NEMA Points Battle Tight Heading to Waterford
Brockton, MA — Point leaders Randy Cabral and Carl Medeiros Jr. lead the Northeastern Midget Association to Waterford Speedbowl Saturday night for the Shane Hammond Memorial. Cabral and Medeiros lead NEMA and the NEMA Lites respectively and neither has a lot of room to spare.
Only 23 points separate Cabral and John Zych Jr. with rookie Ian Cumens (-61) and Todd Bertrand (-80) trailing. Bertrand was the winner in the season-open at Waterford .
There are a mere 17 points between Medeiros, the winner last time at Lee USA Speedway, and Andy Barrows in the Lites standings. Medeiros was second to Cabral earlier this year at Waterford.
There are few if any secrets left at Waterford. “Very often,” offers Russ Stoehr, “the place you run the best all year is Waterford.” Led by Anthony Marvuglio’s 12.619 Stoehr, Bertrand, Cabral, Zych all ran in the 12 seconds bracket earlier this year at The ‘Bowl.
Cabral ended a long winless streak July 17 at Seekonk. “Not winning wasn’t the problem,” he said. “I was starting to think I couldn’t win and that was a problem.” He’s won eight times at Waterford, a record he shares with Russ Stoehr, but not since 2008.
Zych, who credits his 2013 success (two victories) to years of trial and error, won the 2012 opener at Waterford. Cumens drives for Bobby Seymour, a Waterford maestro back in his driving days and could well be No. 19 on the list of drivers who scored their first NEMA win on the Connecticut shoreline oval.
Greg Stoehr and Joey Payne also know the way to Waterford’s victory lane. Other contenders include Seth Carlson, Bethany Stoehr, Jim Chambers, Paul Scally and James Santa Maria.
The first Lites race was at Waterford (2008) so there’s plenty of familiarity there as well. Third through fifth in the standings, Dan Cugini, Avery Stoehr and P.J. Stergois have been successful at Waterford. Kenny Johnson, D.J.Moniz, Logan Rayvels and rookies Kevin Hutchens and Richie Morocco are other threats.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR