NEMA Returns to Speedbowl
Brockton, MA — The Northeastern Midget Association takes a red hot point battle to Waterford Speedbowl Saturday night, Sept. 24. The twenty-five lap features for NEMA and the NEMA Lites are additions to the NEMA schedule.
Randy Cabral, who assumed the lead at Seekonk Speedway two weeks ago, sits atop the point parade with the Stoehr brothers – Greg and Russ – bunched up in second and third behind him.
Part of NEMA since the club’s inception in 1953, Waterford remains one of the northeast’s premier Midget venues. Lap times in the very low 13s are commonplace.
All seven 2011 winners – Jeff Abold, Todd Bertrand, Keith Botelho and Mike Horn in addition to Cabral and the Stoehr boys – are expected to be in the NEMA field. Boston Louie winner Abold, with two top-fives at Waterford this year, will be aiming at two straight triumphs.
Russ Stoehr, Botelho and rookie Bertrand have wins this season at the Speedbowl. Angelillo Memorial winner Bertrand joins a long list of NEMA competitors who scored their first checkered on the three-eighths oval.
Driving the family car, Bertrand needed only five minutes 46 seconds to cover the 25 laps (averaging 97.330 mph) in the Angelillo Memorial . Cabral, Greg Stoehr, Scally and Abold waged a sizzling war behind him, testimony to NEMA’s prowess at the Bowl.
Other contenders include Anthony Nocella, Jeremy Frankoski, Paul Scally, fourth at the Angelillo Memorial, B.J. MacDonald, Chris deRitis, Chris Leonard and Barry Kittredge. deRitis, Leonard and Kittredge have won at Waterford in the past.
Since 2009, Russ Stoehr has eight first or seconds at “The Bowl.” Crowd favorite Cabral, the all-time NEMA winner at Waterford with eight, is determined to “get back to victory lane” for the first time since 2008. He has two seconds and a third at Waterford this season.
It will be Waterford’s fifth Lites event of 2011, Nocella, Ryan Bigelow, Paul Luggelle and Andy Barrows all prevailing. Hoping to join the list are Seth Carlson, Russ Wood Jr., Paul Bigelow and David Moniz, all winners this season. Other contenders are Carl Medeiros Jr., Jim Santa Maria, Anthony Marvuglio and Cabral.
NEMA NUGGETS
Todd Bertrand became the first rookie to win a NEMA feature since Bobby Santos III did it in 2002. With three races left, he can become the first Rookie with multiple wins in a very long time.
Russ Stoehr is the current leader in top five finishes with eight. Randy Cabral has five straight top five finishes coming into Waterford.
Starting with Bill Eldridge (May 31, 1953) and ending with Bertrand, there have been 46 winners in 85 NEMA events at Waterford Speedbowl. The track’s Midget connection goes back to 1951, its first year, when Johnny Thomson won two ARDC shows and Art Cross prevailed in a Triple A 100 lapper. George Tichenor set fast time for the latter with a 17.920 run, meaning in sixty years, the Midgets have gotten five seconds faster at the Bowl.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR