Nick Ladyga Wins Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Legends National Qualifier; Bill Doyle, Jeff Dombrowski, Kaitlyn Donovan & TJ Morsehead also Winners
SEEKONK, MA — Voluntown, CT’s Nick Ladyga continues his winning streak at Seekonk with his third consecutive Nick’s Pit Stop Legends event. The win gives him a guaranteed starting position in the INEX Nationals, and a leg up in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series. Chris Robbins was the early leader before Nick Lascoula moved past and into the lead. Ladyga wasn’t far behind, after starting eighth in the field, taking second from Robbins on the fourth lap. He chased down Lascoula, and the pair raced bumper to bumper until the caution came out on lap 8.
Over the next few laps, the pair raced side by side, swapping the lead back and forth until Ladyga moved past and closed the door. While they were battling, Dana DeMatteo moved into the fight, and moved past Lascoula for a couple of laps. Nick was able to regain the runner up position, but not easily, as Dana kept the pressure on until the checkered. Joey Parker and Brendon Bock rounded out the top five.
*in post-race tech, DeMatteo’s car did not pass, moving Brandon Martinez into fifth.
1) Nick Ladyga 2) Nick Lascoula 3) Joey Parker 4) Brendon Bock 5) Brandon Martinez 6) Raven Schrantz 7) Carl Blandina 8) Andy Carpenter 9) Matt Carpenter 10) Joe Putnam 11) John Bellucci 12) Al Wisialko 13) Chris Robbins DQ) Dana DeMatteo
Bill Doyle of Bourne broke through and picked up his first career Pure Stock feature. Tom Blackwell jumped out to the early lead, and set the pace with a lot of pressure from behind. John Robidoux pressured Blackwell for the first several laps before Doyle moved in. While Doyle played follow the leader, waiting for an opening, defending Pure Stock champion Jesse Melberg was making his own way up on the outside. Melberg moved past Doyle for second and set his sights on the lead, just shy of the halfway point.
As the leaders headed into turn one, Blackwell slid up a little, opening the bottom groove for Doyle to make it a three wide race for the lead. When they came off the second turn, Blackwell’s car got loose, and when he corrected, he made contact with Melberg, forcing the caution to come out and both to the rear. This handed the lead over to the previous winless Doyle.
On the restart, Chris Lima made things difficult, edging him out for the lead for the next couple of laps, as they raced side by side. With just over 5 laps remaining, Lima settled behind, and tried another technique to move past, but to no avail, as he was forced to settle for second. Earl Curtin, Robidoux and Melberg rounded out the top five.
1) Bill Doyle 2) Chris Lima 3) Earl Curtin III 4) John Robidoux 5) Jesse Melberg 6) Dan Massa Jr 7) Ed Flanagan Jr 8) Amy Arsenault 9) Mark Boisvert 10) Ed Gould 11) Dan Johnson 12) Missy Charette 13) Keri-Lyn Manfredo 14) Tim Demarderosian 15) Dave Westgate 16) Tom Blackwell 17) Dave Desrosiers
Jeff Dombrowski of Oakdale CT picked up his first career win in the Sport4 division. Michael Glad had set the pace just shy of the halfway point, and set the pace as Len Sousa, who started ninth, was making his way toward the front. As they reached the 13 lap mark, Sousa was putting pressure on the leader, with Henry Lavallee right behind.
Sousa took the lead briefly on lap fifteen, but contact in the first corner sent the top three cars spinning, with Lavallee being done for the night. Dombrowski took over at the top, but rookie Shawn DeMello worked the outside, moving past at the white flag lap. As the pair came off the fourth corner, Dombrowski slid up the race track, making contact
with DeMello, forcing him to lose momentum, and second to Devin Miranda. Tyler Boudreau and Glenn Leduc rounded out the top five.
1) Jeff Dombrowski 2) Devin Miranda 3) Shawn DeMello 4) Tyler Boudreau 5) Glenn Leduc 6) David Gargado Jr 7) Jason Enos 8) Frank Shepard 9) Eric Pelletier 10) Tylar Nailor 11) Chris Bissell 12) Len Sousa 13) Bob Henry 14) Chris Testa 15) Nick Mattera 16) Mike Glad 17) Chuck McDonald 18) Henry Lavallee
Kaitlyn Donovan of Waterford, CT held off serious challenges for the SYRA 750 win. She took off from her pole position start, with her younger sister Shelby on the outside. The pair raced wheel to wheel for the first twelve laps, with Shelby leading a pair of laps in that battle.
Opening night winner Curtis Rolando was looking to repeat, and over the final five laps gave the young lady all she could handle, even leading two of the final four laps. But Kaitlyn was not to be denied, and picked up the popular win. Rolando held on for a close second with Dave Lougee third, Shelby and Ashley Kuhn rounding out the top five.
1) Kaitlyn Donovan 2) Curtis Rolando 3) David Lougee 4) Shelby Donovan 5) Ashley Kuhn 6) Christine Cavallaro 7) Taylor Bowser
Seekonk’s Tom Morsehead Jr took over the lead after a flurry of early restarts, and picked up his first career win in the SYRA 600 class 20 lap feature. Jessica O’Leary and Matt Barboza were credited with leading the opening laps, but several restarts caused the field to bunch up a few times, taking out a couple of contenders.
The final fifteen laps were completed without interruption, with Morsehead leading David White to the checkered. Barboza came back from an early penalty back to third, with Shea Kulpa and Cassie Meservey fourth and fifth.
1)TJ Morsehead Jr 2) David White 3) Matt Barboza 4) Shea Kulpa 5) Cassie Meservey 6) Jessica O’Leary 7) Joey Lembo 8) Madison Birchall 9) Doug Meservey 10) Eric LeBrun 11) Brandon Lillie 12) Scott Serydynski Jr 13) Sarah DeMello 14) Evan Taylor
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR