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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8th, 2023 |
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2023
Champions |
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Photos by John DaDalt |
| Heat 1 >> |
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| Heat 2 >> |
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FOCUS ON DRIVERS |
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Photos by
John DaDalt |
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FOCUS ON TIRES |
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2023 NEMA LITES
DRIVER & OWNER CHAMPIONS
ALBY OVITT & JACKIE PARKER
#20 |
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NEMA LITES - WORLD SERIES
- 10/8/23 |
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Pos.
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#
|
Driver |
Hometown
|
Owner |
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1 |
47 |
Randy Cabral |
Kingston, MA |
Randy
Cabral |
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2 |
1 |
Jake Trainor |
Medway, MA |
Matt
Seymour |
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3 |
61 |
Ryan Locke |
Chester, NH |
Dennis
O/Brien |
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4 |
48 |
Todd Bertrand |
Danielson, CT |
Todd Bertrand |
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5 |
17 |
Kyle Valeri |
Monument Beach, MA |
Peter Valeri |
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6 |
16 |
John Zych Jr, |
Mendon, MA |
Dennis
O/Brien |
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7 |
20 |
Alby Ovitt |
St. Johnsbury, VT |
Jackie
Parker |
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8 |
53 |
Dylan Coutu |
Griswold, CT |
Ron Coutu |
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9 |
35 |
Isiah Newcomb |
- - - - - |
Glen
Cabral |
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10 |
10 |
Avery Stoehr |
Assonet, MA |
Jackie
Parker |
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11 |
29 |
Chase Locke |
Chester, NH |
Matt
Seymour |
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12 |
30 |
Paul Scally |
Raynham, MA |
Paul Scally |
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13 |
59 |
Brayden Egan |
Ashford, CT |
Eric Egan |
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14 |
28 |
Mike Horn |
Ashland, MA |
Pete
Penesiglio Sr. |
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15 |
8 |
Ethan Dion |
Oakdale, CT |
Stephen Dion |
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16 |
3 |
Christopher Vose |
Gloversville, NY |
Christopher Vose |
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17 |
55 |
Drew Eldridge |
No. Chelmsford, MA |
Drew
Eldgridge |
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18 |
21 |
Joe Bailey |
Monroe, NJ |
Mike
Scrivani |
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19 |
94 |
Tiana Kibbe |
Fairfield, CT |
Curt Kibbe |
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Heat 1
- 1, 21, 48, 59, 10, 35, 16, 30, 8, 3 |
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Heat 2
- 47, 61, 17, 20, 29, 94, 55, 53, 28 |
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Cabral wins Thompson World Series
while
Ovitt and Parker Brothers’
Racing Clinch LITES
Championships
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Thompson, CT -- This
past Sunday, October 8th, the NEMA LITES rolled into the
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for one of New England's
largest racing events of the season, the Sunoco World Series
of Racing. In the final NEMA LITES race of the 2023 season,
Randy Cabral #74 fended off an early race challenge by Ryan
Locke #61 to take down the NEMA Lite victory. In the year
long battle for the title among several contending teams,
Alby Ovitt and The Parker Brothers' Racing #20 came out on
top earning the 2023 NEMA LITES Driver and Owner
Championships.
The NEMA LITES cars took the track
and announcer Pete Falconi introduced the stars and cars of
the division.
After an early race caution on the
first lap, the field realigned for a double file restart,
Joey Bailey in the Scrivani Racing #21 alongside Ryan Locke
in the Jim O'Brien and Sons' Engineering #61 led the field
back to the green flag. Going into turn one, Locke jumped to
the lead and went on to the lead the first complete lap
followed by Bailey and Isiah Newcomb in the #35. On the
following lap, Randy Cabral #47 drove deep into turn three
to take over the third position over Newcomb. Then on lap 3,
Cabral once again drove deep into turn one to take over the
second position over Bailey and was on the move to close the
distance between him and first place, Locke.
By lap
8, Locke, had a 5 car length advantage over Cabral, Bailey,
Jake Trainor in the Matt Seymour Racing #1 and Avery Stoehr
in the Parker Brothers' Racing #10. On the following lap
going down the backstretch, Trainor made the pass for the
3rd position over Bailey. Behind that action while going
into turn one, Todd Bertrand in the Todd Bertrand Racing #48
took the low line going into turn one for the 5th position
over Stoehr.
Over the next several laps, Cabral was
able to close the gap between him and Locke just as the
leaders started to encounter lapped traffic. With Cabral now
on the back bumper of Locke, Locke was able to skillfully
navigate around the tail end of the field to hold off Cabral
for one more lap as Cabral tried to drive deep into turn
three but Locke was able to keep his momentum and drive back
by him on the outside.
As the closed flags were
displayed, Cabral drove up alongside Locke going down the
backstretch and took the lead going into turn three. While
on lap 15, Cabral increased his lead to five car lengths,
Trainor, now on the back bumper of Locke, took the low line
going into turn one to take the 2nd position.
Trainor now had his eyes set on first place, Cabral, and
began to chip away at the half a straightaway lead Cabral
had created.
With five laps remaining, Trainor was
on the move, and running on average a tenth second faster
lap times than leader Cabral. Locke, Bertrand, and Kyle
Valeri in the Valeri Motorsports #17 rounded out the top 5.
However Trainor ran out of laps as on the 25th
circuit, the checkered flag flew for Cabral, who won his
second NEMA LITES race of the season, over Trainor with
Locke to round out victory lane.
To round out the top
10, were strong finishes by Cabral #74, Trainor #1, Locke
#61, Bertrand #48, Valeri #17, John Zych #16, Alby Ovitt
#20, Dylan Coutu #53, Newcomb #35, and Stoehr #10.
In an interview in victory lane, Cabral reminisced on
memories with Shane Hammond, "All week long I kept seeing
the number 37 (Shane's car number) the last time he was
racing here, he was driving the 36, so we had to make that
number 37 for him."
In the days leading up to the
Thompson World Series and final championship projections
were calculated out, a championship battle came down to the
top seven drivers; Alby Ovitt, Danny Cugini, Jake Trainor,
Avery Stoehr, Joey Bailey, Kyle Valeri, and Randy Cabral. As
only 68 total points separated 1st place Ovitt from tied for
6th place, Valeri and Cabral. As the checkered flag flew for
Cabral, he secured 3rd place in championship points followed
by Trainor, for 2nd in drivers points. While, for the first
time, Alby Ovitt and The Parker Brother's Racing #20 took
home the 2023 NEMA LITES Championships.
NEMA and the
NEMA LITES close out a successful 2023 season and look
forward to seeing everyone in 2024 for more NEMA FAST
racing! |
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