Nick Lascoula and Len Souza Pick Up First Wins; Chris Lima and Tyler Boudreau Repeat; Kaitlyn Donovan Wins First of the Season
Seekonk, MA — Nick Lascoula picked up his first career Nick’s Pit Stop Legends win on Friday, sliding by Shaun Buffington as the pair came off of turn four on the white flag lap. By lap one, Lascoula moved up from his fifth starting position, and set the pace early on. Buffington, coming back after an early exit last week started his march toward the front had early struggles, as he was spun on the opening laps before collecting it back up and continuing on. While he lost positions, he immediately started his drive through the field. The first, and only, caution came out on lap two, when Tom Gray came to a stop in turn two. Tom had taken over championship lead with last weeks’ win, but was struggling with mechanical issues all night.
Once back underway, Lascoula started to pull away from the field, setting a comfortable pace. Taylor Martin was trying to keep pace with the Abington native, but fell to third when Buffington slid past at the halfway point. With just laps remaining, Buffington made the move to put his #23 at the top of the leaderboard. The Plainfield, CT native started to put some breathing room between he and Lascoula, but the Young Lion wasn’t about to let the three time winner take this one away. Lascoula started to reel in Buffington, and closed back up with two laps remaining. As they raced off the second turn, Lascoula found the inside lane opening just a bit, and squeezed underneath. As they raced off of turn four, Buffington’s engine seemed to give up the ghost in a shower of white smoke, giving the former SYRA 600 Champion his first career win in the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends. Nick Ladyga of Voluntown, CT crossed the line in second, with Martin of Windham, NH third, Branden Dion of Taunton, MA fourth. Buffington coasted across the line in fifth.
Chris Lima led the final 23 laps in picking up his second Pure Stock win of the season. Lima started seventh in the starting field and immediately moved to the third and second groove to work his way past early leader Jamie Burch. Once out front, he held on through one restart, but was never challenged for the lead.
While Lima was out front, the wheel to wheel action was happening behind him. Burch, Earl Curtin III and John Robidoux were all jockeying for position, racing each other hard. At one point, Robidoux bounced off the frontstretch wall with the right rear of his car, but that didn’t seem to slow the Fall River native. Curtin edged past Birch for second on lap six with Robidoux into third on the following lap. John and Earl raced with each other, and just past the halfway point, the championship chase leader Jesse Melberg made it a three car dogfight for second. Melberg and Robidoux raced wheel to wheel for the final several laps, with The Jackal making it a one-two finish for the Bristol County Choppers team, edging Robidoux by .210 for second. Curtin was fourth with Amy Arsenault rounding out the top five.
Jason Enos II jumped out front on the opening lap of the Sport4 main event and set the pace until the halfway point. With Enos out front, defending Sport4 champion Kyle Pacheco was working his way through the field, and started challenging for the lead. As they crossed at the crossed flags, Pacheco edged out ahead of Enos. It was at this time, the right front of Enos’ machine went flat, and he came to a stop in turn 2, bringing out the first caution of the event. The top five at this point were Pacheco, Len Sousa, Glen Leduc, Jason Enos I and Ed Gould.
The second caution of the event came out on lap 14 when Henry Lavallee had something break in the steering of his Saturn, and hit the turn 4 wall. Once back up to speed, Pacheco led to the checkered, but fell is post-race tech, handing the trophy over to Len Sousa. Pete Amlotte made moves over the final half of the event to finish second in the official rundown. Lil Enos made his way back to third, with Taylor Therrien and Gould rounding out the top five.
In the 20 lap Seekonk Youth Racing Association 750 class feature, Waterford, CT’s Kaitlyn Donovan picked up her first win of the season. Tylar Nailor of Marston Mills led the opening lap before Shelby Donovan took over at the top of the leader board. Shelby was able to set the pace for the next two circuits before big sister Kaitlyn moved underneath and took over the top spot. The outside was not kind to Donovan, as she slid back to fourth, with Austin Blais moving up into second and Chase Belcher up to third by the half-way point. Over the second half, Blais hounded the young lade, but wasn’t able to find a way by Kaitlyn, having to settle for second. Belcher crossed in third, with Shelby and Willy Sanchez rounding out the top five.
The only incident in the event happened on the opening lap, when Chase Belcher spun in turn four, collecting number 2 point man Curtis Rolando. Curtis had almost made it by before there was any contact, but with heavy damage to the left side, there wasn’t a chance for Rolando to return, severely curtailing his chance to close in on the point chase leader Blais.
Elizabeth Hood jumped out to the early lead in the SYRA 600 feature, and led the first two laps with some early pressure from Tyler Boudreau. Tyler ran the outside, and the pair raced side by side for several laps before Boudreau moved out front for good.
The early laps were a tough start for the 600 class, but once they got some rhythm going, they were able to put on a show. David Lougee, who was involved in the one of the opening lap incidents, was able to move through the field cleanly. Brooke Meservey was another that had to work her way through the pack. In the end, no one had anything for Boudreau. Hood finished a career best second, with Lougee, Taylor Bowser and Brett Meservey rounding out the top five.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR