Flanagan and Westgate and Lascoula break through on Fast Friday action; Rolando repeats
Seekonk, MA — Stephen Heath sat on the pole for the twenty lap Sport4 feature, and early troubles befell the driver of the #20. After two laps had been completed, Heath was shuffled back to third position, with Warwick’s John Lamake inheriting the lead and Ed Gould moving from fourth to second. Lamake spun entering turn three, and gave away the lead as the caution waved on lap six.
On the restart, misfortune and miscues struck the leader once again. This time, Warwick’s second Sport Four driver spun in the same spot as Lamake as a result of a side by side battle with #3 Kyle Pacheco. Pacheco edged up the racetrack to the turn four tunnel following the incident, and stalled. After five laps, the rookie received his first DNF of his career, exiting the track with help from the Seekonk Speedway staff.
Following the duo of spins by the leaders in turn three, Dave Westgate Jr. rose to the top of the leaderboard. The remained of the race was run under green flag conditions, and the #49 of Westgate set the pace en route to capturing the checkered flag. Stephen Heath, Devin Miranda, and John Lamake, who spun exiting turn two with two laps to go, rounded out the competitors who finished the race on the lead lap.
The twenty lap SYRA 600 feature had their first caution on the second lap, when the #8 of Doug Meservey Jr. spun exiting turn four to bring out the yellow flag.
On the restart, pole sitter Austin Blais held his ground against the #15 of Shelby Donovan. In the battle for third, Curtis Rolando passed David Lougee on the outside and set his sights on the top two. The running order remained largely unchanged when the caution flag unfurled for the second time after Shawn Pavlik’s #03 and Taylor Bowser’s #07 spun in between turns three and four.
The caution came at a great time for Chase Belcher, who was running in third after picking off Curtis Rolando and David Lougee one lap prior. On the restart, Belcher made his way around Shelby Donovan and situated himself into the second position. On lap ten, Curtis Rolando shuffled Donovan back to fourth place with a pass underneath the #15 mini cup.
After running several laps behind Blais in second place, Belcher made several dogged attempts to pass the rookie. Sensing an opportunity on lap seventeen, Belcher dove to the apron entering turn one and clipped the left rear quarter panel of the Blais, sending the rookie sideways to bring out the yellow flag for the third time. As a result, the #81 was sent to the rear of the field for aggressive driving, and Curtis Rolando took the lead.
On the restart, Curtis Rolando seized control and didn’t look back, earning his second victory of the season. David Lougee finished second, Austin Blais moved from ninth the third in the final five laps, Shelby Donovan fourth, and Tyler Boudreau rounded out the top five.
Tylar Nailor led the S.Y.R.A. 750 pack from the pole position in the feature, while Christine Cavallaro held her position in second. However, on laps six and seven, Nick Lascuola completed the passes on Cavallaro and Nailor and sailed into first place. Cavallaro and Nailor each fell back one more slot, as Adam Swift swiftly passed each driver to move into second before the halfway mark. Swift stayed one to three car lengths behind Lascuola at all times, but couldn’t get the decisive run he needed to complete the pass. Cavallaro, Nailor, and Ashley Kuhn rounded out the top five.
The V6 Modifieds’ twenty five lap feature was led to the green flag by Louis Mayer once again, but by the fifth lap both Keith Caruso and Anthony Frissora had moved ahead of the Spencer native. On lap fourteen, the aforementioned #69 spun in the same location as the heat, prompting the first caution.
Caruso and Frissora led the field into the starting box, and Caruso had a slight edge entering the first turn. On the outside line, the #3 of Frissora appeared to be shot out of a cannon, rocketing around Caruso in the second turn and never looking back. Anthony Frissora took the checkered flag for the second time in his career at Seekonk Speedway and for the second time in the New England V6 Modifieds this season, having already won once at Star Speedway on May 21st.
Mark Miranda obtained his first pole of the year, and led the field to the green flag for the twenty five lap main event. Miranda led the first seven laps of the race before being overtaken by Ed Flanagan Jr. Meanwhile, Bob Hinckley moved into third place, around Tom Blackwell II, right before the caution flag flew on lap eleven for a spin involving Miranda and Blackwell in the battle for second. Bill Chouinard, who was running in ninth, made a pass in the grass to avoid the cars in turn two, and moved up to fifth position.
On lap twenty Randy Moretti’s and Derek DeMoura’s made contact after a complicated four wide situation in turn one. Entering the corner, Jesse Melberg, who was running two laps down, moved to the top of the track. In the meantime, Bill Chouinard, running in the third groove, came down ever so slightly on DeMoura and Moretti, causing an unintentional spin which took out the third and fourth place competitors.
On the restart, Ed Flanagan Jr. held off Bill Chouinard for the victory, beating out Chouinard, Salley, Hinckley, and John Robidoux.
Fast Friday continues on July 22, with the NEMA Lites returning for their second appearance of the season. Front gates open at 5:30, with the action going green at 7pm. Adult admission continues to be just $5.00 for adults, with kids under 12 FREE. For more information, check out seekonkspeedway.com.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR