Holderbach in First Legends Win
HOLDERBACH IN FIRST LEGENDS WIN
Connor Holderbach put his demons to rest with a Legends win over points leader Peter Bennett after a season of near-misses. Holderbach has frequently led all comers only to have fate pull him up just short of his goal.
This time out, he started in the second row behind polesitter Devin Deshaies and as Deshaies got wide on the start, Holderbach dodged underneath and to the front just two laps into the 25-lap feature. From there, it was catch-me-if-you-can for the remainder, and nobody could. Matt Carpenter tried in the early going, then Josh Parsons took over the pursuit down the middle laps. Bennett moved in towards the end. However, none could unseat Holderbach this evening and he ran under the checkers for a trip to Victory Lane.
Bennett chased him across the stripe with Parsons at his back for second and third. Carpenter grabbed fourth and Luke LeBrun came all the way from a scratch start through the 22-car field to round out the top five.
Two laps in, Paul Newcomb, stepping down from a Late Model into Isaiah’s backup car, discovered how slippery a Legends car can get as he spun between turns three and four. He took it to the pits for the night.
Holderbach had the pole for the restart and jumped away from Deshaies with Parsons glued to his bumper. Parsons took to the high side to pass and Carpenter got in between him and Deshaies. But Brendan Hammann spun, setting up another restart.
Holderbach and Parsons set up again, with Carpenter and Deshaies behind them. Batman – Brandon Martinez and Bennett were row three. Holderbach and Parsons went wheel-to-wheel, whipsawing the lead for five laps, bringing the crowd to the edge of their seats. Finally, eight laps into the race, Holderbach reclaimed the lead in turn one. Parsons dropped in ahead of Carpenter, who was being chased by Martinez, Bennett and Ryan Doucette. By now, the field was running single file. Bennett took a look under Martinez on lap 10 and dived in. Martinez then spun in turn four.
The restart again saw Holderbach and Parsons at the front. Bennett was now alongside Carpenter in row two; Doucette was joined in row three by LeBrun.
It took four tries to get the restart. Deshaies couldn’t get up to speed on the first try. There was debris on the track on the second try and the same problem befouled the third attempt. Try number four and they were finally rolling again. Holderback got the lead and Carpenter ducked in under Parsons. Carpenter and Bennett ran side-by-side behind them. Parsons won control of second, Carpenter held on to third and Bennett pulled ahead of Doucette.
Holderbach went to a four-car lead over Parsons as Bennett eased Carpenter out of third in turn two with 12 laps to go. Carpenter dropped in between Bennett and Doucette. The field had again gone single file.
Fourteen laps in, and Holdrbach had put eight carlengths on the rest of the field, but Parsons began to press and in one lap chopped three lengths out of that. LeBrun was challenging Doucette for fifth and succeeded.
Lap eighteen saw Holderbach, Parsons, and Bennett going nose-to-tail. Bennet spotted room and slid in under Parsons and then into second. Five laps remained. But the finishing order of the top nine was already decided and though the pursuit was intense, the order remained the same.
Unfortunate for Connor Souza, running tenth, he encountered difficulties which forced him to give up his spot and pit with just one to go.
The final statistics showed Doucette claiming sixth behind LeBrun, followed by Jacob “Rowdy” Burns, Dennis Pantani, Martinez, Deshaies, Hammann and Mason Tessier.
AJ MANUEL BACK IN VICTORY LANE
Sport Four’s 2018 champion has been chasing an annoying series of mechanical problems throughout the season, but this week they all went away and the fire-engine-red number 88 looked like it was on its way to a five-alarm blaze. AJ started sixth and erupted past Tough Tim Bolger, Tyler Dunancik and Timmy Ouellette into third on the first lap. He tried to clear around Samantha Mattera into third, but she grabbed a little more speed and held him off.
Polesitter, David Simpson, Jr continued to lead as Mattera and Manuel dueled over second. AJ now looked underneath Mattera and pressed forward. He was able to get the lead going down the backstretch on lap three and glanced forward to find Simpson a distance ahead. Sam dropped into third followed by Ouellette. Bolger and Dunancik. But proceedings were interrupted when Joseph Pilling spun into the infield on the front stretch.
Simpson had Manuel on his shoulder for the restart. Mattera and Ouellette made up row two. They went wheel-to-wheel down the front stretch before Manuel took over the front coming out of turn two. Simpson settled in ahead of Mattera and Ouellette, who were battling for third. Dunancik and Bolger were doing the same.
Lap six saw Manuel comfortably in front. Dunanci had moved in behind Mattera and Ouellette was dueling Crystal Murray, who was headed for the front. She broke ahead and Arthur Meack sneaked in under Ouellette. Meack took over sixth.
With eleven remaining, Mattera took a bump from Dunancik which loosened her enough that Murray shot by into third. Mattera grabbed Murray’s bumper and held on.
But with seven to go, Sabrina Beaulieu spun up onto the berm in turn four. Ron Gajdowski was smoking and leaking fluid and was black-flagged to the pits.
The restart saw some speed merchants edging into the picture. While Manuel and Simpson led Murray and Mattaera, row three had Meack; Points leader Lefort was behind him with Karlin Levesque on his low side. Jordan Lopes was behind Leford with Tyler Almeida below him: all the top of the points standings with at least a win on the season.
On the green, Manuel took the lead and Murray got under Simpson into second. Dunancik went past Mattera into fourth and Levesque was wheel-to-wheel with Mattera. Next time around, Almeida got under Simpson, Lefort was on their tails and behind him came a three-wide of Lopes, Mattera, and Meack. Lefort then ducked under Almeida.
With three to go, Manuel was four cars up on Murray, followed by Dunancik, Levesque, Lefort and Lopes, just before Bolger and Ray Herman, Sr. got together on the backstretch. This set up a three-lap shootout.
Manuel and Murray sat side-by-side, Dunancik and Levesque watched from row two. Crystal was wide and fast coming out of the box and seemed about to unseat AJ from the lead. However, he pressed the issue and held on by a snout. He got the lead in turn two. Dunancik slid up and was victimized by Levesque while Almeida leveraged Lefort back to sixth with Lopes on his bumper. The field was already single file. They rocketed through the final two laps in this order.
At the finish, Manuel had the win, followed by Murray, Levesque, Lefort, who edged Dunancik for fourth and Dunancik. Sixth fell to Almeida, while Lopes, Mattera, Meack, and Simpson completed the top ten.
CESTODIO CEMENTS COMEBACK, MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW
Scott Cestodio filled in for a vacationing Lenny Sousa a week ago, showing he had not lost any of the skills that had made him Pure Stock champ a couple weeks back. Sousa used his vacation to buy the Sport Truck of Andrew Kun and Cestodio found himself grabbing his second consecutive win in Lenny’s car. Cestodio’s labors were extended with a tenth-place start, brought on by last week’s win. The handicapping was not enough to keep him out of Victory Lane this time around.
Justin Menard and Max Bergstrom came off the front row and Menard started to pull ahead but Amy Arsenault spun at the end of the front stretch and pitted for repairs. It brought a full race restart and this time Menard did take the lead in turn one with Bergstrom grabbing second. Danny Massa and Ava Chouinard ran side-by-side. Massa pulled ahead and Greg Perry came up on Ava’s high side. Menard rocketed away at the front.
Going into lap two, he was ten cars up on Bergstrom who was contending with Massa. Morrissette had take over fourth, followed by Chouinard. Four laps in and Massa replaced Bergstrom in second and Perry was now fourth behind Chouinard. But Morrissette came forward under Bergstrom to steal third.
Massa was paring down Menard’s lead, and had it down to seven cars on lap five. Perry was running third but now Cestodio came past Morrissette into fourth and began closing on lap nine. At the front, Menard, Massa, and Chouinard were running nose-to-tail just as Bergstrom spun between turns one and two. Marissa Morgan was able to dodge Max by a narrow margin. Unfortunately, Morgan was called for the assist on Bergstrom and joined him at the rear.
Menard Massa and Chouinard connected on the restart and spun in turn two. This reset the field for another restart and Massa lined up on the pole with Cestodio on his shoulder. Morrissette looked underneath as Massa pulled away. Cestodio went to second and Chouinard went to Morrissette’s high side.
Lap ten saw Massa leading Cestodio and they made contact in turn four but saved it. Cestodio was loose on the next lap, but pulled it back together. Morrissette ran third, followed by Chouinard and Cliff Avila. Avila looked underneath and went.
A dozen laps remained and Massa was still being pursued by Cestodio. Morrissette was eight cars back with Avila and Chouinard on his bumper. Doug Benoit was now fifth.
With ten to go, Cestodio nosed in under The Outlaw for the lead, and they brawled for supremacy. It continued for two laps until Cestodio was finally able to get his nose by on the backstretch then fully ahead in turn three. Massa dropped onto his bumper. Avila continued in third, shadowed by Morrissette, Chouinard and Benoit.
The leaders had to negotiate lapped traffic with five to go. But Cestodio and Massa were nursing a straightaway worth of lead. Cestodio was generating his own gap, and was four up on Massa with three to go. The order remained the same over the final three circuits until Cestodio flashed under the checkered flag, three cars up on Massa in second. Avila finished third, but tech inspectors discovered a glitch post-race and Morriseet was elevated to third. Chouinard and Benoit rounded out the top five. Sixth went to Arsenault, followed by Morgan, Perry, Menard, Bergstrom and Nicholas Mignone.
RUGGERIO BACK ATOP OUTLAWS
Giovanni Ruggerio climbed back into the winning column for the fourth time on the season, holding off the division’s other triple-winner, Samantha Dell, at the finish. Both drivers sported three wins apiece on the season and were running 1-2 in the points standings.
Giovanni ran to the front early, wresting the lead from Riley Caron on the third circuit. Dell was caught outside at the start and elbowed back just before Nicholas Rose spun in turn four after a single lap. Ruggerio restarted low in the second row, behind Ethan Heilborn and Stephen Bowden. Riley Caron and Thomas Dyment were row three.
At the green, Heilborn pulled ahead and Gio ducked under Bowden and into second on Heilborn’s bumper, who suddenly broke into a 360-degree spin, but was able to continue. Ruggerio had the lead, but now Caron was at his back and Dell had jumped from seventh on the restart to Caron’s bumper.
Isaiah Newcomb moved into fourth, pursued by Bowden – Joey Lemay and Nathan Smith wheeled along behind Bowden.
Ruggerio slewed a bit and slowed to control it allowing Caron and Dell to scoot past and drop into first and second. Ruggerio recovered and held onto third.
Caron rushed out to a ten-car lead with five laps down. Over the next two laps, dell pared that down, leading an intense trio which also included Ruggerio and Newcomb. Behind them, LeMay and Bowden were in a door-to-door brawl over fifth.
With six to go, Ruggerio took to the outside as Caron held a five-car lead. He closed in on Dell, who narrowed Caron’s lead to four lengths over the lap. Ruggerio pulled up to Sammy D’s bumper. She pulled back ahead by two cars and narrowed Caron’s lead to two lengths in doing so. But Dyment spun in turn four. Heilborn had been struggling with a cantankerous Bandolero and took it to the pits.
Caron took the pole position with Dell on his right. Ruggerio was behind him and Newcomb was outside. LeMay and Smith hovered behind them. On the green, Caron shot ahead and Ruggerio ducked under Dell. Caron moved uptrack and allowed Ruggerio a lane in the low groove. Giovanni seized the moment and ripped through into the lead. Dell dropped in ahead of Newcomb, grabbed Gio’s bumper and followed him through into second.
As Dell applied pressure to the leader, Newcomb and LeMay dueled for third. Newcomb had the low side and compounded that into third place and LeMay dropped into fourth. Smith grabbed LeMay’s bumper.
Ruggerio and Dell roared under the white flag nose-to-tail and made a mad dash to the checkers. Dell pulled out all the stops, but Ruggerio refused to let her by. They came over the line still nose-to-tail with Ruggerio grabbing his fourth win. Newcomb, Smith and LeMay rounded out the top five after Smith got past LeMay on the final circuit. Caron collected sixth. Bowden, Cameron Tavares, Rose and Aubrey Keller completed the top ten. Dyment was just off the pace at eleventh with Heilborn in the pits taking twelfth.
SMILIN’ REESE BATTLES TO ANOTHER WIN
Is Reese Bogue sneaking looks at Dave Darling’s playbook? This time out, he gathered up his fifth win on the season and seems to have Seekonk well in hand. It wasn’t quite as easy as usual for Smilin’ Reese, as Brody Monahan and PJ Evans combined to buzz about alongside and at his bumper throughout the feature, but Bogue held his line throughout the chaos and ducked under the checkers for number five with Monahan literally glued to his back bumper. And Evans was all over them both at the stripe. They finished 1-2-3 in that order with Brenden LeBelle and Ryan Vanasse, Jr. rounding out the top five.
After five wins, Smilin’ Reese came out of the car following his victory lap and climbed to the roof to do a victory dance with his signature of holding up a hand with five fingers showing, one for each of his wins, showing he’s as adept a showman as he is a driver.
At the get-go, he was on the low side of row four. Rob Murphy, Jr. and Vanasse made up the front row and ran wheel-to-wheel out of the starting box. Reese stormed ahead and as Murphy pulled ahead, he and Collin Vanasse dived under Ryan for a three-wide. Collin destabilized in the middle as Reese and Ryan shot ahead. Collin came loose and went around in turn two.
The Lap One restart had Murphy and Ryan again at the front with Reese and Monahan at their backs. Row three had LeBelle and Evans, already the stage was set for the aerial dogfight to come.
Again they went door-to-door with Ryan getting high through the turn. Bogue edged into third with Monahan hanging on outside. Another time around, and Bogue was at Murphy’s bumper and Monahan was figuring away around Bogue and took a look underneath as Evans jetted around and into third with LeBelle grabbing fourth. Monahan dueled with Evans over the lost position, looked underneath and dived in. But Evans pulled ahead.
Five laps in and Bogue pursued Murphy as Monahan and Evans were side-by-side behind them. LeBelle, Ryan and Joey LeMay. Bogue was all over Murphy’s bumper as they approached the suddenly-slowing car of Mike Hanafin. As they dodged around Mike, Murphy fell back. Bogue grabbed the lead, Monahan jumped onto his bumper and Evans shot in with LeBelle ducking under Murphy, who was now being victimized as the outside car. The race was turning into a real dustup.
With four laps to go, the three leaders – Bogue, Monahan, and Evans – were grinding it out, nose-to-tail. The next two laps were a gritty challenge to the drivers to keep straight and avoid mistakes. The wound into lap 13 and the trio at the front was separated by about a half-car, with LeBelle running third and Murphy having settled into fourth. Ryan and LeMay were pursuing with abandon.
Coming through turn four, heading for the white flag, Monahan was on Bogue’s bumper. Reese loosened a bit and wiggled, but held on to the lead. The front of the pack now began to enter a crowd of lapped traffic. Monahan was still threatening to take the lead away as they came through the group in turn four and headed toward the checkers.
The trio dived toward the stripe with abandon and charged under the checkers – Bogue, Monahan then Evans. It was Reese-redundant with win number five when the dust had settled.
Sixth on the evening went to Murphy, followed by Ethan Dion, Collin Vanasse, and Joel Newcomb, Brent Robidoux completed the top ten.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com