by Jay | Sep 24, 2012 | Massachusetts, Seekonk Speedway
Fred Astle, Bill Bernard, Rick Martin and Rey Lovelace win the battles. Dave Darling, Gerry DeGasparre Jr, Mike Cavallaro and Paul Lallier win the wars at Seekonk Speedway.
Kyle Casper jumped out to the front of the 18 car Pro Stock field and set the pace for the first 33 laps before the first caution came out. Over those 33 laps, the Somerset native had his hands full with 2 time former champion Dick Houlihan. Tom Scully Sr ran third for the first 30 laps before spinning in turn two. Tom was able to continue without losing any laps, but was out of the hunt for a win.
Once back underway, Houlihan worked the outside and edged ahead of Casper before the next caution came out. His lead however would be short lived, as Astle nudged under Houly and took over the top of the leaderboard for the final three laps. Houlihan held off a hard charging Mike Brightman for second. Ryan Vanasse and Dave Darling were fourth and fifth. With his fifth place finish, Dave Darling is the 2012 Pro Stock Champion, his third with car owner Gary Johnson and crew chief Ronnie Pond.
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by Jay | Sep 22, 2012 | Massachusetts, Seekonk Speedway
Melberg and Buffington claim titles and wins. Shepard, Belcher and Barboza win while McDonald, Blais and Boudreau clinch Seekonk championships.
Jesse Melberg picked up his sixth win of the 2012 season at Seekonk Speedway, closing out the Fast Friday series with his first career championship in the Pure Stocks. Tim Demarderosian took the lead on the opening circuit of the 25 lap main, and held on for the first few circuits until he was caught up in an incident, eliminating him, Earl Curtin, John Robidoux and Bill Doyle.
Amy Arsenault took over at the helm, and set the pace for the half dozen laps while Melberg worked his way 3 wide to the battle at the top of the leader board. When they crossed the line for lap 10, the Champion found himself out front, and from there, never backed down. Amy held on to the second position until Chris Lima moved past with a handful of laps remaining. Arsenault wound up third, with Randy Moretti and Jamie Salley fourth and fifth.
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by Jay | Sep 15, 2012 | Massachusetts, Seekonk Speedway
Traffic was not the major factor it had been over the past couple of weeks in the Pure Stock feature, but for the third week in a row, the race went green to checker with a late pass for the win. This time it was John Robidoux of Swansea moving past Ian Savard of North Attleboro as the pair came across the stripe under the white flag.
Savard jumped out front on the opening lap and was able to pull away from the field with ease. Tim Demarderosian sat second for the first few laps until Amy Arsenault moved into the runner up spot. She held on for second for much of the race, keeping Jamie Salley and Randy Moretti at bay. As the laps wound down, Robidoux was running the outside and it took over a dozen laps to work past the pack of cars at the front with points leader Jesse Melberg on his tail.
Once clear of the traffic, John and Jesse, who continued to run bumper to bumper, ran down Savard, who was starting to fight the handles on his car. As the pair came under the white flag, Robidoux got under Savard and took the lead going into turn one. Melberg followed him right through and finished second, clinching his first Pure Stock Championship. Savard held on to third at the finish, with Arsenault and Salley rounding out the top five.
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by Jay | Sep 8, 2012 | Massachusetts, Seekonk Speedway
Joey Mucciacciaro of Wolcott, CT returned to Seekonk Speedway for the second time in 2012, and picked up his first win at the Bay State Oval. Mooch, had an engine failure the last time out here at Seekonk. Taylor Martin of Windham, NH jumped out into the early lead, and led eight laps before Mucciacciaro took over at the helm.
Current Nick’s Pit Stop Legends points leader Shaun Buffington started eleventh in the 13 car field, and took his time getting through the field. By the mid-way point, he was sitting in the top three behind Mucciacciaro and Martin. A late race caution on lap eighteen brought the pack together, and Buffington was able to slide past Martin for second briefly. Taylor battled back to move past Buffington, but in the end, Shaun was the one chasing down the Mooch for the win. Buffington held on for second, with Martin, Tom Gray and Jordan LaMothe rounding out the top five.
The Jackal returned to the Pure Stock Victory Lane with a drive for the ages. Jesse Melberg had to work his way through the 18 car field after starting 13th, and without a caution, needed the entire 25 lap distance, and the help of some heavy lapped traffic, to beat Jamie Salley to the strip by .113 seconds.
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by Jay | Aug 26, 2012 | Massachusetts, New England, Seekonk Speedway
Dave Darling, Bill Bernard, Craig Pianka and Darryl Church are Bald Hill Dodge night winners at Seekonk Speedway.
Dave Darling rolled to his fourth Pro Stock win of the season, extending his championship lead in his quest for his third title. Ryan Vanasse took the lead on the opening lap after squeezing in between Phil Meany and Kevin Folan. Once out front, Vanasse seemed to pull away from the pack with ease, opening up a ¾ straightaway lead at one point.
Tom Scully Jr sat in the runner up position, and tried to hang onto the A&A Auto Parts Chevy, but had heavy pressure from Mike Brightman for a dozen laps, then from Darling once he started to put pressure in the Wheelock’s NAPA Auto Group Ford. But there was no stopping the Bristol Toyota Scion Camry, and Darling used up only 5 laps to go around Scully Jr. Once up to second, he had his work cut out for him, and Vanasse had already checked out. Little by little, Vanasse’s lead started shrinking. With the lapped traffic around him, he started to run a little more cautiously, allowing things to straighten out ahead of him before making his moved. With 10 laps to go, Darling was within 3 car lengths behind. On lap 32, the first caution of the night came out when Tom Scully Sr. stalled in turn two.
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by Jay | Aug 25, 2012 | Massachusetts, Seekonk Speedway
Nick Lascoula and Len Souza pick up first wins. Chris Lima and Tyler Boudreau repeat. Kaitlyn Donovan wins first of the season.
Nick Lascoula picked up his first career Nick’s Pit Stop Legends win on Friday, sliding by Shaun Buffington as the pair came off of turn four on the white flag lap. By lap one, Lascoula moved up from his fifth starting position, and set the pace early on. Buffington, coming back after an early exit last week started his march toward the front had early struggles, as he was spun on the opening laps before collecting it back up and continuing on. While he lost positions, he immediately started his drive through the field. The first, and only, caution came out on lap two, when Tom Gray came to a stop in turn two. Tom had taken over championship lead with last weeks’ win, but was struggling with mechanical issues all night.
Once back underway, Lascoula started to pull away from the field, setting a comfortable pace. Taylor Martin was trying to keep pace with the Abington native, but fell to third when Buffington slid past at the halfway point. With just laps remaining, Buffington made the move to put his #23 at the top of the leaderboard. The Plainfield, CT native started to put some breathing room between he and Lascoula, but the Young Lion wasn’t about to let the three time winner take this one away. Lascoula started to reel in Buffington, and closed back up with two laps remaining. As they raced off the second turn, Lascoula found the inside lane opening just a bit, and squeezed underneath. As they raced off of turn four, Buffington’s engine seemed to give up the ghost in a shower of white smoke, giving the former SYRA 600 Champion his first career win in the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends. Nick Ladyga of Voluntown, CT crossed the line in second, with Martin of Windham, NH third, Branden Dion of Taunton, MA fourth. Buffington coasted across the line in fifth.
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