Vanasse Captures Early Season Win
The Rocket, Ryan Vanasse, saw his smooth, accurate style of driving come to fruition with a big win on the second night of competition in the 2019 season. He was able to come from a ninth-place start and overhaul rookie sensation Austin Blais just before midway through the 40-lap feature. From there, it was catch-me-if-you-can. And none could.
Blais suffered only one more indignity on the evening, as Champ Dave Darling overhauled him on lap 33, making Blais settle for third after a brilliant early-race run at the front. Tom Scully, Jr. came up to bother him from behind, but had to settle for fourth while Fred Astle, Jr. gathered in fifth place honors.
Blais came off the pole at the outset to nose out on Daryl Stampfl, then pull away. Mike Mitchell, starting third, slid in under Stampfl to follow Blais. Dylan Estrella moved into third and began to look for ways around Mitchell and Radical Rick Martin grabbed fourth, just ahead of Vanasse, who had come up from a ninth-place start alongside Astle.
Five laps in, Blais had a two-car lead and the field had settled in for the chase. Darling had started scratch, owing to his early retirement from his heat race, but was at ease powering his way up from the back at the rate of one position each lap. He puled into ninth behind Kevin Casper on lap six; three circuits more had he was eighth behind Scully, who was contending with Astle over sixth. He got past Tom Jr. just two laps before Estrella made contact with Mitchell while fighting for position. Mitchell got loosened up and spun in turn four and down the front stretch. Mitchell and Brightman went to the pits for adjustments and Estrella was called for the assist on Mitchell.
Blais had Radical Rick on his shoulder for the lap 16 restart, while Vanasse and Astle made up row two. Darling and Scully followed, just ahead of Casper and Stampfl.
Martin was unable to come up to speed on the green, making for a mad scramble. Something had failed in his rear end and he had to be taken to the pits on the hook.
Now, Blais had The Rocket on his outside. Astle and Darling made row two. Out of the box, it was Vanasse by inches across the stripe, but he ran to the lead down the backstretch. Darling outdistanced Scully to chase Blais and Astle eased back along the outside. Casper, Mitchel, and Brightman gave chase. Vanasse fired the boosters and steadily pulled away.
Darling was up on Blais’ bumper, looking for second as Vanasse began to put some more distance on them. Darling was all over Blais back end as Scully closed, looking to take third, and Astle bore in on the leaders. Blais’ stubborn defense held them off, but it was also providing Vanasse with time to add a lot of space between them.
Dave looked underneath on lap 25 and kept pressing the issue. The pass was finally complete with seven laps remaining and Darling had third, but Vanasse had what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. Darling set out after him and began to close, but the laps were winding down. Scully tried to get under Blais for third, but Austin pushed back ahead of him. Astle, Casper, and Mitchell ran nose-to-tail behind them.
Three laps remained, but the finishing order was established and positions remained through the white flag lap and the checkers.
Casper collected sixth place and Mitchell, Estrella, Brightman and Dick Benoit completed the top ten.
Adams Wins Late Model Brawl
Tough Tommy Adams and Derek Gluchacki engaged in a veritable brawl over the closing laps of the Late Model feature that had the crowd on its feet and afterward speaking of “never before” and “the best.” It was an incomparable closing to a feature that had seen Gluchacki, one of the division’s rookie class, take a substantial lead over the first 21 laps before it was collapsed by cautions and Adams had sorted his way up to a side-by-side restart.
From there on, it was a withering series of attacks between the duo until the finish. Adams finally accomplished his goal of taking the win by passing under Gluchacki and scooting ahead over the finish line for his first win on the season. Gluchacki followed and then opening night winner Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. DeGasparre was lifted to second when Gluchacki fell prey to tech inspection and was disqualified. (A win and a second to open the season gives DeGasparre the points lead in early running.) This also presented Dan Johnson in third, followed by 2018 champion Ryan Lineham and Chase Belcher to round out the top five.
Adams had started below Belcher in the third row, and behind Gluchacki who had Vinny Arrenegado on his outside.
Tony Macrino and Bobby Tripp were coming off the front row. They went door-to-door until Gluchacki squirted underneath into the lead as Macrino suddenly fell back and Tripp moved ahead to go wheel-to-wheel with Gluchacki. As the leaders dodged around Macrino, Adams surged past Arrenegado into third, followed by Belcher. But caution prevailed and they lined up for a restart with just one lap complete. Arrenegado and Mark Hudson visited the pits. Gluchacki and Tripp faced off with Adams and Macrino behind them, followed by Belcher and Johnson.
Arrenegado had developed problems and after another lap attempted to pit under green, but ground to a halt at the tunnel entrance, calling out another yellow flag. He was able to restart after a couple attempts, pitted and returned, but lost power in the pit entrance and had to be pushed in, ending his evening.
Gluchacki and Tripp preceded Adams and Belcher. At the green, they dueled down the frontstretch with Adams looking underneath to make it a three-wide but couldn’t find his way in. It was a drag race through lap two until Derek took a nose in turn two and the lead in turn four after two more laps wheel-to-wheel. Belcher dropped under Adams for position.
Gluchacki pulled away, sporting a five-car lead on lap 23 before another caution brought a lap 6 restart. DeGasparre had springboarded from twelfth to sixth, gaining a spot each lap and was outside Romiza in the third row. They were backed up by Johnson and Lineham. Gluchacki jumped ahead down the frontstretch and Adams leapt in under Tripp. Belcher ran fifth and Gerry De got under Romiza and took the spot as Lineham went to the high side. By lap nine, the lead was a half-straightaway as Adams and Tripp dueled for second. DeGasparre was watching them, looking for any opportunity. He tried underneath, there was contact and Tripp made a huge save to prevent a spin. Belcher moved into battle with DeGasparre and they scrapped side-by-side.
Midway through the 30-lapper, Gluchacki was enjoying a 20-car lead over Adams, who had another 20 cars on Tripp and DeGasparre who were running nose-to-tail. Johnson got underneath Belcher until there was contact, sending Belcher uptrack, struggling to regain control.
Adams began to slowly close on the leader on lap 17 and by lap 20 had halved the lead to ten carlengths. Tripp, DeGasparre, Lineham, and Johnson pursued at a distance until Mike Duarte suffered mechanical difficulties which sent him spinning across the stripe.
Gluchacki and Adams were wheel-to-wheel for the restart with Tripp and DeGasparre behind them. Row three saw Lineham and Johnson ahead of Mark Hudson and Belcher.
Gluchacki nosed ahead but going into lap 21, Adams dropped underneath to grab the lead. This began a swirling brawl between them as Derek repaid the favor, dropping under to take it back. They went wheel-to-wheel for a lap, then Adams went very wide through turn four. He then dropped underneath once again. DeGasparre had gotten by Tripp to claim third and Johnson began to work on Tripp and Lineham.
Neither of the leaders were willing to grant the win to his opponent and their speed kept leaving the bottom open for further attempts. With five to go, Adams charged underneath once again. Behind Lineham, teammates Tripp and Belcher vied for position until, with three laps to go, Belcher grabbed the spot. Hudson pulled in behind them. Gluchacki didn’t wait long before going to the bottom and pulling ahead. DeGasparre wisely watched the two-car cyclone ahead and avoided involving himself but still watched for opportunities.
Adams powered up and they ran parallel lines until the final circuit when he dropped underneath once again and they ran for the checkers. It was the final exchange, however, after the jaw-dropping brawl of the final ten laps. Adams came home with the big win on the season’s second session.
Sixth place was captured by Tripp and Hudson, Jeremy Lambert, Mark Jenison, and Ryan Souliere completed the top ten.
Cooper: Green to Checkers for First Rookie Win
Sport Trucks saw rookie contender Mikey Cooper dominate from the get-go and sail through the thirty-five laps of Phil’s Propane Triple Crown competition for his first win in the second race of the season. He rocketed away from outside pole Darryl Dutch and Andrew Kun but had the start called back for accelerating a little early. Second try got the race going with the same results. Kun got in under Dutch as Coop pulled away. Mike Belanger and Eddie Perry followed.
Belanger got by Kun into second; Kun wouldn’t go away, however, and he pursued Belanger with Perry applying pressure to Kun, then getting in underneath. Five laps in, Cooper was running well ahead of Belanger while Perry and Kun ran door-to-door. Perry finally succeeded on lap eight but then Kun came back and got under Perry. Perry then accelerated away in turn two. But now, Belanger was on Cooper’s bumper. Dutch was back and harrying Perry.
With Belanger giving Cooper everything he had, ten cars were pushing hard, nose-to-tail behind them. Eighteen laps down and Cooper had a car length of breathing room. As they lapped Tom Watson, the line of cars was 10 lengths behind when Connor Souza had his back end snap out from under him at the middle of the pack. Everyone scattered, miraculously suffering no collisions in the affair.
For the restart, it was Belanger outside Cooper, with Kun and Perry in row two. Dutch and Mike Cavallaro backed them up, just ahead of Lenny Guy and opening night winner Barry Shaw.
Coop zoomed away and Kun got under Belanger in turn one. Cavallaro pushed past Souza and Dutch into fifth but a fast-rising Richie Murray stormed past, then got by Perry into fourth. Dutch moved Perry back one more before Lenny Guy stormed past him into fifth.
Rob Bryant had caught fire just after mid-race and moved up to deprive Dutch of sixth, then rushed past everybody into third.
With ten laps remaining, the top six were established. Belanger, Cavallaro, and Shaw tried to settle seventh and debated until Belanger settled into the role, Shaw filling in behind him. Souza then edged Cavallaro out of ninth.
Cooper was cruising, two cars up on Kun, who would not go away. Into the white flag lap, Cun shaved it down to one car but could get no closer as Cooper cruised under the checkers 1/3-mile later for that all-important first rookie win.
Sixth on the evening went to Dutch. Rounding out the top ten were Belanger, Shaw, Souza, and Cavallaro.
Kyle Casper: Sportsman from Green to Checkers
It was all Kyle Casper in the Sportsman Division as the pole-sitter ran the entire 25 circuits completely unimpeded. He had plenty of speed and great handling en-route to the win. One caution slowed the feature six laps in and Casper again burst away to lead the final 19 circuits. Adam Pettey made a mad dash after working his way up from mid-pack into third from the restart to finish a close second, followed by Kid Chaos – Corey Fanning, Justin Travis, and Tyler Lallier.
Chris Rioux succumbed to the depredations of Justin Travis on lap two, but Travis had to watch Casper draw away from the pack as Chad Baxter was the next past Rioux into third and Austin Erickson followed suit one lap later.
But Pettey was on the move from his tenth-place start. He was in fifth on lap four and looking to pass Erickson, who was challenging Travis for position. Fanning was moving as well, shadowing Pettey from eleventh to sixth.
But suddenly, last week’s winner, Scott Bruneau was around in turn four and Steve Axon’s driver’s side door was lying on the asphalt high in the same turn. Bruneau returned to action, but Axon was out, taking the black flag for damage after 12 laps.
The restart featured Casper and Travis with Pettey and Baxter in row two. Fanning and Erickson followed, backed up by Tyler Lallier and Ant Kohler, working on a comeback after opening night’s first place was disallowed by a tech infraction. On the green, Casper departed the group for the lead once again and had a two-car lead the next time across the stripe. Petty was under Travis into second and then Erickson got under as well. Fanning ducked below Erickson and took third with sixteen laps remaining.
Pettey began a long chase of the leader, which would continue through the end of the event, and though he could pare down the lead to a half-car, that was about it. Casper continued to run in the free air, undeterred. Fanning went after Pettey and the combat eased the pressure on the leader. More problems for the pursuers as Tyler Lallier arrived to challenge Travis’ hold on fifth force them to defend their positions. The quartet buzzed around each other like angry hornets. Lallier actually took enough attention to ease the pressure on Pettey.
Sparky Arsenault and Ant Kohler came up to ease Erickson out of sixth, and then Smokin’ Joe Kohler arrived to challenge his brother for position. After three laps of Kohler Vs. Kohler, Captain Fun (Craig Pianka) got between Joe and Ant. The top five, meanwhile, had been in a loose, single-file parade.
Ant challenged Arsenault and stole sixth, leaving Sparky to Smokin’ Joe’s ministrations. Joe was able to move past Arsenault and back onto Ant’s bumper with three laps remaining. On the final circuit, Pianka added to Arsenault woes by stealing eighth.
Casper continued to cruise – all the way under the checkers for a first win on the season. Pettey was a second back, just ahead of Fanning, Travis, and Lallier.
Ant Kohler outlasted Smokin’ Joe for sixth. Pianka claimed eight, followed by Arsenault, Erickson, Baxter, and Bruneau
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com