NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS SOUTH FOR MAY 21, 2015
By Lou Modestino
Stafford Speedway returned to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing action with the DARE Stock Xtra Mart Xtra D 50 program on Friday, May 15thon what was also Whelen Event Night with three Ingersoll Rand contingency bonuses going to the winners of the SK Modified®, Late Model, and SK Light features. Xtra Mart Convenience Stores put up a $250 bonus that was split evenly among the top-5 finishers in the extra distance DARE Stock feature event. Dan Dembek was the big winner, taking his second feature win of the 2015 season in the 20-lap DARE Stock feature. Ronnie Williams became the first repeat winner in the SK Modified® ranks, outdueling Eric Berndt and Ryan Preece in the process. Adam Gray picked up his first win of the season after three second place finishes, Tony Membrino, Jr. won his second consecutive feature in the SK Lights, Cliff Saunders got his second win of the season in the Limited Late Model feature, and Dana DiMatteo won his third consecutive Legend Cars feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Michael Gervais, Jr. went around Tom Bolles at the start to take the early race lead. Todd Owen and Ted Christopher followed suit in the outside groove to get around Bolles on lap-2. Eric Berndt and Ryan Preece were lined up on the outside of Bolles on lap-3 and they were both able to get by as Bolles was now dueling with Glen Reen for sixth on lap-4. A multicar accident in turn 2 collected Ronnie Silk, Jeremy Sorel, Adam Norton, Sean Foster, and Adam Norton and brought the caution out with 4 laps complete.
Gervais took the lead on the restart while Owen was side by side with Berndt for second and Berndt quickly took that spot. Mike Christopher, Jr. spun to bring the caution out with 6 laps complete.
Berndt got around Gervais to take the lead on the restart but the field could only complete 2 more laps before the caution came back out for a spin by Ted Christopher in turn 4. Behind Christopher Keith Rocco and Rowan Pennink were hooked together and they came to a stop next to Christopher. Rocco rejoined the field while Pennink was stuck on pit road with a damaged right front. Berndt took the lead back under green with Gervais, Dan Avery, Justin Bonsignore, and Ryan Preece behind him. The caution came back out with 10 laps complete as Tom Bolles spun through the infield grass.
The restart saw a major pileup in the outside groove that collected 7 or 8 cars, including Ronnie Silk, Jeff Baral, Woody Pitkat, Mike Christopher, Jr., Tyler Hines, Branden Dion, Andrew Charron, and Tommy Membrino, Jr. Gervais took the lead from Berndt on the restart with Avery, Preece, and Reen making up the top-5. Adam Norton came to a stop at the pit road entrance to bring the caution back out with 12 laps complete.
Berndt went back to the front on the restart with Preece working his way up to second. Ronnie Williams was up to third with Keith Rocco in fourth after his earlier misfortune, and Gervais fell back to fifth. Preece was trying the outside groove on Berndt while Williams was simultaneously trying the inside line against Preece. Preece was able to keep Williams behind him and he made a move to take over the lead on lap-18. Williams pulled alongside Berndt on lap-19 but Berndt was able to keep the spot. Rocco was fourth with Avery in fifth and Christopher was now back up to sixth after his earlier spin.
The action at the front of the field was intense as Berndt was searching for a way to get back by Preece while Williams was looking high and low for a way around Berndt. Berndt pulled alongside Preece on lap-25 and cleared Preece on lap-26 to retake the lead. Williams was now on the inside of Preece for second while Rocco was right on their bumpers in fourth and Avery was still right there in fifth. Chrisotpher and Gervais were closing in on the top-5 cars to make it a 7-car train at the front of the field with 11 laps to go.
Williams and Preece continued to run side by side behind Berndt and Williams was finally able to make a pass stick on lap-31 as he moved into second place. Glen Reen spun in turn 4 to bring the caution out with 35 laps complete and set up a 5-lap dash to the finish. Berndt took the lead on the restart and Williams was briefly back to third but he took second from Preece in turns 3+4. Rocco and Avery were still fourth and fifth as Williams made a bid for the lead on lap-37. Williams and Berndt ran side by side until Williams got clear to the lead on lap-39. Williams led the field back to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the 2015 season and become the first repeat SK Modified® feature winner. Berndt finished second, with Preece, Rocco, and Avery rounding out the top-5.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, Michael Wray and Tom Butler were side by side for the first 2 laps in a duel for the lead with Butler getting the better of that battle. Josh Wood quickly moved into second, with Adam Gray right behind him in third. Michael Scorzelli was fourth and Tom Fearn quickly worked his way into fifth. Wray fell back to eighth after fighting for the lead in the opening laps.
