Brandon Igo NEMA Lites Winner
Waterford, CT — Brandon Igo led every lap but winning the 30-lap Lites feature at the Northeastern Midget Association Diamond Anniversary Race Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl was hardly easy. Igo, in fact, had to rely on his dirt track experience to capture his first NEMA win.
With eight laps remaining, Igo (Igo 45) and Carl Medeiros Jr. (Medeiros 50) came together in turn two. With the car sideways, Igo “stood on the gas and turned right. That’s where the dirt track experience came in,” said the one-time Whip City champion.
It ended a great effort for Medeiros who admitted to “running out of patience” looking to get inside Igo. Medeiros did spin, setting up a restart . On the green, Igo got the jump on Joey Mucciacciaro (Scally 4) and went on to finish 1.92 seconds ahead of Ian Cumens (Seymour 9) with Mucciacciaro third. Ryan Bigelow (Bigelow 13) was fourth and Randy Cabral (Cabral 35) came from 19th to claim fifth.
After two false starts, Igo jumped into the lead. By the time Medeiros (who posted the fastest lap – 13.871) cleared a battle that also included Jake Smith, Cumens, Mucciacciaro and Anthony Nocella, Igo was almost a half lap in front.
Leaving behind Cumens and Mucciacciaro to battle for third and a Smith- Nocella duel for fifth, Medeiros cut into Igo’s advantage, catching him with 12 laps remaining. Three times Medeiros tried the inside before the effort ended with a spin.
“It was a hard hit,” said Igo of the contact with Medeiros. “The steering wheel was moving all over the place. I held the car down and took a hard one.”
Cumens, who started ninth, moved past Mucciacciro on the final restart but couldn’t get away and Igo breezed home. Medeiros would up sixth.
The Lites return to Waterford on May 23, part of the Wild and Wacky Wednesday program.
RESULTS: 1. Brandon Igo, 2. Ian Cumens, 3. Joey Mucciacciaro, 4. Ryan Bigelow, 5. Randy Cabral, 6. Carl Medeiros Jr., 7. Anthony Nocella, 8. Avery Stoehr, 9. Jake Smith, 10. Alan Chambers, 11. Paul Bigelow, 12. Danny Cugini, 13. R.J. Tufano, 14. Kevin Park,
15. Christian Briggs, 16. Kenny Johnson, 17. Andy Barrows, 18. Jim Santa Maria, 19. Bethany Stoehr.
Sources: NEMA Lites PR