P. J. Stergios & Todd Bertrand Claim Twin State Victories
CLAREMONT, NH — P. J. Stergios of Candia, New Hampshire raced to his third win of the year in NEMA Lites action at the Twin State Speedway. This was the second win in a row for PJ after taking down the win at Monadnock Speedway a week earlier. Richie Morocco of Plainville, Mass., was the initial leader until lap three when Andy Barrows jetted into the lead.
It looked like it might be Barrows first win of the year, but Stergios, who started deep in the pack, patiently worked his way forward, finally catching Barrows at the halfway mark. Lapped traffic kept Barrows and Stergios in tight formation, while behind them Kevin Hutchens of E. Waterboro, Maine, Scott Bigelow of E. Hampton, Connecticut and Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. used every trick they could to gain the advantage on each other.
With three laps to go, Stergios in his #11 finally made the move to overpower Barrows, taking the lead for the first time. A lap 23 yellow tightened the field, but on the restart Stergios raced away with the lead and the win. Barrows turned in a stellar performance to finish second, Scott Bigelow and Anthony Nocella cross the line side-by-side with Bigelow getting the nod for third. Paul Bigelow rounded out the top five.
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, New Hampshire
1-11, P.J. Stergios
2-46X, Andy Barrows
3-32, Scott Bigelow
4-9, Anthony Nocella
5-31, Paul Bigelow
6-29, Ryan Krachun
7-39, R.J. Tufano
8-51, Danny Cugini
9-94, Logan Rayvals
10-25, Richie Morrocco
11-27, Kevin Hutchens
12-03, Dennis Potter
13-16, Dennis O’Brien
14-41, Megan Cugini
15-21, Anthony Payne
16-20, Myles DeVits-DNS
Todd Bertrand of Suffield, Connecticut won his first NEMA Midget feature event of 2014 in convincing fashion at the 1/3 mile Twin State Speedway. Doug Cleveland of Sudbury, Mass. and Bethany Stoehr of Bridgewater, Mass. brought the field to green. Stoehr raced to the lead, but by lap four Bertrand overpowered his competition and took over the point.
As Bertrand pulled out to a sizable lead, teammate Randy Cabral of Kingston, Mass., who started 10th, was slicing his way forward, finding himself sixth on lap six and third by lap 10. As the leaders began to run through lapped traffic, Cabral used an inside move on Stoehr to take over second place on lap 17. Now the battle was on for third with Bethany, defending champion John Zych Jr. of Mendon, Mass., and Seth Carlson of Brimfield, Connecticut, as the three ran in a tight pack.
At the checkered flag Bertrand was first, teammate Cabral in second, with Bethany Stoehr hanging on for third. Carlson nipped Zych Jr. for fourth and fifth respectively. P. J. Stergios ran his NEMA Lite with the NEMA midgets and came home with a credible 11th place finish.
NEMA Midget results
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, New Hampshire
1 – 39, Todd Bertrand
2 – 47, Randy Cabral
3 – 5B, Bethany Stoehr
4 – 71, Seth Carlson
5 – 9, John Zych Jr.
6 – 15a, Avery Stoehr
7 – 13, Ryan Bigelow
8 – 21, Jim Chambers
9 – 30, Paul Scally
10 – 87, Doug Cleveland
11 – 11L, P.J. Stergios
12 – 99, Jim Santa Maria
13 – 7, Alan Chambers
14 – 29, Ian Cumens – DNS
Sources: Jim Snape
Photos by Crystal Snape