Bertrand Shines in
NEMA Lites Opener at Thompson's ICEBREAKER
Todd Bertrand didn't let the cold temperatures slow
down his hot streak at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park's
ICEBREAKER, as he won the event for the second year in a
row. Bertrand beat back Randy Cabral and Jim Chambers in a
late race restart to take down the victory.
In the
early stages of the race, Ryan Locke jumped out into an
early lead, only to be pressured immediately by third place
starter Bertrand. The caution and then red flag would fly on
lap two, when Anthony Burr and Paul Scally made contact.
Scally was able to continue, but later spent time in the
pits for repairs. Burr was taken away by ambulance to a
nearby hospital, suffering injuries to his face, and other
injuries that left him in a lot of pain.
When the
race resumed, Bertrand marched out into the lead. Avery
Stoehr in the Scrivani 21 moved into second place, and
behind him, Danny Cugini, Randy Cabral, Jim Chambers and
Anthony Nocella in the Manafort 76 were dicing through the
field.
Cugini made a bid for second with two laps
remaining, but made contact with Stoehr, sending them both
into the turn three fence, collecting Anthony Nocella along
with them. Nocella was unable to continue.
Erasing
Bertrand's nearly four second lead, on the restart, Cabral
advanced by Chambers, and then set his sights on Bertrand.
However, Bertrand would pull away to a comfortable six
carlength lead over the final circuits enroute to his first
victory of the season and second in a row at TSMP's
ICEBREAKER.
"The car was perfect all race long. I
didn't have to change anything inside of the car. I'm happy
that I got up front - We've got a bunch of competitive cars
in this class so you've just got to get out into clean air
as much as possible and luckily we were able to have a good
starting spot and I kept my nose clean," Bertrand said in
victory lane. Despite the strong start Bertrand said he
would not run a full NEMA Lite season, instead planning to
chase a title in the NEMA Midgets.