Wood made a move to the inside of Butler on lap-7 and he took the lead in turn 3. Gray followed Wood by Butler, who settled into line in third with Fearn behind him in fourth and Scorzelli was fifth. Gray ran behind Wood until lap-12 when he made a pass in turn 1 to take over the lead. Behind them, Butler was still running third, with Fearn in fourth and Scorzelli in fifth. On lap-21, Michael Bennett passed both Fearn and Scorzelli to move into fourth place and one lap later saw Kevin Gambacorta move by Scorzelli to take over sixth place. The next lap saw Gambacorta move by Fearn to take over fifth place as Gray continued to lead Wood, Butler, and Bennett.After three consecutive second place finishes to open the season, Gray put himself into victory lane for the first time. Wood came home in second, with Butler, Bennett, and Gambacorta rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light feature event, a spin in turn 1 on the first lap collected the cars of Nick Salva, Rit Dulac, and Glenn Griswold and brought the caution out. Todd Douillard took the lead on the restart with Daniel Wesson in second. Wesson got a bit out of shape in turn 2, but he gathered the car back up and maintained second place. Stephen Kopcik moved into third, with Matt Swanson in fourth and Kyle Jette was fifth, just in front of Tony Membrino, Jr.
Membrino and Jette were side by side for fifth place with Membrino taking the spot on lap-4. Douillard had pulled out to a comfortable lead with Wesson’s slide on the opening lap, but Wesson ran Douillard down and he made a pass for the lead on lap-7. Kopcik was still third, but Membrino was now up to fourth with Swanson behind him in fifth.
The order changed again on lap-11 as Membrino and Kopcik both got by Douillard to move into second and third. Membrino and Kopcik then waged a side by side duel for a lap before Membrino moved into second on lap-14. Wesson had a 1.5 second lead that was erased by the caution for a spin by Jette.
Membrino got a good run on the outside of Wesson to take the lead on the restart. Wesson touched the dirt coming out of turn 2 that got his car slightly out of shape and allowed Kopcik to move into second. Joey Ferrigno was side by side with Douillard in a fight for fourth place behind Wesson as Membrino and Kopcik were running nearly identical lap times at the front. Douillard shot up the track in turn 4 and lost several spots but it was all Membrino at the front of the field as he took down his second consecutive win. Kopcik finished second, with Wesson, Ferrigno, and Swanson rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, David Comeau led the field to green but he drifted up the track in turn 3, allowing Justin Bren to move to the lead. Kelsey Rottino also got around Comeau to move into second. David Arute was fourth behind Comeau with Cliff Saunders running in fifth. Arute made his move to the inside of Comeau on lap-5 to move into third. With Comeau on the high side, he began to slide backwards as Cliff Saunders, Austin Bessette, Al Saunders, Andrew Hayes, and Paul Arute all got by, dropping Comeau back to 9th place.
The order began to shuffle at the midway point of the race with Cliff Saunders, Austin Bessette, Al Saunders, and Andrew Hayes all got by Arute. Up front, Rottino made a move to the inside of Bren for the lead and and the two cars touched with Rottino spinning and bringing the caution out with 14 laps complete. Bren was sent to the rear of the field by NASCAR Officials for the restart, putting Cliff Saunders and Bessette on the front row for the restart.
Cliff Saunders took the lead on the restart with his twin brother Albert getting by Bessette to move inot second. Arute was all over Bessette’s bumper in the fight for third with Hayes right behind Arute in fifth. Hayes moved around Arute to take fourth on lap-17 while Albert was glued to Cliff Saunders’ back bumper up front.Albert made a last lap move to the inside of Cliff as they came out of turn 4 and headed to the checkered flag, but Cliff had enough momentum to keep the lead at the start/finish line. Bessette finished third, with Hayes and Arute rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Xtra Mart Xtra D DARE Stock feature event, Marcello Rufrano led the field to the green but he was turned around into the frontstretch wall to bring the caution out.
On the restart, Alexandra Fearn took the lead with Frank L’Etoile, Jr. moving into second. Trace Beyer was on the move early on, moving up to third, with Dan Dembek fourth and Tyler Trott was up to fifth. Fearn initially pulled out to a several car length lead but by lap-3, L’Etoile was on her back bumper and he made a move in turn 3 to take over the lead. Beyer followed in L’Etoile’s tire tracks but was unable to make the pass as Fearn remained in second. The caution came back out with 6 laps complete for a spin in turn 1 by Doug Phelps that erased the lead that L’Etoile had built up over Fearn and Dembek.
L’Etoile took the lead back under green with Dembek moving into second. Trott moved into third with Beyer fourth as Fearn fell back to fifth. As the cars completed 10 laps, the caution came out for a spin by Chris Bagnall. L’Etoile again took the lead back under green with Dembek holding off a challenge from Trott. Zack Robinson and Fearn came together with Fearn getting loose in turn 1 and then Robinson spun in turn 3 from contact from Fearn. Both cars were able to continue and the race stayed green with both Robinson and Fearn receiving black flags.
Up front, Dembek had taken the lead from L’Etoile with Trott and Beyer right on L’Etoile’s bumper in a 4-way duel for the lead as the cars completed 16 laps. Dembek led the cars back to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the season. Trott made a move on the final lap to take second with L’Etoile, Beyer, and Nicole Chambrello rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Legends Car feature event, Andrew Molleur took the lead at the green but Cory DiMatteo spun to bring the caution out with 1 lap complete. On the restart, Ryan DeCandia went around to bring the caution right back out. Molleur again took the lead on the restart with Teddy Hodgdon holding off a strong challenge from Dana DiMatteo to remain in second place. Chris Fuller spun to bring the caution back out with 3 laps complete.
Molleur took the lead but he lost the lead to Hodgdon on lap-4. Molleur continued to slide backwards as Dana DiMatteo, Mikey Flynn, Joe Graf, Jr., Cory DiMatteo, and Devin O’Connell all got by Molleur. Brett Crowther spun to bring the caution out with 6 laps complete. Dana DiMatteo snatched the lead away from Hodgdon on the restart with Cory DiMatteo moving into third. Flynn was fourth and O’Connell was fifth with Graf in sixth and Fuller recovered from his earlier spin in seventh. Dana DiMatteo and Hodgdon began to slowly pull away from Cory DiMatteo while O’Connell was all over his back bumper in the fight for third.
O’Connell made the move on lap-13 to take over third as Dana DiMatteo continued to lead the race with Hodgdon giving chase. As the leaders navigated lapped traffic, O’Connell was able to close in on the lead duo to make it a 3-car fight for the lead. Dana DiMatteo was able to hold off Hodgdon and O’Connell to the checkered flag to pick up his third consecutive victory of the 2015 season. Mikey Flynn was fourth and Cory DiMatteo rounded out the top-5.
At Seekonk Speedway Bobby Pelland III and Ron Barboza, Jr. in the Late Model feature dueled door-to-door on a lap 3 restart with Pelland nosing ahead on the outside at the stripe into lap four to take the lead. Pelland took command and led Barboza and Charlie Rose, last week’s winner, along with Dylan Estrella to the checkers. Although he made it look easy it wasn’t . He had to confront the crafty veteran Rose on two restarts and Estrella on two more but he wasn’t to be denied. With Estrella glued to his bumper, he flashed across the stripe a quarter-second ahead. Austin Blais followed on their heels with Rose in for fourth and Bill Bernard completing the top five.
A lap 7 spin in the Street Stocks sent race leader Stephen Potter to the infield grass and Paul Lallier moved to the front to stay in the Street Stock main event . The ever-present Tony Oliveira of Raynham went to second for the remaining 18 laps while Chris Rioux and Corey Fanning covered the same distance locked into third and fourth. Division champ Rey Lovelace battled back and fourth between fifth and sixth, finally locking fifth down on lap 12. Vinny Pangelinan, Thomas Adams Sam Porazzo, Tyler Lallier and Adam Dion completed the top ten.
In the Pro Stock feature Angelo Belsito was tired of watching Fred Astle’s attempts to take the lead from Kyle Casper for seven laps. After watching Freddy nosing under and having the door slammed on lap 16, the 2014 Rookie-of-the-Year went whole hog to the high side and powered around the multi-time champion and then Casper to assume the lead for good on lap 18. He clung steadfastly to the front, including restarts on laps 21 and 23 opposite Casper, and a lap 36 duel with Astle. Belsito denied all challenges and claimed another trip to Victory Lane. The top two went wheel-to-wheel down the front and battled for a lap before Belsito could pull ahead at the stripe. Astle dropped in and attempted a cross-under move. But Belsito was prepared and denied him the win.
Sport Truck driver John Paiva came home with a feature win after a grueling contest with young David Lougee. Lougee led four-fifths of the twenty-five lap main holding off Lougee for the entire distance. But the former champ was able to storm ahead on a lap 19 restart. For a moment following a lap-19 restart, Mike Cavallaro seemed about to steal the hard-won lead away but fell back and champ Rob Murphy, last week’s victor, sailed into third looking for room at the front. Dan Johnson took advantage of some looseness on the part of Eric LeBrun’s to sail into fifth. Cavallaro then got under Lougee into second and it took Murphy longer to make the pass, forcing him to settle for third. Rookie Johnson (just up from Fast Fridays’ Pure Stocks division) then leveraged Lougee for fourth, forcing the former race leader to settle for fifth.
Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, CT had the hot hand at the Lee USA Speedway Sunday afternoon when he drove to the Hoosier Tire East 100 feature victory. It was the first stop for the Tri-Track modified series. Besting a stellar field, Pasteryak qualified well enough to start from the third row and keep the leaders in sight. By lap 10 pole sitter Woody Pitkat of Stafford Springs, CT pulled out to an eight car draft lead, while the next 20 cars ran side-by-side, nose to tail. A lap 18 yellow flag for a scramble in turn one slowed the action briefly. On the restart, Pitkat and hard charging Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA led the field to green and Masse stalked Pitkat until lap 24, when Masse powered by on the inside to become the new race leader.
As Masse and Pitkat raced out to a comfortable lead, Mike Douglas Jr. flexed his muscle and drove from 7th to 3rd place in the next 10 laps.
The quick pace Masse was setting had him lapping slower cars by lap 40. At the half way mark Masse and Pitkat led a steadily gaining Douglas, Pasteryak and Ryan Preece.
By lap 60 Douglas’s aggressive style saw him start to fade, dropping him quickly back to ninth place. Not to be outdone, Richard Savary, a regular on the MRS tour, picked off cars with his march to the front. After restarting from the rear he found himself cruising inside the top 10.
With the laps winding down it was Pasteryak’s turn to make his move and he out drove Preece in turn three taking over third place, at the same time Pitkat ran on the outside of Masse. Pitkat couldn’t pull off the move for the lead, but it gave Pasteryak the opportunity to catch the leaders and pull off his own move putting both Masse and Pitkat in his rear view mirror on lap 89. It looked like it might be an easy run from there, but the second caution of the afternoon came on lap 97, just as Todd Annarummo got past Preece and Masse for third.
Now it was a three lap shootout for the victory between Pasteryak, Pitkat, Annarummo and Seuss. Masse and Preece pitted for tires, dropping them from contention.
Annarummo, who almost won this race one year ago, pulled off an outstanding restart to slip by Pitkat, but he could only follow Pasteryak to the finish line with Pitkat, Seuss and Anthony Nocella rounding out the top five. Driving a heads-up race, Richard Savary had to be the hard charger of the day coming from a last-place restart on lap 18 to finish sixth.
A jubilant Pasteryak said,”starting inside the top five helped us, I paced myself off Ryan Preece (race leader) and saved my equipment, you know, he’s usually around at the end of these things. And with no cautions the next thing I knew it was lap 75 or 80 and it turned into a track position race so I started charging and caught the leaders in a hurry. Then Steven (Masse) came off turn two, got a little loose, which killed Woody’s momentum leaving the bottom open. I expected caution at some point mid-race, but I’m happy it didn’t happen. I set a pace for myself and it’s just racing at Lee, it’s not the car, it’s not the tires, it’s the track, but it was certainly better to be towards the front. We’ve got four races on this new car with three good finishes and a tenth at Monadnock (speedway) with a slipping clutch, but we got that worked out. It wasn’t slipping today”
Runner-up Annarummo said “I was in a conservative mode from the start like everybody else, when it got late in the race and there were no cautions we turned up the wick a little bit and chased them down. We just missed the setup a little, and Chris (Pasteryak) was better than us, he could get off the corner better than us. We destroyed it in practice so I’ll take a second-place finish”.
Pitkat was happy with his third place finish and commented “Car’s in one piece and we can go on to Stafford and see what we can do there. Here it was a pretty good race except for some lapped cars that held me up for a while, and its competitors I race with in another division, so I’ll just put that in the back of my head. Now I’d like to go on to Stafford (Springs Motor Speedway) and see if we can get an MRS win.”
Savary’s hard charge netted him a sixth place finish. “Because we had to start towards the back, our strategy was to ride and stay in the back saving the tires. A couple of drivers at mid-pack were running side-by-side conserving their equipment and I was disappointed with the officiating that allowed those people to ride like that for so many laps, which eventually led to the incident I was involved in with three or four other cars. After a tire change, I started in the rear and luckily I picked the right lane and took a car at a time, until I was 10th and I started to wait for a yellow so we could change the right rear, but yellow never came and I went back on aggressive mode and started passing again. Today we had a good car and maybe I could have had a better finish, if I didn’t conserve so much at midpoint of the race, but we’re still good with a sixth place.”
Another driver who needed a caution flag for a tire change was Mike Douglas, Jr., but that cautioned never came and Douglas finished 15th. “I never thought we’d go as green as long as we did here, it’s hard to say, maybe I was driving 60% throttle and dad (crew chief) said if you want to go- go. I was actually getting bored running where I was so I decided to go. I got to third for some lap money, but I guess I used up the tires at that point, but I enjoyed running flat out and what you got is what you’ve got at the end.”
Bullring Bash 100 Unofficial Results
Lee USA Speedway – May 17. 2015
1 5ct Chris Pasteryak
2 12 Todd Annarummo
3 42 Woody Pitkat
4 70 Andy Seuss
5 92 Anthony Nocella
6 99 Richard Savary
7 53 Norm Wrenn
8 85 Todd Szegedy
9 05 Todd Patnode
10 6 Ryan Preece
11 22 Rowan Pennink
12 29 Brendon Bock
13 28 Dwight Jarvis
14 13 Steve Masse
15 23 Mike Douglas, Jr.
16 27 Andy Jankowiak
17 76 Zane Zeiner
18 16 Jon McKennedy
19 20 Doug Coby
20 79nh Garrison Grubisa
21 36 Dave Sapienza
22 7ma Kurt Vigeant
23 50ma Carl Medeiros, Jr.
24 79 Spencer Davis
25 6ma Dennis Perry
26 41 Dan McKeage
27 50 Matt Hirschman
28 43
Kirk Alexander
NEMA kicks off its opening weekend action at Chemung Speedrome this coming Friday night, May 22. Two of the headline drivers taking the main stage at Chemung will be 2013 New York State NASCAR Modified Champion Jimmy Zacharias and 2012/2014 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion Doug Coby. Zacharias will be behind the wheel of the Motor Cars International 15B Lites car, and Coby behind the wheel of the Bertrand Motorsports #74 NEMA entry.
“I’m excited about making my first NEMA (Lites) midget start. The cars have always looked fun and racey whenever I’ve seen them run. Being a regular at Chemung should help me and I’m looking forward to the race,” said Zacharias.
In the Lites division, one cannot count out the Bigelow family, brothers Scott and Paul. Scott was very strong in the Lites season opener at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. The Cugini family of Marshfield brings their two strong family owned entries to the Speedrome. Danny proving very strong at Thompson and Anthony Payne in the Scrivani 21 out of Brockton. NEMA Champion Randy Cabral of Kingston will have his family owned #35 on hand as well. Raynham’s Paul Scally has been very strong in early starts so far this season in his new Lites ride and will be on hand at both events.
