Les Hinckley picks up Seekonk 100 win; Silvia is redeemed, DeGasparre and Gannon back in Victory Lane
Seekonk, MA — Les Hinckley started sixteenth on a nineteen-car field and slowly picked his way through the field for more than half the race before igniting the afterburners and storming to the front for a battle royal with Dwight Jarvis. Hinckley held on to take the trophy back to Windsor locks, while Jarvis, who set top speed on the event (97.925 mph) heads home to Asc utney, VT with second place winnings. Chris Pasteryak started the outside pole and battled around and at the front the entire 100 circuits. He hauled down third place honors. Joey Jarvis, Norm Wrenn, Mike Holdridge and Jimmy Kuhn followed. Joe Doucette, Jack Bateman and Rowan Pennink rounded out the top 10.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
#06 – Les Hinckley, III
While Hinckley took pains working to the front, the same can not be said about the leaders. Louie Mechalides came out for the pole position; last time he had started the pole this year, he’d come away with the 12 thousand dollar check from the Canaan Fair Speedway. It seemed the same from the dropping of the green. He rocketed away with Pasteryak on his tail and Todd Annarummo, Jake Bateman and Joe Doucette in close pursuit. Pasteryak went to the outside for a pass and Annarummo pulled up to Louie’s rear bumper locking him out there. They were nerf bar-to-nerf bar through lap 11 when Pasteryak settled in.
Annarummo took over second on lap 15 and he troubled Mechalides every way possible. Vinny Annarummo brought out the first caution on lap 21 with a spin out of turn 4, up near the wall. Louie outran Todd from the stripe and Pasteryak worked back into second underneath. On lap 25, Pasteryak was under Mechalides for the lead with Annarummo back into second. Jarvis had been easing his way forward from his ninth place start, and claimed third from Mechalides coming into lap 30. Hinckley was still back in tenth. Todd continued at the front except laps 51, 52 and 53, when Pasteryak stuck a nose by, until lap 72.
Jarvis had passed Pasteryak on lap 59 and troubled the younger Annarummo, then began working the outside. Hinckley had arrived on Jarvis’ rear bumper on lap 65, and Jarvis wanted to distance himself. He went wheel to wheel with Annarummo, the found a sudden squirt of power into turns three and then four to fly past. Coming out of turn for, he took a tap on his rear wheel from
Annarummo, wiggled a bit but continued to the front. Annarummo was slowed enough that Hinckley went by into second. Annarummo took the black flag for the hit on Jarvis.
Lap 78 saw Hinckley get underneath Jarvis for the lead with Pasteryak taking third. He was followed by Rowan Pennink, Joey Jarvis, Annarummo (who was still unretired) and Jimmy Kuhn. Pennink, who had started eighteenth after blowing an engine in practice and missing his heat, took a serious hit from Kuhn, spun and retired to the pits for repairs. Several competitors joined him.
Hinckley escaped from Dwight Jarvis on the restart; Pasteryak tried underneath, but Jarvis pulled ahead. Hinckley moved out to a four car lead as Norm Wrenn stormed up to Joey Jarvis’ bumper, who was bothering Pasteryak. With three to go, Dwight was back up and looking under Hinckley, but Hinckley hammered down and pulled away again. They danced again with two to go, but Hinckley held on through the final two circuits as they flashed through under the checkers.
Jim “Pepe” Silvia followed an earlier lead when he hauled down a victory in Street Stock competition, immediately after losing last week’s trophy due to an exhaust system malfeasance. Pepe followed his usual formula for racing and drove his doors off for 25 laps. Silvia’s victory spoiled a fine effort by Gerard Berthelette, who led the first half of the race before yielding to Sylvia. Berthelette battled valiantly from second the rest of the way, but could not find his way around the determined Silvia. Chris, “The Woonsocket Rocket” Beulieu grabbed third, Ryan Lineham cemented his hold on the division lead with a fourth, and Chris DeMoura rounded out the top 5.
Jimmy Belmont leapt off the pole, while Silvia, starting outside the second row made a three-wide bid around hime and Tim Eaton before dropping into fourth. Berthelette, who started behind the polesiiter, then maneuvered under Belmont into the lead going into lap 2. Silvia drove into second on his bumper with Belmont fighting him all the way. Eaton tailed Belmont and Pat Delaney moved underneath to take it away. Delaney got under Belmont and Silvia on lap 8, but Silvia took the spot back two laps later. Delaney and Belmont then went door to door. With Berthelette leading Silvia, Delaney, Belmont, Ed Gannon and Beaulieu, Eaton blew a line on the backstretch, sending up a cloud of steam or smoke, coming around to a stop under the starter’s platform.
Berthelette and Silvia faced off with Delaney and Belmont behind them. Silvia went to the front as Berthelette crossed up on the start, but held on to second. Nick D’Alessio spun, bringing the restart back. Steve Axon and Mike Mitchell got into each other as the field slowed for caution. The second try saw Berthelette and Silvia door-to-door until Silvia used one of his patented wide turns at full throttle to wrestle the lead away in lap 15. Beaulieu had started to move up from seventh a couple laps earlier and now landed in third to trouble Berthelette, who was troubling Pepe. Lineham pulled into fourth on lap 17 and began working over Beulieu, but could not make the pass.
By lap 19, the top eight had been established, as Chris DeMoura moved into fifth, followed by Sparky Arsenault, Delaney and last week’s winner, Scott Bruneau. Belmont and George Rego sparred over ninth until Belmont took over with three to go.
Silvia took a five car lead into the last lap and romped home, spinning at the stripe, then putting on a wild display of doughnuts and smoke for the fans. After interviews, his hot powerplant had to be push started by the track truck before he could retire to the pits.
Late Model division leader Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. looked down the backstretch on lap 30 of the thirty lap feature, watching Bill Bernard lead Dylan Estrella – veteran vs. rookie — into turn 3. He’d been trying to work past Tyler Thompson into third for 22 laps. It looked like the points leader was headed for a fourth place finish, but in the blink of an eye everything changed. Estrella poked in under Bernard, running hard for the win; there was contact and the two leaders spun, smoking, up toward the pit exit. Caution. DeGasparre looked at a green-white-checkered restart instead of a third place finish, and his main antagonist, Ryan Vanasse was at his back. Whole new ball game.
Thompson lined up on the pole with DeGasparre on his shoulder. Vanasse, with his nine wins on the season, lurked on Thompson’s bumper with Bob Pelland III up high. On the green, DeGasparre leapt out of the box and Thompson held back. False start. Estrella and Jariah Roderick get together and into the wall. Estrella’s hood is pushed back and he is taken to the pits.
#71 – Gerry DeGasparre, Jr.
Second try: Thompson gets the edge out of the hole but Gerry pulls his nose ahead out of turn two. The veteran keeps his fender ahead and drives straight, holding Thompson in the low groove, keeping the lead. Vanasse can only stay on the gas and wait. Pelland falls back. DeGasparre and Thompson make two circuits and come out of turn four with DeGasparre still a nose ahead. They brawl down the frontstretch to the stripe, checkers in the air, and DeGasparre has his second win on the season by .234 of a second. Vanasse is just .434 back in third, with Dennis Stampfl a mere .895. Kyle Casper rounds up the top ten.
Cardiac Kid Bernard took the lead from polesitter Jeramee “The Hammer” Lillie, leaping off the outside front and stayed in front through 30 laps. Estrella, starting third, got past Lillie on lap 6 and the two dueled to the last turn of the final lap. Thompson came up from a fifth place start, bringing DeGasparre, who started seventh. As they arrived in third and fourth, tenth place starter Vanasse slid in behind them. It was still lap 9. Pelland joined up on 14. And Stampfl was thjere on sixteen. Half the race remained. But Bernard and Estrella were more than a straightaway ahead and flying.
From the restart to the final turn: green flag racing was layered with competitors working to move past each other until that moment seconds from the finish line.
Ed Gannon and Mike Cavallaro battled to the finish line in Sport Trucks competition with Gannon finding the combination to get his four cylinders past Mike’s eight cylinders on the track. The bitter duel was waged in increments, not complete passes over the final 11 laps of the 25-circuit feature. In the process, Ed’s four cylinders produced the fastest lap – 80.236 mph – over the V8. Gannon made it two in a row, and now has six wins to Cavallaro’s seven.
Lenny Guy leapt off the pole and away from Mike Ronhock, who clung to second for 9 laps. Rob Andreozzi jumped into third and began to chase. Cavallaro, sarting seventh, and Gannon (tenth) swept towards the front as they battled. Gannon passed Cavallaro from fifth to third on lap 11’s restart for a Dan Leach spin (on a night that his 43 truck was giving him a workout); they both got by Andreozzi on a lap 11 restart for a Ronhock spin, then Cavallaro passed Gannon for second. Lap 12 saw Cavallaro past Guy for the lead after a Ted Berube spin. Gannon got into second, then Guy tried underneath to return to the front. Contact with Gannon sent him into a spin into the turn 1 infield.
Gannon had the pole, and pulled ahead after a false start called the field back. Cavallaro battled back and ran to the front into turn 2, but Gannon powered down the front stretch to the lead. Guy and Leach got together and spun into turn 3 bringing a green-white-checker restart – with Gannon on the pole, Cavallaro on his outside and Berube and Andreozzi behind them.
Cavallaro ran hard, leading into turn two. Gannon powered up down the back stretch, but Mike still had a lead into 3. Gannon took it away out of four. Gannon had an edge through the last lap and came down the front stretch to win by a fender, .172 seconds ahead. Berube, Andreozzi and Guy rounded out the top 5.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR