Stergios Rules Lites at “Louie”
S
eekonk, MA – A daring inside move with three laps left gave P.J. Stergios the victory in the 29-lap Lites feature at the Northeastern Midget Association’s Boston Louie Memorial Sunday at Seekonk Speedway. It also gave the Stergois family a “weekend sweep.”
Driving the same car brother Jake won with on Friday night at Lee USA Speedway, Stergios snuck under Andy Barrows through turns three and four. The move followed the fourth and final restart and ended a journey that began in 12th starting spot.
Barrows (Barrows 81), who had led all but two laps to that point, was second followed by Anthony Nocella (Seymour 29), Ian Cumens (Seymour 9) and Avery Stoehr (Stoehr 15b).
[Photo Gallery] by Crystal Snape
“I kind of needed that last caution to get along side of Andy”, said Stergios, who was fastest throughout practice. It was, however, a cross-over move through one and two that put him inside the leader heading into three.
“Of course I didn’t want to see that caution,” countered Barrows. “It broke my rhythm and cooled the tires.” He was more than aware “P.J. was going to be tough, that he was going to give me a run” and in the end acknowledged “the better car won.”
Stergios pointed to the first caution with only one lap gone as the real key. “It put me on the bottom and that was important because there was a lot of junk and it was loose up top.”
Barrows twice battled back restart challenges from Dan Cugini. Meanwhile Stergios was moving forward. When yellow flew for the third time with 10 laps gone, Stergios was fourth. With Nocella on his tail, he grabbed third when green showed and by lap 21 he was sitting second. It was a drive worthy of hard charger laurels although Barrows was clearly in control before the final yellow showed.
It was also a great drive for Cumens who came from an early spin and, taking full advantage of the last caution, passed five cars over the final three laps.
The Lites will join the full midgets Saturday night at Star Speedway.
Results: 1. P.J. Stergios, 2. Andy Barrows, 3. Anthony Nocella, 4. Ian Cumens, 5. Avery Stoehr, 6. Danny Cugini, 7. Randy Cabral, 8. Kevin Hutchens, 9. Carl Medieros Jr., 10. Brandon Igo, 11. Christian Briggs, 12. Kenny Johnson, 13. Richie Moroco, 14. Kevin Park, 15. Dana Shaw, 16. Ryan Bigelow, 17. Paul Bigelow, 18. Joe Cugini, 19. Keith Rocco, 20. DJ Moriz, 21. Jamie Falconi, 22. Kelly Ferrell, 23. Logan Rayvals.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR