05/21/17 - Seekonk Speedway Results

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Belcher: Two-for-Two in Trucks

Chase Belcher made it no doubt that he is back to retreive his 2015 championship, climbing through from the back of the field to chase leader Lenny Guy and then take the restart pole when Guy’s race was interrupted by a turn two spin.
Mike Lopes, who ran the race in second place except for the two laps prior to the restart when Belcher caught and passed him lined on the outside pole. Lopes had made life miserable for Guy for 13 laps, fighting alongside and on his tailgate, and after the restart, he was reticent about giving way to Belcher. Belcher edged away into the lead with the stubborn Lopes plugging after him.
At the finish, Chase crossed the strip a full two seconds ahead and Lopes nabbed second for the best finish of his trucks career. Third went to Josh Hedges followed by Mike Cavallaro and Ed Perry.
Guy came off the pole at the start with Lopes glued to his right side and they battled door-to-door. Belcher began his trek to the front from twelfth, outside the sixth row and spent five laps gathering his wherewithal for a thrust at the front. Cavallaro had started the row ahead of him in his old truck with a new body as yet unnumbered and unlettered. He fell back alongside and then both headed forward.
Meanwhile, the Guy/Lopes brawl had become a breakaway run with John Robidoux watching their tailgates pull away. Mike Duarte showed his usual speed and moved rapidly from eighth to fifth where he began a duel with David Lougee which lasted four laps until Duarte fell off.
After twelve laps of intense competition, David Simpson spun out of turn two setting up Guy and Lopes for another run at the green flag. But change was afoot, as Belcher had moved in and was low man in the second row with Perry on his outside.
Guy surged forward and Belcher put his snout under Lopes to steal second. From there on, he was all over Guy’s bumper. Hedges showed the speed he had unveiled opening day and surged up into fifth place and was moving ahead. But Guy, under pressure and looking for relief instead found his back end snapping around in turn two.
Belcher and Lopes lined up with Perry and Lougee behind them while Hedges and Cavallaro occupied row three. Lopes got his nose ahead on the start, but Belcher came back to grab the lead for himself down the front stretch on the next circuit. Perry was working hard below Lougee while Hedges was looking below them both to forge a three-wide but couldn’t slice in. Hedges had Cavallaro alongside behind them and Russ Borges followed.
Belcher began to take command: he was five lengths ahead of Lopes by lap 18. Hedges was still trying to get under the battle between Lougee and Perry when Perry got loose in turn two and Hedges grappled onto his bumper with Cavallaro, in turn, on his.
Belcher’s lead was 12 cars and growing on lap 21, four laps from the finish. Perry pursued Lopes an additional ten cars back. Cavallaro went outside Hedges looking for fourth, but Hedges finally took the underneath move on Perry. Cavallaro looked at three wide, reconsidered and pulled in behind Perry. Hedges wrestled third away from Perry in turn three of the 23rd circuit and Cavallaro took the opportunity to get underneath himself and into fourth.
Sixth went to Lougee, while Duarte, Darryl Church, Simpson and Guy rounded out the top ten.



Arrenegado Erupts for Late Model Win

Vinny Arrenegado took his new scoot to victory lane with an excellent display of speed and handling. However, near the end of the race Charlie Rose pushed his way to the front and seemed to be headed for the checkers until he began trailing sparks from underneath with broken equipment dragging on the surface.

Rose had pushed into second after starting eighth and followed Arrenegado from lap 12 on. When Mike Benevides and Mike Teague spun in turn two, the restart showed Vinny and Charlie on the front row. Rose grabbed the lead down the backstretch with Arrenegado in pursuit, himself pursued by Branden Dion and Nick Johnson side-by-side, Gerry DeGasparre, Jr., Ryan Lineham, Anthony Flannery and Jake Johnson. Charlie’s lead began to grow over a persistent Arrenegado until the sparks began to fly from under his car, forcing him to retire with two laps remaining and sending Arrenegado to the checkers. DeGasparre climbed from fifth to second over the final three laps to claim second, followed by Dion, Jake Johnson and ‘16 champ, Dylan Estrella.

Vinny and Flannery made a real battle of it from the get-go and it took Arrenegado until turn two of lap six to forge fully into the lead. Dion rushed up to get under Flannery and they went several laps, wheel-to-wheel. As soon as Dion moved past Flannery, Rose rushed up to jump in underneath while Nick Johnson haunted their bumpers. Arrenegado was ahead by three cars.

Rose moved up to nose under Dion while Uhrig, departing a multi-lap battle with his teammate, Lineham (where their identical cars – 1 and 11, respectively -- had remained wheel-to-wheel) got under Flannery. Lineham then rushed up to Uhrig’s bumper. Uhrig then eased under DeGasparre while Lineham took his place underneath Jake.
Lap 13 saw Arrenegado cruising with Rose bearing in, three cars back. Nick Johnson ran up to Dion’s bumper in search of third place. Their battle would countinue until lap 29.

By lap 17, Flannery was finally able to settle to the groove in fifth place, behind Nick. But by now, Rose’s pursuit had landed him on Arrenegado’s bumper and Nick was all over Dion for third. DeGasparre got by Flannery into fifth while Lineham was working under Uhrig in a dogfight over seventh. By lap 28, Rose had the lead over Arrenegado, Dion, Nick Johnson, DeGasparre, Lineham and Jake Johnson. Next time around, Gerry D pushed under Johnson and into third and Lineham looked to follow. Lineham’s second try got him there while DeGasparre ducked under Dion.

Rose’s exit from the field on lap 33 shuffled the field and DeGasparre succeeded Dion into second behind Arrenegado and Jake Johnson went by Nick Johnson and Dion into fourth with Dylan Estrella following him into fifth.

This was the top five at the finish, while Lineham retained sixth followed by Uhrig, Nick Johnson, Flannery and Dan Johnson. The three-Johnson team of Jake, Nick and Dan thereby finishing all in the top ten.


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Pianka’s 1-Year Hiatus Capped With Feature Win

Craig Pianka took a year off to get his son going in Seekonk Youth Racing. He returned with a new car and a big, feature win in his second race of the season. It wasn’t easy, as he had to dispose of fast Ryan Flood to grab the front then old off a hard-charging Rob Murphy and former champ Paul Lallier over the final ten laps, an unenviable position to be in. But with a prayer and a foot to the floor, he hung tough and held Murphy at bay and then Lallier. At the finish, Pianka was coming home and Murphy and Lallier were in a dogfight for the runner up spot. They came out of turn four neck and neck, unleashing all the horses to the stripe and Murphy somehow found .024 of a second to put between himself and Lallier to grab second. Current champ, Scott Bruneau grabbed fourth and Flood took fifth.

Flood made his bid from the pole with Smokin’ Joe Kohler on the outside. Flood was caught in the pincers as Ant Kohler started on his bumper with Pianka on the outside of the second row. Vinny Pangelinan and Jesse Melberg played two hungry pretenders to the throne in row 3.

Steven “the Cyclone” Potter spun out after lap one and Smokin’ Joe got the pole switching Flood to the outside. Pianka and Ant switched places in row two.

Ten laps were to elapse before another caution was called and Smokin’ Joe rocketed ahead of Flood, while Pianka ducked under the latter and into second. Pangelinan then nosed under Flood, who was hung up on the outside. Danny Cabral retreated to the pits.

Kohler continued to hold the lead while Flood worked outside on Pianka. Pangelinan, Kyle Casper and Ant Kohler followed. But Flood forged past Joe Kohler into the lead on lap six. Kohler continued to battle him for position as Pianka looked for an option. One came on lap 11, as Ant spun into the backstretch grass and a restart resulted. After pausing for a few words with Murphy, Ant took to the pits for repairs and returned.

Flood and Joe were wheel-to-wheel out of the starting box but Flood regained the lead. Pianka went to work on Smokin’ Joe and followed through into second and went to work on Flood. But lap 16 saw Potter take his second spin on the event, lining Pianka and Flood for the restart with Murphy and Bruneau in the seoncd row. Pianka nosed out on the green and Flood dropped in on his bumper. Lallier went under Flood and into third. Murphy issued a bumper tag to Pianka and nosed under, going to the front. Lallier tried to follow, but Pianka slammed the door. A flat tire brought Ed Flanagan, Jr. to a stop in turn four and another restart to the race.

Coming through the box, Pianka leaned into Murphy then ran for the stripe. He had a nose ahead on the backstretch while Lallier and Bruneau debated third with Bruneau deciding to drop in behind Lallier. With four to go, Lallier pushed under Murphy with four to go and the slugfest began. Lallier also looked under Pianka but came a bit loose in turn four as Pianka escaped with the lead and the win.

Sixth went to Tom “The Bomb” Adams and rounding out the top ten were “Kid Chaos” Corey Fanning, Pangelinan, Joseph Arena and Scott Serydynski, Sr.



Kyle Casper Goes Flag to Flag for First Pro Stock Win



Kyle Casper shook the ghost of five, long winless seasons in the Pro Stocks with a dominant victory, going all forty laps at the front of the very fast field of competitors. He had a very fast racecar and the wind at his back as none could come near but a couple tried.

After outside polesitter Bob Hussey appeared to have mechanical problems that sent him glancing down the backstretch wall and off the barrier at the pit entrance, Kyle was paired with Ryan Lineham for the lap 1 restart. He was able to grab the lead and pull away and Mike Brightman went from outside the second row into second to give chase. It was a frustrating pursuit as Casper’s horses were running like the Kentucky Derby. Mike closed for a few laps but Casper began to pull away, getting an eight-car lead by lap 7. Brightman closed in a bit, with Kevin Casper and Lineham on his tail.

By lap 13, a runaway was in progress as Kyle was four cars up on Mighty Mike, who was eight cars up on his pursuers (Kevin and Dick Houlihan.) Brightman shaved another car out of the lead. Deep in the pack, Dave Darling had started to move after beginning at the back of the pack. He went to the outside as Lineham, who seemed unable to keep the car near the low groove, went to the pits.

At the midpoint of the race, Kyle was 2 cars up on Brightman. They both had a straightaway lead over Kevin and Houlihan, who in turn had another fifteen car lengths on Darling, Bobby Pelland III, Fred Astle, Jr. and Kenny Spencer III.
Three laps later, Darling was closing in on Houlihan and Freddy was working his way by Pelland. Kyle’s lead over Brightman was extending itself and there were big spaces back to Kevin, then Houlihan and the oncoming Darling. The remainder of the pack was a good distance behind and out of contention.

Lap 22 saw Darling overhaul Houlihan and then pass into fourth. He then went outside to get by Kevin and they went wheel-to-wheel for two laps before Darling’s efforts met with success. He now held down third but first and second were nearly a half-lap ahead. Kyle had ten carlengths over Brightman while Darling/Kevin were a straightaway back. Houlihan followed them at the same distance and it was still further to Pelland and Astle who headed the chase pack and still battled each other over position.

Kyle Casper Flashed over the line 1.6 seconds ahead of Brightman, who coincidentally had inked the best lap of the race with a lapspeed of 94.970 mph. Darling was an additional 2 seconds off the pace, showing the broad differences in speeds achieved. Kevin Casper and Houlihan rounded out the top five.

The rest of the top ten went to Pelland in sixth followed by Spencer, Tom Scully, Jr., Ryan Vanasse, Rick Martin and Astle.


Ed St Germain