Zych, Duhaime Take Down NEMA’s Boston Louie Memorial
John Zych, starting fifth, piloted past Avery Stoehr and Alan Chambers, pole sitter Jim SantaMaria and outside pole sitter Doug Cleveland to take down the victory in a green to checkered finish to win his first Boston Louie Memorial this past Wednesday at Seekonk Speedway. Dylan Duhaime, driving the Cataldo #5 pulled off an epic last lap pass on Jim Chambers, who led the majority of the race, to take his first Boston Louie checkers in the Lites portion of the event, which ran 33 laps in memoriam of the late David Steele.
In the NEMA event, for the leaders, it was a matter of holding position, as Zych and Stoehr went the distance without being passed. SantaMaria had grabbed third during the second circuit, went halfway and then was passed by Todd Bertrand. Bertrand seemed a lock on third, as he went the rest of the way – almost. Mechanical problems forced him to withdraw with one lap remaining and the position went to Coby, who had held fourth for most of the race. It also elevated Nocella in the Seymour 33 to fourth.
It was a stretched-out field by lap five in a race which ran green to checkers without caution. Zych was enjoying a half-straightaway lead by this time and Stoehr was about the same distance ahead of Bertrand. By lap eight, they were encountering lapped vehicles. SantaMaria had moved into third, ahead of Bertrand. Cabral got by Chambers into sixth.
Zych was charging so hard that his right rear was showing smoke through the corners, especially turn four and it continued, raising concerns that he might lose the shoe or at least lose the speed he had been showing. But Zych continued to press down on the pedal and keep the space open between him and Stoehr. Zych would pass Bethan Stoehr, to put her a lap down, as the leaders closed. Bertrand was closing on Stoehr for the second spot, and Coby was not far behind, as the trio closed Zych’s gap, and would run out of time. Zych took down his first Boston Louie ever, followed by Stoehr, defending race winner Coby, Anthony Nocella in the Seymour 33, and Randy Cabral in the Bertrand 74. Santa Maria, Alan Chambers, Jim Chambers, Seth Carlson and Todd Bertrand rounded out the top ten.
“We made a few changes each time out on the track but made 3 adjustments before the feature. We weren’t fast during the day but there is no track that changes quite like Seekonk does, in my opinion. We did a few things to tighten the car up which was great because we were certainly loose towards the end. The car was great at the beginning but as the race went on and I had to pass some lap cars on the outside, I was just sliding through the corners and I knew I was heating the RR pretty bad. With maybe 8 or so laps to go I could feel the blistering on the tire so I just tried to keep the car as straight as possible and stay on the bottom. It is amazing to win the Boston Louie, definitely a career highlight,” said Zych.
In the Lites Feature, Jeremy Decourcy leapt off the pole to lead the first four laps of NEMA Lite action in the Dave Steele 33, but Jim Chambers came on from fourth to get underneath through a three wide, dropping Sam Hatfield back, then another three-wide which put him past Jessica Bean on the outside. But as George Kurtz pirouetted down the front stretch, Caution flew.
It took two tries to get the field going again, as Anthony Burr spun just out of the starting box. Now, it was Chambers and Payne splitting around Decourcy on the start for a brief three-wide. The bracketing saw Chambers take advantage and grab the lead ahead of Payne while Chad Locke got under Decourcy. But a Nickie Carroll spin sent them back for another restart on lap six.
Chambers again snagged the lead while Locke got under Payne for a door-to-door. But lap seven saw a two car spin in turn two, involving Chris Vose, Jim Cataldo, Carroll and Jake Stergios.
They tried again, but laps eight and nine saw caution. Finally, the lap nine green had the field running laps again and Chambers was back to the lead. Locke bolted into second by the halfway point and went to Chambers’ high side for the pass and it became a wheel-to-wheel affair but Chambers pulled away. Locke tried again as they began to encounter lapped traffic. By lap 18, Locke was snugged up against Chambers’ bumper. The run was ended as Anthony Burr slowed to a stop on the front stretch. He was unable to continue.
Chambers began lapping the field on lap 27. Duhaime was looking for access to the front and found it on lap 29 of the 33-lapper. He dropped underneath with Chambers trying to block him. But Duhaime was solidly underneath and they approached a lapped car which Chambers slowed to avoid, allowing Duhame to slide out from under him and into the lead with one lap remaining. Further back, Bean slid past Randy Cabral on the final circuit to secure seventh and Ray Parent nabbed eighth. Cabral finished ninth.
“This was an awesome night. I was watching some videos of Ayrton senna the other day, and he would do a similar move. When he was going for a last minute pass at the end of the race, he would stick his nose underneath a car enough for them to know he was there and then drive into the corner somewhat hard and allow the other driver to decide whether or not they would give up the position. I tried to do the same thing, I knew Chambers could see my nose, and I drove into the corner hard enough that he would have to give me the position or wreck me. I had a good car with a great group of people behind me. A lot of hard work has gone into making this car race ready and if it wasn’t for my dad and car owner Jim Cataldo I wouldn’t be out there. It was also my dads birthday the day before and I knew it’d be extra special for him,” said Duhaime.
Sources: Tim Bertrand/NEMA PR