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SAT. APRIL 11, 2015 |
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Scott Bigelow Roars to Thompson
ICEBREAKER Win in NEMA Lites |
The Northeastern Midget Association has long
considered Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP)
the ultimate "separate the men from the boys"
facility. With times in the mid 19 second range,
Saturday's first ever NEMA Lites appearance at the
facility, taking place on a beautiful Spring day -
left no doubts on the table. Scott Bigelow in his
#32 Bigelow Electric / BEAST / Honda Powered entry,
was victorious when it was all said and done,
besting the sixteen NEMA Lites competitors in the
pits.
The action started fast & furious right
out of the gate. In the first heat, Christian Briggs
in his RAM-Bull Racing entry jumped out into the
lead from the pole, and dominated the event. Paul
Bigelow came through the field to finish second,
followed by Briggs' teammate Juris Kupris. In heat
2, the racing action was wheel to wheel, right from
the drop of the green. Paul Scally, debuting his new
Drinan chassis jumped out into the lead, but by the
end of the heat race, it was a three way race for
the win between Scally, Stoehr, and Modified Tour
regular Bobby Santos. Scally came out victorious by
a half a carlength.
Briggs and Stoehr led the
field to the green in the feature. Stoehr quickly
jumped out into the lead, followed by Briggs and
Scally. Scally overtook second, and a short time
later, both Bobby Santos III and Scott Bigelow had
begun their march to the front. Briggs retired while
running fourth around the halfway mark, and Stoehr,
Scally, Bigelow and Santos all diced for the top
positions, with Bigelow making a strong move for the
lead on the back stretch, and Santos following.
Scally's hope for a win came to an end when an
oiling issue brought out the red flag, and ended his
day. On the ensuing green flag, Santos' car would
not restart - and the already strong Bigelow had
smooth sailing ahead of him. NEMA and NEMA Lites
regular Danny Cugini made a fantastic run at the end
of the feature, getting past Stoehr, but did not
have the steam to catch Bigelow.
At the
finish, it was Bigelow taking down the win by a
comfortable margin, followed by Cugini, Stoehr, Paul
Bigelow and young star Anthony Payne with a strong
top five run. Juris Kupris, Meg Cugini, Kevin Park,
Santos and Scally rounded out the top ten.
NEMA makes its next stop at the Waterford Speedbowl
for its first inaugural test & tune session on May
3, and then kicks off the season in upstate NY at
Chemung Speedrome on May 22nd and Evans Mills
Speedway on May 23. |
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NEMA LITES - THOMPSON -
4/11/15 |
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Pos.
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#
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Driver |
Hometown
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Owner |
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1 |
32 |
Scott
Bigelow |
E. Hampton, CT |
Scott
Bigelow |
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2 |
51 |
Danny Cugini |
Marshfield, MA |
D. Cugini |
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3 |
15a |
Avery Stoehr |
Lakeville, MA |
Russ Stoehr |
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4 |
31 |
Paul Bigelow |
Kensington, CT |
Paul
Bigelow |
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5 |
21 |
Anthony Payne |
Fairlawn, NJ |
Jennifer Scrivani |
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6 |
42 |
Juris Kupris |
Williamsburg, NY |
Christian
Briggs |
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7 |
41 |
Megan CuginI |
Marshfield, MA |
D. Cugini |
|
8 |
52 |
Kevin Park |
Foxboro,
MA |
Kevin Park |
9
DNF |
76 |
Bobby Santos III |
Franklin, MA |
Frank
Manafort |
10
DNF |
30b |
Paul Scally |
Raynham, MA |
Paul Scally |
11
DNF |
44 |
Christian Briggs |
Mattapoisett, MA |
Christian
Briggs |
12
DNF |
35 |
Randy Cabral |
Plymouth, MA |
Glen Cabral |
13
DNF |
16 |
Dennis O'Brien |
Deerfield, NH |
Chris O'Brien |
14
DNF |
38 |
Jeff Locke |
Raymond, NH |
Jeff Locke |
15
DNS |
46 |
Andy Barrows |
New Ipswitch, NH |
Andy Barrows |
16
DNS |
45 |
Brandon Igo |
Enfield, CT |
David Igo |
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HEAT 1:
44 - 31 - 42 - 51 - 16 - 35 - 46 - 76
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HEAT 2: 30b
- 15a - 76 - 32 - 38 - 21 - 52 - 41 - 45 DNS |
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| Lites Make Historic
Thompson Appearance |
The Northeastern Midget
Association has long considered Thompson Speedway
Motorsports Park (TSMP) the ultimate "separate the men from
the boys" facility. While any Thompson checkered is a
treasure, winning the first ever NEMA Lites feature at this
year's ICEBREAKER event will be a goal high on the list of
many attendees.
Sitting at the top of that list is
the all time Thompson winner - with eleven victories, Randy
Cabral, who will return at the ICEBREAKER in his family
owned #35 Lites car. In addition to Cabral - former NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour champion and multi time USAC feature
winner, Bobby Santos III will be wheeling the Frank Manafort
#76 in the event. In addition to Santos and Cabral - ISMA
competitor and feature winner Jeff Locke will be aboard his
family owned Lites car, NEMA competitor Paul Scally will be
debuting his new Drinan Lites car, and 2014 NEMA runner up
Avery Stoehr, a new family owned ride as well.
With
nearly a twenty car field rumored, that's just the beginning
of the list. Teammates Christian Briggs and Juris Kupris
will bring their RAM Bull racing entries to TSMP with high
hopes of a feature victory. The Cugini family brings their
two strong family owned entries to the Speedway,Anthony
Payne in the Scrivani 21, and the always strong Andy Barrows
will be debuting his new BEAST chassis at the ICEBREAKER.
The Bigelow family, with 2014 owner's champion Scott, and
multi feature winner, Paul - will undoubtedly be strong as
well, with their Honda power plants. Other rumored entrants
include Kenny Johnson, multi time feature winner PJ Stergios
and Dennis Potter.
Thompson, known for its long
straightaways and high banked corners presents a "mental
wrestling match from mid straightaway into the turns,"
pointing out to be successful "you have to pretty much keep
your foot in it deep into the corner" says long time NEMA
member and multi time winner Greg Stoehr.
NEMA and
Thompson have a relationship that goes back to 1960, the
legendary Dutch Schaefer the winner. Since then, Thompson
has helped write a ton of NEMA history. Greg Stoehr, driving
for John Zahar, passed brother Russ in the closing laps to
win in 1994. In 2001, Joey Payne, who like Greg Stoehr
started last, passed the same Russ Stoehr on the final lap
en route to the checkered. The latter was the famed car
owner Gene Angelillo's 100th NEMA win. Last fall, Randy
Cabral claimed the victory over another famous racing family
name, Cole Carter - son of the great Pancho Carter.
The Lites kick off ICEBREAKER weekend with a 30 minute open
practice beginning at 4:45PM on Friday April 10th, followed
by practice on Saturday morning, 6 lap heat races Saturday
afternoon and a 20 lap feature Saturday evening. One thing
is for sure, with as close as some of the big track races
were last season - reminiscent of Oswego, Thompson's
ICEBREAKER should be a "barn burner." |
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