Stafford Lites Laurels to Stoehr
Stafford, CT — Avery Stoehr made an inside bid on lap 12 that fell short. A lap and a half later, out of four, he went to the outside passing Paul Bigelow and taking a lead he never relinquished en route to victory in the 20-lap Northeastern Midget Association Lites feature at Stafford Motor Speedway’s Carquest Super Saturday.
“I tried low and it wasn’t good,” understated Stoehr, who recently celebrated his 17th birthday. “I went to the outside and it seemed to stick.” Pointing out “the car was just getting better and better,” Stoehr had a 0.58 second advantage on Bigelow at the end of the caution-free event.
Behind Bigelow (Bigelow 31) was Brandon Igo (Igo 45), Danny Cugini (51) and Kenny Johnson (46). Carl Medieros (Medieros 50) was sixth. Johnson owned the fastest lap (19.408) which came on the 14th circuit.
Starting second, Bigelow had a sizable lead when Stoehr, who started sixth, moved into second. “I noticed Paul was having trouble getting through the turns and my car was getting better,” said Stoehr.
“It is something to win at a track of this length and reputation,” continued Stoehr, who averaged 90.655 mph. Third last year at Oswego, he was “happy” to learn the Lites were part of Super Saturday
Stoehr did face a challenge on the white-flag lap, running into lapped traffic in turn two. Moving to the outside, he “thought I lost it,” before recovering and collecting his third career Lites win.
The Lites join the NEMA regulars Friday night, July 12 at Lee USA Speedway.
RESULTS: 1. Avery Stoehr, 2. Paul Bigelow, 3. Brandon Igo, 4. Danny Cugini, 5. Kenny Johnson, 6. Carl Medieros, 7. D.J. Moniz, 8. Andy Barrows, 9.P.J. Stergios, 10. Randy Cabral, 11. Logan Rayvals, 12. Dana Shaw, 13. Megen Cugini, 14. Kevin Park, 15. Kelly Ferrell, 16. Richie Morrocco, 17. Scott Bigelow, 18. Joey Payne, DNS-Steve Powers.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA Lites FPR