NEMA Owner Battle Moves to Seekonk
Seekonk, MA — Tim Bertrand holds a 43-point edge on Bob Santos Jr. atop the owners point standings as the Northeastern Midget Association heads to Seekonk Speedway’s D.Anthony Venditti Memorial this weekend.
The respective chauffeurs – Randy Cabral in the Bertrand #47 and Bobby Santos III in the Santos #98 – are in a group of seven active drivers with success at the “Cement Palace.” Seekonk is one of the classic Midget venues in the nation.
Cabral and rookie Jeff Abold were Seekonk winners previously this year. Each also has a second. The all-time Seekonk winner is Nokie Fornoro with eight. Others include, in addition to Cabral (4) and Abold, Lou Cicconi Jr. (3), Jeff Horn (3), Greg Stoehr (3), Joey Payne Jr. (2) and Santos.
The competitive NEMA Lites will be on hand, Jesse State and Shaun Gosselin both looking for a second ‘Konk checkered.”
“Bobby and I have talked about how strange this is,” says Cabral, a six-time winner this year. “Neither of us is a point chaser but we both want it badly for our owners, and in Bobby’s case his dad. They both work very hard.”
Cabral points out, however, Abold’s win in the Seymour #29 earlier this season is classic testimony to the unpredictability of Seekonk. He posted one of the biggest upsets in club history at Seekonk – the 2002 Boston Louie.
Cabral takes a wide lead over Joey Payne Jr. in the drivers standings. There is, however, much that remains to be decided as NEMA prepares for it 73rd Seekonk feature going back to Memorial Day of 1953. Fred Meeker won the club’s first- ever race that day.
A scant 16 points separate third-through-five – Santos, Adam Cantor (Cantor 7ny) and Erica Santos (Breault 44) – in the driver standings. Positions sixth-through-10 – Stoehr (Stoehr 26), Jeremy Frankoski (Bertrand 47b), William Wall (Wall 5), Nokie Fornoro (Jarret 4) and John Zych Jr. (Zych 9) – are no less unsettled.
Stoehr, Ed Breault and TSR Motorsports (Mike Keeler) are presently battling for the last top-five spot in the owners standings.
The Bertrand team comes to Seekonk off a dominating performance last week at Waterford Speedbowl’s Finale. Not only did Cabral and Frankoski finish one-two but Todd Bertrand won the Lites race.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR