Wings and Wheels Milestone for Lites
Brockton, MA – The Northeastern Midget Association’s Lites Division reaches a milestone this weekend. The Lites are at Lee USA Speedway Friday Night. They are part of Saturday night’s Shane Hammond Memorial, the latter on Waterford Speedbowl’s Wings And Wheels menu. It will be the 59th and 60th features for the five-year old Lites.
Testimony to the division’s success will be evident at the Speedbowl , the Lites joining the “full midgets” on a menu that also includes the ISMA Supermodifeids, the Valenti Modifieds and the ‘Bowl’s SKs. Both NEMA divisions will go 27-laps.
In addition to extra financial motivation including lap money, there are plenty of incentives for both divisions.
Seth Carlson comes to Waterford looking to become the first driver in 16 events to win back-to-back features. Carlson is a Lites graduate as is Todd Bertrand, also a NEMA feature winner. Anthony Marvuglio and James SantaMaria, the latter battling Carlson for top rookie honors this year, are members of the fraternity as well. All figure to be in the Waterford field.
Marvuglio, brother to the man the race memorializes, was very impressive the last time NEMA visited the Connecticut shoreline oval, turning a 12.91 lap before falling to mechanical problems.
They join a group that includes point leader Randy Cabral, Russ and Greg Stoehr, John Zych Jr., Jim Miller, fan favorite Erica Santos, Jeff and Mike Horn, Paul Scally and Barry Kittredge all ready to battle at 100-miles per hour plus. “It’s a stand on the gas place,” says Miller.
Heading into Lee, Medeiros Jr. has three Lites wins. The busy Cabral ended his streak at Star. Ryan Bigelow and Brandon also been winners, the latter two at Waterford.
The 16-year old Medeiros leads a very promising youth corps that includes Bethany Stoehr (two seconds), her cousin Avery Stoehr (a second and a fourth) and Shane Duhaime (a third and two fourths). Ian Cumens and Dan Cugini are also on that list.
NEMA NUGGETS – The “first official” Lites race was a 20-lapper at the Speedbowl on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. Jesse State was the winner…Randy Cabral and owner Tim Bertrand have a 43-point lead over Russ Stoehr and Dumo’s Desire Racing coming into Waterford…The Hammond will also be the third of six points races for the Lites. Others still to come include the Angelillo Memorial at Waterford, the Boston Louie at Seekonk and the Octoberfest at Lee. The championship will be based on the best five finishes… Lee has hosted 10 Lites races, Paul Bigelow joining Medeiros on the win list…. Todd Bertrand and Randy Cabral have been winners in both Lites and NEMA cars at Waterford. Anthony Nocella has won four of the 14 Lites races at Waterford…There have been 25 Lites winners so far.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR