Brightman Returns to Victory Lane
Mike Brightman continued his speed from the previous week as he leapt off the pole and held the lead all the way to the checkers in a feature which ran caution-free. He had shared the front row with Radical Rick Martin, and at the finish, the wily Martin was still there to claim the runner-up spot. In fact, along the way, Martin had notched top speed of the feature at 93.920.
Kevin Casper also held onto last week’s quickness to finish third, just ahead of last week’s winner and points leader, Dave Darling. Tom Scully, Jr ran fifth as all of the top five finished on the same second following the forty laps.
Brightman broke from the blocks at a sprint and had the lead immediately. Martin dropped behind him and Darryl Stampfl grabbed third, ahead of Casper. Fred Astle, Jr. got under Mike Mitchell onto Casper’s tail. Ryan Vanasse got in behind Astle as Dave Darling charged up from a tenth place start onto The Rocket’s tail.
Nine laps in, Brightman had Radical Rick on his bumper, and there was a ten-car gap back to a three-car nose-to-tail between Casper, Astle, and Vanasse. Casper began to bridge up to the leaders and arrived on lap 15 to join the leaders in another three-car nose-to-tail. The lead trio continued to smoke its way around the oval. Vanasse, in the meantime, got under Astle into fourth. Darling, running sixth, now, was the third car in the chase pack and Scully was still hot on his tail.
The field closed in on the leaders and by lap nineteen there was a seven-car line of cars with only inches between them, starting with Brightman and ending with Scully, including all the hottest numbers on the speedway.
This went on for several laps until Darling dug in under Astle for fifth. He had the spot on the next circuit. Scully followed him on the next lap, dropping Astle back to seventh.
Brightman, Martin, and Casper continued to blister the asphalt as Darling looked toward Vanasse. He edged past and Scully now moved in. With five to go, the trio was running bumper to bumper. Scully then focused on Vanasse as the four cars ahead ran full tilt toward the finish with three laps remaining. Scully was able to complete the pass for fifth.
At the checkers, Brightman roared home with Martin on his bumper, where he had spent the entire forty laps. Casper collected third as Darling and Scully rounded out the top five. Vanasse ran sixth, followed by Astle, Mitchell, Stampfl and Dick Benoit.
Eleventh went to Dylan Estrella, and here the story becomes even more compelling. Estrella seemed eliminated by a grinding crash in the heat race which did eliminate Austin Blais. Blais had been running with Mike Mitchell, who made contact. Blais went uptrack coming out of turn two to take a huge hit from Estrella coming around the outside, driving Blais downtrack toward the grass and bursting his radiator.
Estrella went into the wall and climbed it, coming off in full flight well up in the air and coming down hard but still upright. He had to be double-hooked from the track.
An immediate offer went to Estrella from the Pelland racing team to loan Bobby III’s pro stock to keep Estrella running. Bobby is running a limited schedule at Seekonk while running the tour. The track approved and the car was trailered into the pits, renumbered for Estrella and he made the feature and finished the race.
Newcomb: First Win In Late Models
Paul Newcomb to his first win in Late Models, showing good speed and a great deal of determination in battling veteran Bobby Tripp through the early and middle going, then brawling the rest of the way to the finish with Dan Johnson. They swapped the lead over the last six laps, but Newcomb was able to edge ahead and take the win. Johnson was a close second and Tripp was in for third. Rounding out the top five came Tom-the-Bomb Adams with yet another top-five finish and Ryan Souliere.
Newcomb sat on the pole for the start with Tripp on his shoulder. It took two tries to get the race started, but on the second try, Newcomb and Tripp hacksawed the lead until Newcomb to command the front in lap three. Tripp dropped in and Johnson ran door-to-door with Jeremy Lambert behind Tripp. Jerry DeGasparre, Jr. looked under Lambert to try for a three-wide and third place, but couldn’t find enough room to make the move. Johnson finally worked free of Lambert to grab third.
Tripp came back to challenge for the lead and Lambert was able to retrieve his spot in third. As Johnson fell back, Stephen “The Cyclone” Potter jumped past into fourth. But Potter spun on lap eight, forcing Mark Hudson and Adams to spin in avoidance. The remainder of the field scattered to avoid. Hudson pitted for the night.
Tripp grabbed the lead from Newcomb in turn two after the restart. DeGasparre grabbed third.
Gerry went under Newcomb on Tripp’s bumper, while Tyler Tomassi was digging in under Johnson. Potter headed for the pits under green and was gone for the night.
DeGasparre was all over Tripp’s bumper. Newcomb moved in on them, jumped onto Gerry’s bumper and the trio circled the oval nose-to-tail. Tomassi had broken away from Johnson and Souliere got under him. Souliere then ducked under Tomassi and into fourth. Johnson moved up to grab fifth and Tomassi settled into sixth, ahead of Chase Belcher.
With twelve to go, Tripp led by seven over DeGasparre when Ryan Lineham spun up to the wall between turns three and four, bringing another caution. Lineham was lost to the pits for the remainder of the feature.
Tripp now had Degasparre on his shoulder and Newcomb on his bumper for the restart. Soulier was outside Newcomb and Johnson shared row three with Tomassi. Tripp pulled ahead and Newcomb ran under DeGasparre following a half-lap of wheel-to-wheel
Newcomb got alongside for the challenge and took a nose going into lap 22. Johnson had passed DeGasparre into third and he took on Tripp, succeeding him at second. Adams was door-to-door with DeGasparre over fourth and Belcher was battling Souliere for sixth. Belcher escaped from Souliere and got in under Gerry as Adams moved up.
As Newcomb, Johnson, and Tripp battled at the front, Belcher had passed DeGasparre and got in under Adams, looking for fourth. Johnson looked under Newcomb for the lead but was denied. He tried again, and they were side-by-side across the stripe. Johnson took the front, but Newcomb dropped and looked under then went in. He had the lead under the white flag and Johnson could not make up the ground before the checkers.
Tomassi came home sixth, followed by Lambert, Mark Jenison, Belcher, and Mike Duarte.
Kid Chaos Grabs Gold
Kid Chaos – Corey Fanning – quickly ducked under outside polesitter Paul Williams from the low side of the second row. Moments later he was on the back bumper of polesitter and race leader Chris Gomes. While Sparky Arsenault worked in under Williams – who became stuck on the big freight train going backwards – Fanning was devising schemes to attack the leader. Two laps in, he found one and ducked under Gomes. With Scott Bruneau taking advantage while Sparky and Williams were involved, third went to Bruneau as the two leaders battled for supremacy.
Fanning grabbed the lead crossing the stripe into lap three and Bruneau looked under Gomes. Behind them, Arsenault now was dealing with an underneath move from Kyle Casper, who had just passed Vinny Pangelinan.
Bruneau dueled with Gomes for seven laps while Fanning developed a solid lead. Casper broke cleanly into third and behind him, Jesse Melberg was door-to-door with Williams. Paul Lallier was getting under Arsenault behind them.
Seven laps in, however, Jason Steely took a solo spin down the front stretch.
Fanning and Gomes lined up while Bruneau and Casper backed them up, followed by the pair of Melberg and Paul Lallier. On the green, Kid Chaos broke away and Bruneau jumped forward and under Gomes, then went all the way into second. Melberg followed him through leaving Gomes in fourth while Arsenault and Casper were wheel-to-wheel behind them. Adam Pettey was working his way up and stuck his nose under Casper as Arsenault pulled ahead in the low groove. Pettey went to sixth as the field strung itself out to mostly single-file.
Fanning was ten cars up on the rest of the field as Melberg eased Bruneau out of second. Gomes, Arsenault, and Casper gave chase and Casper got in under Sparky to steal fifth.
But Petty and Sparky made contact, sending Petty sliding to the infield in turn four with an obvious front suspension problem. Arsenault went pitside and Petty was off on the hook. Neither returned.
Fanning and Melberg came off the line with Fanning going out to a two-car lead as Bruneau inserted himself into second on the low side just before Tyler Lallier spun in turn four. Joe Melberg pitted and they lined up for the restart.
This time, Fanning went to the front again and gained a two-car lead as Melberg and Bruneau debated second place. Bruneau won out on the backstretch and Captain Fun – Craig Pianka – ran into Bruneau’s spot. Chad Baxter was the next slip under Jesse while last week’s winner, Steve Axon, ran up behind them.
With ten laps remaining, Fanning was enjoying the clear air so much that he now had a fifteen-car lead on the field. Bruneau was running second, still, with Baxter pursuing. Behind Chad, Axon and Pianka were doing the door-to-door dance. Axon was able to leverage the spot.
Three trips around with a stretched out field, Fanning was a half-straight ahead with a line of followers behind Bruneau. Casper was sixth behind Axon with Pianka on his high side. Pianka found some more speed and pushed ahead. Austin Ericson and Jesse Melberg followed.
From there, it was four laps of hard, single-file running to the checkers. Over the stripe, it was Fanning, Bruneau, Baxter, Axon, and Pianka for the top five. Sixth went to Casper, while Erickson, Jesse Melberg, Smokin’ Joe Kohler, and Gomes finished out the top ten with Paul Lallier just behind them.
First Rookie Win for Murray in Trucks
Richie Murray and Ed Perry held a battle extraordinaire at midrace in Sport Trucks, going side-by-side with the rest of the top seven on their bumpers, running nose-to-tail, everybody looking for whatever opportunities they could steal. The opportunity that overcame them all went to Murray when, after several rebuffed attempts, he was finally able to inch his nose past at the stripe just before last week’s winner, Mike Cavallaro, spun in turn two.
Advantage to Murray: he got to restart on the pole and after a brief door-to-door with Perry, he pulled away and the final ten laps went green all the way. Murray had the win. Perry, stuck on the outside, saw the rest of the top five slip by: Rob Bryant taking second, Mike Duarte, Andrew Kun, and Darryl Dutch recovered from last week’s tech DQ to gather in fifth.
Connor Souza jumped off the pole to grab the initial lead while Perry dived forward under Lenny Guy, who had been the outside pole. But Tim Watson took a spin before the first lap was complete and they had to start it all over again.
Souza rushed ahead again and Perry came in under Guy, then caught Souza drifting up and ducked under him. Second lap saw him grab the front coming out of turn two and Souza settled into second. Mikey Cooper was under Guy, now, with Murray rushing up to their bumpers. Perry had gone out to a two-car lead.
Four laps in and Dutch had gone under Guy for fifth and then Cavallaro followed into sixth. Elias Dib banged Guy’s back bumper, sending Lenny into a spin. They went to the rear for the restart.
Perry now had Souza on the outside, Cooper behind him and Murray on the outside of row two. Dutch followed under Bryant, while Duarte and Kun made up row four.
It took three tries to get underway, with Perry and Souza trying to outsmart each other at the start. Finally, Souza nosed ahead with Perry coming back in turn two and ran wheel-to-wheel the rest of the lap. Cooper and Murray ran side-by-side behind them. Cooper got under Souza and began looking to Perry’s low side. Dutch ran up under Murray.
Murry then ran hard alongside Cooper and into third, where he dropped in behind Perry.
Lap 13 saw Perry leading Cooper, Murray, Bryant, Duarte, and Souza. Guy was battling for position, made contact and headed for the wall between turns one and two. Cavallaro, following, found his bumper locked to Lenny’s and they stopped just feet short of disaster high in the entrance to turn. Two.
Perry pulled away from Cooper after some wheel-to-wheel running. Murray then ducked under Cooper and Barry Shaw moved in to take his place. With sixteen laps remaining, Perry had new company on his rear bumper: Murray, Shaw, and Bryant; Murray began to relentlessly look to pass Perry as Shaw worked over Richie’s bumper. The trio closed up, running nose-to-tail, jostling each other.
Murray looked to the outside and couldn’t go. Shaw pressed in and Bryant moved up to contend from fourth. Murray pressed ahead to run wheel-to-wheel with Perry just as Cavallaro spun in turn two.
Now Murray found himself on the pole as he had been ahead by a few thousandths of a second the last time across the line. Shaw and Bryant followed, just ahead of Duarte and Mike Belanger. Murray pushed out and built a two-car margin. Shaw got under Perry to take away second.
The lead pushed out to four cars as Shaw broke away from Bryant who came back up onto his bumper. Duarte was under Perry behind them. As Duarte pressed forward, Kun replaced him, keeping Perry on the rearward-bound freight train. Dutch ran forward to debate Kun over fifth.
With four cars to go, Murray was nursing a ten-car advantage. Shaw had a momentary loss of speed and Bryant dodged in underneath him. Barry couldn’t recover his power and limped around to the pit exit. Murray now was watching Bryant in his mirror. Duarte ran third, ahead of Kun, Dutch, Perry and Brittany Campbell. Campbell set to work on Perry. As the white flag waved, she was able to press in underneath and into sixth behind Dutch.
Murray charged home a good two seconds ahead and Bryant followed.
Sixth went to Campbell, followed by Perry, Guy, Cavallaro, Souza, and Cooper.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com