NEMA Bonanza at Lee
Brockton, MA — It’s been 13 races since the Northeastern Midget Association has had a back-to-back winner. It’s been 36 events for the NEMA Lites. Mike Horn, a winner at Stafford’s CarQuest Super Saturday, and Brandon Igo aim to end those streaks Friday night when NEMA visits one of its traditional haunts, Lee USA Speedway.
With two 25-lap Lites features – the June 27th rain out in addition to the regularly scheduled show – it amounts to 75-laps of Midget feature racing.
A winner at NEMA’s two biggest ovals, second-generation driver Horn goes to Lee with plenty of motivation, not the least of which is proving he can succeed at the smaller stops as well. He can also join his father Jeff on the Lee NEMA win list.
John Zych, the only driver with three straight top-five finishes, takes the point lead to Lee. Russ and Greg Stoehr along with defending champion Randy Cabral, are, still very much contenders. All have collected a Lee checker as have Joey Payne Jr. and Adam Cantor. Russ Stoehr won in dominating style a year ago.
Anthony Marvuglio will be looking to turn around his luck after two heart-breaking efforts. The last two times out, he was in dominating positions only to be victimized by a flat tire (Waterford) and fuel problems (Stafford).
Anthony Nocella, Todd Bertrand, Paul Scally, Seth Carlson and James Santa Maria, the latter two rookies, are other contenders. SantaMaria was a Lites winner at Lee in 2009.
Igo, who won the last Lites event at Waterford on May 12, is part of a strong field that includes Ryan Bigelow, also a winner this year, Ian Cumens, who has two straight runner-up finishes, and Paul Bigelow, Ryan’s older brother and a Lee winner in 2011.
Andy Barrows, Carl Moderios, Joey Mucciacciaro, Jake Smith and the Stoehr cousins – Bethany and Avery – are others thinking about the opportunity for a two-win evening.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR