Martin, Breault, Estrella and Serydynski pick up ARC wins at The Konk
Seekonk, MA — It took Radical Rick Martin 19 laps to thread his way from his 7th place starting position into the lead at Seekonk Speedway Saturday night, but once into the free air, none of his competitors were able to catch him. This, after battling to second in the Seekonk, Sport Trucks division earlier in the evening. Martin had been close in that event to setting up for a dual win, but was held off by winner Dylan Estrella on the final go-’round.
West Bridgewater’s John Dabrowski leapt off the starting line from his pole position and seemed headed all the way to victory lane with a very fast line. Steve O’Brien, who had been at the outside pole position, suddenly found Somerset’s Kevin Casper underneath him as they entered the backstretch on lap one. The duo began scrapping for second until lap 3, when O’Brien spun coming into the frontstretch, leaving a thick cloud of smoke and initiating a mad scramble to avoid him. He came to rest in front of the starter’s stand with a sudden, short burst of flame under his hood. He re-fired his motor, confirming the fire was un-burnt fuel expending itself. However, it did initiate the evening’s only red flag, which continued while crews cleared debris from the straightaway and spread speedy-dry to mop up spilled fluids. Officials penalized Ray Parent with a trip to the back of the field for initiating Dabrowski’s spin. Casper was able to thread his way around Dabrowski’s outside on lap 9. But the latter dived back underneath to reclaim his lead 2 laps later. Contact in the pack sent Taunton’s Ken Spencer to the sidelines for the evening. Tom Ellis, visiting from North Carolina also took the Ellis Racing 41 to the pits with damage to the driver’s side front. Rob Murphy was in and out of the pits. Fred Astle also left the track, only to return with most of the front bodywork and his driver’s side door missing. His car spent the rest of the evening looking like a modified racer.
On the restart, Dabrowski and Casper came out side-by-side and began a duel for supremacy until lap 9, when Casper finally forged into the lead. Not to be denied, Dabrowski went back under to reclaim the position on the twelfth circuit. By lap 15, Casper was again at the front with Dave Darling putting Dabrowski under attack. By lap 18 he was moving easily with a two-lap lead over Dabrowski. Martin had threaded his way through the pack and ran by into second on the 19th pass and began to chase down Casper.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
By lap 25, Martin had hunted down his quarry and went to the outside for the lead, but Casper held him off. Dave Darling had moved into third past Dabrowski. Ryan Vanasse and Mike Brightman were in pursuit.
Casper’s brother, Kyle and Tom Scully Jr. looped their cars, bringing out the caution on lap 25.
Kevin led the restart, chased by Martin, Darling, Dabrowski, Vanasse and Brightman. Two laps later, O’Brien went around on the frontstretch again, brushing the wall with his nose but committing minor damage. Ellis and Jake Vanada narrowly avoided O’Brien but the nose of the 41 was hammered down and Vanada had to be helped to the pits. O’Brien also headed for the pits. All three were back for the restart.
Casper was back into the lead on the restart by a nose over Martin, but Martin was edging up. On lap 29, he edged past into the front. Darling began to harry Casper’s rear bumper chased by Vanasse, Brightman, Dabrowski and Dave Hutchins.
The final ten circuits were almost a breakneck parade to the finish for the strung-out field. On lap 38, however, Darling made an attempt under Casper, but the latter was able to close the door. Martin ran in for the win, followed by Kevin Casper, Darling, Vanasse and Brightman. Filling out the top ten were Dabrowski, Hutchins, Parent, Rob Murphy and Scully.
“Kevin ran me really clean,” said Martin in his post-race interview in Victory Lane. “I was struggling on the outside, just tried to make it look good out there.” The win was Martin’s second on the season in the Pro Stock division.
Acushnet, Mass driver Matt Breault put on a show of dominance at Seekonk Speedway, Saturday evening, winning both his qualifying heat and feature race going to the front at the green flag and not relinquishing his spot to the end of the night. Breault was aided by the race, itself, as it went the full 30 laps without a caution. His pursuers could only stand on their accelerators and watch him pull further ahead. By the end, he led the field by a full quarter-lap, nabbing a 2.069-second victory over Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. It was a drought-breaker for Breault, who had not seen a feature win in two seasons. “I don’t know what to say; it’s been so long since I’ve been here,” he told track announcer Kevin Boucher at Victory Lane. “Over the winter we completely rebuilt the car. We must’ve done something right, ’cause this thing’s a rocket.”
While Breault was rocketing ahead at the front, the race became a high water mark for DeGasparre, the former division champion, who has shown moments of speed through the early season, but not seen top finishes. This evening, he steadily threaded his way from his eighth place start to the runnerup spot. The DeGasparre car showed good speed, enabling him to cut several car-lengths from Breault’s long lead in the closing laps.
On the eighth circuit, with the leader enjoying a 7-car lead, Colbey Fournier was holding second over Frank Duquette, Dennis Stange, Kyle Casper and DeGasparre.
Breault went ballistic off the green flag and the only question left was who would finish second. By lap three he had a 3-car lead and at lap 5 led Colbey Fournier, Dennis Stange, Frank Duquette and Randy Butt. DeGasparre had moved to fourth by lap 13, passing Stange, moving in behind Casper. At mid-race, Breault was already enjoying his quarter-lap lead over Fournier, Duquette, Casper and DeGasparre. Top 5 had not changed by the 20th circuit, but DeGasparre made a big move for second, and settled into position on lap 23. On the next go-around, Duquette tucked in behind DeGasparre in third, with Casper fourth. On the 26th, Breault led DeGasparre, Duquette, Casper, Jimmy Rosenfield and Randy Burr.
The final four orbits were a stretched-out parade with Breault as drum major. DeGasparre followed him across the stripe, 2.069 seconds back. Duquette, Casper, Robert Pelland III, Rosenfield, Burr, Stange, Ryan Vanasse and Mike Cavallaro rounded out the top ten.
Post race, Breault spun doughnuts for the crowd on the front stretch, creating a huge blue cloud before rolling to the starter’s stand to accept the checkered flag from the starter for his victory lap.
Dylan Estrella just needed to survive a host of restarts to get past lap 5 on the Seekonk Sport Trucks feature race, then ran at the front the rest of the way in the 25-lap feature for a dramatic win. Drama produced when Rick Martin settled in behind him on lap 10 and began nibbling, then biting at his tail feathers for the final 15 laps.
The North Attleboro driver had set the best lap time in his heat race, won by New Bedford’s Lenny Guy, where Estrella placed second. Fortunes were reversed as Guy, winner in the previous event (with Martin, again, chomping on his tailgate) finishing third on the evening.
Spinouts interrupted the progress each time the green flag dropped. Finally, polesitter Ronny Cornell was able to lead the field off on a good lap. He powered to the lead with Hugh Bowser leaping up alongside Ted Berube, who had started on the outside pole. The duo battled into a 3-wide situation, but Estrella powered through to the lead on lap 3, followed by well-known hot shoes: John Paiva, Martin, Cornell, Guy and Berube.
On the fifth circuit, Bowser and Jariah Roderick tangled coming out of turn four, getting into the wall just feet short of the starter’s stand with very hard hits. It took ingenuity by the wrecker crews to get them separated while the track crew laid down speedy dry on the fluid spill from Roderick’s number 3.
On the restart, Berube and Cornell got tied up in the first turn and spun to the lower edge of the track. Billy, Clarke, trying to avoid the pair as the pack scattered, went to the infield, but couldn’t completely avoid contact, slapping his right rear against the wreck. Damage was minimal and Clarke was able to continue.
Trouble had arrived on the restart as hard-charger John Paiva was on the outside of the front row to challenge Estrella for the restart, with Martin on the low side of the second row and guy on the high side. Estrella survived the challenge and led Martin and Guy through the tenth lap. Paiva appeared to have lost a bit of speed in the three cautions, though gamely plugged along, settling into fourth but unable to muster the crisp speed he normally displays. For the next 10 laps, it was a great parade with Estrella holding the lead over Martin, who obviously was waiting for his opponent to make a mistake, followed by a hungry Lenny Guy. Paiva continued in fourth, several cars back, but well ahead of Mashpee driver Michael Ronhock in fifth, Berube and Clarke.
With five laps to go, Martin became businesslike and set up his challenge, moving aside Estrella on the white flag lap, edging around the outside down the backstretch and a dead heat in turn 3. The pair traded paint, and got loose in turn 4. Both recovered, but Estrella steadied up first and crossed under the checkers .133 seconds ahead of Martin. Guy, ever the opportunist, was at their backs looking for an opening. He crossed third, .308 seconds behind the leader. Paiva gained fourth, 3 seconds back and Ronhock was 10 seconds off the pace for fifth. Six through ten went to Berube, Clarke, Saritelli, Cornell and Michelle Dumas
SERYDYNSKI COMMANDS STREET STOCKS
Scott Serydynski made up for his previous outing, where a leadership battle with Ryan Lineham led to trading pain and a spin to the wall for both drivers. There was 3-wide driving galore this time, but no dramatics at the finish as he brought his Rego Motorsports #1 home for the win. His antagonist, Lineham, managed a fourth place, despite having to go back to the pits early in the race to replace a flat tire and returning at the end of the field. Last event’s winner, Steve Axon, moved up from his start at the back of the field for third place behind Michael Mitchell.
The race began with three consecutive cautions before the race could complete a full lap.
Finally Chris DeMoura led the field across the stripe to complete the first lap but on lap 2 another yellow waved, calling the field back for a restart. DeMoura outran Greg Perry from the front row to reclaim the lead. Lineham was coming three-wide from the middle of the pack, but had his right front tire cut down, spinning him in turn 4. He was helped to the pits and rejoined the field at the back with a new shoe. Another restart on Lap 6 between DeMoura and Patrick Delaney with Serydynski down low in the second row had Scott battling for second with Delaney and coming out of turn 2 in the runnerup spot, to chase DeMoura. The two dueled, but Delaney had lost a beat and fell back to 8th spot.
By lap 10, Serydynski had worked his way by and was beginning to build himself a lead over the field. DeMoura was tailed by a resurgent Delaney, Michael Lema and Mitchell.
Serydynski had a five car lead by the lap 13 halfway point and beginning to run away from the field. On lap 15, he was 8 cars on the field, but Lineham’s dramatic charge had brought him to ninth. On lap 20, Serydynski was comfortably ahead of DeMoura, Mitchell, Tony Oliviera and Chris Rioux. Lineham had made up two more spots to seventh and the question became: would there be enough time left to him in this race?
But John Geremia III looped on the backstretch, collapsing the field for a gut-wrenching restart. Serydynski lined up with DeMoura on his outside shoulder, Mitchell right behind him and Tony Oliviera on the outside of the second row. Axon was fifth and Rioux on his shoulder. The dangerous Lineham was behind Axon and wily veteran Sparky Arsenault was on the outside of that row.
At the green flag it was warfare with the two leaders giving no quarter. DeMoura, stuck on the outside, was unable to keep Serydynski alongside, and Mitchell, Axon and Lineham got under him. Serydynski powered away to lead the field under the checkered flag by 3 car lengths. He was followed by Mitchell, Axon, Lineham and DeMoura. Oliviera, Arsenault, Rioux, Henshaw and Delaney rounded out the top 10.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR