John Robidoux, Tom Grey, Frank Shepard, Willy Sanchez and Shawn DeMello pick up Fast Friday wins at Seekonk Speedway
Seekonk, MA — Traffic was not the major factor it had been over the past couple of weeks in the Pure Stock feature, but for the third week in a row, the race went green to checker with a late pass for the win. This time it was John Robidoux of Swansea moving past Ian Savard of North Attleboro as the pair came across the stripe under the white flag.
Savard jumped out front on the opening lap and was able to pull away from the field with ease. Tim Demarderosian sat second for the first few laps until Amy Arsenault moved into the runner up spot. She held on for second for much of the race, keeping Jamie Salley and Randy Moretti at bay. As the laps wound down, Robidoux was running the outside and it took over a dozen laps to work past the pack of cars at the front with points leader Jesse Melberg on his tail.
Once clear of the traffic, John and Jesse, who continued to run bumper to bumper, ran down Savard, who was starting to fight the handles on his car. As the pair came under the white flag, Robidoux got under Savard and took the lead going into turn one. Melberg followed him right through and finished second, clinching his first Pure Stock Championship. Savard held on to third at the finish, with Arsenault and Salley rounding out the top five.
Tom Grey picked up another Nick’s Pit Stop Legends win, beating his teammate Shaun Buffington in the 25 lap feature. Taylor Martin took off on the green and led the opening laps before Gray took over for the lead. With Gray setting the pace, Martin had her work cut out for her. For the next twenty plus laps, she had to hold off charges from Buffington and Nick Lascoula.
Once the points leader glued himself to the rear bumper of Gray, Lascoula went to work on the Windham, NH native, and the pair swapped the third and fourth place several times over the final half of the race. Over the final five laps, they changed positions officially three times. While they were having at it, Buffington was not making it a Sunday type drive for Gray, and he battled him to the very end, at times pushing him into and out of the corners. The two CT natives were not to be beat, as they were able to put a little breathing room between themselves and the battle for third. Grey held on for the win, Buffington second, Lascoula third, Martin and Chris Robbins rounding out the top five.
Frank Shepard of Bozrah, CT picked up his first win at Seekonk in the Sport4 20 main event in the same way he had one taken away from him two weeks ago. Glen Leduc took off and pulled away from the rest of the field and never looked back, leading all the way to the checkered flag. While he set the pace, Shepard, who was coming from the back of the field after a first lap penalty, was making his way through the pack, and with just a couple of laps left, he moved into second at the stripe.
Peter Amelotte, fresh off his first career win, started last in the lineup, but was able to move through the traffic, and finished second, with Devin Miranda and Jason Enos II rounding out the top five. Leduc was stripped of his win in post-race tech, handing the win over to Shepard. Frank Sousa moved into the top five after the DQ.
Willie Sanchez of Providence, RI moved to the front of the field at the drop of the green and held off a hard charging Chase Belcher for the SYRA 750 win. Curtis Rolando moved into third, and ran there until contact with Belcher put him around. This moved Austin Blais into third on the restart with Kaitlyn Donovan fourth. On the restart, the pair traded third and fourth in a tight battle around the 1/3 mile oval.
Over much of the race, the top five ran single file, with Sanchez holding a 4 car length lead over Nailor. On the final lap, Blais slid up, with Rolando trying to move past, but in that move, Donovan was able to take advantage and moved into third as they raced off the final corner. Blais and Rolando both slid out of the racing groove, with Belcher moving into fourth in the final rundown. Blais rounded out the top five.
Rookie Shawn DeMello found the right groove and picked up his first career SYRA 600 win. Tom Morsehead Jr and Kiera Carpenter ran at the front of the field for the first lap before contact sent them to the rear. Matt Barboza took over at the helm and steered the ship for the next ten laps before mechanical problems forced him out of the running.
With DeMello now out front, the racing behind him was two by two, as Tyler Boudreau was trying to make his way to the front, but was racing hard with Madison Birchall and Brett Meservey. With the laps winding down, Boudreau found the outside lane wasn’t doing him any favors and slid back fourth in the final rundown. Robert Borthwick Jr rounded out the top five behind DeMello, Birchall and Meservey.
Sources:Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR