Savary Victorious in VMRS Spring Kickoff Classic 100
May 4, 2014 – Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, MA
It all came down to being patient on Sunday May 4 for Richard Savary and his Alloy Wheel Repair team as they notched their first win of the year in the Valenti Modified Racing Series. The Canton, MA driver was fast right out of the trailer and had a second row starting spot to begin the century lap grind.
Local favorite Todd Annarummo of Swansea, MA and popular Max Zachem of Preston, CT brought the field to the green flag of Warren Alston, and Zachem out-dragged Annarummo to become the first leader of the event.
Annarummo was not going to settle for runner-up and on lap five dove to the inside groove to wrestle the lead away from Zachem.
There was constant side-by-side action throughout the field until a lap eight yellow flag flew for a spinning Chris Bakaj. On this restart, Annarummo wasted no time jetting to the lead, Savary got to the inside of Zachem, and the two ran wheel to wheel for two laps until Savary secured second place. Now Savary sets his sights on the quick #12 of Annarummo and the two slightly pulled away from the young hot shoes of Zachem and David Schneider of Northport, NY, who was having an outstanding run.
With a quarter of the race in the books, Savary knew it was time to turn up the pressure, because behind him the Spring Dash winner Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, PA was rubbing nerf bars with Jeff Rocco of Meriden, CT. By lap 30 Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA and Anthony Nocella of Woburn, MA used an inside move to get by Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT for fifth and sixth place, respectively.
On lap 32 all that action slowed because the caution flew when Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, CT stalled on the front stretch. When the field relined, it was Annarummo and Savary up front with Zachem and Justin Bonsignore of Islip, NY, Masse, Nocella and Pennink following. At the drop of the green flag, Savary took over the lead, but had to give it back when yellow waved again for a flat on the Jeff Pearl ride.
Again, at the drop of the green, Annarummo and Savary pulled ahead from Bonsignore, and by lap 46 Savary accomplished his mission and raced by Annarummo for the lead, which he would not give up.
The quick pace set by Savary was too much for Annarummo, and the #12 started to fade. By lap 72 Bonsignore found the room to slip by Annarummo for second spot. Bonsignore felt his Art Barry #21 was faster than the Savary ride, but lapped traffic did not allow the #21 to mount the challenge he needed to take the lead.
Apparently, Annarummo used his mount up earlier, and by lap 77 both Nocella and Masse used the inside to move past Annarummo, into third and fourth place, respectively. For the last 20 laps, Savary set an unbeatable pace to keep Bonsignore and the rest behind him. Savary crossed the finish line 1.397 seconds ahead of Bonsignore, with the #92 Nocella Paving of Anthony Nocella placing third.
The race was run in record time, taking only 29:02:200 to complete.
In a post race interview, Savary said, “Being patient was key to this win. Twice I got the lead and had to give it back to Todd because the yellow came out. So far this year, I believe we had a top five car, but at Waterford (CT) and Monadnock (NH) we got involved in other people’s incidents.”
Bonsignore said, “I’m happy with a second place for this being my first time here. The car was real good, nice and snug. Nobody pitted, so we had to pass cars under green, which was encouraging. There were just no free spots today. Seekonk is an interesting place. I like it. I just need to make some cockpit adjustments for next time.”
Nocella commented, “I was a little loose after half way. It was a real fast pace. I think I had enough for Justin, but lapped cars didn’t give us a chance for second.”
Length of Track: 0.333 mile
Entries: 23 cars
Margin of victory: 1.397 sec.
Best lap time: 12.231
Best Speed: 98.013
Best lap by : #12 Todd Annarummo
Cautions (3) lap 8, 32, 34
Lap leaders; #20 Max Zachem laps 1-4, #12 Todd Annarummo laps 5-34, #99 Richard Savary laps 35-100
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com