Parsons Outlasts Batman for Legends Win
PARSONS OUTLASTS BATMAN FOR LEGENDS WIN
Josh Parsons chased Ryan Doucette for half the race before he stole the lead, but then had to hold off Brandon “Batman” Martinez for the win. Doucette was still in striking distance and got his nose past Martinez on laps 20 and 21 but yielded second for a fourth-place finish as points leader Peter Bennett leveraged by into third. Regan Parent, back from an extended absence caused by a blown engine, was back in harmony with a fifth-place finish.
RJ Marcotte and Connor Souza kicked things off with some door-to-door which Souza converted into a short-lived lead as Doucette stormed back and took the lead by two cars. Marcotte grabbed Connor’s bumper with Jacob “Rowdy” Burns jumping into fourth with Matthew Carpenter at his back.
Three laps in and Carpenter got sideways, collecting Connor Holderbach and Devin Deshaies, who climbed a wheel and tooK a lazy roll, stopping high in turn two and bringing out the red flag. Fire and Ambulance teams converged, but both drivers were deemed OK. Deshaies’ car went off on the hook.
Doucett and Marcotte lined up with Souza and Burns in row two. Doucette went ahead and Souza went under Marcotte into second. Reagan Parent arrived to get underneath into third and Parsons ran up to Marcotte’s bumper.
Five laps in and Doucette was nursing a half-straightaway lead and Parent had swapped into second with Souza. Once more around and Parsons had vaulted into third. He got onto Parent’s bumper and then slid by into second. At the same time, points leader Peter Bennett slid past Corey Caddick into fourth.
Ten laps in and the running order was: Doucette, Parsons, Parent, Bennett, and Caddick. Shileigh Martinez ran past Caddick to chase Bennett.
Bennett moved Parent back and Shileigh took a look at passing; at the same time, Parsons was working over Doucette for the lead. They went wheel-to-wheel with Parson’s getting by in turn two, just as Souza spun in turn four.
The lap 13 restart saw Doucette and Parsons again side-by-side but Parsons grabbed the front in turn two and Parent went to Doucette’s high side.
With ten to go, Shileigh took a 180 in turn four. Burns spun to avoid and Burns had to duck both spinning vehicles.
With eleven to go, Parsons and Doucette were again on the front with Parent and Bennett behind them. Brendan Hamman and Batman now filled row three. Parsons grabbed the lead and Parent got under Doucette into second. Brandon Martinez followed Bennett, who ducked under Doucette as Jeff Wood spun up near the wall in turn two.
Parsons won the lead from Parent and Doucette claimed third, followed by Bennett and Batman. The latter then went to the high side and got alongside Doucette. Bennett and Parent followed. The field was single file at this time. Doucette and Martinez continued their door-to-door battle as Bennett waited for the outcome. Parsons continued to motor along ahead of them all.
Doucette won out and Bennett climbed in under Martinez. But Souza went round into the grass on turn four.
Five laps remained: again Parsons and Doucette led off. Martinez came from the low side of row two to get under Doucette as Parsons moved ahead into the lead. Parent was under Bennett behind them but Bennett was able to escape into fourth. He went to Martinez’ bumper and under Doucette into third.
Under the white flag, it was Parsons holding off Martinez. Bennett looked under Martinez, but couldn’t go. Doucette locked onto his bumper. They passed the final lap and under the checkers with Parsons grabbing his third trip to Victory Lane on the season.
Sixth went to Joey Ternullo, followed by Matthew Carpenter, Holderbach, Caddick and Shileigh Martinez completed the top ten. Hammann was just off the pace in eleventh.
Benoit: Win Number 3 !!!
2018 Pure Stock champ Doug Benoit edged in closer to division leaders Greg Perry and Danny Massa, Jr. with his third win of the season. It was just two points with Perry, who finished second, but Massa’s sixth gave Benoit 12 catch-up points and the division looks like it might go down to the wire.
Benoit made his way past Max Bergstrom on lap eleven then held him off through lap 20, when Perry edged him back to third. Bergstrom finished there, but ran afoul of tech inspectors, elevating Ava Chouinard to third. Cliff Avila and Scott Cestodio rounded out the top five on the evening.
Bergstrom was outside Justin Menard at the start and they battled it out, with Menard getting the edge in turn two. Marissa Morgan and Chouinard were side-by-side for third. Bergstrom looked underneath but was denied and Menard took a half-car lead in lap three. Benoit was up from a seventh-place start into fifth behind Chouinard. Joey Morrissette took a look under Benoit, but couldn’t go there.
Six laps in and Perry was on his way up, appearing behind Morrissette as Chouinard and Benoit got past Morgan. Bergstrom got past Menard and Chouinard looked underneath for second. Perry was on Morgan’s outside as Benoit followed Chouinard under Menard. Ten laps in, it was Bergstrom leading with digging under Chouinard into second. Perry had fourth and Menard ran fifth.
Morrissette suddenly took a spin right in front of Cestodio, bringing caution. Bergstrom lined up with Benoit and Chouinard was joined in row two by Perry.
Benoit got a nose ahead on the outside which he carried through turn two, then converted it to a full lead the next time over the stripe. Chouinard, Perry, and Menard pursued. Ava went to the outside to past but then fell back and Perry got underneath. With ten to go, Benoit now had eight cars on Bergstrom, Perry had third with Chouinard giving chase. Cliff Avila had come up to fifth. Avila then went around Ava and Cestodio came up on her back.
Cestodio got by onto Avila’s bumper. Perry now went to Bergstrom’s high side, with five laps remaining. Bergstrom had closed up and was looking for any possible way to get past Benoit as Perry looked for a path to take second from him. Likewise with Avila and Cestodio as they began trading paint, got each other loose and had to make huge saves to keep from going around.
At the checkers, Benoit took the win over Perry by three-tenths of a second. Chouniard had third.
Sixth on the event went to Cestodio with Massa just off his pace in seventh. Rounding out the top ten came Menard, Morgan and Amy Arsenault. Mike Henriques and Morrissette were just off the pace in eleventh and twelfth.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com
Lopes Overtakes Murray for Sport Four Win
Jordan Lopes appears to have edged past AJ Manuel into second and halved Mike Lefort’s 20-point lead in the standings with a big, Friday Night win in Sport Fours. Lopes did so by disappointing race leader Crystal Murray in a green-white-checker restart. Murray had held the lead since lap nine and had appeared headed for the win until caution flew with two laps to go. Lopes joined her on the front row, ducked under and stole the checkers with an adept move in turn two. Murray, who heads off to college on Sunday, grabbed second. David Westgate, Tyler Almeida, and Samantha Mattera rounded out the top five.
At the getgo, Mattera nosed ahead of Christian Herman and into the lead. It took a complete circuit to disengage from Herman but then she generated a two-car lead as Tough Time Bolger ducked under Herman. Murray, up from her seventh-place start, awaited the results while behind her Westgate and Timmy Ouellette were side-by-side as well.
Dave Simpson was in Murray’s sights and she nosed under then got under Herman for third.
Ten laps in and Mattera was cruising at the front, five cars up on Bolger, who had Murray, Herman, and Westgate trailing behind her. And then came Lopes, pushing in under Simpson.
Lap twelve saw Dylan Decoster around near the wall in turn two.
Mattera and Bolger lined up with Murray and Herman behind them. Mattera grabbed the lead and Bolger stayed on the high side and drove back alongside. Mattera had a nose on the backstretch but caution flew for a Kevin Finkbein spin which caught up Sabrina Beaulieu and Joseph Pilling. Beaulieu and Finkbein pitted, and only Beaulieu was able to return.
On the restart, Mattera was in front at the stripe but Bolger battled back and they went door-to-door through turn two. They battled it out for a pair of laps until Mattera finally had the front crossing the stripe into lap 13. Murray got under Bolger looking for second. She then rushed forward to steal the lead from Mattera as Bolger fell back and Westgate ran up under Mattera looking for second. Almeida came in on Westgate.s bumper. Murray had built an eight-car lead by this time.
Almeida then ducked under Westgate but Dave fired back into second. Almeida went back underneath.
With eight to go, Murray was enjoying a straightaway-length lead. Gajdowski, however, took a spin on the backstretch and they lined them up again for a restart with eight to go. First try, Arthur Meack took a spin and on the second try, Murray jetted away at the stripe on the second shot. Lopes was now in the zone, having started fifth, under Manuel.
As Murray went to a three-car lead, Westgate took hold of second and Lopes ducked under Almeida to challenge for third. Their duel was happening on Westgate’s bumper. With six to go, Almeida elected to drop onto Lopes’ bumper. Crystal now led by eight cars and five laps remained.
Lopes had gotten by Westgate and Almeida followed into thrid, leaving Dave in fourth. Manuel and Mattera were wheel-to-wheel behind Westgate. But as Manuel broke ahead of Mattera, Herman went around while crossing the stripe.
This reversed a good deal of passing and Murray again had Westgate outside in the front row for the restart. Lopes and Almeida followed, just ahead of Mattera and Manuel.
Crystal broke away at the stripe and Westgate stayed outside as Lopes was on her bumper. Westgate dropped into third on the next circuit as Mattera got under Almeida. They ran this way into lap 23, when Matthew Smith suddenly flew across the infield from the front stretch and brought out the green-white-checker situation.
Murray and Lopes had Westgate and Mattera in their mirrors. After a bad start callback, they went door-to-door over the stripe. Lopes grabbed the lead in turn one and Westgate took third. On the white flag lap, Murray took a look under Lopes, who closed the door. He held her off for the rest of the third-of-a-mile to the checkers for the win.
Sixth went to Lefort. Manuel, Bolger, Karlin Levesque and newcomer Sam Mesick completed the top ten.-0-
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com
Newcomb Scores Again in Outlaws
Isaiah Newcomb grabbed his second win in three weeks with a dominant show. He took over the lead from Nathan Smith a third of the way through the fifteen-lapper and could not be unseated for the remainder of the feature. He had plenty of company as Joey LeMay, smith, and then Samantha Dell looked to unseat him. Dell pursued him over the final six circuits to cement her fourth second-place finish of the season.
LeMay and Smith kicked things off coming off the pole with LeMay grabbing the lead over smith. Behind them, Giovanni Ruggerio ducked under Riley Caron and Samantha Dell for a three-wide and his two opponents destabilized and spun in turn two.
For the restart, Lemay and Smith lined up again with Newcomb and Ruggerio behind them. Ethan Heilborn and Stephen Bowden made up row three. First try was called back for a bad start and then Smith took to the front with Lemay settling to second. Newcomb was at his back. Ruggerio got high and Heilborn ducked under while Dell grabbed the opportunity to snare fifth. But LeMay spun out of turn four, forcing Gio and Sammy D to duck under as he spun.
Still working on lap three, Smith now had Newcomb outside, Caron and Heilborn backing them up with Dell and Bowden in row three. Smitty was away again. Newcomb drove back alongside and they battled this way for three laps. Newcomb was finally able to get under Smith and into the lead on lap six as Smith wrestled with a suddenly unwieldy car. Dell and Ruggerio were wheel-to-wheel until Dell got a fender ahead in turn two. LeMay got under Ruggerio as he came back. Smith chased Newcomb as LeMay pushed in under Dell.
Smith began losing speed and retired to the pits. One lap later, LeMay spun in front of Caron and Dell spun to avoid. Caron was called for the assist on LeMay and joined him at the rear.
Now Newcomb had Dell on his shoulder for the restart. Heilborn and Bowden were the second row, followed by Aubrey Keller and Nicholas Rose. Isaiah grabbed the front and Dell settled into second with Bowden and then Heilborn behind her. Rose spun, recovered and continued.
It was a straight shot to the finish over the final five laps with Dell working the low groove. But Newcomb pushed hard and ran a bit higher, holding her off to the checkers for the win. LeMay completed the race in third, just ahead of Heilborn. Ruggerio got past Bowden for fifth while Bowden and Keller were the final two cars running for sixth and seventh in that order. Behind the wall were Rose in eighth, Smith in ninth, George Perrault in tenth and Caron, eleventh.
Bogue Does It Again!!!
Smilin’ Reese is becoming redundant in Victory Lane. Again, he sallied forth among the Bandolero Bandits and again he was standing in Victory Lane talking to announcer Kevin Bocher when it was all over. Not to diminish his opponents: PJ Evans was at Bogue’s 6 o’clock coming over the line and had led the race from lap two until Bogue got by on lap 13 of the fifteen, spoiling Evans’ shot at going two out of the last three. But over eleven starts on the season, The Smiler has now won six of the ten races in the 2019 season.
Evans, with two wins on the season, held on for second in the frenzied exchange with Bogue over the closing laps. Ethan Dion, Brenden LeBelle and Ryan Vanasse, Jr. rounded out the top five.
While Bandits usually run smoothly, this time out was a bit shaggy. The opening lap saw Rob Murphy, Jr. spring airward on contact with Joel Newcomb, bringing a complete race restart. Through the chaos, Bogue had sneaked through to the lead, but all was called back, and he returned to his starting spot in ninth.
Harrison and Murphy faced off and Collin Vanasse grabbed second from row 2. Behind them, Brody Monahan and Ethan Dion wrapped around Evans for a three-wide and Evans let them go. Adam Harrison led into lap two with a crowd giving chase and Collin on his heels. Monahan and Murphy were door-to-door behind them.
As they sped through turn four, however, Harrison was suddenly sideways in front of Collin and a mad scramble ensued. Vanasse had no chance to avoid and suffered extensive damage to the front of his car. Collected in the chaos were Dion, Monahan and Murphy, in a tight, three-car sandwich near the wall, but did not contact the barrier. Harrison, Vanasse, Murphy and Monahan were all towed to the pits to end their evenings.
Evans and Bogue suddenly occupied the front for the restart. Ryan Vanasse and LeBelle followed with Zacarias Kelley and Dion in row three. Evans and Bogue went wheel-to-wheel until Evans managed to pull away on the backstretch. Reese glommed his bumper and LeBelle grabbed third with Vanasse fourth. Dion came around Kelley in pursuit of Vanasse.
Evans generated a four-car lead by lap six and Bogue was second, a half-straightaway ahead of LeBelle. Next time around, Vanasse looked under LeBelle who shut the door but first-time driver Richie Helger spun at the stripe, bringing a restart.
Evans and Bogue lined up again. LeBelle was accompanied by Vanasse in row two, while Dion and Kelley followed. They were off with Evans towing Bogue in his wake after some side-by-side racing to turn four with six to go. Next time around, they were lapping slow cars. The field was running single-file.
With three to go, Evans had a car-length on Bogue, They hit the white flag and Dion went to LeBelle’s high side and Vanasse looked for some way around them. Bogue went under Evans through turns one and two, then pulled ahead as they went three-wide around a lapped car. Three more lapped vehicles loomed and they ran around them into the front stretch. Dion completed the pass to steal third from LeBelle.
Both drivers went to their afterburners to charge under the checkered flag. Bogue came out the winner with Evans firing in on his tail.
Sixth went to Grant Harkin, followed by Kelley, Jaden Dib, Brent Robidoux, and Richie Helger, Jr. rounded out the top ten.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com