|
|
|
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH |
 |
 |
| MIKE SCRIVANI - JOEY
PAYNE |
Joey Payne Best in NEMA's
Iron Mike Memorial at Monadnock;
Meg Cugini Tops
Lites Field |
Winchester, NH -
On Saturday evening, September 5th, NEMA made its return to
the Monadnock Speedway for the continuation of the Iron Mike
Scrivani Memorial race for the NEMA cars, and a full program
for the Lites cars. Fierce racing throughout the pack in
both divisions highlighted the evening, as NEMA continues
one of its most competitive seasons ever on record. On a
track that is known as a "drivers track" due to the variable
banking between the turns and high speeds, Joey Payne became
the ninth different winner in 12 races for NEMA, and Meg
Cugini became the second female driver to ever win in the
Lites division.
In the NEMA division, Joey Payne and
Jim Santa Maria paced the field to the green. Payne,
consistently in the top three throughout the day on the time
charts, blasted out into the lead. Payne paced the field at
a torrid pace, pulling out to over a half track lead at one
point. Behind him, there was close racing throughout the
pack. 2014 Champion Randy Cabral, in a tight points battle
with John Zych Jr. raced for the 4th position for much of
the race, until Cabral got together with the #21 of Jim
Chambers, sending Chambers spinning and bringing out the
caution. Cabral retired to the pits later in the race due to
the incident with a broken steering arm.
On the
restart, Payne jumped into the lead, but Zych made a daring
move, taking four spots away, and then set his sights on
Payne. Zych slipped by Payne into the lead, only to be
negated by a Bethany Stoehr caution on that same lap. On the
next restart, Payne was ready for Zych, who is known to be
very sharp on restarts. Payne launched in the middle of turn
three, and rocketed up the track, taking away Zych's line.
The duo sliced and diced, with Zych trying both the high
side and the low side of Payne to get by. On the white flag
lap, Zych made one more attempt in turn one, but Payne shut
the door and went on to take down his first NEMA victory of
the season, and first with Bertrand Motorsports. Following
Payne and Zych across the line were Avery Stoehr, Seth
Carlson, Alan Chambers, Jim Chambers, Bethany Stoehr, Paul
Scally, Randy Cabral and Andy Barrows.
"The car was
really good. I had went into 'cruise mode' thinking that we
had them covered, and then John surprised me after the
restart when he got by. I've been doing this a long time,
and knew what I had to do in order to make sure that didn't
happen again. After the restart, the car loosened up a
little, but I dialed it back in and hooked it back up for
the finish," said Payne. "It feels awesome to win for the
Bertrand team and for the Scrivani family in the Iron Mike
Memorial," he said.
In the Lites race, young star,
Meg Cugini jumped out into the lead from her second starting
position. She set a quick pace and pulled away from the
field, until a caution at the halfway point tightened up the
field. Cugini would line up next to veteran, Andy Barrows.
Cugini got the advantage on the restart, despite Barrows
making a run at her a few times over the next couple of laps
on the bottom.
"I was just thinking to myself that I
needed to hit my marks over the final laps. It feels great
to take down a big win like this," said Cugini. "This win
goes out to my brother, Danny, who for the first time was
able to watch me race versus racing along side of me. I'm
glad I could make him proud. It also goes out to my Dad who
works so hard on the car each week and our sponsors - Bob's
Collision Center, World Wide Preowned, Bumper to Bumper
Accessories and Avratin Law," she said.
Andy Barrows
put in a strong run to finish second, and veteran Paul
Scally had his second consecutive podium finish with an
impressive run. Following them across the line were Scott
Bigelow, Paul Bigelow, Anthony Payne, Jim Cataldo, Dennis
O'Brien, Jeremy Decourcey and Randy Cabral.
The NEMA
schedule resumes this coming Saturday at the New London
Waterford Speedbowl for the Jim O'Brien Memorial, with both
the full NEMA cars and the Lites taking center stage at the
Bowl. |
 |
| JOHN ZYCH JR - JOEY
PAYNE - AVERY STOEHR |
 |
 |
|
|
|
NEMA MIDGETS - MONADNOCK -
9/5/15 |
|
Pos.
|
#
|
Driver |
Hometown
|
Owner |
|
1 |
74 |
Joey Payne |
Fairlawn, NJ |
Tim
Bertrand |
|
2 |
9 |
John Zych Jr. |
Mendon, MA |
John Zych
Sr. |
|
3 |
15a |
Avery Stoehr |
Lakeville, MA |
Russ Stoehr |
|
4 |
71 |
Seth Carlson |
Brimfield, CT |
Gene
Feigel |
|
5 |
7 |
Alan Chambers |
Atkinson, NH |
Mike Chambers |
|
6 |
21 |
Jim Chambers |
Atkinson, NH |
Mike Chambers |
|
7 |
5b |
Bethany
Stoehr |
Bridgewater, MA |
Greg
Stoehr |
|
8 |
30 |
Paul Scally |
Raynham,
MA |
Paul Scally |
9
DNF |
47 |
Randy Cabral |
Plymouth, MA |
Tim
Bertrand |
10
DNF |
46 |
Andy Barrows |
New Ipswich, NH |
Andy Barrows |
11
DNF |
99 |
Jim Santa Maria |
Burlington, CT |
Jim Santa Maria |
12
DNF |
87 |
Doug Cleveland |
Sudbury, MA |
Doug Cleveland |
|
 |
 |
| PAUL SCALLY - MEGAN
CUGINI - ANDY BARROWS |
 |
 |
|
|
|
NEMA LITES - MONADNOCK -
9/5/15 |
|
Pos.
|
#
|
Driver |
Hometown
|
Owner |
|
1 |
41 |
Megan CuginI |
Marshfield, MA |
D. Cugini |
|
2 |
46 |
Andy Barrows |
New Ipswich, NH |
Andy Barrows |
|
3 |
30b |
Paul Scally |
Raynham,
MA |
Paul Scally |
|
4 |
32 |
Scott
Bigelow |
E. Hampton, CT |
Scott
Bigelow |
|
5 |
31 |
Paul
Bigelow |
Kensington, CT |
Paul
Bigelow |
|
6 |
21 |
Anthony Payne |
Fairlawn, NJ |
Jennifer Scrivani |
|
7 |
2 |
Jim Cataldo |
Sterling, MA |
Jim Cataldo |
|
8 |
16 |
Dennis O'Brien |
Deerfield, NH |
Chris O'Brien |
9
DNF |
29d |
Jeremy Decourcey |
Rochester, NH |
Jeremy
Decourcey |
10
DNF |
35 |
Randy Cabral |
Plymouth, MA |
Glen Cabral |
11
DNF |
36 |
Myles Devits |
- |
Myles
Devits |
|
|
|
|
|