In the NEMA field, Coby is looking forward to his return to the midgets. “I like having fun in whatever I’m driving and I have fun driving these cars,” Coby said. “I like challenging myself to do something different and showing people that I can drive something other than a Modified. So it’s fun to go into different divisions and try to win if you can.”
A strong field of midgets heads to Chemung, headed by 2014 champion Randy Cabral. Cabral is joined by Coby & Todd Bertrand as teammates. 2013 Champion, John Zych, has been strong at the New York tracks – finishing 2nd at Oswego, and winning the previous year at Airborne Park. Seth Carlson has been one of the drivers to beat in recent history on the flat New York tracks, winning last year’s race at Evans Mills, and the previous year at Oswego. Bethany Stoehr of Bridgewater will be in the Breault #44, and the always strong Avery Stoehr of Lakeville will be in his familiar 15B entry, and always a threat to win.
The Northeastern Midget Association is the oldest pavement midget racing club in the Nation. Midgets are typically four cylinder, pure bred open wheel race cars. They do not use starters, flywheels or clutches. If it is bolted into a midget, it serves one of only two purposes: safety or speed. The mighty midgets of NEMA are that and more. With their nearly four hundred horsepower motors, large wings and wide hoosier tires. The NEMA midgets are the fastest asphalt midgets in the world.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) is proud to host the inaugural race for the Formula Lites on its 1.7 mile road course, as part of a double race-weekend on May 29-30. The newly formed Formula Lites series represents the future of open-wheel racing for developing drivers. Featuring the very latest technology and engineering, and powered by a 2.4-liter, 16-valve Honda engine, these cars provide an avenue for drivers looking to climb the open-wheel ladder to series such as IndyCar or Formula 1.
The Formula Lites will be joined by the longest running Formula racing series in the country, the Formula Vee’s who continue to race under SCCA sanction. Spec Racer Fords and the INEX Legend Cars will also join the action on Friday and Saturday. TSMP will be only the second road course included in the Legend Cars 2015 racing schedule.
Don’t miss out on the exciting open-wheel action at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park! For more information about the event,
As the “second act” in the upcoming “NEMA New York” weekend, the division will bring a strong field to Evans Mills Speedway this Saturday evening. The Evans Mills staff has been busy promoting the event with anticipation of an exceptional show, and NEMA has been participating in the promotional activities throughout the winter and spring months. Last weekend, NEMA star Bethany Stoehr and family visited the Speedway in an effort to promote the upcoming race.
Last year’s Evans Mills winner Seth Carlson is also excited to return to the Speedway. He brings his newly redone Gene Feigel, Esslinger powered #71 back to New York with high hopes of a victory. Paul Scally, who didn’t have good luck at Evans Mills last year, was very strong at some of the “round” race tracks last year, nearly winning the Seekonk Boston Louie Memorial race in July. Scally also has high hopes for Evans Mills. Last year’s winner and opening day winner, Scott Bigelow, has high hopes in the Lites division.
Perhaps one of the most exciting additions to the weekend is the return of the VIP Fan program, spearheaded by Mariah Michalski of Bertrand Motorsports. This weekend’s VIP fans are 5 year old Riley French and 3 year old Izabella French. Riley, an autistic child, is no different than many other children – he loves to play legos, play on his iPad, and brings his pal & work dog, Gunnar, with him wherever he goes. The French family is very excited to attend their first NEMA race, and NEMA will give them a whole hearted welcome as this week’s VIP fans.
NEMA will run extended distance races of 30 laps at both Chemung and Evans Mills and the Lites 25 laps. Doug Coby’s 13.000 lap, clocked by Evans Mills Officials last season stands as the fastest lap turned by the midgets to date. Surely many will be aiming for that range, including Coby, as he returns to the facility this weekend.
The Northeastern Midget Association is the oldest pavement midget racing club in the Nation. Midgets are typically four cylinder, pure bred open wheel racecars. They do not use starters, flywheels or clutches. If it is bolted into a midget, it serves one of only two purposes: safety or speed. The mighty midgets of NEMA are that and more. With their nearly four hundred horsepower motors, large wings, and wide hoosier tires – the NEMA midgets are the fastest asphalt midgets in the world. (end)