NEMA Celebrates 60th Anniversary at Speedbowl
Brockton, MA – The Northeastern Midget Association will celebrate its Diamond Anniversary with 60 laps of feature racing Saturday night, May 12 at Waterford Speedbowl. NEMA and the NEMA Lites will each go 30 laps on the track many consider the premier Midget facility in the east.
It will also be the Marvin Rifchin Trophy Race. The “Marvin Trophy” memorializes one of NEMA’s greatest contributors and is one of NEMA’s most coveted prizes.
NEMA was formed at Thompson Speedway on March 8, 1953. Fred Meeker won the first race on Memorial Day of that year at Seekonk Speedway. The very next day, Bill Eldridge, was a winner at the Speedbowl. Eldridge went on to capture the first championship.
NEMA is one of the most innovative bodies in Midget racing, the five-year old Lites Division the most recent addition to the list of moves. “The Speedbowl is the ideal spot for this race,” said NEMA President Mike Scrivani Jr. “It has always been a special place for Midgets in general and NEMA in particular.”
Blast Off winners John Zych Jr. (NEMA) and Ryan Bigelow (Lites) will be after two straight, Zych giving every indication (a 13.001 lap) he’s got the Speedbowl layout figured out. “Everybody runs well at the Speedbowl,” he reports. “Usually, the best you run is at the Speedbowl.”
The return of Joey Payne (Breault 44) and Adam Cantor (7ny) adds to a group of experienced Speedbowl hands that also includes three-time and defending champion Randy Cabral (Bertrand 47), Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire 45), Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 26), Jim Miller (Miller 3m), Todd Bertrand (Bertrand 39) and Barry Kittredge (Kittredge 8). All have won at the Speedbowl.
Anthony Marvuglio (Bordeau 38) , coming off a fourth at Blast Off, along with rookies Jim Santa Maria (Santa Maria 99) and Seth Carlson (Feigel 71), hope to join the list.
Anthony Nocella is the Lites Speedbowl win leader. Ian Cumens, Nocella’s teammate in the Seymour stable, Kenny Johnson, Bethany Stoehr, Christian Briggs, Brandon Igo and Carl Medeiros Jr.are other Lites standouts.
NEMA NUGGETS – The victory at the Speedbowl’s Blast Off after five years is another example of the Zych family’s dedication. John Jr. made the Lemoyne College basketball team as a “walk on,” (he was not a scholarship player), joining his father on the list of letter winners at the upstate New York college. He says “wanting to take on the toughest competition possible” is the greatest similarity of his two sports.
Sources: NEMA PR