NEMA Thrills Large Crowd at Wiscasset

What do you get when you put the world’s fastest asphalt sprint cars on Maine’s fastest track? You get a jaw-dropping display of speed and skill and a constant assault on track records. After missing their visit during the shortened 2020 season, the stars and cars of the North Eastern Midget Association (NEMA) returned to Wiscasset Speedway and one of their favorite stops on their tour for “Ames True Value NEMA Night”. The threat of inclement weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the large contingent of fans packing the coastal Maine track. Brief bouts of light sprinkles throughout the evening kept race officials on edge, but thanks to the great work of the race teams and track staff, the show went on uninterrupted. A trio of Group 2 divisions added to the show, with Late Model Sportsman, Strictly Streets, and Modifieds also in action.

As expected, the NEMA Midgets did not disappoint. Avery Stoehr of Assonet, Ma kicked off the show with a bang, claiming the checkers in the opening 10 lap heat race. On the final lap of the race, he posted a record-breaking lap of 12.875 seconds around the 3/8 mile banked track. The previous record of 12.924 was set by Alby Ovit in 2019. In the 30 lap spotlight feature, former champ John Zych charged to the front from mid-pack and then withheld a late-race challenge from Stoehr to claim the victory, his 3rd career win at Wiscasset. Stoehr settled for a second-place finish to go with his new track record. Nascar Modified star Ronnie Williams of Ellington, CT made his NEMA debut driving the Bertrand Motorsports Team car and turned in an impressive third-place finish.

The NEMA Lite 25 lap feature saw some great 3-wide action throughout the field as they jockeyed for position and a shot at the win. Multi-time NEMA Midget champ Randy Cabral of Kingston, Ma got out to an early lead and then withstood late-race challenges from Paul Scally and Jake Trainor to take the win in his #35 Cabral Family-owned ride. Trainor of Medway, Ma continues to be one of the top drivers in the NEMA Lite ranks. He chased Cabral across the line for second place. They were joined in victory lane by Jim Santa Maria of Burlington, CT. Scally was chasing down Cabral as they approached the final five laps, only to develop engine problems. He wound up 14th.

In the support division action, Liberty’s Josh St Clair continued his amazing season with a  victory in the 20 lap feature for the Portland Glass Strictly Streets. To date, the third-generation racer now has 6 wins total (2 Pro Stock, 2 Late Model, and 2 Strictly Street). In Saturday’s Strictly Street feature, he was joined in victory lane by his teammate Kurt Hewins of Turner, and point leader Jonathon Emerson of Sabattus. Ryan Ripley took home the first place trophy in the 30 lap feature for the 88.5FM Modifieds. Point leader and reigning champ Adam Chadbourne of Woolwich took second, followed by Hope’s Mike Brown. The 40 lap feature for the Wood Pellet Warehouse Late Model Sportsman saw 21 cars take the green flag. The race was slowed by just a pair of cautions. Matt Bourgoine of Stetson started 7th and picked his way to the front to grab an emotional victory. Over the final 10 laps he held off 5-time champ Chris Thorne and previous winners Josh St Clair and Tiger Colby to take his first career Late Model win. Thorne took the second place trophy and Colby beat out St Clair for the final spot in victory lane.

Wiscasset Speedway returns to action Saturday, July 3rd with Group 1 Fan Appreciation Night. The special program will also be the track’s annual Independence Day weekend celebration with appearances by the Wreath’s Across America Mobile Education Exhibit along with the Augusta and Brunswick chapters of the Patriot Riders Motorcycle Club. The festivities begin at 4:00 pm with an on-track driver autograph session with all of the Group 1 race teams. Following that there will be kids’ bike races in three different age groups (3-5, 5-7, and 8-12), where the youngsters will get to race their bikes against some of the drivers on the track. The Ward & Son’s Construction Kids Club will also have fun activities including a red-white-and-blue parade in front of the grandstands. The racing action will commence shortly after 5:00 pm followed by fireworks. As always, admission is just $5, with kids 6&under free. More information can be found at www.wiscassetspeedway.com

The Wreath’s Across America Mobile Education exhibit will be set up in the parking lot of the speedway from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm just outside the main entrance. The exhibit is open and free to the public. The interactive exhibit offers patrons the opportunity to learn about the mission of the organization which honors the commitment and sacrifice of our veterans. WAA will also hold a special ceremony in Wiscasset’s victory lane during intermission. For more information, go to www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

WISCASSET SPEEDWAY OFFICIAL FINISH 6/26/21

GROUP 2 PLUS NEMA MIDGETS & NEMA LITES

NEMA MIDGETS (30 laps – spotlight)

* John Zych 3rd Wiscasset victory

Pos	No.	Name	Hometown	State	Laps	Diff	Gap	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap
1	9	John Zych	Mendon	MA	30			13.382	100.882	16
2	39	Avery Stoehr	Assonet	MA	30	0.830	0.830	13.352	101.108	10
3	17	Ronnie Williams	Ellington	CT	30	6.105	5.275	13.558	99.572	12
4	69	Matt Merry	Plaistow	NH	30	7.015	0.910	13.753	98.160	13
5	30	Paul Scally	Raynham	MA	30	11.406	4.391	13.744	98.225	15
6	74	Randy Cabral	Kingston	MA	30	11.899	0.493	13.520	99.852	9
7	16	Matt O’Brien	Wilmington	MA	29	1 Lap	1 Lap	14.109	95.684	5
8	87	Doug Cleveland	Sudbury	MA	29	1 Lap	1.401	14.057	96.038	4
9	18	Andy Lunt	Marion	MA	29	1 Lap	4.138	13.997	96.449	5
10	7	Alan Chambers	Atkinson	NH	6	24 Laps	23 Laps	14.189	95.144	5

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NEMA LITES (25 laps)

Pos	No.	Name	Hometown	State	Laps	Diff	Gap	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap
1	35	Randy Cabral	Kingston	MA	25			14.534	92.886	7
2	29	Jake Trainor	Medway	MA	25	0.453	0.453	14.441	93.484	7
3	97	Jim Santa Maria	Burlington	CT	25	1.594	1.141	14.394	93.789	8
4	3	Chris Vose	Gloversville	NY	25	5.041	3.447	14.753	91.507	5
5	28	Mike Pernisiglio	Ronkonkoma	NY	25	5.278	0.237	14.770	91.401	6
6	21	Avery Stoehr	Assonet	MA	25	8.588	3.310	14.555	92.752	14
7	17	Kyle Valeri	Monument Beach	MA	25	8.713	0.125	14.701	91.830	15
8	19	Richie Coy	Haskell	NJ	25	9.931	1.218	14.758	91.476	14
9	2	Connor Souza	n/a		25	13.673	3.742	15.022	89.868	15
10	94	Tiana Kibbe	Fairfield	CT	24	1 Lap	1 Lap	15.186	88.898	15
11	53	Dylan Coutu	Hopeville	CT	24	1 Lap	4.683	15.288	88.305	17
12	8	Ethan Dion	Oakdale	CT	24	1 Lap	6.621	15.597	86.555	4
13	16	Dennis O’Brien	Deerfield	NH	21	4 Laps	3 Laps	15.199	88.822	19
14	30	Paul Scally	Raynham	MA	19	6 Laps	2 Laps	14.378	93.893	13

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PORTLAND GLASS STRICTLY STREETS (25 laps)

* St Clair 2nd Strictly Street win of 2021

Pos	No.	Name	Hometown	State	Laps	Diff	Gap	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap
1	51	Josh St Clair	Liberty	Me	25			17.411	77.537	12
2	14H	Kurt Hewins	Turner	Me	25	0.912	0.912	17.424	77.479	11
3	24	Jonathan Emerson	Sabattus	Me	25	3.400	2.488	17.745	76.078	14
4	14	Ashton Reynolds	Liberty	Me	25	3.842	0.442	17.604	76.687	8
5	08	Mac Hannan Jr	Washington	Me	25	n/a			–	0
6	23	Zach Emerson	Sabattus	Me	25	9.165	5.323	17.896	75.436	2
7	67	Mike Haynes	Livermore Falls	Me	25	9.687	0.522	17.962	75.159	13
8	74	Keith Drost	Etna	Me	25	9.979	0.292	17.731	76.138	18
9	78	Brady Romano	Livermore Falls	Me	25	10.315	0.336	17.827	75.728	17
10	83	Dan Brown	Peru	ME	25	12.581	2.266	17.967	75.138	16
11	3	Bernie Dinsmore	Hope	Me	19	6 Laps	6 Laps	17.968	75.134	4
12	5	Brett Osmond	Wiscasset	Me	19	6 Laps	7.430	17.975	75.104	3
13	64	Dean Rice	Nobleboro	Me	16	9 Laps	3 Laps	18.011	74.954	13
14	00	Chad Wills	Oxford	Me	8	17 Laps	8 Laps	18.239	74.017	7
15	4	Caleb Emerson-Mains	Richmond	Me	4	21 Laps	4 Laps	17.992	75.033	4
16	5d	Ethan Densmore	Hope	Me	1	24 Laps	3 Laps	25.170	53.635	1

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88.5 FM MODIFIEDS (30 LAPS)

Pos	No.	Name	Hometown	State	Laps	Diff	Gap	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap
1	9	Ryan Ripley	Thomaston	Me	30			15.870	85.066	6
2	1	Adam Chadbourne	Woolwich	Me	30	2.171	2.171	15.930	84.746	4
3	39	Mike Brown	Hope	Me	30	4.469	2.298	16.238	83.138	5
4	89	Faith Cleaves	Pownal	Me	30	9.025	4.556	16.649	81.086	21
5	8	Allan Moeller	Kingfield	Me	30	11.706	2.681	16.665	81.008	14
6	48	Brian Treadwell	Hancock	Me	20	10 Laps	10 Laps	16.350	82.569	15
7	9s	Mark Simond	Lewiston	Me	1	29 Laps	19 Laps	17.306	78.008	1
8	24	Jeff Prindall	Lisbon Falls	Me	1	29 Laps	0.465	17.288	78.089	1

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WOOD PELLET WAREHOUSE LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN (40 laps)

Pos	No.	Name	Hometown	State	Laps	Diff	Gap	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap
1	73	Matt Bourgoine	Stetson	Me	40			15.983	84.465	10
2	17	Chris Thorne	Sidney	Me	40	2.692	2.692	16.002	84.364	4
3	78	Tiger Colby	Wiscasset	Me	40	3.053	0.361	16.126	83.716	24
4	14	Josh St. Clair	Liberty	Me	40	3.479	0.426	15.975	84.507	14
5	72	Brandon Fowler	Rome	Me	40	4.256	0.777	16.102	83.841	26
6	51	Ryan St Clair	Wiscasset	Me	40	5.117	0.861	15.940	84.693	9
7	10	Scott Hall	Jay	Me	40	5.438	0.321	16.229	83.184	27
8	26	Andrew McLaughlin	Harrington	Me	40	6.054	0.616	16.083	83.940	4
9	15m	Frank Moulton	Clinton	Me	40	6.508	0.454	16.221	83.225	26
10	47me	Chris Burgess	Hartford	Me	40	6.817	0.309	16.269	82.980	29
11	4	Ben Erskine	Skowhegan	Me	40	11.458	4.641	16.168	83.498	4
12	26r	Brent Roy	Vassalboro	Me	40	13.181	1.723	16.361	82.513	4
13	81	Ray Dinsmore	Limerick	Me	40	14.876	1.695	16.147	83.607	4
14	21b	James Barker	Turner	Me	40	16.155	1.279	16.475	81.942	11
15	4c	Connor Wenners	Edgecomb	Me	40	16.548	0.393	16.490	81.868	27
16	20	Garrett Leiter	Winslow	Me	38	2 Laps	2 Laps	16.660	81.032	6
17	25	Will Collins	Waldoboro	Me	37	3 Laps	1 Lap	16.189	83.390	6
18	00	Alex Waltz	Walpole	Me	24	16 Laps	13 Laps	16.575	81.448	12
19	30a	DC Alexander	Carmel	Me	22	18 Laps	2 Laps	16.184	83.416	3
20	8	Doug Phillips	Phillips	Me	16	24 Laps	6 Laps	17.272	78.161	12
21	47	Brandon Bailey	Wiscasset	Me	6	34 Laps	10 Laps	16.113	83.783	3