By Lou Modestino
Stafford Motor Speedway’s DARE Stock division has been the starting grounds for future track champions like Woody Pitkat, Cory Casagrande, Kevin Gambacorta, Josh Wood, and Tony Membrino, Jr. This season third generation racer Nikki Chambrello will make her Stafford debut with dreams of one day joining her Uncle Pat, Jr. as a Stafford track champion.
Chambrello’s grandfather Pat, Sr. drove Street Stocks at Plainville Stadium and her Uncle Pat, Jr. is the 1981 and 1982 track champion at Stafford in the Street Stock division. Pat, Jr. also raced in the SK Modified® division at SMS from 1983-1993 with Nikki’s father Joe serving as crew chief and engine builder. As Nikki prepares to make her Stafford debut, she has a wealth of experience surrounding her that should ease her transition from quarter midgets into the DARE Stock division. In addition to Pat, Jr., Nikki has been getting advice from Ed Flemke, Jr. and Reggie Ruggiero as well as Kris Fluckiger, whose car her family purchased for the 2014 season.
After spending the last two seasons competing in the Legends cars ranks at Waterford Speedbowl, Newtown native Stephen Kopcik will become the newest member of the 2014 SK Light Modified rookie class at Stafford Motor Speedway. Kopcik and his team recently acquired a Chassis Dynamics car that was a backup car for Ryan Preece at Thompson Speedway and he will have Mike Paquette from CD Chassis helping him out with his chassis setup.
“David Smith Racing, who is one of our primary sponsors, bought a car for us about a week ago,” said Kopcik. “We have Ryan Preece’s backup car from Thompson, the orange 31 car. Mike Paquette is going to be helping us out with setting the car up and it’s a nice straight car and there’s no mismatched parts on it so we have a good recipe to go out and win.”
The Granite State Pro Stock Series held their first meeting of the new season at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Series president Mike Parks spoke to nearly 100 competitors, owners, and crew members, discussing the schedule and options for years beyond the upcoming season. One of the main changes in the off season is the format for the heat races. In previous years, the winner of a heat race would receive 6 points, and would descend according to position by 1 point each. In 2014, each position will receive double the points, giving the winner 12 points, second place earning 10 points, descending each position by 2 points.
“Heat races are so important,” states 2013 champ Mike O’Sullivan. “In heat races, you try to gain more positions which will earn more points. With more points being awarded, the heat races are magnified. My brother (Tommy O’Sullivan) and I have circled them as an area of importance.” O’Sullivan credits his success in heat races to helping him win the championship last year. His 4 heat race wins contributed heavily to earning top honors in the series.
Adding to the importance of the heat races, the GSPSS has joined forces with McClellan Metal Finishing out of Waltham, MA to grant the winners of each heat race an extra $25 bonus in their earnings. “It gives you something else to race for,” O’Sullivan adds. “Every little bit helps.”
There was a strong showing from the state of Maine at the meeting, with a couple of drivers throwing their names into the hat for the upcoming season. 2012 Beech Ridge Pro Stock champ Brad Babb has filed paperwork to compete in the GSPSS in 2014.
“If everything goes well, we are going to go after the 2014 championship,” Babb comments. “We came down to the World Series at Thompson last year, were treated well, felt appreciated, and had
a pretty good time. We are looking forward to 2014 season, especially the races at Lee and White Mountain Motorsports Park.”
Along with multiple feature wins at Beech Ridge, Babb was the 2010 Rookie of the Year in the American-Canadian Tour, and has dabbled in PASS as well. Joining Babb, Westbrook, ME resident Matty Sanborn has filed to compete for Rookie of the Year. “Each year we are seeing an increase in car counts and talent in our series,” remarked Parks. “We have more ‘true rookies’ coming in and more drivers in general. Every year the bar is being raised.”
The Granite State Pro Stock Series will begin the season at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on April 5th and 6th. There will be an open practice at the facility on March 22nd, and an open practice on Friday, April 4th from 2-5 p.m. with pits opening at noon. The 10 race schedule will also conclude at Thompson for the World Series, and will stop at Monadnock, Hudson, Star, Lee, and White Mountain Motorsports Park, with the possibility of other dates added shortly.
Waterford Speedbowl management is pleased to announce track official Bob Gilot was recognized as the INEX
Technical Inspector of the Year for 2013. The award was presented to Gilot Saturday evening at INEX’s annual awards banquet held in Charlotte,NC. INEX is the international sanctioning body over several racing
divisions including Legend Cars and Bandoleros, which compete at the Speedbowl.
Gilot, from Lisbon, is the Speedbowl’s Director of Technical Inspection and oversees all divisions in competition at the Speedbowl. “We are proud of the work Bob does for us week in and week out. Those efforts did not go unnoticed by the folks at INEX headquarters” Speedbowl owner and promoter Terry Eames stated Sunday. “Bob has helped us keep our commitment to Legend Cars and Bandolero racing strong and we’ll have more big announcements on that note in the weeks ahead”.
The Legend Cars and Bandoleros compete weekly in the Speedbowl’s Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday series and the Legend Cars appear on many of the track’s Saturday night events. Each promote youth racing and are a valuable part of the development of young racers.
INEX is the third largest short track sanctioning body behind NASCAR and International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) with more than 3,500 members. INEX annually sanctions more than 2,000 races at more than 200
different tracks throughout the world.
Seekonk Speedway closed the book on the 2013 season on Saturday, January 18, 2014, with the 68th annual Awards and Dinner Celebration at the Venus DeMilo in Swansea, MA. Several hundred men and women packed the Athena rooms to honor the 9 champions.
The evening started out by announcing the 2014 inductees onto the Seekonk Speedway, 97.7 WPRO 630 Wall of Fame. Based off of over 2500 votes, four names will be inducted on Saturday, May 31, 2014. Long time competitor Billy Clarke was honored as an inductee, as was former two-time Pro Stock Champion Don Dionne, long time official Ron Manfredo, and three time and former Pro Stock Champ Wayne Dion. The four were introduced to the capacity crowd among a standing ovation.
Dave Darling of Rehoboth, MA picked up the hardware once again, celebrating his fourth Pro Stock championship in the last eight seasons. Dave and Gary Johnson teamed up nine years ago and have been a force each season. This year, on the strength of seven victories, he bested former champion Dick Houlihan, Tom Scully Jr, Fred Astle Jr and Ryan Vanasse, who each had two wins apiece. VP Race Fuels handed a gift certificate to the champion, with American Racing offering their jacket to go along with the champagne. Houlihan and Scully each received gift certificates to Columbus Energies, the official fuel supplier for the speedway. Bobby Pelland III picked up the Pro Stock Rookie of the Year honors.
For the record seventh time, Gerry DeGasparre Jr of Pawtucket, RI sat at the head table, representing the LM division. Gerry picked up a division tying four victories on his way to the record setting title. Gerry topped Bill Bernard over the final couple of weeks, with Dylan Estrella, Jeramee Lille and Ryan Lineham rounding out the top five. Gerry also received a VP Race Fuels gift certificate. Bernard and Estrella picked up Columbus Energies gift certificates as well. Ryan Lineham was named the Rookie of the Year, with Mark Hudson being the Most Improved LM driver.
Scott Bruneau of Tiverton, RI was honored as the Street Stock champion, his first. Scott picked up two wins on the way to the title, both double points nights, helping him edge Crystal Serydynski by only eight points. Scott was also the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Champion. Serydynski won three times in her best seasonal effort with Rey Lovelace finishing third. The championship points battle changed almost weekly between these three drivers over the final half of the season. Craig Pianka and Paul Lallier rounded out the top five. Lallier had a division leading four wins. American Racer and VP Race Fuels also honored the champion. Columbus Energies offered Crystal and Rey gift certificates. 15 year old Austin Blais picked up the Rookie of the Year title, with Lovelace the Most Improved driver.
John Paiva of Fall River held on over the final weeks and picked up his first Sport Truck championship. Driving the Frank Souza owned machine, they picked up a division tying five victories. John held off Rob Murphy for the title, with Rick Martin, Scott Dion and Nick Uhrig rounding out the top five. Hoosier Race Tires handed over a championship jacket, with VP Race Fuels offering a gift certificate to Paiva. Murphy and Martin each received gift certificates from Columbus Energies. 15 year old Branden Dion picked up the Rookie of the Year with Anna Gregoire getting the Most Improved Driver award.
Swansea’s John Robidoux joined the list of first time champions, picking up the honors for the Pure Stock division. While John had only one win, it helped propel him to the title. Earl Curtin III pushed Robidoux through the final laps of the season, but had to settle for second. Ed Flanagan Jr, Amy Heroux and Bill Doyle rounded out the top five. Ed Gould is the Rookie of the Year for the Pure Stocks, while Earl Curtin III became the Most Improved Driver.
Nick Lascoula of Abington dominated the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends with 10 wins, and cruised to the championship. Joey Parker was the best of the rest, winning one feature and finishing second in the standings. Al Wisialko, Joe
Putnam and Chris Robbins rounded out the top five. Putnam is the champion of the Masters division, Lascoula for the Pro, Parker in the Semi-Pro and Jesse Jakubajtys in the Young Lions division. John Bellucci is the Nick’s Pit Stop Rookie of the Year, and Parker the Most Improved driver.
Devin Miranda of Dartmouth became the second champion in the young history of the Sport4 division. Devin picked up two wins on the way to holding off Tyler Boudreau for the title. Shawn DeMello finished third in the standings, with Dave Gargaro Jr and Henry Lavallee fourth and fifth. Shawn DeMello received the Rookie of Year title.
Curtis Rolando of Newport, RI added the SYRA 750 division title to his SYRA 600 trophy. Curtis held off Taylor Bowser, David Lougee, Christine Cavallaro and Ashley Kuhn for the championship. Taylor received the Rookie of the Year honors.
TJ Morsehead of Seekonk picked up four victories on the way to his SYRA 600 title. David White finished second, with Joey Lembo, Jessica O’Leary and Matt Barboza third through fifth. Joey Lembo was named Rookie of the Year, with O’Leary the Most Improved Driver.
Scott Dion was honored with the annual Anthony Francis Venditti award, given out to an individual that has gone out of his way to help others. Scott has assisted countless competitors through the years, in addition to helping his son Branden grow in the sport.
Phil’s Propane handed out the championship sweatshirts for the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series for all 9 divisions. Dave Darling, Pro Stocks, Dylan Estrella, LM, Scott Bruneau, Street Stocks, Scott Dion, Sport Trucks, John Robidoux, Pure Stocks, Nick Lascoula, Nick’s Pit Stop Legends, Devin Miranda, Sport4, David Lougee, SYRA 750, and Jessica O’Leary, SYRA 600, were the champions for the inaugural Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series.
The D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Award, given to someone who has dedicated so much to the sport of auto racing, was awarded to Phil Viveiros of Phil’s Propane. Phil’s Propane has grown over the years from an associate sponsor in the now defunct Formula Four division, to a car owner and major marketing partner of the speedway. Phil’s Propane joined forces with Seekonk Speedway for the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown series, when the speedway was looking for a way to help strengthen the local divisions.
With the close of the 2013 season now official, focus begins on the 69th season at The Action Track of the East.