Uhrig, Ladyga and Hutchins Win Final Fast Friday Events
Cestodio, Anderson and Spillers Fast Friday Champions
Seekonk, MA — The second season of Fast Friday competition came to a close, and three new Champions were crowned. Congratulations to Scott Cestodio of Swansea who picked up his first Pure Stock crown, Derryk Anderson Jr, of Warwick for picking up the Seekonk Youth Racing Association (S.Y.R.A.) 750 crown, and Ashburnham’s Jake Spillers, who won the SYRA 600 title. All competitors will be honored the 63rd annual Awards Banquet and Presentation in January.
With one final event on the schedule, not only were the points the talk of the day, but there was still one more event to be run. In the SYRA 600 class, Dave Hutchins Jr picked up his first career SYRA win, besting Branden Dion of Taunton for the win. Branden led the opening laps of the 25 lap feature, and set the pace early. After leading the first several laps, Hutchins, from Somerset, jumped into the lead and lead the field to the checkers.
While the fight for the lead was going on, Jake Spillers came into the night, needing to finish within the top five, regardless of what Lil Hutch did, as he sat 17 points behind coming into the night for the championship chase. He was able to accomplish just that, as he came home third in the main event, hanging on to win the title by six points over Dave Hutchins.
Kyle DeSouza finished fourth to end his rookie season in the 600 class, and was able to hang on to third in the championship chase. Kyle finished the season with two wins. Kaitlyn Donovan of Waterford CT had a great season, picking up her first career win on the way to a fourth place finish in the standings. With his second place finish in the finale, Dion was able to climb into the top five overall.
Derryk Anderson had a little more of a cushion to work with in the final event, after picking up two wins on the season. His closest competitor would be the hottest drive in the 750 class, Dylan Estrella of N Attleboro, who was coming off two straight wins. Dylan started sixth on the field, and moved toward the front quickly.
Voluntown CT’s Nick Ladyga followed Chris Igo Jr to the front on the opening lap, but it wouldn’t last long as he spun off of turn four coming down to complete lap one. Anderson slowed up, expecting a caution, but none came, and this put him way behind the field. It did finally come out after another lap was complete, as Dylan Estrella got together with Niantic CT’s Kyle Kuchta in turn four, closing the field in. Ladyga picked up the lead, and set the pace throughout the 25 lap affair as Estrella moved through the field using both lanes. One into second, he closed in on Ladyga, and put a lot of pressure on the leader, but was not able to overcome him. Estrella settled into the runner-up position in the race and in the season long point chase. With his win in the season finale, Ladyga was able to jump up two positions in the final standings, moving up to a tie for third, tied with Casey Sanchez.
Casey Sanchez of Providence RI stated off the season strong, picking up the win in weeks one and two. The momentum stopped there, as he fell behind a little as the summer months heated up. With consistent top ten finishes, he was able to hang onto a top three overall. Kyle Kuchta picked up his first win of his career on July 11th, but the late summer surge didn’t come as expected and dropped Kyle from the top three. His early season run allowed his to stay in the top five overall.
Trophies for the top three finishers for the SYRA competitors for the evening were provided by Hutchins & Son’s Enterprises.
Each week, Ultraflex Race Bodies of Warwick RI offers a $50.00 savings bond to a competitor based on several areas of competition. This week’s savings bond is being awarded to Ashley Kuhn for her determination. While she has struggled to get her car up to speed and more competitive, she continues to go out and strive for a better result. With that determination, she has earned the savings bond.
Ultraflex was on hand Friday night and presented gift certificates to several competitors toward body repairs / purchase over the winter. The winners in the 600 class were Adam Swift/$100.00, Bob Perry/$75.00 and Dave Hutchins Jr/$50.00. The 750 class were Dylan Estrella/$100.00, Jacob Swift/$75.00, Chris Igo Jr/$50.00.
Scott Cestodio had one goal in mind over the final event. Stay with defending title holder, and his closest competitor in the chase. There were 17 points between the top two, and that meant Cestodio could finish anywhere in the top eight and still retain the top position.
CJ Mello of Cranston jumped into the early lead and set the pace for the first few circuits. Mike Vanasse, running his first Pure Stock event, picked up the lead and started to pull away from the field. He set the pace through a couple of single car spin cautions. Randy Moretti of W Warwick was coming off his first win of the season, and worked through the field from 18th to second by lap 12. While battling for the lead, Moretti and Vanasse tangled, with Vanasse going around. Moretti got the call for the assist and was sent to the tail end.
This handed the lead over to Bill Chouinard, who needed to keep plenty of distance between him and Cestodio. John Robidoux and Cestodio were second and third at this point. By the time the yellow came back out on lap 21 for Mello going around, there was a new number at the top of the leaderboard. Nick Uhrig had moved from his 16th starting position into the lead, and would pace the field across the checkered flag over Chouinard, Cestodio, Robidoux and Bob Hinckley.
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SYRA 600 Heat I / 10 Laps 1) 95Kaitlyn Donovan, Waterford CT 2) 75 Adam Swift, Fairhaven MA 3) 83 Bob Perry, Holbrook MA 4) 18 Ashley Kuhn, Plymouth MA 5) 6 Jake Spillers, Ashburnham MA |
Feature / 25 Laps1) 96 Dave Hutchins Jr, Somerset Ma
2) 04 Branden Dion, Taunton MA 3) 6 Jake Spillers, Ashburnham MA 4) 88 Kyle DeSouza, Fairhaven MA 5) 75 Adam Swift, Fairhaven MA 6) 3 Jason Enos, Assonet MA 7) 50 Carl Medeiros Jr, Westport MA 8) 95 Kaitlyn Donovan, Waterford CT 9) 83 Bob Perry, Holbrook MA 10) 18 Ashley Kuhn |
| Heat II / 10 Laps1) 04 Branden Dion, Taunton MA
2) 96 Dave Hutchins Jr, Somerset MA 3) 50 Carl Medeiros Jr, Westport MA 4) 88 Kyle DeSouza, Fairhaven MA 5) 3 Jason Enos II, Voluntown CT |
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| SYRA 750Heat I / 10 Laps
1) 38 Nick Ladyga, Voluntown CT 2) 5 Casey Sanchez, Providence RI 3) 8 Chris Igo Jr, N Easton MA 4) 65 Derryk Anderson, Warwick RI 5) 56 Jacob Swift, Fairhaven MA |
Feature / 25 Laps1) 38 Nick Ladyga, Voluntown CT
2) 46 Dylan Estrella, N Attleboro MA 3) 65 Derryk Anderson, Warwick RI 4) 22 Brian Mondeau, Bridgewater MA 5) 8 Chris Igo Jr, N Easton MA 6) 5 Casey Sanchez, Providence RI 7) 56 Jacob Swift, Fairhaven MA 8) 28 Jariah Roderick, E Taunton MA 9) 0 Kyle Kuchta |
| Heat II / 10 Laps1) 46 Dylan Estrella, N Attleboro MA
2) 0 Kyle Kuchta, Niantic CT 3) 22 Brian Mondeau, Bridgewater MA 4) 28 Jariah Roderick, E Taunton MA |
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| Pure StocksHeat I / 10 Laps
1) 11 Nick Uhrig, Warwick RI 2) 0 Tom Blackwell, Taunton MA 3) 93 John Robidoux, Swansea MA 4) 95 Lou Robinson, Attleboro MA 5) 53 Vinny Pangelinan, W Warwick RI 6) 47 Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge MA 7) 33 Mike Vanasse, Warwick RI 8) 99 CJ Mello, Cranston RI 9) 10 Melissa Charette, Taunton MA |
Feature / 25 Laps1) 11 Nick Uhrig, Warwick RI
2) 8 Bill Chouinard, Swansea MA 3) 01 Scott Cestodio, Swansea MA 4) 93 John Robidoux, Swansea MA 5) 13 Bob Hinckley, Acushnet MA 6) 77 Carlos Silva, Swansea MA 7) 95 Lou Robinson, Attleboro MA 8) 0 Tom Blackwell, Taunton MA 9) 47 Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge MA 10) 5 Randy Moretti, W Warwick RI 11) 53 Vinny Pangelinan, W Warwick RI 12) 15 Jeremy Lambert, Westport MA 13) 99 CJ Mello, Cranston RI 14) 48 Rick Hayward, Halifax MA 15) 33 Mike Vanasse, Warwick RI 16) 51 Joe Carpenter, Seekonk MA 17) 2x Melissa Valentine, Pawtucket RI 18) 10 Melissa Charette, Taunton MA |
| Heat II / 10 Laps1) 13 Bob Hinckley, Acushnet MA
2) 01 Scott Cestodio, Swansea MA 3) 8 Bill Chouinard, Swansea MA 4) 5 Randy Moretti, W Warwick RI 5) 77 Carlos Silva, Swansea MA 6) 48 Rick Hayward, Halifax MA 7) 51 Joe Carpenter, Seekonk MA 8) 15 Jeremy Lambert, Westport MA 9) 2x Melissa Valentine |
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Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR