Astle adds fourth Pro Stock Title to his resume. Mitchell and Tripp become Champs. Duquette wins LM Open
Seekonk, MA — With three titles to be decided on Saturday, September 19, drivers in three divisions were on the edge. The closest battle to be had was the Pro Stock title, which saw Dave Darling leading the chase by seven over Astle, and 22 over Tom Scully Jr.
For Dave to claim his third Pro title, he had to finish no worse than second if Astle was to win. Early on, it looked like he might be the driver to beat. Moving through traffic early, Dave found himself inside the top three by the fifth lap. On lap six, he moved past early leader Dave Hutchins for second, and started chasing Rob Murphy for the lead. His bid, however, for his third championship ended on lap 13.
On a restart for a lap 12 caution, he and Murphy raced wheel to wheel for over a lap. As they came off turn two, the pair made contact, sending both drivers up the track. While Murphy was able to recover, Darling was not, and the Johnson Landscaping Dodge suffered heavy damage, ending his night. Ken Spencer was also involved and suffered race ending damage.
Tom Scully Jr came into the night with a chance at the top spot, but his bid was thwarted by a lap three caution that sent him in for repairs that cost him 11 laps. From there, all Astle had to do was finish the race and he would claim his fourth Pro Stock title, tying him with Rick Martin with four, one behind Vinny Annarummo, who holds five Pro Stock titles.
Rob Murphy did not receive any damage with the incident on lap 13, and continued to lead the race through several cautions. Murphy kept the top spot until lap 25, when Astle used the outside lane to pick up the lead, and pick up his sixth win of the season. Dave Hutchins finished second, while Kyle Casper came back from an early accident for his best finish of third. Rob Murphy finished fourth with Bobby Tripp fifth. Ray Parent, Dan O’Brien, Steve O’Brien, Craig Weinstein and Jeramee Lillie rounded out the top ten.
With only a handful of points separating Jody Tripp from Rick Martin, Tripp had to finish no worse than third if Martin won the race. Lenny Guy set the early pace and held on through two cautions. On the second restart, Martin, who started fifth, sat second, and took over the lead at the drop of the green. Martin pulled away from the field, and picked up his track leading 10th win of the season.
But that was only half of the drama. With Martin up front, Tripp had to finish third to win the title. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded. With no cautions after lap 9, Tripp had a tougher time working through the traffic. Once he got his rhythm, he ran fourth for the longest time. Mike Cavallaro was making a rare appearance in the trucks this year, and held Tripp of for the coveted third position.
As the laps wound down, it appeared that Tripp would have to settle for a tie in the chase, which would give Martin the title in the tiebreaker. With four laps remaining, Tripp was finally able to muster up the pass for third, and picked up his first championship by 3 points over Martin. The top five at the finish were Martin, Guy, Tripp, Cavallaro and John Paiva.
Jody became the third Tripp to win a championship at Seekonk, adding to the family legacy.
Mike Mitchell came into the final race with a comfortable lead over Sparky Arsenault, and needed just a decent finish to pick up his first championship. The race started off with Ron Barboza jumping out front and setting the pace. While Barboza set the pace, eyes were on Mitchell, Arsenault and Ryan Lineham and Scott Serydynski. Lineham started eleventh, and started his move to the front. For the first ten laps, there was not much change in the top five, with fourth and fifth place changing hands a couple of times. With Barboza out front, Brian Spillane and Bobby Pelland III sat second and third. At the ten lap mark, Mike Lema and Lineham rounded out the top five. Lineham used the outside lane, and took over third at the halfway.
As Lineham started to challenge Spillane for second, coming off turn two, Barboza slowed up, which allowed Ryan to move into the lead as they headed into turn three. Barboza fell off the pace and retired. Chris Rioux moved into third for the next couple of circuits before Serydynski moved past into the runner up spot.
With three laps remaining, Lineham pulled up the racetrack, as mechanical gremlins cost Ryan his fourth win of the season. Instead, it was the Street Stock all-time win leader, Scott Serydynski becoming the recipient and picked up his second win of the season. Rioux held on for second, with Spillane, Pelland and Mark Henshaw rounding out the top five. Mitchell held on for an eighth place finish, which was enough for his first career championship. Arsenault wound up tenth in the final rundown.
With the Late Model Championship decided and closed out, Seekonk Speedway held a 64 lap Open Competition event. Points leader Ryan Vanasse was representing the speedway at NHMS for an Invitational, so he was not on hand. Four time champion Gerry DeGasparre had qualified and was poised to start on the outside of the front row. But an engine failure on the final lap of his qualifier kept him out of the event.
As the field took the green, Colby Fournier and Matt Breault brought the field down after the redraw. Breault took the lead and set the early pace. The second caution slowed up the field at lap six when Kyle DeSouza spun. Randy Burr lined up on the outside of Breault, and they raced wheel to wheel for the next several laps, with Burr taking over. Breault started to slide back, as Jimmy Rosenfield and Bill Bernard swapped the second position back and fourth between them. Bernard spun on lap 22, bringing out the fourth caution of the race.
As the field took the halfway, the top five were Burr, Rosenfield, Frank Duquette, Mike Cavallaro and Denny Stampfl. Another caution on lap 40 bunched the field when Ray Parent got together with Fournier. Once back underway, Burr had his hands full, as he and Duquette traded the lead back and forth, with Duquette coming out on top at lap 48. It was right after that when the final caution came out for Stampfl, who lost a left rear tire.
Burr could not keep up with Duquette on the restart, and Rosenfield moved past on the inside for second. Burr raced back and forth with Cavallaro for third over the last dozen laps, and held on at the checkered for third. Cavallaro and Bill Bernard rounded out the top five.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR