Todd Annarummo comes home to his first Modified Racing Series win. Vanasse, Martin & Henshaw share checkers

Seekonk, MA — Local-boy-makes-good, Todd Annarummo came home to Seekonk for his first win in the Modified Racing Series presented by Valentiautomall.com 100-lap race on Saturday night. Annarummo, from nearby Swansea, who campaigned Seekonk in Pro Stocks before going to the Modified Tour, hauled down his second modified victory in a month at the one-third mile oval; he won the Open Wheel Wednesday Modified Madness 100. This time it was Les Hinckley from Windsor Locks, CT, who hounded him to the finish line; Stephen Masse, who had done the honors back on July 28, had a dreary day, unable to get really into the thick of the action. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA, who had taken third earlier, had a strong fourth place finish and led early laps before Annarummo went to the lead. Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT, finished third and Seekonk veteran Jimmy Kuhn from West Bridgewater, MA, took fifth.

Preston, CT, driver Ken Barry jumped out to the lead from his pole position, followed by McKennedy from the outside pole. Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT, making a return from a broken wrist which interrupted his midseason, grabbed third from his inside second row starting slot. Annarummo started down low in the third row and was on tap for fourth out of the starting blocks.

The very fast field strung into a line and began turning in fast laps until Jack Bateman of Canaan, NH looped it in the second turn on lap six. The restart had Barry, McKennedy, Pasteryak and Annarummo in that order, with Pennsylvanian Rowan Pennink and Vermonter Dwight Jarvis in the third row.

 [Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto

The front four began a determined battle at the front. Pasteryak began to fall back, yielding third to Annarummo and McKennedy then took the lead from Barry. Annarummo wasted no time in challenging Barry for second, pulling alongside for a brief duel. Barry fell back to third, while Annarummo began to bother Kennedy.

On lap 17, multi-time Seekonk champ Vinny Annarummo, and Todd’s father, took a loop in front of the starter’s stand and headed to the pit area. The restart had McKennedy and Todd on the front row with Barry and Pasteryak at their backs. Pennink and Hinckley, who would mount a serious challenge to Annarummo at the end, were the third row.

McKennedy went to the lead at the green and Annarummo settled into second. Pasteryak claimed third and Barry and Hinckley ducked it out for fourth. Hinckley took over the position with Barry settling into fifth.

The twenty-seventh circuit had Max Zachem around in turn four, collecting Jacob Dore. Both went to the pits for some cosmetics, and then returned.

McKennedy and Annarummo were at the front, but now Hinckley had the low side of the second rank with Pasteryak on his shoulder, Kuhn was now behind Hinckley and Jarvis behind Pasteryak. Barry and Pennink filled out the fourth rank. The leaders came out door-to-door and fought in earnest. McKennedy had an edge at the stripe, but Annarummo battled back. They were side-by-side on lap 28, and then Annarummo took an edge on the next rotation. He began to slowly pull ahead, and was in a 1-car lead over McKennedy on the thirty-second circuit.

Hinckley wasted no time in challenging McKennedy as Annarummo moved out to a 3-car lead on lap 38. Pasteryak and Jarvis were wheel-to-wheel behind them on lap 42. Three circuits later, Hinckley went to McKinney’s outside for the pass in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

The leaders were beginning to encounter lapped traffic, and this worked to Hinckley’s favor, as McKennedy got stuck down low behind traffic and Hinckley claimed second place. McKennedy got free and held on to third with Jarvis and Kuhn following.

Annarummo continued to lead at the halfway point, with a six-car lead over Hinckley. Kuhn began to set up McKennedy for a pass on lap 52 and Hinckley began to close up on the leader around the fifty-fifth rotation. With lapped traffic coming up the leaders were closing up, but he still had a 3-car lead with 40 laps remaining.

Hinckley closed up the gap and began looking both high and low to get into the lead. He tried outside, then fell back into a following position on lap 73, then tried underneath on lap 75. On the next circuit, as the battle between Annarummo and Hinckley reached a fevered pitch with Hinckley trying to push by underneath, Pennink spun out, raising the caution flag. At this point, despite intense racing, 21 of the 24 starters were still competing on the oval.

Annarummo came out on the pole as Hinckley went to his outside. Jarvis and McKennedy were followed by Kuhn and Pasteryak. They were nerf bar-to nerf bar on the restart. Very slowly edging ahead, Annarummo took full possession of the lead on the backstretch of lap 80. Hinckley was not giving up, however, and glued himself to the leader’s tail. Jarvis was doing the same to Hinckley and McKennedy was clamped on to his tail.

Annarummo, unable to shake his antagonist, set his gaze on the lapped traffic coming up and began to negotiate his way through. Hinckley dogged his tracks. With 10 to go, they emerged into some clear air, but Hinckley pounced again. Jarvis, McKennedy and Kuhn were following.

After more stragglers, Annarummo shot into a short stretch of open track with 6 laps remaining and Hinckley dogging his every move. Kuhn was again challenging McKennedy for fourth. The few laps wound down. Two lapped cars, side-by-side slowed the two leaders, and as they went to pass, they bumped slightly, then the lapped traffic broke open and Annarummo bolted through, pursued by Hinckley.

They came out on the white flag flying in the starter’s hand. Hinckley closed, then moved alongside down the backstretch. Annarummo held a half-car lead entering the third turn with Hinckley gaining ground. Out of four, they drag raced to the checkers with Annarummo taking it at the stripe with a .159 second lead over his antagonist. Jarvis crossed behind them, with McKennedy holding off Kuhn for fourth. Rob Goodenough, Pasteryak, Barry, Joey Jarvis and Dore rounded out the top ten.

Ryan “The Rocket” Vanasse again found himself in Victory Lane at Seekonk Speedway, further cementing his divisional lead at the Cement Palace. Vanasse, from Warwick, took over the lead on a lap-17 caution and led the rest of the 30 laps to the checkered flag. Acushnet driver Matt Breault, who had been plaguing Vanasse much of the latter portion of the event, claimed a well-earned second, followed by last week’s winner, Pawtucket’s Gerry DeGasparre, Jr., Robert Pelland III from Cranston and Kyle Casper of Somerset. Weymouth’s Jonathan Dickerman had raced to fourth place, but lost his standing through post-race technical inspection.

Pelland and Dennis Stange had led off from the front with Stange going high and wide to try for speed to pass on the outside, but Pelland grabbed the lead. Stange took a bump from Cape Codder Robert Hussey, which put him very high on the track, and though he saved the car from a spin, it dropped the Athol driver into fifth spot.

Dickerman dueled Hussey for the second spot, running the outside and Fall Riverite Frank Duquette nabbed fourth. Dickerman nosed forward to claim second with Hussey on his tail. Duquette began harassing Hussey with Breault in turn bothering him. Stange was high alongside Breault, trying to move forward. Vanasse settled in behind Breault, moving up from his starting position in ninth.

Dickerman began to close up the five lengths to leader Pelland, and they were nose-to-tail by the tenth lap, with Duquette in third, followed by Breault, Hussey and Vanasse. Vanasse moved easily by into fifth place as Dickerman headed around Pelland, aiming for the lead.

Duquette closed up behind the two leaders.

On lap 14, Dickerman nosed ahead but Pelland grabbed the lead back at the outset of the next circuit before Dickerman got loose in turn two, which dropped him back to fifth behind Hussey. This gave Duquette the opportunity to go to the outside of Pelland, and he pushed past down the backstretch. He wasn’t quite past in turn 3, when he moved toward the low groove, and his rear fender wa caught by Pelland’s nose, sending him into a loop. Duquette went to the rear as an accident car and officials declared an assist on Pelland, who had to restart at the back.

Vanasse had moved into third by the time of the spin and inherited the lead for the lap 17 restart. He had Breault on his outside, Dickerman and Hussey behind him and Tyler Thompson and DeGasparre in the third row. Breault ran hard off turn 2 on the restart and ran door-to-door with Vanasse as Dickerman and Thompson gave chase. By lap 20, Vanasse had edged into the lead over Breault, who was not giving up. Thompson got sideways off turn 2, but held on, as DeGasparre seized the opportunity to move into third.

On lap 22, Colbey Fournier looped in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. This gave Breault the opportunity to work beside Vanasse again with Dickerman and Thompson behind them. DeGasparre and Kyle Casper followed.

Again, it was door-to-door down the backstretch between Vanasse and Breault, with Vanasse by half a fender. He had resumed the lead by lap 24. Breault, Dickerman, DeGasparre and Pelland followed.

It was parade laps for Vanasse for the remainder of the 30 circuits, with a 2-car lead by the 26th. On lap 27, DeGasparre moved under Dickerman for third spot, and the eventual outcome was evident on lap 28. Vanasse stormed under the checkered flag, 2 lengths ahead.

Radical Rick Martin nailed down his fourth Sport Trucks win of the season and gave himself some breathing room over Ted Berube in the points race for the championship, as his adversary finished in sixth. Westport-based Martin had started seventh on the field. Berube, from Somerset, came from the tenth position.

Quincy’s Michelle Dumas led off on the pole with Portsmouth’s Bob Andreozzi on her shoulder. Andreozzi attempted to outrun her on the outside at the outset, but Martin made a huge move up the inside into third place by lap 2 and went under Dumas into the lead. Andreozzi completed the pass on the surprised Dumas with Dan Leach stepping into third, followed by Dumas, Cornell, and Dylan Estrella.

It was a complete change of fortune over the previous week for Martin with the lightning move to the front. The previous week had seen an engine failure as he blew a hole in one of his pistons in that event, sending up a huge cloud of smoke.

Leach, celebrating his 17th birthday, came chasing Martin after getting past Andreozzi. Leach’s truck was quick on the evening. Estrella followed, about 5 cars back with New Bedford’s Lenny Guy studying his tailgate. By lap 8, Martin was nursing a 1-car lead over the persistent Leach.

Dumas spun to the infield off turn 4 to bring out the first caution. The lap 8 restart had Estrella and Guy lined up behind Martin and Leach. On the green, Martin was off fast, with Leach on his heels. Estrella nabbed third while Guy and Fall River’s Ed Gannon diced it up over fourth. Gannon garnered the spot, but Cornell went around coming out of turn 4 bringing up a lap 10 restart.

Again, Martin nailed the lead and Estrella sneaked under Leach for second. The pair battled until Eric Boyko smoked his engine on the front stretch. The yellow came out and the field began to slow, but Leach and Guy did pirouettes going into turn one after getting into fluids left on the surface by Boyko’s debacle. They did retain their positions, as the yellow had already flown.

The caution brought the restart back to the previous laps, costing Estrella his move to second. Martin ran to the lead again, but this time Leach was able to get back down and deny Estrella the underneath move. However, on the next circuit, Estrella made the move below Leach into the runnerup spot. And a lap later, Guy went low into third, settling Leach into 4th.

Mike Cavallaro, who had won 3 races since returning to the Trucks Division at midseason, including last week’s confrontation, had quietly moved into fifth ahead of Leach by lap 17. On that circuit, Andreozzi suffered a spin in turn two to bring out a caution.

Martin had Estrella on his shoulder for the restart on lap 17. He grabbed the lead, but Billy Clarke went around in turn four and collected Jariah Roderick, who lost his left front fender in the collision. Roderick limped from turn 4 up the pit entrance, and Clarke claimed the rear of the field.

On the re-restart at lap 17, Estrella got the jump on Martin and cut down in front and Martin let him have the lead. Guy, Cavallaro, Gannon, Berube, Mike Ronhock and Leach followed.

The lead did not last, as Martin went back around Estrella on the backstretch in lap nineteen.

The race settled into a straight line, save Cavallaro moving into fourth on lap 22. However, he was unable to move past Guy until the final circuit when Guy slipped up the track in turn two, allowing Cavallaro underneath into third. Martin drove it home for the win with Estrella on his tailgate. Cavallaro grabbed third followed by Guy, Gannon, Berube, Ronhock, Leach, Dane Saritelli and Ron Cornell.

It looked like Kenny Bamford’s return to racing had been rewarded with a Street Stock victory, but shortly after racing was over for the night, both he and second place finisher Chris Rioux had been denied in tech inspection and Mark Henshaw was elevated from third to his first victory of the season. The change gave second through fifth to Steve Axon, Rey Lovelace, Paul Newcomb and Manny Dias.

In the hotly-contested struggle for Street Stock champion for the 2010 season, Scott Serydynski and Ryan Lineham battled in the middle of the pack with Lineham hoping to hold on to the slim 5-point lead he brought into the evening. However, with Serydynski coming home in sixth and Lineham 10th, it appears the slim margin will swing the other way, setting up a dogfight through the end of the season. Mike Mitchell’s ninth on the evening tightens his third place up, but Axon’s runner-up on the evening should vault him over Mitchell into third. Chris Beaulieu helped sharpen his hold on fifth by nabbing eighth on the evening. Doing him a favor were Rioux with the DQ and Ray Negley who struggled to 14th in last night’s action.

Attleboro’s Brian Spillane leapt to the lead at the outset and appeared to have the night well in hand, quickly leaving Tauntonian Tony Oliveira behind. Tiverton’s Scott Bruneau followed Spillane through from the low side of the second row, and the two immediately began hurling grenades at each other for the first 10 of 25 scheduled laps. Two cars together on the backstretch called the field around for a restart on lap 9.

Spillane and Bruneau lined up on the front row and battled under the green flag with Bamford chasing them in third. On the next lap, Negley spun in turn 2, bringing out a caution. Bamford had gone under Bruneau into second, and when Bruneau came down to the low groove, he pushed Negley into the infield grass. Officials rewarded Bruneau a trip to the rear for the assist. After a brief discussion with trackside officials, he went into the pit area for some repair work. It was a good break for Lineham, as the Coventry driver’s right rear quarter had been pushed in and was spewing rubber smoke from a very bad tire rub. Lineham had been taking the race in an uncharacteristically patient fashion following his third win on the season the previous week. He was in and out of the pits in time for the restart.

The lap 11 restart had Spillane and Bamford brawling off the front of the grid, with Spillane going back to the lead. Rey Lovelace settled into third, behind Bamford and Henshaw laid claim to fourth. At mid-pack, Lineham was showing some smoke from the right rear with Serydynski on his tail.

Lap 16 saw Mike Lema and Mitchell at war in the pack and some rubbing had Mitchell in a spin in turn one. Serydynski nearly wrecked but a quick response saw him just carom off the spinning Mitchell into turn 2. He was able to continue. Mitchell made a lap so he could express his displeasure to Lema, then headed for some pit work.

On the restart, Walter Carpenter spun, bringing the same group back to try again. This time, Bamford was too quick on the outside and the field was again called back. Three tries is a charm and the antagonists rocketed off the front to battle for an entire lap. Finally, Spillane moved ahead while Bamford was caught outside Henshaw, who was moving up from his spot low on the second row.

Lap 18 saw a caution for debris on the track, and again Spillane and Bamford were on the front with Henshaw and Rioux behind them. Lovelace and Newcomb made up the third row.

Again, Spillane and Bamford was wheel-to-wheel, see-sawing the lead. On lap 20, Spillane resumed the lead at the stripe and Lovelace got under Bamford for second. Henshaw and Rioux debated over fourth, door-to-door. But on lap 22, Joe Fernandez looped in turn 3. At this point, back in mid-pack, Serydynski had managed to get two cars up on Lineham.

Three loud reports from the front on the green seemed the reason Bamford wavered at the restart. However, Lineham and Lema got together coming out of turn two, bringing out another caution. Both ran to the pits for repairs while the field reassembled. Lineham was back to the end of the pack on the restart with Serydynski in ninth. Spillane’s car died on the restart and Lovelace got into the rear of the rapidly decelerating leader, spinning him into the grass in front of the starter’s stand and starting a big scramble among the following vehicles. Spillane’s motor was dead at the starting line and he was pushed to the pits. Now, Bamford had the pole and Lovelace, getting his spot back, was on the outside with Rioux and Henshaw behind them.

This time, with a single-file restart, the field went back to racing with Bamford in the lead. Rioux took over second and they stretched it out the final three laps to the checkers. Lineham came alive and began some high side passing, enabling him to move up into 10th by race’s end.

The wait seemed over for Bamford’s return to winning, but post-race tech did not run in his favor, nor did Rioux survive the inspections, leaving Henshaw to claim the laurels.

Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR

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