Ryan Vanasse Wins the Crab Manchester LM Memorial; Darling, Martin & Negley Visit Victory Lane
SEEKONK, MA — Ryan Vanasse jumped behind the wheel of Bill Bernard’s team car and rolled to his first win in the LM division in over two years, like he never left. The two-time LM champion started fifteenth on the starting grid and used a couple of early cautions and some timely openings to battle for the win.
Branden Dion brought the field down and jumped out front until Dillon Moltz, looking for some redemption, moved around the rookie for the lead. Moltz held onto the lead through a couple of early cautions, including one that included Dillon Estrella and Gerry DeGasparre.
At the halfway point, Moltz started opening a sizeable lead, which went away after Bill Bernard spun with just 10 laps remaining. Vanasse had moved to third, and moved past Lineham for second. By this time, Moltz was fighting a right front tire that was going down, and couldn’t hold off The Rocket, as Ryan moved around the CT native for the lead with seven laps remaining. Vanasse held off Moltz and DeGasparre on a final Green-White-Checkered finish. Moltz beat DeGasparre to the line for second. Jeramee Lillie and Lineham were fourth and fifth.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
1) Ryan Vanasse 2) Dillon Moltz 3) Gerry DeGasparre Jr 4) Jeramee Lillie 5) Ryan Lineham 6) Dylan Estrella 7) Mark Hudson 8) Brandon Dion 9) Ron Barboza 10) Tyler Thompson 11) Derryk Anderson 12) Bill Bernard 13) Vinny Arrenegado 14) Bobby Pelland III 15) Dave Hutchins Jr 16) Fred Astle Jr 17) Charlie Rose
Dave Darling picked up his speedway leading seventh Pro Stock win in the 40 lap main event. Kevin Folan out dueled Mike Mitchell for the lead and held on while Mitchell pressured him. They ran that way for the first ten laps before Dick Houlihan moved by for second. From there, he pressured Folan for the lead, and moved underneath on the seventeenth lap for the lead.
Mike Brightman followed for second with the inside lane open, with Darling following. Dave made quick work of Brightman, moving past at lap 20. By that time, Houlihan had opened up a 12 car length advantage. That didn’t matter to the three time champion, as he closed in, and with 10 laps remaining, sat atop the leader board.
The first of 2 cautions came out on lap 31 when Kevin Folan and Bob Hussey got together. A second caution on lap 34 slowed up the pack for the final time. On the restart, Ryan Vanasse, who moved past Brightman on the previous restart, moved underneath and past Houlihan, and tried to close in to no avail. He had to settle for second, with Houlihan, Fred Astle and Tom Scully Jr the rest of the top five.
1) Dave Darling 2) Ryan Vanasse 3) Dick Houlihan 4) Fred Astle Jr 5) Tom Scully Jr 6) Mike Brightman 7) Kenny Spencer 8) Dave Silvia 9) Kevin Folan 10) Daryl Stampfl 11) Bob Hussey 12) Mike Mitchell 13) Dave Hutchins Sr 14) Billy Joerres 15) John Berchem 16) Frank Duquette
Rick Martin made his fifth trip to Everett’s Auto Parts Victory Lane Saturday night in the 25 lap Sport Truck feature. Nick Uhrig led the opening laps, holding off Anna Gregoire and putting some distance between he and the pack.
Rookie Chase Belcher ran into second by the fifth circuit before being displaced by a hard charging Martin. Martin was on a mission, and moved past Uhrig on lap nine, never looking back.
With Martin out front, all eyes were looking at the battle behind Uhrig, as Belcher held his own against Rob Murphy and Mike Cavallaro. Mike got a much needed caution with just a handful of laps remaining, just after he had moved past Murphy and Belcher. On the restart, moved past into second, with Murphy following through. Mike tried to pressure Martin, but was not going to keep him from his 90th career win at Seekonk.
1) Rick Martin 2) Mike Cavallaro 3) Rob Murphy 4) Nick Uhrig 5) John Paiva 6) Chase Belcher 7) Barry Shaw Jr 8) Darryl Church 9) Anna Gregoire 10) Dan Leach 11) Scott Dion 12) Russ Borges 13) Bill Schoeler 14) Mike Duarte 15) Jim Hawkins 16) Rob Rainville 17) Casey Sanchez 18) Lenny Guy19) Joey Wakefield 20) Billy Clarke
Ray Negley made sure no one was getting past, as he picked up his first win in over 2 seasons in the 25 lap Street Stock main event. Negley started on the pole, and held off Austin Blais and Scott Serydynski for the entire distance. The race was slowed by 5 cautions, and through them all, both the 15 year old rookie and the former 2-time Street Stock champion tried to get around and under The Showstoppa, but it just wasn’t going to happen on this night.
Several times, Serydynski raced wheel to wheel on the outside, but could not complete the deal, while Blais tried to squeeze underneath. Other times, it was the opposite, but the results were the same. Street Stock point championship leader Scott Bruneau kept his nose clean in the main event, moving to a fourth place finish with Rey Lovelace fifth.
Chris DeMoura won the Simpson’s Auto Care Lucky Dray Bonus of $100.
1) Ray Negley 2) Austin Blais 3) Scott Serydynski 4) Scott Bruneau 5) Rey Lovelace 6) Vinny Pangelinan 7) Paul Lallier 8) Justin Travis 9) Crystal Serydynski 10) Gerard Berthelette 11) Bobby Bettencourt 12) David Smith 13) Craig Pianka 14) Randy Moretti 15) Ian Savard 16) A J Solomon 17) Corey Fanning 18) Ed Gannon III 19) Chris DeMoura 20) Manny Dias 21) Joe Melberg 22) Darryl Perry 23) Doug Rioux
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR