Magical Night for Chambers, Captures First NEMA Win at Claremont; Nocella Wins Lites
Bridgewater, MA – This past Friday evening, NEMA made a return to Claremont Speedway. Beautiful weather, despite a grim forecast, and a professionally run operation greeted the winged warriors at the Speedway.
“I’m still at a loss for words. I don’t even know what to say,” were the first words from Jim Chambers on Saturday, following his first ever NEMA win at Claremont Speedway.
In the NEMA feature, Chambers bolted out into the lead on lap one. A caution for an altercation involving Paul Scally, brought the field back to its original formation. On the restart, which would be the only one of the race, Chambers quickly took command again.
Through the early stages of the race, Chambers paced the field at a torrid rate. Further back, Seth Carlson had quickly worked his way into second, and John Zych & Randy Cabral had worked their way from the last row into third and fourth by the halfway point.
The Carlson, Zych, Cabral trio looked to be gaining on Chambers in the late stages of the race, in heavy lapped traffic, but Chambers would have none of it, as he was flawless over the final laps of the race. He went on to take down the victory over Carlson, Zych, Cabral and Avery Stoehr.
“Throughout the day I focused on not over thinking or over driving the track. The car felt great in the heat race so we decided not to touch it other than getting stagger to where we wanted. During the race I think the biggest thing was having settled down and when the flag dropped I was ready to go. The whole race I had one thought… go as fast as this car will let me.. I had no idea if I had a car length or a straightaway ahead I just tried to be quick through traffic, smooth and hit my points. The last five laps I was so focused that it went by faster that I could ever imagine. I can’t explain how good my first win feels and I owe it to so many that have helped,” concluded Chambers.
In the Lites race, veteran Anthony Nocella wasted no time. He blasted through the field, and honed in on Andy Barrows in the #46. He made the move under Barrows down the back straight on lap eight, and he “ran away and hid” from the field in the Frank Manafort #76 machine. Behind Nocella, there was an exceptional battle for second between Barrows, Scott Bigelow and Randy Cabral. Bigelow made a number of attempts at Barrows, but came up short to finish third. Cabral and Jim Chambers completed the top five.
NEMA continues its summer stretch with a highly anticipated return to Star Speedway in Epping, NH on August 29th. A special “Showdown of Champions” will highlight the night.