NEMA “Lites” Set For Second Season
Brockton, MA — The second season for the Northeastern Midget Association’s “Lites” division will begin Friday night, June 5. The Lites will be on the agenda of Seekonk’s first “Fast Friday” race.
“A great place to open,” says NEMA President Mike Scrivani Jr. who continues Lites’ praises. “Seekonk is one of the top Midget tracks in the country and people go there with a lot of set-up knowledge.” The division, continues Scrivani, “was designed to provide a less-expensive way for competitors to stay or get into open cockpit racing,” he says. “It has been very successful to date.”
The Lites are less powerful and “a little heavier” than the full blown NEMA midgets. The Honda joins the Ford Focus and Oldsmobile Quad 4 on the allowed engine list.
Seekonk is the first of 15 dates on the schedule that, according to Scrivani, is likely to grow.
Jake Stergios, a winner in last year’s finale at Twin State, will be looking to start the way he finished. Others expected to return are brother P.J. Stergios, Stephanie Doty, Russ Wood Jr, Kevin Park, Shawn Torrey, Anthony Marvuglio, Todd Bertrand in a Bertrand Motorsports car, and Paul Luggelle. Eddie LeClaire leads the rookie class.
Doty, a one-time Whip City Speedway competitor, is a classic “Lites” competitor. After a season of “getting used to the asphalt,” she’s “excited” about returning in the Camosse Masonry Supply #09 car. “Last year was such a big change,” says Doty, who began in Go Karts at age 7. Still, she learned to “be comfortable” at the speedy Seekonk. It is, she insists, “a fun track.”
Her best finish was a second at Waterford Speedbowl’s Finale, a race won by Todd Bertrand, youngest brother of 2008 NEMA championship car owner, Tim Bertrand.
“The goal is for some of the teams and drivers to become full time NEMA drivers,” continues Scrivani. “That’s going to happen down the road. Right now, in these difficult economic times, we are very pleased with what’s happening.”
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR