Well, Mother Nature has been one finicky lady this year, and she has been so bi-polar over the first nine weeks of the season. When she has been on our side, there has been some great racing, but it’s been hard to get into a rhythm.
It’s funny. When the schedule came out over the winter, the management had listened to many of the competitors in giving them breaks throughout the season. Never did they, or anyone else, expect the amount of weeks off that we have forced to have.
Let’s take a look back over the past weeks of action, and some of the happenings.
We started off last Wednesday, with the 15th annual Open Wheel Wednesday. The drivers came out to compete for the $10K winners prize, and many good drivers were relegated to compete in the consolation rounds.
As the event started, Richard Savary, from his pole position start, was showing some early dominance, holding off hard charges from Keith Rocco and Matt Hirschman. The racing at the front was hot and fierce, but was slowed up several times over the first 22 laps for simple spins and one accident, eliminating a couple of favorites.
Lap 22 was when the skies opened, and it started raining. Now, up until an hour before that point, there were no immediate signs of rain, as the radar and forecast showed between 10 and 12 before it would hit us. Guess it moved in way too quickly.
Now, say what you want, when something like that happens, there is no way you can please 100% of the people. There are some competitors who cannot return for Tuesday night’s conclusion, including Ryan Preece, who will be in Daytona for the Xfinity Series event. Many of the fans can’t return as well due to various circumstances, which is understood.
Now, the modifieds were not the only thing on the schedule for the evening, as the annual Boston Louis was in town for NEMA’s annual visit to the Action Track of the East. The NEMA Lites brought 30 cars with them for the Tim Steele 33 lap main event, which was won by Dan Cugini. This 33 lap main went off in 6:38. If you had gotten up to get a drink, literally, you would have missed it.
The NEMA 29 lap main in honor of Boston Louie, Randy Cabral dominated this event to pick up another in his career. The NEMA cars circle Seekonk in about 11.2 seconds. Only the Super Modifieds have turned laps quicker than that.
When we returned on Friday night, the competitors were ready for action. The Seekonk Grand Prix Bandelero’s put on a good show. This division is geared for drivers starting at the age of 8, and these youngsters continue to do a phenomenal job.
Isaiah Newcomb picked up his first career win last Friday in the Bandit division. When Isaiah and his brother Joel started racing last year, they were in the learning stages, as many drivers are. They raced at the back of the pack while they were learning how to get up to speed, they were lapped, and there were bumps and bruises along the way.
By the end of the year, they were running competitively. This year, Isaiah has been knocking on the door. Last week, he was in a practice accident that kept him from competing. This week, he was able to hold off and pick up his first win,
In the Outlaw division, Connor Sousa picked up his second win of the season.
The Sport 4 division had another good run, and while it wasn’t the caution free event they have done several times over the years, this was not one of them. Dave Gargaro picked up his second consecutive win, again using the outside lane.
Doug Benoit picked up his third victory of the season in the South Coast Power Equipment Pure Stocks, and was apologetic in Victory Lane, admitting that it wasn’t the prettiest of races. He wasn’t complaining about another driver, or specific incident, just the fact that there were three red flags during the race, and a handful of simple spins.
There was one accident that eliminated a couple of cars, including Jason Tisi. Over social media, Jason made a couple of comments that I want to share, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
In the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends, two time Legend’s Champion Nick Lascoula returned to the INEX division for the first time in a while, and he made it look like he never left. He picked up his first win of the season, in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown event.
On Saturday, there was no threat of rain, just hot weather, as the competitors had the previous week off due to rain. That, plus a full moon, and we were in for a fun night of action.
The South Coast Power Equipment Sportsman were the first group up, and it as Kyle Casper picking up the win in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown 35 lap main event.
Tyler Lallier and Pau Lallier both spent time chasing down the former Sport Truck Champion, but could not keep the second generation driver out of Everett’s Auto Parts Victory Lane.
In the Sport Trucks, Rob Murphy made his return a triumphant one, picking up the 30 lap win. Rob made his return to Seekonk on Wednesday, running and qualifying for Open Wheel Wednesday.
The Late Models have been putting on some of the best side by side racing over the past season plus, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when they had an off night. Not that the racing was bad, but not when we have become accustomed to.
Ryan Kuhn moved to the front of the pack about midway through the 50 lap Phil’s Propane Triple Crown event.
It was his first win of the season at Seekonk, but second overall, after picking up a win at Star Speedway earlier this year. He also bring out his new Pro Stock when he can, where he last competed at NHIS a couple of weeks ago.
Nick Uhrig looked good, leading many laps before falling back to third by the final rundown.
Vinny Arrenegado finished second, making a perfect podium season so far. While he has been knocking on the door to Everett’s Auto Parts Victory Lane, he’s not pushing to far to cost himself good finishes. He has the big picture in his windshield, and is focused on that.
Dave Darling wasn’t satisfied with his runner up finishes the first two races, and wasn’t going to be denied this week. He took over the lead from Fred Astle and never looked back. Ryan Vanasse, who led early, finished third.
We’ll be back at the track on Tuesday for the remaining 78 laps of the $10K to win Modified race.
Don’t forget, Fast Friday and NASCAR Whelen All American Series Saturday are off this week. They will return on the 13th and 14th.
Now, back to Jason Tisi. Jason spends his time as a professional stunt man, and has been in several big production movies. Jason joined us last year in the Pure Stocks, and had been trying his best week after week.
He posted about his night, about hard of a hit it was, how he tried to avoid the cars, but couldn’t, and the amount of work it was going to take to get it back. But what he posted was what caught my eye.
Now, I’m paraphrasing, but his words went something like “Sometimes we’re friends, sometimes, we’re enemies, but at the end of the day, we’re all family.” That, and he has a million dollars worth of fun. Keep that in mind.
with Race Voice