Bertrand Romps to NEMA Win at ‘Bowl
Waterford, CT – Todd Bertrand made it three straight Angelillo Memorials Saturday night, winning the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association feature at Waterford Speedbowl’s Wings & Wheels. Grabbing the lead seven laps in, Bertrand went on to a convincing victory, his second of the season.
Most of the drama came before the feature and included a bad heat experience and Todd’s dad Gil traveling back to Enfield to get a replacement part after an oil line fitting went bad.
Turning a sizzling 12.794 lap en route to victory, Bertrand (Bertrand 39) came from the eighth starting spot, grabbed the lead from early leader Paul Scally (Scally 30) through turns three and four and took the checkered 4.75 seconds ahead of Randy Cabral. It was the third straight Angelillo runner-up finish for Cabral.
A couple of battles ranged behind Cabral. Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire 45) finished third less than a tenth of a second ahead of Anthony Marvuglio (Bertrand 74). Scally held on for fifth just ahead of point leader John Zych Jr. (Zych 9).
“I showed Paul my nose through one and two and he gave me all the room I needed in three and four,” Bertrand explained the winning pass. He immediately pulled away and enjoyed a big lead when caution showed with 13 left.
Bertrand got away from Scally on the restart, leaving behind a five car battle. Cabral cleared Stoehr and Scally to settle in second with eight remaining. “I really didn’t know who was behind me but I could see the 47 on the scoreboard and that worried me,” said Bertrand.
A week earlier, Bertrand had “driven off the track” at Airborne Speedway, a “driver error” that was not easy to forget.”I stayed mentally tough all week,” said the former schoolboy soccer standout. The challenges continued.
First there as the oil line problem in the first practice. “We were lucky we had so much time,” said Bertrand, acknowledging the many divisions at the event. Missing the second practice, repairs were completed in time for the second heat.
“We chose a right rear tire that Doug Coby ran in a heat race back in May that had just two heat cycles,” Bertrand said. “I was just being cheap. I almost hit the wall I got so loose.” An angry Gil was among the frustrations as Bertrand “just kept my head in it.”
Come feature time, he kept his foot in it as well. Both the margin of victory and fast lap surprised him. “I don’t think anybody has turned that in a feature for a long time,” he said of the latter.
Marvuglio and Cumens were the heat winners.
RESULTS: 1. Todd Bertrand, 2. Randy Cabral, 3. Russ Stoehr, 4. Anthony Marvuglio, 5. Paul Scally, 6.John Zych, 7. Jim Santamaria, 8. Ian Cumens, 9. Jim Chambers, 10. Phil DiMario, 11. Bethany Stoehr, 12. Avery Stoehr, 13. Danny Cugini, 14. Doug Cleveland, 15. Pete Pernesiglio, 16. Joey Payne, 17. Seth Carlson.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR