Houlihan wins first Pro Stock feature of the season; Vanasse breaks LM record with 11th win; Gannon notches 7th in the Sport Trucks while Rego wins third Street Stock main
Seekonk, MA — In the 40 lap Pro Stock feature, Dick Houlihan leapt off the line in the Len Ellis 41 and was not headed for the remainder of the race. The car had carried Ellis to the division championship over a decade earlier, and the 17 year old chassis served to break Houlihan’s season-long drought in feature wins on his return from retirement season. Fellow veteran Radical Rick Martin had ducked under outside polesitter Tom Scully, Sr. for second at the outset but Houly moved quickly away and Scully dropped into fourth as Scott Dion came up from a fifth place start to third. Scully was back to third on lap 3 and Tom, Jr. dropped in on his tail the next time around.
By lap 6 Mike Brightman had motored up from ninth to follow Tom, Jr. Darling, who started eleventh with six points to make up for the divisional championship, shadowed Brightman to sixth spot. Dion separated Astle from Darling; a points spread that would give Astle the crown by two points.
Freddy pushed past Dion to Darling’s bumper and Brightman tightened up on Scully, Jr.’s bumper, looking for an advantage to take over fourth. But Darling seized the moment in lap fifteen, looking high then diving under to pass Brightman into fifth. Astle attempted to follow under, but Brightman shut the door. At the front, Houlihan was leading by a straightaway over Martin, and encountering his first lapped traffic: Smokin’ Joe Kohler, stepping into his first Pro Stock ride in father Ken Kohler’s former ride. The field wound past, and lap twenty saw Houlihan ahead of martin by 8 cars with both Scullys on his tail and Darling looking to get under Tom, Jr., who was holding him at bay.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
Astle looked outside Brightman on lap 24 and tried to push by for two laps, but fell back in line after Brightman furiously defended his position. Scully, Sr. began to fall back; Jr. and Darling made the pass and he settled in ahead of Brightman. At this point, the championship became a points tie between Darling and Astle. Astle did the math and went outside Brightman for the pass to protect his lead. They dueled bitterly for three laps before Astle edged past and settled in behind Scully, Sr.
Darling had 5 laps remaining to get by Tom Jr. and worked hard to overtake for the remainder of the distance, but could not gain the advantage. Houlihan swept across the stripe on lap 40, having led from green to checkers in a race that ran its full distance without caution. Martin followed, 1.27 seconds back. Scully, Jr., Darling, Scully, Sr. and Astle rolled in behind, with Astle claiming his record-tying sixth championship by a scant two points over Darling. Brightman, who had led the points race through the first half of the season, finished seventh and secured third place overall in the points race. Kyle Casper, Colby Fournier and Dion rounded out the top 10.
VANASSE TAKES RECORD-SETTING FEATURE WIN; DEGASPARRE WINS FIFTH CHAMPIONSHIP
Ryan Vanasse could not be kept from his Late Model record-setting championship, as he came to the front after ten of the race’s 30 laps, a testimonial to the mercurial driver, but equally focused and steady Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. came through for a third place finish which gave him a 10 point bulge for the crown at race’s (and season’s) end. The two congratulated each other in post-race celebrations before the grandstands, after Vanasse had leapt to the fence, climbed to the top and raised a celebratory fist to the crowd.
DeGasparre, leading by 15 points, started outside the third row, while Vanasse was on the outside, two rows back, after last week’s win. A first try at the green flag came back when Jariah Roderick looped out of turn two. On the second try, Jeramee Lillie came off the outside pole past Dylan Estrella to lead; Estrella settled into second and Bob Pelland III outpaced Tyler Thompson for third. DeGasparre nabbed
Lap eight saw Estrella take a look under Lillie; at the same time, Pelland tried to get under Estrella and the two got together with Estrella spinning. Pelland was assessed an assist and went to the rear with Estrella.fourth from Dennis Stampfl as Vanasse got by Stampfl and Thompson for fourth.
#71 – Gerry DeGasparre, Jr.
#11 – Ryan Vanasse
Lillie and DeGasparre lined up for the restart with Vanasse and Stampfl behind. Lillie went to the front and DeGasparre battled for position. Vanasse used the moment to get under DeGasparre and into second and then under Lillie. Two laps later, DeGasparre was past Lillie for second. The contenders were running 1-2. Pelland and Ron Barboza, Jr. spun on the backstretch, bringing out caution and Pelland headed for the pits. Vanasse and Lillie faced off with DeGasparre and Stampfl behind them. Thompson and Cardiac Kid Bill Bernard were row 3. The leaders came out door-to-door, as did DeGasparre and Stampfl. Vanasse took the lead and DeGasparre got under Lille for second. Thompson got under Stampfl for third.
Lap 21 saw Roderick around on the backstretch and Vanasse and DeGasparre lined up at the front. They were wheel-to-wheel down the frontstretch, but Vanasse pulled ahead out of turn two. Thompson held third; Sparky Arsenault tried the outside around Thompson, but Jimmy Rosenfield looped in turn two with lots of smoke underneath. He went to the pits and the restart had Vanasse and DeGasparre at it again. Sparky got under Gerry as Vanasse moved ahead; DeGasparre settled to third.
Pelland made contact with Bernard on lap 24, Bernard went around and it took three tries to get the field restarted as Lillie and Thompson got together on the first try, Parent lost power momentarily, then Lillie spun to spoil the second. Officials declared a single file restart to complete the race after 9 cautions on the event. Vanasse led Arsenault, DeGasparre, Pelland, Stampfl and Estrella away from the green. A tight battle carried them across the stripe in that order. Rosenfield, Bernard, Thompson and Lillie rounded out the top 10.
PAIVA TAKES FIRST FEATURE; CAVALLARO WINS SPORT TRUCKS CHAMPIONSHIP
John Paiva started low on the third row, dived 3-wide under Anna Gregoire and Dan Leach for a 3-wide pass, then past Bob Rainville and Darrel Church into the lead at the start of the Sport Trucks feature to gain the lead with Rainville on his tail. Two more laps saw Ed Gannon leap from ninth to second and Mike Cavallaro following him through into third. Gannon, trailing Cavallaro in the points chase by 23, needed to put 12 cars between them.
Paiva had a 10 car lead going into lap 4 as Lenny Guy pulled in behind Cavallaro. The lead four held place to lap 19 on the 25-lap feature with a plague of cautions including two retries for lap 8 and a subsequent caution on nine. It took three tries to resume racing after a lap 14 spin and crash with Mike Ronhock and Rob Andreozzi. Andreozzi was black flagged after crossing the infield and hitting Ronhock on the restart, then Dan Leach died on the third try.
On lap 19, Leach got under a smoking Lenny Guy, bumped him and they went up the track, collecting Church and Ronhock. Again, officials ruled for the single file restart to complete the race. Paiva led Cavallaro, Gannon, Ronhock and Trucks rookie Nick Uhrig, making his first divisional start after winning last year’s Pure Stock championship.
Paiva took the lead as Gannon dived in hard and deep on Cavallaro, getting under and into second. He played bumper tag with Paiva all the way to the checkers. Cavallaro, Ronhock, and Uhrig crossed behind them. Leach Rainville, Church, Jim Hawkins and Ronny Cornell completed the top 10.
Cavallaro had his fourth trucks championship in hand as Paiva celebrated his initial feature win.
REGO TAKES FEATURE AS LINEHAM RULES STREET STOCK DIVISION
The Street Stock championship had been settled by the time the feature started, with Ryan Lineham’s fourth place in the heat giving him enough of a cushion to declare him winner. It wasn’t enough to settle the mayhem that was to come throughout the feature. Nevertheless, Rego and Lineham still filled the air with celebratory tire smoke in smoldering doughnuts before their fans.
In the end, Rego led Mike Mitchell across the line, followed by Paul Lallier, Joe Kohler and 2010 champ Steve Axon, this season’s runner-up. In all, 27 cars started the event and 19 finished. Roland Wheeler led from the pole, leaving Tim Eaton as a host of mid-pack competitors went 3- and 4-wide toward the front. Lineham, seeking his first feature win on the season, moved rapidly around to the outside, but the crush of vehicles at the front forced him back. He had started thirteenth, fell to fourteenth, came up to ninth, then forced back to eleventh.
Roland Wheeler and Tim Eaton led off from the front, and wound away from the green with Wheeler at the lead. By lap 6, however, Eaton was sideways in between turns three and four. It took two restarts to get underway again.
By lap 8 cars were racing hard all over the track, one competitor, sideways in turn 3 was caught in a 3-car sandwich through turn four, including Scott Bruneau. The trio remained locked together through one and two, with Bruneau shedding body parts all the way through the turn. Bruneau, Dick Benoit, Chris DeMoura and Gerard Berthelette were all eliminated after lap eight.
The restart had Wheeler and Arrenegado followed by Rey Lovelace and Lallier. Rego and Craig Pianka were row three. Wheeler and Arrenegado went door to door, with the latter taking the lead. Lovelace looked underneath and made it 4-wide as with Lallier up high. Lallier came through to lead and Lovelace took second. Rego got under to third with Kohler grabbing fourth. Into lap 16, Lallier led Lovelace and Rego, who were racing wheel-to-wheel. Rego got by Lovelace was trying past Lallier when caution came out as Ed Gannon and Dick Cavallaro got together.
Lallier and Rego fought off the green and Rego worked down the backstretch until Lallier got loose out of four, giving up the lead. Lovelace and Kohler gave chase. Mitchell had been moving up steadily and got by Lovelace and Lallier, moving into second place.
Arrenegado looped in the fourth turn on lap 22. Rego and Mitchell came out of the green with Lallier working under Mitchell, but Banville, Ronald Lum, Wheeler and Arrenegado all came together coming out of turn four. Again it was door to door on the restart, with Lallier working under Mitchell. Rego took the front with Mitchell on his bumper; Lallier had Kohler on his tail while Sparky Arsenault got by Axon. Arsenault got underneath Lovelace, who took a shot from Scott Cestodio, which got both Lovelace and Arsenault sideways through three and four of the final lap. Rego led Mitchell home for his third win. Lineham, who had wrestled among competitors in mid-pack all race, had a sixth-place finish and the division championship. Chris “the Woonsocket Rocket” Beaulieu, Cestodio, Arsenault and Crystal Serydynski rounded out the top ten.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR