Morgan, Herman, Toner, Massa & Robbins Fast Fridays Winners

Marissa Morgan out-dueled Karlin Levesque over the nine closing laps of the SYRA 600 feature for a .010-second hairsbreadth margin. It was a big win with double points in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown feature. They had run wheel-to-wheel, exchanging the lead since charging out of the box on a lap- eleven restart in the 20-lap feature. Trenton Goodrow completed the race in third followed by Luke LeBrun and Scott Serydynski, Jr.

Morgan started on the front, outside polesitter Ava Chouinard and they went side-by-side down the front as Evan Marchand jumped in underneath Chouinard for a three-wide at the front. Goodrow was the outside car in the mix. Into the first lap, Morgan led Marchand, Goodrow and Chouinard who had Serydynski on the outside.
But Marchand got into the grass in turn two of the second circuit. He tried to fight back onto the oval, but lost traction on the grass and spun.

Morgan and Goodrow lined up with Serydynski and Chouinard behind them. Morgan nabbed the lead with Serydynski capturing second over Goodrow while Levesque moved into fourth, then under Goodrow to third. Morgan edged into a one-car lead and the field stretched out into a tight single file until Levesque looked outside Serydynski on the backstretch but was denied and Goodrow attempted to run underneath him.

Morgan continued to lead as Serydynski, Levesque, Goodrow and LeBrun ran a tight line behind her. By lap 10, she was eight cars up on them. But LeBrun spun in the middle of the backstretch on lap eleven, bringing out the yellow flag.
Serydynski and Goodrow lined up behind Morgan and Levesque with Zachary Martinez and Anthony Marvin in the third row. It was the beginning of nine laps of gritty running between Morgan and Levesque. Morgan nosed out but Levesque hung on outside. They went door-to-door down the backstretch. Serydynski grabbed third ahead of Goodrow, followed by LeBrun, Martinez, Marvin and Chouinard. While Morgan and Levesque were blistering the banks, Goodrow went after Serydynski’s position. Goodrow succeeded to third on lap 13 as the leaders continued to hacksaw the lead. They came across the stripe dead even.

Another lap saw Levesque inches ahead past the flagstand but Morgan grabbing the front down the backstretch. Lebrun then moved past Serydynski to fourth. The lap counters record leads of mere thousandths of seconds each lap, with Morgan recorded at the front on 16, 17 and 18. Levesque slid his bumper past as the white silk took to the air, but Morgan battled back into turns three and four. The final drag race to the checkers was resolved by one one-hundredths of a second in Morgan’s favor. Heads swiveled to the Pylon to see how the electronics had resolved the issue to find the winner.

Completing the finishing positions: sixth went to Martinez followed by Marvin, Marchand and Chouinard.

HERMAN NABS SECOND FEATURE IN SPORT FOURS
Ray Herman worked his way up from ninth to the lead halfway through the Sport Four feature, knocking Emily Charette out of the lead she’d had since the green dropped. He then held on to the checkers for his second win on the season. David Westgate followed for second just ahead of Gil Bradstreet. Michael Glad and David Simpson completed the top five.
Charette left Nick Mattera falling back on the outside as Dylan Cabral jumped from third to second to pursue. Glad went by Simpson and Mattera onto Cabral’s bumper as Westgate stepped into fifth. Glad went outside Cabral but couldn’t make the pass and Westgate closed up on Cabral’s bumper. The front of the field closed up nose to tail as Charette led Cabral, Glad, Westgate and the charging Herman on lap six. Mattera followed with Henry Lavalle giving chase and Corey Caddick moving in behind.

Herman went under Westgate for fourth and Glad then moved him back to sixth. Herman followed up, getting to second as Cabral went to the outside but could not pass. As Herman went around for the lead, Caddick was moving in the pack. He went three-wide and succeeded in getting by Simpson, Westgate and Glad in two triple-stacks. Caddick was now third, behind Cabral. Simpson, Westgate and Bradstreet pursued.

As Herman pulled away, Caddick fastened on on Cabral’s bumper. Herman stretched the lead to ten car lengths. Caddick looked outside then crossed under. But Matt Smith spun during the pass, in turn four. On the restart it was Herman and Cabal, followed by Caddick and Simpson.

Herman went to the lead while Westgate, Simpson and Caddick entered into a three-wide. Westgate and Cabral made contact, spinning Cabal. Now, the restart had Herman and Caddick at the front with Westgate and Bradstreet behind them. The lap 18 restart took three tries. First attempt saw Herman pull out by a nose and Caddick going into a spin as he fell back. He retired to the pits and it seemed his evening was over. But the second attempt saw Matt Smith blow up, leaving fluid down the length of the backstretch. A long cleanup ensued and Caddick appeared in the pit entrance as the field crossed over into a starting grid. He re-entered just as the final attempt to resume was made, and did not lose a lap.
Third try was the charm for the green-white-checker restart and Herman and Westgate jousted down the front stretch. Bradstreet looked under Herman but was held off. Herman had the lead out of turn four and was moving away. Westgate held off Bradstreet on the outside.

Herman had a three car lead at the checkers and Bradstreet chased Westgate across the stripe.

Henry Lavalle nabbed sixth, followed by Glen “The $5 Sunglass Guy” Leduc followed. Caddick had rushed from the back over the final two laps to lay claim to eighth, ahead of Mike Belanger and Christine Cavallaro.

TONER TAKES FEATURE, IN TRIPLE CROWN EVENT
Michael Toner charged from fourth to first on late-race passing, then held off an intent Taylor Bowser to come home with the trophy in SYRA 750 racing and secure a place in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown finale. Toner was running behind Bowser as Luke LeBrun and Matthew Barboza skirmished over the lead with LeBrun leading by a fender. Toner had nosed under Bowser for an attempt at third. The wrestling match at the front took the leaders out of the groove, blocking Bowser and Toner lit the afterburners to charge on through. Bowser locked on and followed through, then blistered his bumper over the closing laps. Lebrun crossed in third with Barboza on his heels. Shea Kulpa rounded out the top five.
The event began as Barboza engaged polesitter Cassie Meservey door-to-door from the outside pole. Tom Ouellette and Toner followed while Brandon Lillie, Shea Kulpa and Bowser went three wide behind them. Barboza had a nose past at the end of lap two. Ouellette spun in turn two, but recovered and the race continued. He was quickly overhauled by the field and spent the remainder of th race a lap down.

Barboza stepped out to a five car lead and Toner moved past Meservey into second and settled in then moved up to Barboza’s rear. LeBrun closed on Toner and the trio ran nose-to-tail with Bowser closing on them.
LeBrun went to the outside on lap 9, with Bowser electing to follow him. Toner was challenging Barboza for the lead when LeBrun shot by to put his nose ahead at the stripe. Toner, Barboza, Bowser and Kulpa were recorded behind him. But Meservey spun to the infield, bring caution.

LeBrun and Toner held the front for the lap 11 restart with Barboza and Bowser backing them up. They were wheel-to-wheel out of the box and down the front, but LeBrun began to nose out in turn two. He was up by 3⁄4 of a length. But Barboza dived under to edge into the lead on turn fourteen before LeBrun began to push back outside and took a noselength lead. Bowser was outside Toner as the lead four ran in a box. Kulpa and Lillie followed with Meservey and Ouellette behind them.

LeBrun held the lead by a funder though lap 15 before Toner dived under, surprising all with his move to the front, where he remained through the four laps to the checkers.

Sixth went to Lillie, followed by Meservey and Ouellette.

MASSA COLLECTS FIRST WIN AND TRIPLE CROWN PURE STOCK RUN
Daniel Massa climbed from his third place starting spot over the first four circuits into the lead and held on through the checkers to capture the win in the second stop of the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown to set himself up for a shot at the Triple Crown finale. David Desrosiers clambered into second and harassed Massa all the way to lap 23 when points leader Amy Arsenault stole the position on a restart to pursue Massa to the finish. Andrew Kun then stole third and Mark Murphy fourth to ease Desrosiers back to fifth on the evening.

Mike Henriques rode the outside pole into the lead on the second lap and Massa went outside polesitter Keri-Lynn Manfredo. Ed Gould followed Manfredo while Desrosiers clung to Massa’s bumper. As Massa nosed ahead on Manfredo, she got loose and he shot into the runnerup spot and Desrosiers pulled alongside her. Manfredo and Charette debated over fourth until Colby Lambert’s right front tire went down and he came to a stop, bringing the caution. He pitted for a new shoe and returned.

Henriques and Massa faced off with Massa grabbing the front as Jay Sullivan spun but was able to recover and continue. Into lap six, Massa, Henriques and Desrosiers ran bumper-to-bumper with Charette, Chad Baxter and Jamie Burch in pursuit. Murphy disentangled himself from a door=to-door with Doug Benoit and started to advance from his spot in eleventh. By lap ten, Massa led Desrosiers, Henriques, Charette and Baxter. Murphy dug in under Burch to secure eighth as Massa had to avoid some lapped traffic, but continued to command the front. By lap 13, Murphy had advanced to sixth and was following Arsenault on her way toward the front. Two more circuits saw Massa leading Desrosiers, while behind them, Henriques, Baxter, Arsenault, Murphy and Kun were running in a tight line.

Baxter got under Henriques looking for third and they dueled with Arsenault following, looking for an opportunity. Baxter was momentarily loose, holding up Henriques, who fell back allowing Arsenault underneath. Henriques speed drop allowed Murphy to follow Arsenault underneath. By lap 21, Massa continued to lead Desrosiers, who had Arsenault challenging, followed by Murphy. Jamie Burch had gone below Henriques, who was stuck on the outside. Burch and Henriques jousted over fifth until Henriques spun out of turn four as he and Burch engaged in some paint sharing. Burch received the black flag.

The lap 23 restart saw Desrosiers nose ahead on the outside but Massa heated up and escaped into the lead again. Arsenault stayed on Massa’s bumper and followed underneath into
second. Kun then wrested third away and Murphy charged into fourth. Massa went out to a two car lead, which Arsenault began to whittle down and as the white silk flew, she was on his bumper. But Massa was able to hold on through the checkers for the win.

Baxter gathered in sixth place followed by Charette, Colby Lambert, Lenny Sousa, Burch, Manfredo and Colby Lambert.

ROBBINS HAULS DOWN FIRST WIN IN LEGENDS

Chris Robbins finally broke the ice, carrying off his first trophy in Legends with a hard-won victory over Jordan Lamothe.  Robbins jumped from fifth to second in two laps, then chased polesitter Stan Carpenter to lap 7.  He took over the lead but two laps later  Ryan Kuhn and Brandon Martinez got together.  Lamothe restarted inisde the second row, locked onto Robbins’ bumper and followed through into second.  They battled the remainder of the way to the finish with Robbins eking out a narrow win over Lamothe.  Jesse Melberg diced his way to third and Ray Parent, Jr. had his best finish for fourth, followed by Joseph Marfeo in fifth.

Carpenter went from the pole to the lead right  out of the box and Brandon Packard got under Parent for second.  Robbins roared up from sixth onto Pacard’s tail and immediately claimed second while Kuhn and Martinez went under into third and fourth.  Melberg was running sixth after starting eighth and ran under Parent.  Lamothe followed, then got under Melberg and into fifth behind Carpenter.  Martinez, Meanwhile, was moving forward, passing Kuhn into third on lap five and then Carpenter into second.  Kuhn followed and they debated position and made contact bringing a lap nine caution.
Out of the restart, the field was coming through turn four when Art Marrero spun in turn foru and the field scattered to avoid.  Curt Snow went high, was intercepted and he roled, went nose over, bounded into the air and slammed driver’s side first into the wall in mid-air – just behond the pit exit ramp.  Red flags flew and ermergency response converged.  Snow was conversant and stepped from the vehicle when it had been moved away from the wall.  (It was the second such incident in Legends of the evening as Matt Carpenter wheel-hopped Sam Rameau in turn two during the heat, throwing Carpenter into a barrel roll, bringing him down on his wheels and ending his evening.)

When action resumed, Robbins grabbed the lead again and Lamothe pulled in on his bumper.  Stan Carpenter had Melberg on his tail while Parent went to fifth after a duel under Marfeo.  Meanwhile, Martinez was executing a three-wide around the field to get back into contention.  He went around Jesse Jakubajtys as at the front, Melberg took advantage of Carpenter to take over third just before Marrero spun on the backstretch.

Again, Robbins grabbed the front on the restart as Melberg ran under Lamothe and Parent claimed fourth.  Lamothe and Melberg went wheel-to-wheel.  Robbins went out to a three car lead on Melberg and Lamothe as Jake Johnson got under Parent for fourth and Martinez moved in behind with Jakubajtys before Adam Thompson spun out of turn one.
Robbins was away again and Lamothe repaid the favor by getting under Melberg to retake second.  Johnson and Parent followed Melberg as Martinez attempted to go around Parent.  Martinez took fifth and began to close on Johnson.  But Brandon Packard  looked under Martinez, who spun in turn one.

Robbins led the restart and Lamothe looked underneath but was refused.  He tried again and they went side-by-side for the final laps as Melberg kept pace.  The counters called Lamothe the leader on laps 22 and 23 but Robbins came battling back to lead laps 25 and at the checkers by .136 of a second.  Melberg finished just .318 back.

Kuhn finished sixth, followed by Molleur, Packard, Hammond, Martinez and Jakubajtys.

Sources: Seekonk Speedway PR