DJ Shaw picks up Seekonk’s PASS 150 victory; Gerry D wins LM main; Barry Shaw Jr claims first Sport Truck win; Lineham again in the Sam’s Club Streets
Seekonk, MA — Center Conway NH’s D.J. Shaw admitted in Victory Lane that he wasn’t looking forward to the Pro All Stars Series returning to The Action Track of the East. “I didn’t like the track, we just never seem to run well here.” is what the winning driver had to say. But that perception has all changed now, as the post-race victory photos were taken.
Three time Seekonk winner Ryan Vanasse and former PASS Champion Ben Rowe brought the 27 car field down with Vanasse setting the pace for the first several laps before six time Seekonk Champion Fred Astle took over after a lap 11 restart. Astle led for several laps before Derek Ramstrom took over the lead. As the race reached the mid-point, it was apparent that there would not be a Seekonk Pro Stock regular carrying the checkers, as the only regular remaining in the top five was pole sitter Ryan Vanasse, who was sitting in the fifth position.
Travis Benjamin was working his way forward, and the Morrill Maine driver took over the lead and opened up a sizeable advantage over Ramstrom and the rest of the pack. But as the laps wound down, Shaw found his rhythm and used the outside lane to move past Benjamin and took over. Ben Rowe was also coming through the pack after pitting about one-third of the way through, and challenged Benjamin for second, but fell slightly short, having to settle for third. Johnny Clark and Lonnie Somerville rounded out the top five.
Gerry DeGasparre Jr picked up his fourth win of the season, holding off Bobby Pelland III in the 30 lap Late Model event. Bill Bernard jumped out front from him outside pole position, and set the pace over Ron Barboza Jr. Gerry moved into second by lap seven, with Pelland right behind, moving into third with ten laps to go, when Barboza spun.
As Bernard led the field off turn four on lap 18, he back end came out from underneath, and he spun out of the lead, with Gerry inheriting the top position. Pelland lined up alongside, but was not able to mount a serious challenge. Gerry held on and picked up the win, with Pelland second, Dylan Estrella coming through the pack for third, Jeramee Lillie fourth and Scott Dion returning to the LM ranks and finishing fifth.
Ryan Lineham moved past Scott Serydynski with seven laps remaining and picked up his third win of the season in the Sam’s Club Street Stocks. Bobby Bettencourt Jr and Gerard Berthelette swapped the lead a few times over the first ten laps, and while leading, something seemed to break on Berthelette’s machine, and he pulled out of the event, giving the lead to Bettencourt. As the field jammed up, several cars started playing bumper tag, and Tony Oliviera, who was running second and Manny Dias, who was running fourth, got together and ended up sliding into the wall.
Just after the restart, Crystal Serydynski and Bettencourt got locked together while racing for the lead, handing the lead over to last week’s winner Scott Serydynski. His lead lasted a few laps before Lineham took over and brought the field down to the checkered flag. The Sam’s Club Street Stock point leader Paul Lallier followed through and held on for second. Sparky Arsenault also moved past Serydynski for third, with Scott and Rey Lovelace rounding out the top five.
In the 25 lap Sport Truck feature, Barry Shaw Jr of Holbrook picked up his first Sport Truck win in the most exciting race of the evening. Nick Uhrig and Daryl Church raced wheel to wheel for the twenty laps, swapping the lead back and forth several times between them. Officially, Church, who was racing the outside lane, led 17 of the twenty laps, but with an average of .250 seconds over that time, while Uhrig was making the winless driver work for every inch he could find. Uhrig, the leading Rookie candidate in the Sport Truck was giving as good as he was getting, keeping a pack of trucks behind them.
It all started to come apart when Uhrig was tagged from behind by John Paiva, and spun in front of the field. Paiva was penalized for the contact, moving Rick Martin and Mike Cavallaro to chase Church to the green. Cavallaro used a three wide move on the bottom and took over the lead, with Martin following behind. On lap 23, with Martin moving underneath Cavallaro, Martin chased up the track, taking Cavallaro out of his groove, and opened the bottom lane, where Barry Shaw saw daylight and moved under the pair, picking up the lead with less than 2 laps remaining. Lenny Guy, Church, Scott Dion and Uhrig all slid past Cavallaro and Martin, and crossed the stripe in that order.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR