Taylor Bowser picks up first SYRA 600 win; Frissora wins V6 Mods; Flanagan, Westgate and Lascoula repeat
Seekonk, MA — Friday, August 19th, entry level racing returned to “The Action Track of the East,” Seekonk Speedway. The Seekonk Youth Racing Association 600 and 750 classes, the Sport Four division, Pure Stocks, and New England V6 Modifieds circuited the 1/3 mile oval, and Taylor Bowser, Nick Lascuola, Dave Westgate Jr., Ed Flanagan JR., and Anthony Frissora led their competitors to the checkered flag.
Taylor Bowser sat on the pole for the twenty lap SYRA 600 feature, searching for her first career win. On lap two, the race was slowed for the #88 of Kiera Carpenter, who stalled her machine and brought out the yellow flag. Exiting turn four under yellow flag conditions, Lougee and Brett Meservey made contact heavy contact in an incident the resembled a stop and go traffic fender bender. However, neither car was severely damaged. On the restart, Taylor Bowser pulled away from the field. In the battle for second, Chase Belcher surpassed points leader Curtis Rolando on lap eleven, but Chase could not catch the rookie Bowser, who held on to snag her first career feature win.
Keith Caruso led the opening seven laps of the New England V6 Modifieds twenty five lap feature, but in a side by side battle with Anthony Frissora, Caruso made contact and spun into the infield grass entering turn three. Frissora was bumped to the final row for his involvement, and the race resumed with NEV6 Modifieds President Allan Rieser and rookie Alan Mann leading the field to green. Keith Caruso quickly retook the lead after one lap, and held on until the final stage of the race. With two laps to go, Anthony Frissora completed the pass on Caruso exiting turn four, rocketed around the outside, and picked up his second victory in 2011 at Seekonk Speedway.
Early incidents cluttered the Sport Four feature with cautions. On lap three, John Lamake and Chris Bissell tangled. On the following lap, Ed Gould spun in turn three and slid up the track in front of Kyle Pacheco, who slammed into the points leader’s driver side door with nowhere to go. In the battle for the lead on lap eight, John Lamake got loose, and although he saved his 3D Racing machine, he opened the door for Dave Westgate Jr. to take the lead. Westgate never looked back, and held on for his second victory of the year.
The SYRA 750 feature got off to a rough start. On the opening lap, Adam Swift, Ashley Kuhn, and Willy Sanchez made contact and spun in turn four to bring out the yellow flag. On lap two, Sanchez spun on his own exiting the fourth corner and the caution was waved again. After another restart was waved off for disorganization, Tylar Nailor took the green once more and began to pull away. Before he could stretch his lead too far, Adam Swift spun his #75 mini cup into the grass exiting turn four to slow the action once again. Finally, the SYRA 750s got into a groove, and the remainder of the race was run caution free. On lap eight, points leader Nick Lascuola completed a picturesque pass in turn four to take the lead from Nailor, and Kaitlyn Donovan soon followed suit, overtaking Nailor into second place. Over the remainder of the race, Lascuola pulled away from the competitors and snatched the victory by nearly seven seconds.
Doug Benoit led the opening seven laps of the Pure Stock main event from the pole position, by was passed by Ed Flanagan Jr. on lap eight. On lap fourteen, Robert Hinckley spun his car around exiting turn two, and the yellow flag unfurled. Following an intense battle, Jesse Melberg passed Ed Flanagan for the lead on lap twenty and never looked back, edging Flanagan and John Robidoux to the line. However, Melberg did not pass post-race inspection, and Warwick’s Ed Flanagan Jr. was given the victory.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR