Jeff Abold Seekonk NEMA Winner
Seekonk, MA — The pass came on lap 14 and the rest was academic. Rookie Jeff Abold, 19, drove the Seymour #29 to an impressive victory in the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association 25-lap segment of Seekonk’s Open Wheel on Wednesday.
Starting 16th, Jesse State passed Nick Ribbe in traffic on lap 14 to capture his third straight NEMA Lites feature.
Abold took the low road past Randy Cabral heading into turn three after two laps of side-by-side racing. It was then a matter of counting laps. He finished several car lengths ahead of point leader and three-time winner Cabral with Jeff Horn third.
The winning move ended a duel that was set up by the second and last restart on lap 12. “I thought ‘if he pushes up a little bit that’s where I am going,” said Abold. “I wasn’t trying to force him anywhere.” And when Cabral did “push up a little bit” Abold “saw the opening, took it and went by.”
Abold followed Cabral to the front. Coming from the 10th starting spot, Cabral took the lead from pole sitter Nokie Fornoro in the backstretch on lap four. When the first yellow flew eight laps in, Abold was third. A half lap after the restart he was on Cabral’s tail. He was still there when yellow flew again four laps later.
“When I saw him outside me I knew,” said Cabral, claiming he might have “over strategized” himself. “If he had hit me, banged me, I’d have something to say. Jeff out-raced me, passed me and he got away. The kid is good.”
“It’s Randy Cabral and it’s amazing,” continued Abold, the son of supermodified star Pat. “It almost seems unfair to win like that when the car is that good. It was better on the inside but it was awesome anywhere I put it.”
Horn, who pointed out the combined age of Abold and Cabral doesn’t equal his (63), moved from seventh to third on the final restart. Adam Cantor and Fornoro, the front row sitters, completed the top five.
Victory lane was filled with Seymours including brothers Bobby and Mike and matriarch Miss Ellie. While a victory for Autocraft delighted everybody, “it’s more about chassis here,” said Bobby. He added the car was probably three-tenths of a second faster in the feature following “big time” post-head adjustments. He was also filled with accolades for Abold.
When the first yellow flew in the Lites feature, State was eighth. On the third restart attempt, Ribbe took command from early leader Paul Luggelle and two laps later State was challenging. The duo battled in front of the field before State used lapped traffic to assume command.
“Lapped traffic always helps,” understated State. Jack Stergois, Shaun Gooslin and P.J. Stergois completed the top five.
1. Jeff Abold, 2. Randy Cabral, 3. Jeff Horn, 4. Adam Cantor, 5. Nokie Fornoro, 6. Lou Cicconi Jr., 7. Bobby Santos III, 8. Jeremy Frankoski, 9. Joey Payne Jr., 10. Greg Stoehr, 11. B.J. MacDonald, 12. William Wall, 13. Erica Santos, 14. Chris Leonard, 15. Mike Luggelle, 16. Abby Martino, 17. Doug Cleveland, 18. Barry Kittredge, 19. John Zych, 20. Jim Peruto, 21. Lee Bundy, 22. Paul Luggelle, 23. Matt O’Brien, 24. Paul Scally, 25. Mike Horn, 26. Shawn Torrey, 27. Aaron Wall.
NEMA LITES; 1. Jesse State, 2. Nick Ribbe, 3. Jake Stergios, 4. Shaun Gooslin, 5. P.J. Stergios, 6. Anthony Marvuglio, 7. Todd Bertrand, 8. Shawn Torrey, 9. Russ Wood Jr., 10. Matt Bettencourt, 11. Tad Uzzle, 12. Paul Luggelle, 13. Tim Paul, 14. Mike Muldoon, 15. Stephanie Doty, 16. Josh Wollam, 17. Mike Luggelle.
Sources:Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR