The NEMST rolled into Waterford Speedbowl for the second time this season and the final event of 2012. This year has been full of ups and downs including the early season soar of Shawn Swallow, the rocketship of Mike Mason, the dominance of Emerson Cayer, the improvement of Cris King, and the perseverance of Danny Field.
Coming into the final event of the season the points were the tightest they have been all season. The leaders were separated by just 6 points and the following 4 cars separated by a mere 34. All of the drivers in the top 10 were fighting for the bigger trophy at the season end banquet in November.
Jett Fabrication sponsored the event at Waterford and presented the winner with a cool AMSOIL prize pack and other goodies along with bonus cash. Waterford Speedbowl presents a fierce challenge for the Tour regulars as the weekly mini-stock competitors are allowed to join in on tour events. Waterford as held the highest car counts the NEMST has ever seen and there was no changing that this weekend. 34 cars signed in for the event Saturday night and we begin a fight for only 30 starting spots. As the challenge began so did the drama. Emerson Cayer rolled his car out of the trailer and found that it would not start as the other teams began practice. Point leader Danny Field was also experiencing fuel and ignition issues.
Emerson got his car to fire for the final round of practice but was almost a half second of the pace of the leaders. He would experience the benefit of a front row draw for the heat race. Danny Field’s car was still sputtering and would have to come from deep in the field to gain points on Cayer in the heat.
This is the first the NEMST has had to qualify cars for an event. A consolation race would be added to the program. From the heat races 8 cars would transfer to the feature with the remainder going to the consi. The NEMST would take the first 6 cars from the consi and bring them into the feature as well.
As the heats started both of the top 2 championship cars rolled out in heat 1. Emerson Cayer experienced a blown engine and rolled from the track midway through. Danny Field fought from the back but could only muster a 6th place finish. Scott Farrington, Bill Leonard, and Glen Thomas were the heat race winners.
10 cars were pushed into the consolation race. 4 of those would have to try and battle with the NEMST another time. Scott Michalski brought home the win with a hard charging Roger Ducharme flying from the back row to take the 2nd spot. Emerson Cayer scrambled and was allowed to borrow a car from Speedbowl Champion Kenny Cassidy but had to repair it due to engine damage Cassidy suffered in the heat. Cayer brought the car home in 3rd place qualifying for the main event.
After a 6 row inversion drawn by heat 1 winner Scott Farrington and Cassidy pulling himself from the event Pete Zakarite enjoyed the pole position with former Speedbowl Champion Glenn Colvin to his outside. The feature took off to a furious start as Matt Sonnhalter got involved in a hard wreck on the backstretch on lap 1. The field went under a red flag condition to clean up the oil and water spilled from the cars covering the backstretch.
As the green flag waved for the restart Glen Thomas broke out to a quick lead over Zakarite. Previous NEMST winner Marc Panaroni would be a car to watch as he began to improve his 5th starting position as he almost won last falls event at the Speedbowl. The NEMST would experience some quick cautions for spins and contact in the back of the field but the front runners started to pull away from the field. Danny Field and Emerson Cayer cleared the wrecks and started improving their deep-in-the-field starting positions as they drove into the top 10. Thomas still led over the field as Panaroni pulled into second but could not get beside the leader.
Field and Cayer were racing almost side by side as Field got spun with 11 laps to go. There were still 22 cars on the lead lap as Field was forced to start at the back. When the cars received the green Field started an impressive run rebounding from his spin to drive through the field with precision and determination.. Field chased down Cayer who was running in the top 10 and passed him coming out of turn 2. Cayer would follow Field and try to capitalize on a mistake until 2 laps to go when the borrowed car was pulled to the infield with motor troubles. Cayer would fall 2 laps down and Field would gain the 2012 NEMST Championship in his first season with the tour. Marc Panaroni would hold onto the win as Colvin and Christian crossed the line behind him. Christian failed to immediately report to post race tech and was placed the last car on the lead lap by tour officials. That moved Cris King into his first NEMST podium finish. Field would be moved to 4th in his championship run.
The NEMST has finished it’s season for 2012 but invites everyone to its post season Championship Banquet and Rules Meeting held in Methuen, MA on November 17. The NEMST will crown its top 10 in points as well as all the bonus and raffle award winners. Visit www.northeastministocktour.com for additional information.
Waterford Bonus Awards
Sunoco Race Fuels Winners Challenge: Marc Panaroni
Sunoco Race Fuels Hard Charger: Danny Field
Tater’s NASCAR Cash: Cory Dentino
Texas Roadhouse Gas Card: Roger Ducharme
Jett Fabrication Winners Challenge: Marc Panaroni
Racecar Engineering Gift Certificates:
Marc Panaroni
Chris Ivory
Travis Jurcik
Louis Maher