Nocella & Cumens NEMA First Time Winners at DAV
Seekonk, MA – Anthony Nocella captured his first Northeastern Midget Association feature Sunday, winning the 25-lap feature at Seekonk Speedway’s D.Anthony Venditti Memorial. It was a dominating performance for Nocella and the Seymour #4.
Nocella, the all-time winner in the NEMA Lites, started ninth. He took the lead from John Zych (Zych #9) on lap 13 and then beat back a lap 19 restart challenge from Randy Cabral. It was all according to plan.
“We wanted to be leading around the halfway point,” said Nocella. “I kinda wanted to save something. I wanted to have enough tire to hold somebody off if there was a late caution. That’s how it happened.”
Cabral (Bertrand #47) was a straightaway (2.363 seconds) behind in second. Keith Botelho (Stoehr #25), Greg Stoehr (Miller #3m) and Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire #45) filled out the top five.
Nocella, who passed Cabral for third on lap 10, had a wide lead when the only caution fell. “I knew Randy wasn’t going to give up,” he said. “Randy was going to drive it in hard on the outside and try to hold me down.”
“His tires looked like they belonged on a four wheeler,” said Cabral who had taken second from Zych two laps before. “It was the only way I was going to get him.” Cabral, however, did not get the bite he needed and Nocella “got away.”
Nocella, who drove the Santa Maria #99 most of the year, passed the test. “You want to run it in as hard as he did,” he said, “but you know you can’t do that. You try to run it in a little easy because you don’t want to slide into him and you want to get it turned so you can get on the gas in the straightaway.”
Point leader Cabral, who widened his lead on Greg Stoehr to 26, did challenge for a lap before “saying to myself, ‘OK, time to fall into second.’”
Botelho, Greg Stoehr and Russ Stoehr rallied in the closing laps. Greg Stoehr, who crashed his #26b two weeks ago at Waterford, was in the Jim Miller #3m. Russ Stoehr came from 12th in an almost rebuilt car after a host of problems on Saturday.
Paul Scally led the first lap before giving way to Zych on lap two.
“It was definitely a fast car,” understated Nocella. “Everybody else did well in it and I wanted to win for them too.” Bobby Santos III, Mark Buonomo, Jeff Abold and Lou Cicconi have scored Seekonk wins in the car over the past 10 years.
“This is the same car Santos drove here 10 years ago,” said owner Bobby Seymour, pointing out “it’s all about handling” at Seekonk. “Every time we come to this track we put the exact same set up on it. I don’t think the front axle had been changed in 10 years. We’re never really any quicker but we’re always right there.” Nocella’s 11.371 was the fastest lap
It was another Seymour family Seekonk sweep, Ian Cumens winning Saturday’s LITES feature in the Seymour #9 Hawk/Focus.
Seth Carlson chased Cumens home in the final LITES event of the year. Andy Barrows, Brandon Igo and Anthony Marvuglio completed the top five.
The NEMA Midgets complete their season this weekend at Thompson Speedway’s World Series.
Sources: NEMA PR