marvin, and Cravenho on the restart. Under green, Malone resumed his bid at a strong finish taking over the fourth spot from Cates. Ceravolo looked racy once again as well as he worked on Sylvester.
The front three had stretched out their advantage on the green flag run. With five to go Pitkat enjoyed a comfortable lead over Marvin and Cravenho. Malone could not seem to erase the distance to the trio. Sylvester made a short-lived bid on Cates for fifth.
At the checkers, it was all Pitkat. Marvin crossed the stripe in second ahead of Cravenho. Malone extended his point lead with his fourth-place finish while Cates continues to be quietly consistent with another top-five finish.
Marc Palmisano of Hadley, MA, showed his muscle en route to his second Late Model feature win of the year. Jenison bolted out to an early lead with Tommy O’Sullivan and Jay Stuart taking chase. Palmisano, Conrad Cote and Pete Yetman volleyed for the fourth position. Palmisano eased by Cote and headed for Jay Stuart. It took a single lap for Palmisano to dispose of Stuart. Jenison continued to enjoy a sizable advantage over O’Sullivan.
Mechanical woes for Randy Waterman ended with the Killingly driver making heavy contact with the outside wall in turn one. Cote gave up the fourth position to head to pit road for service.
Jenison narrowly retained his lead on the ensuing restart. Palmisano got the best of O’Sullivan to take over the second position. At the halfway marker, Zuidema had become a contender. He took the third position from O’Sullivan a lap later. Almost immediately, he began to run down the lead duo of Jenison and Palmisano.
Jenison could not shake Palmisano. In aggressive pursuit of the lead, Palmisano bounced off Jenison. The leader subsequently drifted up the track slightly giving Palmisano the space he needed to take over the lead with six laps remaining. Zuidema was able to get alongside Jenison. Yetman had caught the second-place battle.
Palmisano checked out on the remainder of the field in the closing segments to take down the victory. Jenison was able to hold off Zuidema for third. Yetman and Rick Gentes completed the top five.
Jay Sundeen of Douglas, MA, silenced any critics with a dominating victory in the Limited Sportsman division. J. Sundeen capitalized on his front row starting position to motor out to a sizeable lead in the opening stages of the Limited Sportsman feature. Barnett, who suffered a costly DNS after blowing a motor last week, moved into the second position and slowly began to chip away at young Sundeen’s lead. Ed Puleo, who had a tense moment early in the race, ran strong moving into the third spot before halfway.
Scott Sundeen and Ernie Larose, who started in the 19th position, worked their way into the top-five. Larry Barnett has cut down the lead to only a few car lengths with two laps to go. As J. Sundeen was being dogged for the lead by Barnett, his father began to pressure Larose.
On the final lap, with a battle for the lead brewing, mechanical demons haunted Barnett once again. Barnett dropped off the pace leaving Sundeen to cruise to the checkers for his second win of the season.
Tim Taylor of Wauregan, CT, started the string of repeat winners on Thursday night, when he opened Thursday night Thompson Thunder with his second Mini Stock victory of the 2008 season. Taylor and Danny Fields duked it out for the lead in the early going of the main Mini Stock main event. After a quick battle after an early race restart, Taylor asserted himself as the man to beat. With Fields running strong in second, Scott Michalski ran alone in third. Point leader Mike Romano had worked his way into the top five by halfway.
During the extended green flag run the field had gotten strung out with Taylor continuing to show the way. Michalski watched his top finish go by the way side with only two laps remaining. The 15-lapper went uneventful to the finish with Taylor taking down his second win of the season. Fields continues to be strong in 2008 with his runner-up finish. Romano put some recent bad luck behind him to come home third. Roger Ducharme and Ron Rixham completed the top five.
Kurt Vigeant of Oxford, MA, gave his daughter Jamie a birthday to remember as he dedicated his second victory of to the 6-year old. Vigeant jumped out to a sizeable margin from his pole staring position. With Vigeant comfortable out front a great battle was brewing for the second position. John Studley held the position; however, he had his hands full holding off Glenn Boss. R.J. Marcotte made it a three-car battle for the second spot. Richie Ferreira had the best seat in the house in the fifth position.
After a lap nine caution for a spin by Leo Oliveira, Vigeant had a tremendous restart; rocketing out to the lead once again. Boss took advantage of the restart to climb into the second spot. Studley immediately has his hands full with R.J. Marcotte for third.
The fifth spot was being hotly contested by McDermott and Shane Michalski in the closing laps. On the final lap with Vigeant solidly out front and Boss in second, Marcotte was able to move passed Studley to take over the third spot. McDermott rounded out the top five.
Pro Stock Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Fred Astle, Jr., Westport, MA; 2. Derek Ramstrom, Worcester, MA; 3. Norm Wrenn, Nashua, NH; 4. Mike O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 5. Jay Macedonio, Somerset, MA; 6. George Bessette, Danbury, CT; 7. Dave Berghman, Seekonk, MA; 8. Steve Desmarias, Westport, MA; 9. Jim Banfield, S. Glastonbury, CT; 10. Mike Rivard, N. Scituate, RI.
Sunoco Modified Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Woody Pitkat, Stafford, CT; 2. Bert Marvin, New London, CT; 3. Tommy Cravenho, Raynham, MA; 4. Kerry Malone, Needham, MA; 5. Danny Cates, Chaplin, CT; 6. Josh Sylvester, Lebanon, CT; 7. Todd Ceravolo, Gales Ferry, CT; 8. Eric Goodale, Riverhead, NY; 9. Ricky Shawn, Bradford, CT; 10. Jimmy Blewett, Howell, NJ.
Late Model Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, MA; 2. Mark Jenison, Danielson, CT; 3. Jeff Zuidema, N. Brookfield, MA; 4. Pete Yetman, Peru, MA; 5. Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, RI; 6. Tommy O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 7. Mark Oliveira, Blackstone, MA; 8. Jay Stuart, Preston, CT; 9. Jeff Hartwell, Putnam, CT; 10. Conrad Cote, Lisbon, CT.
TIS Modifieds Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Kurt Vigeant, Oxford, MA; 2. Glenn Boss, Danielson, CT; 3. RJ Marcotte, Millville, MA; 4. John Studley, Framingham, MA; 5. Cam McDermott, Scituate, RI; 6. Shane Michalski, Woodstock, CT; 7. Brian Tagg, Oxford, CT; 8. Bart Ramos, Putnam, CT; 9. Richie Ferreira, Raynham, MA; 10. Leo Oliveira, Raynham.
Limited Sportsman Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Jay Sundeen, Douglas, MA; 2. Ed Puleo, Branford, CT; 3. Scott Sundeen, Douglas, MA; 4. Ernie Larose Plainfield, CT; 5. Larry Barnett, Ledyard, CT; 6. Joe Arena, Bristol, CT; 7. Gerald Sevigy, Brooklyn, CT; 8. Randy Jurcik, Chaplin, CT; 9. Joe Campbell, Moosup, CT; 10. Kevin Bowe, Pawtucket, RI.
Mini Stock Feature Finish (Top Ten): 1. Tim Taylor, Wauregan, CT; 2. Danny Fields, Deep River, CT; 3. Mike Romano, Glendale, RI; 4. Roger Ducharme, Foster, RI; 5. Ron Rixham, Jefferson, MA; 6. Leo Defevers, Brooklyn, CT; 7. Nathan Taylor, Brooklyn, CT; 8. Bert Oulellette Dayville, CT; 9. Glynn Roy, Sterling, CT; 10. Mike Viens, Seekonk, MA.
Sources:Dale Wolbrink/Thompson International Speedway PR