By Lou Modestino (for 9/12-9/14/08)
The Northeastern Midget Association will run its 900th feature this
Friday night, Sept. 13 at Lee USA Speedway. The milestone comes in the
club's 57th season. It will be the 13th feature of the season and the
second at Lee. NEMA, born in the late winter of 1953 in the Thompson
(Conn.) Speedway clubhouse, will "properly acknowledge" the milestone.
The first race was at Seekonk Speedway on May 30, 1953. Fred Meeker,
in the Kernan #17, beat Al Pillion and Cliff Riggot.
"This is, of course, of great significance," says NEMA President Mike
Scrivani Jr. "The club has such a great history and what's so great is
many of the people who have made major contributions are still
around." It has taken NEMA almost exactly eight years to go from
feature No. 800 – Aug. 17, 2001 at Oxford Plains (Jim Miller was the
winner) – to 900. The 500th feature was at Monadnock in 1982 and was
won by Drew Fornoro in the Angelillo 45. Point leader Randy Cabral
(Bertrand 47) tops the list of 2008 winners with five. Bobby Santos
III (Santos 98) has three, Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 29b) two and Joey Payne
Jr. (Angelillo 45) and Chris Abold (Seymour 29) one each.
All had strong runs at Lee on June 27, a win for Santos over Cabral
and Payne. Cabral's teammate Jeremy Frankoski, Adam Cantor, (Cantor
7ny) Mike Keeler (Seamon 63) and Erica Santos (Breault 44) head up a
list of those ready to grab a checkered. It will be the 26th race at
Lee dating back to 1966. Jeff Horn leads active drivers with three Lee
wins.
Making victory even more lucrative is joining the list of other
milestone winners: Jerry Russo (the 100th), Dave Humphrey (200th and
300th), Arnold Holly (400th), Bobby Seymour (600th) and Russ Stoehr
(700th). Dave Humphrey and Nokie Fornoro have each won the 13th race
of the season five times. Cabral has won two of the last three
including last year.
Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner, has signed on to drive the
Bertrand Motorsports #39 Drinan in Northeastern Midget Association
action at Lee USA Speedway, Friday night, Sept. 12. The popular Newman
adds luster to what will be the 900th feature in NEMA's 57-year
history. He'll be part of a three-car Bertrand effort that also
includes current point leader Randy Cabral and 2007 rookie of the year
Jeremy Frankoski. Newman will join a stellar field looking to grab the
milestone win. Cabral (5), Greg Stoehr (2), Joey Payne and Jeff Abold
all hope to win again. A number of competitors including Frankoski,
Mike Keeler and Erica Santos have been very close. Bobby Santos III (3
wins) will not be at Lee, due to a previous commitment to run at
O'Reilly Raceway Park in the mid-west, however Lou Cicconi Jr. will
pilot the #98 Santos machine.
The No. 39 is of significance to the one-time USAC standout that is
presently driving the Sprint Cup Alltel Dodge for Penske Racing. It
was the number on his last Midget (also a Drinan) and will be the
number of his 2009 Cup ride with Stewart-Hass Racing. A Purdue
University grad, Newman is no stranger to open cockpit racing in
general and midgets in particular. Prior to moving to NASCAR, Newman
had a successful six-year run with USAC capped off by the Coors Light
Silver Bullet national championship in 1999. USAC's 1995 Midget Rookie
of the Year, he had 13 Midgets win before moving to the stock cars in
2001. He was second in the 1999 Midget standings.
The popular Hoosier also has two Silver Crown and two USAC Sprint Car
wins. The Newman-Bertrand arrangement adds to NEMA's long history that
began on Memorial Day, 1953 at Seekonk Speedway. The NEMA Lites will
also be returning to Lee. Since joining Penske, Newman has 13 Sprint
Cup, seven Busch (now Nationwide) and four ARCA wins.
Award-winning recording artists Diamond Rio will headline a
spectacular pre-race show at the SYLVANIA 300 on Sunday, September 14
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In addition to a sizzling, 45-minute
concert, the band will also perform the National Anthem for the more
than 105,000 guests in attendance at the speedway and a live TV
audience of millions on ABC. Diamond Rio continues to be one of the
most successful groups in country music. Their 1991 debut album went
platinum. One year later the band was awarded their first Country
Music Association Vocal Group of the Year award. Their impressive
resume to date includes: over 10 million records sold; nine No. 1
hits; 15 singles in the Top-Five; and six Vocal Group of the Year
awards from an incredible mix of music associations.
They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1998. Often recognized
for their charitable contributions, Diamond Rio has received the
coveted Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award. They are well known for their
role as the National Spokespersons for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
"Diamond Rio has been together for over two decades with no changes,
which is absolutely amazing in the music industry," said Jerry
Gappens, executive vice president and general manger of New Hampshire
Motor Speedway. "We're working to build a tradition of exciting and
popular pre-race entertainment here for our fans. I think the fans
will really enjoy this talented group."
Last Saturday's weather problems resulted in All-Star Speedway in
Epping, NH pulling the plug on its annual ISMA Super-Modified Classic.
It's been rescheduled to this Saturday night starting at 5 p.m. It's
also an opportunity for fans coming or going to NHMS in Loudon, NH to
take in a great open wheel show after the Whelen Modified Tour and
NASCAR Craftsman Truck event.
It's a busy NASCAR weekend at NHMS in Loudon, NH. Friday's schedule
includes the Camping World East Series plus practice and qualifying
sessions for the Sprint Cup, Whelen Modified Tour and the Craftsman
Truck Series. Saturday has the Whelen Mod Tour 100 and the Craftsman
Truck 300. Sunday's marquee event is the Sylvania 300 Nextel Cup
event.
The drivers had to wait a day as persistent showers rolled in on
Saturday afternoon, postponing all the activities until Sunday
afternoon, but when it was all said and done, all eight divisions
provided the fans with some awesome entertainment at the P.A.S.S.
sanctioned, Riverside Speedway in Groveton, New Hampshire.
It was round #3 of the Bond Auto Parts Triple Crown Series, and
eighteen of the top North Country Ford Late Model drivers in the
northeast rolled to the starting grid for the 100 lap, $1,000 to win
main event. Only four minor cautions slowed the event and when the
checkers flew, Quinney Welch led the field across the stripe grabbing
the $1,000 payday. The Mason brothers, Bryan and Corey placed second
and third ahead of Mike Kenison and Floyd Bennett. By virtue of his
fourth place finish, Mike Kenison captured the series championship.
Heat wins went to Pete Gilcris, Grant Folsom and Welch.
The Optical Expressions Outlaws had a new winner as Dan Sidney held
off a late race challenge from Doug Laleme to gather his first career
Outlaw victory. It was no easy task as Laleme tried every move in the
book over the final five laps, but just didn't have enough to get by.
Steve Patnaude, Reggie Theroux and David Ofsuryk Jr. completed the top
five. Laleme won the qualifying round. The Budweiser Super Stocks
continue to impress as they had only a pair of minor cautions. Jamie
Swallow Sr. held off a determined Jeff Fysh to nail down the win.
Brian Gosselin, Luke Shannon and Jamie Swallow Jr. completed the top
five. Swallow and Gosselin won their respective heats.
Point leader, Shawn Swallow made a bold move on the last lap to
capture another victory in the River Bend RV Street Stocks. He edged
out Chris Caron. Michael Smith, Alex Theroux and Kevin Whittum Jr.
rounded out the top five. Heat checkers flew for Tyler Therrien and
Swallow. The Twisted Tea Dwarf Cars were out in force on Sunday, and
Ernie Laplant held off Eric Hall to claim another win. Dave Gyger
rolled home third ahead of Bobby Riley and Dana Huoppi. Laplant and
Gyger carried preliminary checkers. Vanessa Brown closed up the
point's battle with a solid victory in the Leo Enos Landscaping
Angels. Johanna Christman, Lyndsay Christman, Miranda Gervais, and
Traci Nelson followed.
Benjamin Belanger scored another win in the Kids Only Daycare
Daredevils Rookie main, as he bested Shauna Randall, Aaron Poulin,
Nick Gilcris and Randy Whittum. Jesse Switser held off Brandon Lambert
to score the win in the Veterans class. Kyle Pembroke, Dilyn Switser
and Brett Gervais followed. Anthony Hill carried his first checkered
flag of the season as he defeated Rick Utley Jr., Cody Leblanc, Jeff
Ainsworth and Loren Vear in the Jiffy Mart Cyclone 50.
Here's what else is going on in the North Country this weekend. Beech
Ridge in Scarborough, ME has its Night of Destruction on Friday with
the Canaan (NH) dirt track, Madog in Winchester, NH has a NASCAR
program that night at 6 p.m. Also Riverside in Groveton, NH has the
Bear Ridge Modified Challenge at 5 p.m.
On Saturday the Challenge for the Mods moves to Bear Ridge in
Bradford, NH. Bullwinkle in Greenville, ME has dirt track racing while
the Canaan (NH) paved track goes that night. Jolly Roger in E.
Lempster, NH hosts the NEDTS flat track motorcycles at 6 p.m. while
Legion in Wentworth, NH has open wheel dirt track action including
sprint cars. Oxford Plains in western Maine hosts an ACT Tour 150 Late
Model event while it's miniature motorsports at RT. 106 Race Park in
Belmont, NH and the same action goes at Sugar Hill in S. Weare, NH.
White Mountain in N. Woodstock offers five divisions of stockcar
racing while Wiscasset on the Maine coast goes with several classes of
racecars.
For the draggers it's busy weekend at Winterport Dragway on the Maine
coast while New England Dragway has a Mopar Festival all day Sunday.
The New England Hill climbers have a big meet at Mt. Ascutney in
Vermont on Saturday and Sunday. Also on Sunday MX 207 in Lyman, Maine
host the NCSC MotoX circuit all day while Spud Speedway in Caribou,
Maine has stockcar action starting at 1 p.m. For the car show crowd
there's a big event on Friday and Saturday at Old Orchard Beach in
Maine.
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