Fred Astle Jr visits Victory Lane Bobby Pelland and John Paiva repeat, Charles Beal becomes a first time winner
Seekonk, MA — Six time Pro Stock champion Fred Astle Jr jumped out front early, and held of challenges from Kevin Casper and Dave Darling to pick up a thrilling win. Ken Spencer took off from his outside pole position start, and set the pace for the first several laps. Astle moved his way through the pack using the inside lane, making some daring moves, and quickly closed in on the K. Spencer Electric machine. Astle moved past Kyle Casper and pole sitter Phil Meany by lap 8, and quickly found his way past Spencer on lap 10.
While Astle was able to open up a 6 car length lead, Kevin Casper moved into second, and started to close in the distance to the leader. As the laps reached the ¾ mark, Casper was hounding the Wood Frame Structures Chevy, and tried everything he could to put his Phil’s Propane Ford out front. While the pair raced hard, Rehoboth’s Dave Darling was breaking free from the pack, and hunting down the lead duo. As they crossed the line with just 5 laps to go, Darling moved his Bristol Toyota Scion Camry to the outside, and went to work. At the white flag mark, Darling was even with Casper, and as they raced into turn three on the final lap, he tried one last move, but came up .163 short for his second win of the season. Casper held on for third, just .164 behind Astle. Ryan Vanasse and Mike Brightman rounded out the top five.
In the 30 lap Late Model feature, Bobby Pelland III moved past Dylan Estrella with just 3 laps remaining to pick up his second win of the young season. Dylan Estrella set the pace for much of the race, but Pelland kept the chase on for the 30 lap distance. Pelland worked on the outside, and edged out over the Lamar & Son’s Impala of Estrella. But the sophomore didn’t give up, and retook the lead on a couple of occasions. The pair swapped the lead several times over the event.
It wasn’t until there were three laps to go when the A & A Auto Parts impala was finally able to close the door and set his own pace. Estrella tried one more time, but could not get by, and had to settle for second. Dennis Stampfl of Norwood was third, with Gerry DeGasparre and Bill Bernard rounding out the top five.
Charles Beal of Ledyard CT only lead ¼ of a lap in the 25 lap Street Stock feature, but it was the most important portion of the track. Charles made a 3-wide move coming off of turn 4 on the final lap, and moved under Mark Henshaw and Patrick Delaney to pick up his first win at Seekonk.
Delaney set the pace for the first 22 laps, holding off the charges of the Raynham native. Henshaw used a late race restart, and finally squeezed by and took over the lead on lap 23. But it was a short lived lead, as Beal squeezed by on the final lap. Delaney got back by for second at the line, and Sparky Arsenault followed Beal through the bottom to pick up third, while Henshaw fell back to fourth. Rey Lovelace rounded out the top five.
John Paiva picked up his second win of the season, holding off 4 time Champion Mike Cavallaro. Darryl Church of Brockton led the first lap before rookie Nick Uhrig took over for a couple of laps. The pair swapped the lead a couple of times, with Church taking back over, until Paiva took over on lap seven. Once out front, Paiva started to open his lead. Cavallaro moved into second, and chased him down. Over the final several laps, he put pressure on the Fall River native, but was unable to move past.
Uhrig held on for third in the final rundown, with Dan Leach and Barry Shaw rounded out the top five.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR