Fairy Tale NEMA Finish for Marvuglio
Waterford. CT — Anthony Marvuglio went from without a ride to “living a dream” in a little over 24 hours. Driving the Bertrand 74, Marvuglio won the Northeastern Midget Association’ 27-lap Shane Hammond Memorial Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl. It was the second straight year Marvuglio won the race that memorializes his brother.
Taking the lead on a restart with 10 laps remaining, Marvuglio had an almost three second lead over Todd Bertrand (Bertrand39) at the finish. The final laps featured John Zych Jr.’s run from sixth to third. Phil DiMario (Cantor 7ny) the only other leader, was fourth with Seth Carlson (Feigel 71) fifth.
“I just drove it into the middle of the turn until I knew I cleared him,” said Marvuglio of the winning pass, pointing out “the car allowed me to do it that.” It was the second win of the season for the Tim Bertrand –owned car, the Boston Louie winner with Doug Coby aboard. Calling the car “phenomenal,” Marvuglio said “it tells you what it wants to do.”
Todd Bertrand, who started fifth, took second on the restart, was also “living a dream.” Finishing behind “my best friend” is like a win to me,” he said.
It was, Marvuglio explained, best friend Todd Bertrand who called between four and five on Friday afternoon with the news: “we want you to drive the 74 tomorrow.” Marvuglio, idle since losing a motor in the Bourbeau 38 at Stafford, planned to “enjoy my brother’s race, maybe sell some T-shirts for the [Hammond] foundation.”
Starting fourth, Marvuglio, the first heat winner, grabbed second immediately and followed pole-sitter DiMario. Although he did lead briefly coming off two with 13 left, Marvuglio was part of a freight train that had Carlson, Todd Bertrand, Randy Cabral and Zych behind him.
Marvuglio, however, was watching DiMario “get really loose, especially off two. He had to pinch the car to stay on the bottom “In the end I think we would have had something for him.” It was a matter of being patient.”
With six winners in seven races, NEMA heads to Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY Saturday night. It will be NEMA’s first visit to Airborne since 1971.
NEMA NUGGETS – Marvuglio and Zych shared fastest laps honors each turning a 12.933 (104.383 mph), the only two sub 13 laps…The Cantor family continues to get strong runs, Phil Dimario winning his heat before the fourth place feature finish…A dozen cars finished the 27 laps, testimony to Waterford’s stature as a Midget track…Marvuglio said the 74 demands finesse with both hands and feet. “You can’t just jerk it around. In this race, I turned into a driver,” he said.
Results: 1. Bug Marvuglio, 2. Todd Bertrand, 3. John Zych Jr., 4.Phil DiMario, 5. Seth Carlson, 6. Randy Cabral, 7. Ian Cumens, 8. Bethany Stoehr, 9. Russ Stoehr, 10. Paul Scally, 11. Jim SantaMaria, 12. Matt O’Brien, 13. Doug Cleveland, 14. Jim Chambers, 15. Joey Payne.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR