Melberg, Ladyga, Sprague, Sanchez and Lougee pick up season opener wins for Fast Friday!
Seekonk, MA — Jesse Melberg, last season’s Rookie of the Year, started 2012 off with a dominating performance. Melberg led all twenty five laps, cruising to a convincing win after holding off a late challenge from John Robidoux and Bill Chouinard.
In the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends, Nick Ladyga held firm in the top spot after passing pole sitter Tom Gray on the second lap, leading every single lap from thereon in to notch another win at Seekonk Speedway. His first since graduating from the SYRA division 3 years ago.
Rich Sprague, the man with the most wins in 2011, won his heat race after trudging through the middle of the pack, leaving SYRA graduate Jason Enos and Alan Bouchard in the dust to pick up the checkered flag. After tech inspection was completed, Devin Miranda and Henry Lavallee were second and third.
Twenty laps was the distance for the SYRA 750 feature. Austin Blais started on the pole and led the way for the first half of the race. On lap eleven, Willy Sanchez charged by the #28, as did last year’s SYRA 600 champion Curtis Rolando. Not even a green white checkered finish could stop the #5 of Sanchez, who notched the victory.
The feature race for the Seekonk Youth Racing Association 600 division was scheduled for a distance of twenty laps. However, myriad cautions forced the race to be cut to ten. After multiple cautions involving the #25 of Madison Birchall and rookie Hans Deguzman, a sprint to the finish ensued on the restart that resulted in the #22 of David Lougee holding on the win the season opener.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR