Kaitlyn Donovan Scores First Career Win
John Robidoux and Dylan Estrella Pick Up First of Season
Seekonk, MA — Waterford, CT’s Kaitlyn Donovan followed in the footsteps of Samantha Diamond and Dianna Murphy, joining the handful of female competitors that have graced Victory Lane in the Seekonk Youth Racing Association. Kaitlyn, running her rookie season at Seekonk Speedway. Kaitlyn started on the pole, and quickly jumped out front. Kyle DeSouza of Fairhaven settled into the second position. DeSouza stated to slide back, and fall out of the top three early on when Dave Hutchens of Somerset and Ashburnham’s Jake Spillers slid by. The top three cars started to pull away, but Adam Swift made it a four car freight train, as he settled into fourth by lap five.
As they crossed the halfway mark, Donovan continued to lead the charge, as second through fourth had not changed. Carl Medeiros Jr had worked himself into fifth, putting his New Way Auto Dodge onto the leader board. By lap 18, the leaders were starting to work lapped traffic, and when Hutch tried the outside, he got caught behind some of the slower traffic, and caused him to lose two positions, dropping the Hutchens & Sons Enterprises machine back to fourth. The GRC Steel mount of Spillers moved into second, with the Roland’s Tire racer of Swift into third.
Over the last five laps, the current points leader did all he could, but Spillers had to settle for second, as Kaitlyn Donovan was too strong on this night. She picked up her first career win over Jake Spillers, Adam Swift, Dave Hutchens and Kyle DeSouza, who moved back into fifth when Carl Medeiros spun off of turn two on the final lap.
In the 750 class, it was North Attleboro’s Dylan Estrella carrying the Checkered Flag for the first time this season. The 25 lap main event started out rough for the 750 class, as the Allegre Motorsports #5 of Casey Sanchez spun in turn two in the second lap, collecting the Suchocki & Son’s Construction machine of Nick Ladyga and Niantic’s Kyle Kuchta. All three were sidelined for the remainder of the event.
When the field got underway again, it was Plymouth’s Stephen Gardiner Jr who jumped out into the early lead with Estrella and current points leader Derryk Anderson Jr in third. Estrella was anxious to get to the front, and as they came off of turn four, the top three cars ran three wide for the lead, with Estrella getting the spot over Anderson and Gardiner. Anderson continued to run the outside, and on lap six, edged Anderson for the lead by .005. Anderson would lead lap seven also, but would not lead another. Matthew Burke had worked himself into the third position by the halfway point, and would continue there until the final laps. Gardiner fell back to fourth by the Checkered Flag, with Brian Mondeau rounding out the top five.
It was a full week for Pure Stock feature winner John Robidoux, as he and his wife Gretchen welcomed their first child this past Tuesday and he followed the emotional high on Friday night and picked up his first win of the season in the Pure Stocks. John started ninth in the 20 car field and used a slowing John Frias to squeeze into the top three by lap four.
Mike Mello of Swansea took the early lead and started to put a little distance between he and Concord NC’s Amy Arsenault. Robidoux sat third in his Sanford & Son’s Auto Parts Monte Carlo, with CJ Mello and Bob Hinckley rounding out the top five at lap ten. Behind the top five, the drivers were spread out three and four abreast, in an intense battle for positions. Hinckley started 13th, and worked his way forward. Most eyes were on the co-points leaders, as Bill Chouinard and Scott Cestodio, both of Swansea, came into the nights action tied for the championship points lead, and they both started in the back of the starting grid.
It was Cestodio who was able to maneuver the traffic a little better, moving into the top five by lap 15. Lap 16 saw the first and only caution of the event, as Jeremy Lambert of Westport slowed just in front of the leaders, causing the drivers to take evasive action. The yellow had come out, just as Robidoux spun to avoid running into the leaders. After the ARC officials consulted, they ruled that John was not an accident car, allowing him to continue in his third position. Amy Arsenault had just started to make a bid for the lead, as the leaders were working in heavy lapped traffic.
Once the green returned, Mello continued to lead, but now it was Robidoux just behind. Cestodio moved into third, while Hinckley and Mark Boisvert rounded out the top five. Robidoux had enough of running second, and as they crossed the stripe with five laps remaining, John made the move and took over the lead. His lead would not be an easy one, as Cestodio followed him through into second, and started to make a move for the lead. Cestodio took his Towncartravel.com Monte Carlo to the outside lane, and started to make a move for the lead. A couple of times, he looked to have an advantage, but couldn’t muster up enough to grab the lead.
Behind them, Nick Uhrig was battling Bob Hinckley for third, using the outside lane to work his way from his 14th starting position. Uhrig came up a little short, as he was unable to move up any further due to Robidoux crossing the line for his first win of the season. Cestodio finished second, and in the process took over the points lead over Chouinard who wound up eighth. Uhrig finished third, with Hinckley and Boisvert rounding out the top five. Arsenault finished sixth with Randy Moretti seventh, Chouinard eighth, Carlos Silva ninth and CJ Mello rounding out the top ten.
The Fast Friday series takes a week off, as the Pure Stocks join the Labor Day Celebration on Sunday, August 31. The SYRA will have the week off, but will return with the Pure Stocks on Friday, September fifth. It was also announced that on Friday, September 12th, the NEMA Lites will join the Fast Friday program. The Fast Friday series winds down on Friday, September 19th. Join us for some great family fun. Admission is only $5.00 for adults and kids 12 and under are FREE.
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SYRA 600 Heat I / 10 Laps 1) 75 Adam Swift, Fairhaven MA 2) 6 Jake Spillers, Ashburnham MA 3) David Hutchens, Somerset MA 4) 04 Branden Dion. Taunton MA 5) 18 Ashley Kuhn, Plymouth MA |
600 Feature / 25 Laps 1) 95 Kaitlyn Donovan, Waterford CT 2) 6 Jake Spillers, Ashburnham MA 3) 75 Adam Swift, Fairhaven, MA 4) 96 David Hutchens, Somerset MA 5) 88 Kyle DeSouza, Fairhaven MA 6) 50 Carl Medeiros, Westport Ma 7) 3 Jason Enos, Assonet MA 8) 04 Branden Dion, Taunton MA 9) 18 Ashley Kuhn, Plymouth MA |
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Heat II / 10 Laps 1) 95 Kaitlyn Donovan, Waterford CT 2) 50 Carl Medeiros, Westport MA 3) 88 Kyle DeSouza, Fairhaven MA 4) 3 Jason Enos II, Assonet MA |
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SYRA 750 1) 46 Dylan Estrella, North Attleboro MA 2) 65 Derryk Anderson Jr, Warwick RI 3) 38 Nick Ladyga, Voluntown CT 4) 55 Matthew Burke, Plymouth, MA 5) 8 Chris Igo Jr, North Easton MA 6) 28 Jariah Roderick, East Taunton MA |
750 Feature / 25 Laps 1) 46 Dylan Estrella, North Attleboro MA 2) 65 Derryk Anderson Jr, Warwick RI 3) 55 Matthew Burke, Plymouth MA 4) 12 Stephen Gardiner Jr, Plymouth MA 5) 22 Brian Mondeau, Bridgewater MA 6) 8 Chris Igo Jr, North Easton MA 7) 56 Jacob Swift, Fairhaven MA 8) 5 Casey Sanchez, Providence RI 9) 0 Kyle Kuchta, Niantic CT 10) 38 Nick Ladyga, Voluntown CT |
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Heat II / 10 Laps 1) 12 Stephen Gardiner Jr, Plymouth MA 2) 5 Casey Sanchez, Providence RI 3) 0 Kyle Kuchta, Niantic CT 4) 22 Brian Mondeau, Bridgewater MA 5) 56 Jacob Swift, Fairhaven MA |
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Pure Stocks Heat I / 10 Laps 1) 5 Randy Moretti, West Warwick RI 2) 29 Bobby Greggerson, Attleboro MA 3) 13 Bob Hinckley, Acushnet MA 4) 0 Tom Blackwell, Taunton MA 5) 93 John Robidoux, Swansea MA 6) 24 Dirk Eykelhoff, Oakdale CT 7) 99 CJ Mello, Cranston RI 8) 9 Amy Arsenault, Concord NC 9) 2x Missy Valentine, Pawtucket RI |
Pure Stock Feature / 25 Laps 1) 93 John Robidoux, Swansea MA 2) 01 Scott Cestodio, Swansea MA 3) 11 Nick Uhrig, Warwick RI 4) 13 Bob Hinckley, Acushnet MA 5) 47 Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge MA 6) 9 Amy Arsenault, Concord NC 7) 5 Randy Moretti, West Warwick RI 8) 8 Bill Chouinard, Swansea MA 9) 0 Tom Blackwell, Taunton MA 10) 99 C J Mello, Cranston RI 11) 77 Carlos Silva, Pawtucket RI 12) 36 John Frias, Fairhaven MA 13) 29 Bobby Greggerson, Attleboro MA 14) 24 Dirk Eykelhoff, Oakdale CT 15) 2x Missy Valentine, Pawtucket RI 16) 33 Mike Mello, Swansea MA 17) 10 Melissa Charette, Taunton MA 18) 53 Vinny Pangelinan, Coventry RI 19) 15 Jeremy Lambert, Westport MA |
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Heat II / 10 Laps 1) 8 Bill Chouinard, Swansea MA 2) 11 Nick Uhrig, Warwick RI 3) 01 Scott Cestodio, Swansea MA 4) 15 Jeremy Lambert, Westport MA 5) 77 Carlos Silva, Pawtucket RI 6) 47 Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge MA 7) 53 Vinny Pangelinan, Coventry RI 8) 36 John Frias, Fairhaven MA 9) 33 Mike Mello, Swansea MA 10) 10 Melissa Charette, Taunton MA |
Sources:Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR