Medeiros Doubles Up At Lee
Lee, NH – Carl Medeiros Jr. ended a streak of 36 Northeastern Midget Association Lites races without back-to-back winners and he did it in a single night at Lee USA Speedway Friday. He won the 25-lapper rescheduled from June 22 and then came back to capture the regularly scheduled event, doing both in dramatic style. It all came 11 days before his 16th birthday.
“What a night,” said Medeiros who dedicated the first win to his grandparents. It ended a run of frustration for the family team that posted a couple seconds last year and had two impressive runs this season.
Coming from the 12th starting spot in the opener, Medeiros took the lead from Jake Smith on lap 12 with a daring move out of four. Sitting behind a Smith-Bethany Stoehr battle, Medeiros passed them both on the outside. He went into one with a clear advantage and then romped to the checkered in the caution-free event, posting a race-best 14.510 lap.
[Photo Gallery] by Crystal Snape
Stoehr, whose inside try failed, fell back to third. A lap later Stoehr, with Randy Cabral in tow, passed Smith for second and third down the back. Passing continued as Avery Stoehr rallied to grab a fourth. Ryan Bigelow was fifth as the Lites continue to impress.
Starting 10th, in the second feature, Medeiros took the lead from Cabral just prior to the second yellow on lap 18. Medeiros, Cabral, Paul Bigelow and Ian Cumens were locked in what was clearly the best Midget action of the night before Medeiros found the outside route into the lead.
Cabral, in the family car, was not ready to give up. On the restart, he got the jump but Medeiros moved to the inside down the back and by the checkered had a wide edge. His second-race best lap was a 14.353.
Medeiros will be looking for a record third straight when the Lites accompany the NEMA full Midgets to Star Speedway on Saturday night, July 21.
NEMA LITES #1 – Lee – 7/13/12
Pos. # Driver Hometown Owner
1 50 Carl Medeiros, Jr. Westport, MA Carl Medeiros
2 26b Bethany Stoehr Bridgewater, MA MCI Racing/Greg Stoehr
3 35 Randy Cabral Plymouth, MA Glen Cabral
4 15b Avery Stoehr Lakeville, MA MC Racing LLC/Russ Stoehr
5 13 Ryan Bigelow E. Hampton, CT Randy Bigelow
6 93 Jake Smith Stroudsburg, PA Ted Smith
7 9 Ian Cumens Lydell, PA Bobby Seymour
8 11 Alan Chambers Atkinson, NH Michael Chambers
9 57 Dylan Duhaime Loudon, NH Shawn Duhaime
10 51 Danny Cugini Marshfield, MA D. Cugini
11 45 Brandon Igo Wilbraham, MA David Igo
12 44 Christian Briggs Mattapoisett, MA Christian Briggs
13 12 Brandon Martinez North Kingston, RI Lou Martinez
14 33b Scott Bigelow E. Hampton, CT Randy Bigelow
15 31 Paul Bigelow Berlin, CT Randy Bigelow
16 4 Logan Ravails – Paul Scally
17 DNF 19 Matt Seavey – Matt Seavey
18 DNF 39 R. J. Tufano – R. J. Tufano
NEMA LITES #2 – Lee – 7/13/12
Pos. # Driver Hometown Owner
1 50 Carl Medeiros, Jr. Westport, MA Carl Medeiros
2 35 Randy Cabral Plymouth, MA Glen Cabral
3 9 Ian Cumens Lydell, PA Bobby Seymour
4 57 Dylan Duhaime Loudon, NH Shawn Duhaime
5 45 Brandon Igo Wilbraham, MA David Igo
6 26b Bethany Stoehr Bridgewater, MA MCI Racing/Greg Stoehr
7 31 Paul Bigelow Berlin, CT Randy Bigelow
8 51 Danny Cugini Marshfield, MA D. Cugini
9 11 Alan Chambers Atkinson, NH Michael Chambers
10 4 Logan Ravails – Paul Scally
11 DNF 93 Jake Smith Stroudsburg, PA Ted Smith
12 DNF 19 Matt Seavey – Matt Seavey
13 DNF 15b Avery Stoehr Lakeville, MA MC Racing LLC/Russ Stoehr
14 DNF 33b Scott Bigelow E. Hampton, CT Randy Bigelow
15 DNF 39 R. J. Tufano – R. J. Tufano
16 DNF 13 Ryan Bigelow E. Hampton, CT Randy Bigelow
17 DNS 12 Brandon Martinez North Kingston, RI Lou Martinez
18 DNS 44 Christian Briggs Mattapoisett, MA Christian Briggs
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR