Saturday night, the Pro Stock division at Seekonk showed exactly why people say we have some of the best competition in the Northeast when it comes to Super Late Models. It looked like Ryan Lineham and Tom Scully Jr. were both on the edge of losing control for the entire 40 laps of the feature after battling extremely hard for the lead.
The two drivers swapped the advantage many times over the final half of the feature event and in the end, it was Lineham, who took the Rollie Lindblad prepared No. 48 back into Everett’s Auto Parts victory lane. Lineham had tried many times this season to start up front and get a solid run, but it never seemed like the luck or the handling of the car was on his side. They had rented the track three or four times already coming into Saturday night in hopes of finding something that got the car some extra speed.
Whatever they did going into Saturday, it worked. Lineham and Scully put the fans on the edge of their seats with a clean, but thrilling side-by-side race for the entire final half of the feature. Congrats to Lineham and the newly retired owner Rollie, on a solid victory. Quietly, Dick Houlihan slid around Scully late and grabbed a second, his best finish of the year.
In Saturday’s Everett’s Auto Parts Late Model feature, young driver from Somerset, Massachusetts Austin Blais took down the victory behind the wheel of his No. 16. Blais was able to roll the outside of Ron Barboza for much of the first half of the race and keep pace at the front of the field. He made an impressive pass off turn four just after halfway and cleared Barboza, taking the lead and never really looking back.
A late caution for a spin by Crystal Serydynski made things interesting for Blais, with Gerry DeGaspere Jr. and Barboza breathing down his neck for the final few laps. However, the young driver stayed cool and calm and collected his first victory of the season, one week after a wheel came off his car at speed.
Scott Bruneau notched his second Street Stock win of the season Saturday behind the wheel of his No. 74. Bruneau captured the win by sliding up through the field rather quickly, then holding off some challengers in the final laps. The racing behind Bruneau was tough, with Sparky Arsenault doing everything he could to hold off Scott Serydynski in the final laps, while Serydynski was attempting to hold off those behind him.
In the end, Bruneau drove away with the win and was followed by Serydynski over the stripe. However, Serydynski was not able to capture second in the end because he failed post-race technical inspection. Arsenault was awarded second, with Paul Lallier crossing third. Mike Mitchell and Corey Fanning completed the top-five after post-race technical inspection.
In the 30 lap Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series Sports Truck feature race, Chase Belcher carried the Everett’s Auto Parts colors right into Everett’s victory lane. He lead much of the feature race, but in the final laps, he had some big challenges. Former truck champion Mike Cavallaro rolled the outside lane at the bottom of the top-five and before long, he was all the way up to the outside of Belcher.
A late caution gave Cavallaro a chance to use the top groove to slide by and he was even with Belcher coming into turn three on the final lap. However, in the end, Belcher was able to roll across first and make Cavallaro settle for second spot. Congrats to Chase, who in just his second race with the Everett’s colors, proved the sponsor made a good choice.
We hope everyone enjoys the week off from racing. Don’t forget this Wednesday, the Tri Track Mods are in town for a $10,000 to win feature race and the next time we will see you for Saturday night racing is July 9!
SATURDAY NIGHT RECAP
WITH KYLE SOUZA
June 18th Recap