Estrella Evens Up with Huge Win
Last week, Dylan Estrella struggle mightily after his car wrecked out of the heat race. He came out of turn two as a wreck erupted ahead of him. He was collected, climbed the backstretch wall, flew high in the air and crashed down hard enough that he had to be double-hooked from the track in a hammock grapple. Fortunately, Bobby Pelland III rushed home to Warwick and brought Estrella his own pro stock to borrow for the feature.
This week was like night and day. Sixteen laps into the forty-lapper, Estrella rushed past leader Rocket Ryan Vanasse and then simply drove off into the night – all the way to the checkers. There’s a story, somewhere about the past week replete with sleepless nights and lots of thrashing. But Estrella’s ride ran about as good as it gets and he was unassailable.
Mike Mitchell and Daryl Stampfl kicked it off with Fred Astle and Tom Scully behind them and Estrella in the third row with Vanasse. The Rocket and Rick Martin jumped ahead of Estrella, pushing him back to seventh. But then he caught fire. He got past Martin the next time around then overhauled a fading Stampfl two laps later. He dueled Scully until a lap eight caution flew just as he got by and Scully dropped in behind him. Kyle Casper and three others made for the pits, but Casper did not return.
On the restart, Vanasse grabbed the lead from Mitchell and went to a five-car margin. Astle gave chase and behind him, Estrella was working his way under Mitchell. Dave Darling and Scully waited behind them for an open avenue.
Twice more around and The Rocket had eight cars on the opposition just as Dick Benoit took a solo spin on the backstretch.
Vanasse and Astle, Estrella and Mitchell, Darling and Martin – set up for the restart. Vanasse nosed away from Astle for two laps, then had the lead to himself. Estrella looked under Astle as Darling gave chase. Dylan edged Astle out of the spot and Darling then went up to Fred’s high side to pass. But Vanasse got crossed up, forcing Estrella to brake and Darling paid the price, going through the infield in his attempt to avoid a wreck. But Estella had nailed the pole before the caution flew. He now lined up with Vanasse on his high side.
Fifteen laps would unwind before the next caution and Estrella made the most of it. After a short wheel-to-wheel with Vanasse, he was away and in two laps had generated a three-car lead. Vanasse, Astle, Martin, Mike Brightman, and Scully followed. Astle got by Vanasse but Estrella increased the lead to three cars and then to five cars with 15 laps to go.
Scully ducked under Brightman to take fifth on lap 26. Darling followed him through to sixth and Kevin Casper ran up to his tail. Astle two cars from the lead as Martin began looking under Vanasse. Darling took the opportunity to drive in under Scully for position and Scully came sideways after Darling had moved through, bringing the final caution with eight laps remaining.
The setup for the restart had Estrella and Astle in the front again, Vanasse and Martin followed by Darling and Brightman. They went side-by-side across the stripe and made a full lap before Estrella began to nose ahead at the next crossing of the line. Astle dropped onto his bumper, but Estrella pulled out to a one-car lead. Vanasse followed Astle with Darling at his back. Darling ran past into third.
Lap 36 saw Estrella grab a two car lead, then three cars on lap 38. Next time around was the white flag lap and the lead was still the same. They ran single-file to the finish with Estrella grabbing his first win of the season. Astle was half-a-second back with Darling behind him. Vanasse and Kevin Casper rounded out the top five.
Martin notched sixth, followed by Scully, Mitchell Brightman and Stampfl completed the top ten.
ADAMS DROPS THE BOMB – AGAIN
Tom “The Bomb” Adams fired up and faced down a host of high-octane competitors to win his second feature of the Late Models’ season with a convincing cruise at the front for the latter two-thirds of the race. Along the way, he battled it out with Steve “The Cyclone” Potter, Mike Duarte, Vinny Arrenegado and Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. Arrenegado and DeGasparre were his toughest competitors, dogging his tracks to the finish line as the trio made up the podium finish – Adams, Arrenegado second and DeGasparre third. Mark Hudson and Duarte rounded out the top five.
Adams started tenth, behind Mark Jenison as Potter led the field to the green. He nosed ahead of outside pole Jeremy Lambert. Duarte ducked under Lambert into second. Vinny then looked under to run alongside. Three laps in, looked in under Duarte and ran for second. Bobby Tripp moved into fourth and looked to Arrenegado, who hadn’t been able to complete the pass on Duarte, who meanwhile had gone to the front.
Dan Johnson ran on Tripp’s bumper as Adams came up to his. But ten laps in, Louie Romiza went around coming out of turn two.
Arrenegado and Duarte took the front while Adams and Tripp made up row two. Johnson and Ryan Lineham followed. Vinny launched ahead at the stripe and Adams got by Duarte on lap ten, then past Vinny on lap eleven. Duarte and Vinny then dueled jealously over second.
But DeGasparre had now fought his way up from ninth, came past Arrenegado on lap 14, just before Lambert spun to bring caution. Adams and DeGasparre lined up after a bad start and they fought it out side-by-side as Arrenegado ran third ahead of a Tripp vs. Duarte battle for fourth.
With ten to go, Vinny pushed past into second and challenged Adams as DeGasparre was challenging him. Mark Jenison moved up on Duarte and pressed past onto Tripp’s bumper and began to challenge for position. Mark Hudson then moved past Duarte.
At the front, Adams had to keep slamming the door on Arrenegado as he continuously looked for a route underneath the leader. With five laps remaining, it was a hard chase for the lead and DeGasparre was all over Arrenegado’s bumper as well. But with four to go, Tripp suddenly spun out of turn four. (It was later determined that Jenison was guilty on the assist and he was penalized two spots in the final analysis.) Tripp pitted for the duration.
Adams and Arrenegado were now shoulder-to-shoulder for the restart with DeGasparre and Jenison in the second row. Hudson and Lineham backed them up. They came across the stripe wheel-to-wheel until Adams could ease his nose ahead. Over the next lap, he suddenly found a three-car lead and Gerry nosed into second. Vinny slowed then dropped under and ran alongside DeGasparre. They brawled over the final two laps to the finish with Arrenegado eking out second to DeGasparre’s third.
Tyler Tomassi ran sixth, followed by Jenison, Lineham, Johnson and last week’s feature winner, Paul Newcomb.
KID CHAOS GOES TWO IN A ROW
Kid Chaos – Corey Fanning – knew it was a tough night coming up. He won last week, so the handicapping rules had him starting at the back this week. He started sixteenth on the field but that didn’t hold him back. Twenty laps into the 35-lap feature he was at the front, prying Smokin’ Joe Kohler out of the post he had held since lap three. Kohler just wouldn’t go away, either and kept storming after Fanning, until Kyle Casper ran in with three to go and stole second on a lap 32 restart.
Kohler was stuck on the outside and got sideways, spoiling his bid. Casper gathered up second and Tyler Lallier rushed in for third while Scott Bruneau and Chad Baxter rounded out the top five.
Jason Steely and Paul Williams started side-by-side at the outset and Steely nosed into the lead. Vinny Pangelinan ran under Williams and into second but Kohler came up fast from seventh to take the lead away on lap four. Brother Ant Kohler then roared in to briefly stick his nose past to be recorded at the front on lap six. But sibling rivalries being the word of the day, Smokin’ Joe wouldn’t let it pass and took the lead once again.
By now, Casper had arrived and took over second to chase Joe for the next nine laps, but Kohler would not relinquish the lead.
Four laps in, the contest had its first caution flag as Joe Melberg found himself going on the hook in front of the starter stand, other cars (including Chris Gomes) were scattered about along with a good deal of vehicle debris. Neither driver returned to action.
Pangelinan and Austin Erickson were on the front for the restart but Smokin’ Joe and Steely were behind them, backed up by Ant and Adam Pettey.
Pangelinan jumped away crossing the stripe and Joe Kohler got underneath and into second. He grabbed the front, next time around Ant stole it but another circuit put it back in Joe’s hands.
Four laps after Joe took the front, Casper arrived, shuttled Ant back and pursued Joe. Baxter jumped in to deprive Ant of third, which he held for three laps until Fanning rushed up and passed Pangelinan to secure fourth. Erickson dueled Pangelinan while Fanning worked past Baxter.
After Fanning got by, Vinny put on the pressure and got around Baxter into fourth, which he held into lap 28.
Erickson looked under Baxter who dropped in to block
Lap 15 saw Joe Kohler, Casper, and Fanning running nose-to-tail ahead of Pangelinan, Erickson, Baxter and Scott Bruneau. Lallier was working his way up on Bruneau’s tail, Steve Axon was on his and Paul Lallier was on Axon’s bumper.
The field was single file and running hard with no passing for several laps. In the middle of the pack, Bruneau, Tyler, Axon, Paul, Sparky Arsenault and Captain Fun (Craig Pianka) were running nose-to-tail.
Fanning had passed Casper on lap 16. He worked on Kohler for three more and was in the lead going into lap 20. Kohler pursued with Casper at his back, but Fanning began to build a lead. With six remaining, he was out front by ten cars
Ray LeBrun began having problems with his tire. Ericson got around in turn three and Kevin Rioux became involved and ended up plowing across the infield from the entrance to turn one into the middle of turn two.
Fanning’s lead evaporated and he lined up with Kohler. Casper and Baxter were side-by-side and row three was Pangelina and Bruneau. They broke, Fanning grabbed a two-car lead, then Pangelinan spun off turn four. Fanning and Casper now lined up ahead of Kohler and Baxter. Fanning went to another five-car advantage but Steely ground to a halt in turn four.
Fanning and Kohler now had the front row. Casper and Axon were in two. Tyler and Bruneau followed. Paul Lallier had been caught in the accordion effect as everybody slowed and his nose was pushed back and he retired.
As the green fell, Fanning jumped ahead out of turn two and Casper came in under Kohler. Tyler followed. Baxter and Bruneau were behind them. Under the white flag, Fanning was up by four cars over Casper. Lallier passed Kohler into third and Kohler was suddenly sideways as the field flashed past and left him at fourteenth place as the last car running.
Sixth on the evening went to Pianka, followed by Axon, Tim Watson, Paul Williams, Pettey, Pangelinan, and Steely.
PERRY CASHES IN ON TRUCKS
Ed Perry Brawled all the way through 28 of the 30 laps in the Sport Trucks feature, grabbing the lead going into lap two, then holding off Lenny Guy then Mikey Cooper. Cooper edged by but Perry grabbed it back. Then, with two to go – Rick Martin sailed by and under the checkers. Perry accepted the second at the podium, but was caught by surprise when technical inspectors issued a DQ to the winner for a rules infraction and Perry had earned the win, after all.
Just when Perry had shaken off the twin red trucks of Mikey Cooper and Connor Souza, who had plagued him most of the race and was ready to cruise to the checkers and with the top five of Perry, Souza, Andrew Kun, Richie Murray and Chase Belcher running nose-to-tail, disaster struck. Souza went around coming out of turn two. He’d taken a bump from Mike Cavallaro and they lined back up.
Now Perry had Cooper on his shoulder for the restart. Kun and Murray followed up. Belcher was restarting fifth. Perry ran, Kun gave chase. Cooper was on the outside, door-to-door with Belcher. And then Kun was around in turn two, collecting Cavallaro and Lenny Guy. Elias Dib was in the infield, needing a tow. Kun was off on a hammock, strung between two tow trucks.
Then, they restarted and Rick Martin came charging through to the front on the green-white-checkered restart and won the whole shebang. Just like that. Rick Martin? Pro Stocks? Lest we forget, Radical Rick won the Trucks championship in 2010 and on this evening, he showed everybody how he did it with a trip to Victory Lane. Perry hung in there for second; Murray (last week’s winner) grabbed third while Cooper and Barry Shaw, Jr. rounded out the top five. But the DQ elevated Perry and the rest of the field with Guy now scoring fifth.
Martin started next-to-last on the 14-car field, just ahead of Brittany Campbell, who was driving Maddie Harkin’s machine on loan after her own suffered front end damage in a meeting with the backstretch wall during the heat races.
At the drop of the flag, Lenny Guy and Souza ripped away from the starting box and Lenny nosed ahead. But Perry dodged out of the second row and into the lead on lap two, and from there, his double-zero was at the top of the leaderboard all the way to lap 17. Souza was at his back and Cooper was a close third. Kun came quickly up from his starting place in eighth and was on Cooper’s tail in fourth by lap four. Belcher grabbed fifth and the quintet ran hard and fast for eight straight laps, stretching it out by lap three.
Perry was enjoying a five-car lead when Mike Duarte took a solo spin coming out of turn two, bringing the field back together.
Now Perry had Cooper on his should and Souza on his bumper. Kun was on the outside, while row three featured Belcher and Cavallaro. Mike Belanger and The Radical One were hunkered down in the fourth group.
Perry and Cooper were wheel-to-wheel for a whole lap before Perry could get ahead in turn two. Cooper settled onto his bumper with Kun on his. Belanger came in under Souza. Belanger went to fourth and Belcher jumped onto his bumper with Souza on the outside. The front three tightened up and ran bumper-to-bumper while Belanger could only watch and fend off Murray, who had nosed in under Belcher. Martin was surveying Belchers taligate.
Cooper ducked under Perry for some side-by-side racing and then to steal the lead. Kun ducked under Perry looking for second. Belanger, Murray, and Belcher followed, but Martin was getting in under Belcher.
Now Kun and Cooper were doing some side-by-side racing until Perry ducked underneath Cooper, whereupon Campbell spun in turn three.
The lap 10 restart had Cooper and Kun at the front, ahead of Perry and Belanger. Murray and Martin were row three.
Perry dived in for another shot at the three-wide on the restart and it worked for him. He came out in front, leaving Cooper still door-to-door with Kun. Cooper broke forward into second.
With eight to go, it was nose-to-tail at the front with a tight line of Perry, Cooper, Kun, Murray, and Belcher. Martin had slipped to ninth, but the spin with Cavallaro and Kun changed the field. And Souza’s spin two laps later sent a number of drivers out, shortened up the field and Martin was outside the second row for the restart.
He charged up to second on the green and then went under Perry with two to go. It was a quick move that propelled him into the lead and he ran hard with Perry at his back through the final lap and a half to the checkers.
Sixth on the evening went to Belcher as only seven remained running after the late wreckage. Kun, in the pits and four laps down, registered seventh, followed by Belanger, Cavallaro, Dib, and Duarte.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com