Scott Bigelow Roars to Thompson Icebreaker Win in NEMA Lites
The Northeastern Midget Association has long considered Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) the ultimate “separate the men from the boys” facility. With times in the mid 19 second range, Saturday’s first ever NEMA Lites appearance at the facility, taking place on a beautiful Spring day – left no doubts on the table. Scott Bigelow in his #32 Bigelow Electric / BEAST / Honda Powered entry, was victorious when it was all said and done, besting the sixteen NEMA Lites competitors in the pits.
The action started fast & furious right out of the gate. In the first heat, Christian Briggs in his RAM-Bull Racing entry jumped out into the lead from the pole, and dominated the event. Paul Bigelow came through the field to finish second, followed by Briggs’ teammate Juris Kupris. In heat 2, the racing action was wheel to wheel, right from the drop of the green. Paul Scally, debuting his new Drinan chassis jumped out into the lead, but by the end of the heat race, it was a three way race for the win between Scally, Stoehr, and Modified Tour regular Bobby Santos. Scally came out victorious by a half a car length.
Briggs and Stoehr led the field to the green in the feature. Stoehr quickly jumped out into the lead, followed by Briggs and Scally. Scally overtook second, and a short time later, both Bobby Santos III and Scott Bigelow had begun their march to the front. Briggs retired while running fourth around the halfway mark, and Stoehr, Scally, Bigelow and Santos all diced for the top positions, with Bigelow making a strong move for the lead on the back stretch, and Santos following.
Scally’s hope for a win came to an end when an oiling issue brought out the red flag, and ended his day. On the ensuing green flag, Santos’ car would not restart – and the already strong Bigelow had smooth sailing ahead of him. NEMA and NEMA Lites regular Danny Cugini made a fantastic run at the end of the feature, getting past Stoehr, but did not have the steam to catch Bigelow.
At the finish, it was Bigelow taking down the win by a comfortable margin, followed by Cugini, Stoehr, Paul Bigelow, and young star Anthony Payne with a strong top five run. Juris Kupris, Meg Cugini, Kevin Park, Santos, and Scally rounded out the top ten.
NEMA makes its next stop at the Waterford Speedbowl for its first inaugural test & tune session on May 3, and then kicks off the season in upstate NY at Chemung Speedrome on May 22nd and Evans Mills Speedway on May 23.
In the meantime, follow the club on its website at www.nemaracing.com.
Sources: Tim Bertrand/NEMA PR