Lineham Wins Rain and Wreck-Shortened Late Model Race
LINEHAM WINS RAIN- AND WRECK-SHORTENED LATE MODEL RACE
By virtue of his leading the last time across the stripe in a Late Model race that was shortened by a wreck and then rain, Ryan Lineham was awarded the win over Vinnie Arrenegado in a race that was heralded for five competitors in the run for the division championship.
As the laps wound down to ten to go, Lineham had just taken the lead from Tom “The Bomb” Adams and led across the stripe with Arrenegado gnawing at his back bumper, Adams on Vinnie’s high side and Paul Newcomb trying to follow Vinnie.
Lineham had come out of turn four running high and at the far end of the straight he had not settled in. Arrenegado pounced and pushed in going into turn one. Lineham had Adams on his bumper and Vinny coming in underneath while Newcomb was chasing Arrenegado through the gap.
Suddenly, Lineham was in the third groove and Adams was coming in underneath while Arrenegado rocketed into the lead. Newcomb followed and it was suddenly three-wide coming out of turn two.
Adams was the meat in the sandwich with Ryan on his outside. Newcomb rose uptrack coming out but Adams and Lineham were wheel-to-wheel above him and unable to give way. His door contacted Adams fender, sending him hard into the backstretch wall at a 45-degree angle. Lineham was pressed into the wall as well, taking a glancing blow. Adams and Lineham were able to drive away, but Newcomb had to be wreckered from the scene.
After a cleanup, they line for a lap ten restart: Lineham on the pole with Arrenegado at h is shoulder. Adams and Tyler Tomassi shared row two, followed by Gerry DeGasparre, Jr. and Mark Hudson, then Dane Saritelli and Mark Jenison
As the field began to circle the track for the restart, the heavens intervened with a light rain, sending the field to the pits. It was a brief shower and the track was dried and the field tried again, but before they could take the green, another shower broke out. After two more attempts, the last a heavier rain, more rain cells were seen coming in and the race was called and the win awarded to Lineham based on the last pass over the start-finish line.
It had looked like a good race at the outset, with Tyler Tomassi outrunning Jason Larrivee from the pole and taking command in turn three. Charlie Rose got under Larivee before Tomassi was loos and around in turn two. Cars dodged and collided trying to avoid. Mark Hudson, Jenison and DeGasparre immediately made for the pits. Michael Benevides went off on the hook after directly colliding with Tomassi, who was able to drive away and pit.
The lap one restart had Larivee and Newcomb at the front, followed by Bobby Tripp and Lineham. Adams and Arrenegado made up row three.
Newcomb edged out and took the lead. Behind them, Adams came around Tripp and Lineham, making it three-wide. Adams landed in second behind Newcomb chased by Vinny and Tripp. Adams now nosed in under Newcomb They went wheel-to-wheel through turn one and turn two and through the next lap before Adams got a fender past in turn two. Arrenegado nosed in under and again there was a three-wide into the next lap, when Adams grabbed the front alone on the backstretch. Arrenegado followed and Lineham got under Newcomb. Tripp and Dan Johnson followed. Newcomb dropped into fourth.
Next time across it was Adams, Arrenegado and Lineham nose-to-tail, but then caution flew as Dan Johnson lost a piece from his right rear window which had been flapping in the jetstream since the restart.
Adams got his nose ahead on the restart and kept it there into the next lap, lap ten. Behind him, Arrenegado and Lineham were battling for the right to challenge him. Lineham forged his way into second with Arrenegado settling onto his bumper and Tripp cruising in onto his, with Newcomb in pursuit.
Vinny began looking underneath to grab second on lap twelve and drove in underneath on the following circuit Newcomb got in under Tripp. Vinny went to second and Lineham gave him a bumper tag. By now, Adams was four cars up on the field. Nick Uhrig followed Tripp in sixth and Mark Hudson was seventh.
Jenison and Johnson made contact in turn three and spun to the grass. Jenison made for the pits as Adams and Arrenegado set up at the front for the restart. Lineahm and Newcomb followed ahead ofd Uhrig and Hudson. Tomassi was now back in the picture restarting under DeGasparre in row four.
Tom-the-Bomb shot to the front and Lineham pushed in under Arrenegado. Newcomb took over fourth, chased by Uhrig. It was an intense game of pursuit as Lineham went to Adams’ bumper, then under and into the lead with Vinny following.
It was at this point that they crossed the stripe into lap 20 and suffered the major wreckage on the wall at the backstretch. The final lap had been turned, thanks to mother nature and her weather.
1.Ryan Lineham 2. Vinnie Arrenegado 3. Tom Adams 4. Tyler Tomassi 5. Gerry Degasparre 6. Mark Hudson 7. Bobby Tripp 8. Dane Saritelli 9. Paul Newcomb 10 Dan Johnson
SHAW: MAKES IT A HALF-DOZEN WINS
Barry Shaw shepherded the Darryl Church ride to his sixth win on the 2019 season, as his Sport Truck still stands garage-bound after last week’s meeting with the front stretch wall. He was able to take it from a ninth-place start into the lead by lap seven and held the front all the way to the checkers.
Meanwhile, division leader Richie Murray pulled in behind Shaw on lap nine and hounded him the rest of the distance to the finish. Murray made some pretensions to pass, but Shaw remained resolute and held him off. It was the least that Barry could do: he and Murray are locked in combat over the championship and Richie has the lead. Shaw did everything he could by winning but Murray kept his rival’s points gain to just two by finishing at his tailgate.
Ed Perry chased them for a third overall, while Mike Belanger and Mikey Cooper rounded out the top five.
Nick Testone edged ahead on Jake Vanada as the green fell, but Vanada rushed ahead and they ran door-to-door with Lenny Guy grabbing third. Vanada was almost past in turn one, secured the lead in turn two and shot down the backstretch. Unfortunately, he suffered a sudden loss of speed in turn four, then completely lost power in turn one, coming to a halt. Murray braked hard to stay off his bumper and succeeded but there was a scramble in the field and Mikey Cooper had his right front fender stripped off. Vanada got a restart and rejoined at the rear.
Guy and Testone came to the line for the restart and Testone pulled away. Mike Cavallaro drove in under Lenny from the second row as Testone secured the lead coming out of turn two. Cavallaro moved up through the rest of the lap and into turn one. He was pushing under a wide Testone coming out of turn four and they dueled for the position.
In turn two, Testone edged down as Mike drifted up and there was contact. Testone came loose and coming out of two, his back end slipped uptrack and his nose came down, striking Cavallaro in the rear quarter. This pointed his nose toward the wall and he piled in carrying Testone along into the barrier with him. Guy had been riding on Testone’s high side and had nowhere to go as the duo carried him into the wall as well. They came to a rest near the pit entrance in turn three.
All three were eliminated by the wreck and Vanada took his truck to the pits to determine his power loss problem.
The lap 22 restart saw Perry and Belanger at the front. Shaw was low in the second row with Cooper on his outside. Murray was in row three with Brittany Campbell on his shoulder. They came away door-to-door with Shaw clinging to Perry’s tailgate. Perry grabbed the front and Shaw ducked under Belanger. Murray followed, trailing Cooper as Connor Souza got under Campbell. Belanger fell back and Murray ducked under him as Shaw went to work on Perry. The leader did his best to elbow Shaw back, but Barry knew he needed to do no less than win and was irrepressible. Five laps in, he was looking under and had the front the next time around. Perry was the spacer between Shaw and Murray; Belanger followed, then Souza, just ahead of Cooper, who managed to grab some more speed and moved Souza out of fourth.
Nine laps down and Shaw was cruising with a ten-car lead on Murray, who had Perry and then Belanger close behind. Souza and Cooper were in pursuit and Campbell was doing her best to get by the latter. They ran single-file to the midpoint of the race with Murray cutting Shaw’s lead down to three. Ten cars behind Murray came Perry, Belanger, Cooper, Souza, and Campbell running nose-to-tail. Once more around and Murray had cut the lead to one length.
With ten to go, the order remained the same and Murray was putting on the pressure. But Shaw seemed undeterred and held the hammer down. The trailing group was still bumper-to-bumper.
The distance between Shaw and Murray pitched and yawed but they were seldom more than a car apart.
With five circuits remaining, the two leaders rocketed along single-mindedly while behind them, Belanger was battling with Perry for third. This would continue through the checkers
The final five laps were a dash to the finish with each trying but none able to make the pass. They flashed across the stripe single file as Shaw collected his sixth on the season. Murray’s second protected his lead, which remains at fourteen points with one race left in the championship season. Perry, Belanger, Souza, Cooper, and Campbell roared in just inches apart.
Elias Dib claimed eighth, while Maddie Harkin and Johnny Silva III completed the top ten. Anastasia Lebrun was the last car still running at eleventh.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com