Scott Cestodio, Kyle DeSouza, Dave Hutchins Jr, and Steve Heath win on Fast Friday Opener; Will Wall NEMA Lites winner
Seekonk, MA — After two weeks of rain, Seekonk Speedway was finally able to get their Fast Friday series opener in the books. The NEMA Lites were in town for their season opener as well. The Seekonk Youth Racing Association 600 division was the first feature out.
As the field came across the stripe for the green, the field spread out three wide, and rookie Willie Sanchez moved to the bottom and took over the lead. A couple of early spins slowed up the action in the first couple of laps. Jason Enos II was second, Bob Perry, Kaitlyn Donovan and Branden Dion were the top five. Once back underway, Sanchez continued to set the pace with Enos second. Carl Medeiros Jr was working his way through the field, and was running second when contact between he and Enos sent the black 3 around with only 6 laps remaining. Medeiros was able to continue on.
Sanchez and Medeiros battled side by side for the next few laps with Dave Hutchins Jr sitting third, when Sanchez and Medeiros made contact, sending the leader around. Medeiros was sent to the rear for the assist. This handed the lead over to Hutchins, with Nate Bubello second. Kaitlyn Donovan was third with Branden Dion and Enos rounding out the top five.
The final laps were run without fanfare, and Dave Hutchins Jr held on for his second career win, Bubello finished second in his first race, with Kaitlyn Donovan, Branden Dion and Jason Enos rounding out the top five.
The Pure Stocks were next on the card, and with three wins in the first two events, Nick Uhrig had to start scratch on the field. Jeremy Lambert went from third to first before the first lap was completed, passing Melissa Jodat and Missy Charette in the first corners. There was a lot of passing deep in the pack as Lou Robinson was working the fourth groove trying to get to the front. Bill Chouinard worked up into the second position early after starting 9th. Reigning champion Scott Cestodio started 13th, and made quick work of the field and was up into third by lap 8. Using the third groove, Cestodio evened up with Chouinard who was starting to look around Lambert.
The battle was three wide for the lead, and by lap 11, Cestodio was the leader, with Chouinard second. Randy Moretti started 15th, and moved into second by the halfway point. But Cestodio was already a straightaway ahead. Uhrig had moved into third by the time the first caution came out at lap 15. Early leader Jeremy Lambert spun and could not get going in time.
Randy Moretti got the jump on the start, but was not able to keep the lead. Moretti had to back off a hair when Carlos Silva came back out onto the track in front of the leaders. Cestodio opened up a five car length lead, but Moretti had his hands full with Nick Uhrig as they battled side by side for second. Uhrig was using the bottom lane with Moretti up high. They swapped position back and forth until Uhrig slid out in front of Randy for second. Moretti used the crossover, and moved underneath Uhrig and once again, they raced side by side. As they came off of turn four, Moretti took over and held on to second. Uhrig finished third, with Lou Robinson and Bill Chouinard rounding out the top five.
In the SYRA 750 class, the brothers Swift brought the field down, with Jacob and Adam first and second. As they came off turn four, the Swifts drifted up, and allowed Kyle DeSouza underneath and Kyle took over the lead. Chris Igo Jr was up to second before the first caution came out on lap two for Jacob Swift who spun.
DeSouza jumped back into the lead with Igo running tight on the outside for the lead. While he worked the outside, Stephen Gardiner Jr used the inside lane to move into second, moving Igo back to third, Casey Sanchez was coming strong on the outside, and moved into third, dropping Igo back to fourth.
Over the final dozen laps, DeSouza pulled away from the rest of the field, and opened up a lead of 7 car lengths. Gardiner was solidly in second until he came down for the white flag, when he spun off of turn four coming down for the checkered, dropping him out of the top five. Jake Spillers moved into the second position at the finish, with Igo, Jacob Swift and Adam Swift rounding out the top five.
A special thanks to Eric DeSouza who provided trophies for second and third place finishes for both SYRA classes. The Ultraflex Bodies $50.00 savings bond went to Stephen Gardiner Jr, who spun from second place on the final laps of the SYRA 750 feature.
The all-new Sport4 division made it’s debut, with Steve Heath of Plympton, MA taking the win over 15 year old Taylor Therrien of Coventry RI.
The NEMA Lites opened up their season at the speedway that was built with the open wheel / open cockpit machines in mind. 19 cars were on hand, and it was a father / son front row, and Glen and Randy Cabral brought the field down for the green. Randy jumped out to the early lead, but behind them, the field was spreading out three wide. Will Wall started third, and before he could make a chase for the lead, the first caution came out when Anthony Nocella spun.
Will Wall, subbing for Stephanie Doty, moved into the lead on the restart, with Eddie LeClerc moving into second, dropping Cabral back to third. Russ Wood Jr and Jake Stergios were making their way through the field, but the second caution slowed them up, when Glen Cabral and Todd Bertrand got together in turn one.
When the green came back out, Wall got the jump and opened up a comfortable lead over LeClerc. Wood and Stergios moved by Cabral over the next several laps, as Cabral was trying to hang on to a loose car. With just a handful of laps remaining, Wall made contact with a lapped car, and had to move up the track, which allowed LeClerc to move into the lead with 7 laps remaining. Stergios was also burning up the right rear tire while fighting with Wall for second, and holding off a hard charging Todd Bertrand.
Wall started to close up the distance over LeClerc, when heading through the first and second corners on the final lap, he got into some fluid on the track, and spun out of the lead. This handed the lead back to early leader Will Wall. Stergios held on to second, with Bertrand, Wood, and Russ Hart rounding out the top five.
The Fast Friday series returns on June 27, with the four division format of the Pure Stocks, Seekonk Youth Racing Association 600 and 750 classes, and the Sport4 division. Action starts at 7pm, with adult admission just $5.00. Kids 12 and under are FREE. For more information, check out the website at seekonkspeedway.com.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR