Ryan Bigelow Claims NEMA Lites Checkered
EPPING, NH — Ryan Bigelow of East Hampton, CT had the hot hand at Star Speedway on Saturday night. Kevin Park of Foxboro, MA and Anthony Payne of Fairlawn, NJ brought the potent field down to the green flag of Steve Grant. Bigelow came from his third row starting position and immediately assumed the lead. Bigelow jetted away, leaving a swarm of cars contesting for the second spot. That swarm consisted of Paul Bigelow from Kensington, CT, Danny Cugini of Marshfield, MA, Ryan Krachun of Neshanic Station, NJ and Matt Swanson of Acton, MA.
By lap 4, the quarter lap lead Bigelow had came to an end when the first of two yellows for the event flew, this one for a spin by Kevin Hutchens.
On the restart Bigelow showed his strength and again ran out to a quarter lap lead. By lap 10, Danny Cugini overtook Paul Bigelow for the runner-up spot, and the chase was on to reel in the fast number 32 of Ryan Bigelow.
[Photo Gallery] by Michael Rothwell
By the halfway mark of this race, Ryan Bigelow, Danny Cugini and third place Paul Bigelow were running in heavy lapped traffic. With 5 laps to go, Paul Bigelow and Canadian driver Logan Rayvals made contact and spun in turn 3.
The restart now had Ryan Bigelow and Cugini side by side with Matt Swanson and Avery Stoehr bringing up row two. Ryan was not to be denied the win and streaked across the line 1.317 seconds ahead of an impressive Danny Cugini. Matt Swanson held on for third.
In victory lane, Bigelow said, “The thing was a rocket ship. It definitely was a team effort. On the last restart the tires were going away and it was a drag race into turn one.”
A happy Danny Cugini said, “I was looking for that yellow, but I just didn’t have enough. I tried on the outside but it just wasn’t happening.”
Third place 14-year-old Matt Swanson said, “We just wanted to run our race and see what happened. The last caution really helped me a lot.”
NEMA Lites
Star Speedway 0.250 mile
Time of race: 11:20.730
Margin of victory: 1.317 sec
Best Lap time 12.557
Best lap by #32 Ryan Bigelow
Cautions (2) Lap4, lap 20
Heat Winners #94 Logan Rayvals, #15a Avery Stoehr
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com