Savary Sizzles at Seekonk
SEEKONK, MA — The Richard Savary driven, Alloy Wheels sponsored # 99 Valenti modified must enjoy hauling to the Seekonk Speedway. Saturday night, Savary raced to his first win of the 2015 season. Last year in two visits to the famous cement palace, Savary and team came away with a first and fourth place finish.
But this victory was by no means an easy one for the Canton, MA driver. After a daring three wide pass in his qualifying round Savary started third in the feature and had to run harder than he had planned just to stay in contention with race leader and polesitter, Mike Willis JR of Grantham, NH, and then Dylan Kopec of Palmer, MA.
In victory lane, Savary commented “I broke strategy I didn’t do what they (spotter) told me to do, which was just hold back for the first 50 laps. I expected the two young guys that started up front to really take off at the start, but they really didn’t and I saw them both wiggling a little bit so we got by one of them right away and I pushed a little harder then I should have to get by the 66, but the car was so good ,inside or outside. Shame on me for overusing the car that early because when there was 30 to go, I had overused the front tire so I had to slow it down, but I had enough to cover the bottom and just left the outside for anybody who wanted to go by. Woody apparently had a good car, but his was only good on the bottom because he never tried to run the outside. He hit me a few times, but that’s no big deal, that’s racing”
Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT started five rows back, but drove a heads up race staying within striking distance throughout the century lap grind. His strategy and driving skills placed him in the runner-up spot to Savary.
Szegedy said “At the beginning I thought I would have something for the 99. He looked tight in a weird spot and I caught him and got into him a little bit and when I did he just took off and I couldn’t catch him and it took a couple of laps to get back to him, but passing would have been difficult. It’s tough when the tires wear, it’s no different than any other time I’ve been here once the tires wear it’s tough to stay off each other and on this track it’s hard to see ahead of you when you’re in the bottom groove and that’s a challenge of its own. But we’re happy with second place tonight.”
Veteran and past champion Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, NH has shown improvement each week since his return to the MRS. When Woody Pitkat of Stafford Springs, CT and Todd Patnode of Richmond, NH running second and third made slight contact late in the race, Alexander was the benefactor and slid his Trader John’s Gun Shop number 43 past to finish third on the podium. “The car freed up with about 30 to go and I” told my guys “when we were sitting back in about fifth on a restart … we’ll just keep digging and maybe one of these guys will get turned, and on the next corner Todd and Woody got together and we got into second place.” Alexander said “It was a great race for us tonight, we’re making strides each race. We changed the setup completely with help of Kenny Barry, he helped me out a ton, he knows his stuff. We seem to get better each time out.”
Early race leader Dylan Kopec held the lead through three caution flag periods, but his mount started to fade after midway and he wound up with a 15th place finish. Kopec commented “At the start, we just rode around behind 38 (Willis JR.). Finally, my spotter gave me the go-ahead to pass him on the inside. I lead quite a few laps and tried to save my equipment, but got shuffled back in the restart. After the third restart my right rear was gone, I guess I killed it running at the front, I tried saving as much as I could. It was a real good car, it just wasn’t our night.”
And other young hard charger, David Schneider of Northport, NY started 22nd and set a pace that moved him into the top five, but with only 11 laps to go Schneider got turned around off turn two. Still, he fought back to a 12 place finish.
“Just racing hard” Schneider said “the number 92 and 85 were behind me and the 85 got into me a little bit, I don’t think he meant to, but it was enough to turn us around, other than that we had a great car, it just wasn’t meant to be tonight, but we’re confident with the way we ran tonight and will just move on to the next one”
Race Summary
Race #3
Track – Seekonk Speedway Seekonk, Mass.
Time – 51:34.675
Margin of Victory – 0.256 seconds
Lead Changes – to caution – 7 – laps 21 – 26 – 31 – 57 – 66 – 89 – 89.
Best lap time – 12.362
Best speed – 96.975.
Best lap by – 99 Richard Savary
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com
Photos by Crystal Snape