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| SATURDAY, JULY 28TH |
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NEMA
LITES 50 LAP O'BRIEN MEMORIAL |
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NEMA LITES FEATURE: L to
R - Winner Jake Trainor #8;
2nd - Avery Stoehr #21; & 3rd -
Richie Coy #19 |
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NEMA LITES - NL-W
SPEEDBOWL -
7/28/18 |
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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 |
8T |
Jake Trainor |
Medway, MA |
Mike Trainor |
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2 |
21 |
Avery Stoehr |
Lakeville, MA |
Mike Scrivani |
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3 |
19 |
Richie Coy |
Haskell, NJ |
Richie Coy |
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4 |
30 |
Paul Scally |
Raynham, MA |
Paul Scally |
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5 |
5 |
Dylan Duhaime |
Loudon, NH |
Jim Cataldo |
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6 |
76 |
John Zych Jr. |
Mendon, MA |
Frank
Manafort |
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7 |
38 |
Ryan Locke |
Chester, NH |
Ken Locke |
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8 |
41 |
Meg CuginI |
Marshfield, MA |
Glenn Cugini |
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9 |
35 |
Randy Cabral |
Kingston, MA |
Glen Cabral |
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10 |
17 |
Kyle Valeri |
Monument Beach, MA |
Peter Valeri |
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11 |
9 |
Ben Mikitarian |
Northborough, MA |
John Mikitarian |
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12 |
51 |
Dan CuginI |
Marshfield, MA |
Dan Cugini |
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13 |
2 |
Bruce Finley |
Webster, MA |
Jim Cataldo |
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14 |
16 |
Matt O'Brien |
Wilmington, MA |
Chris O'Brien |
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15 |
36 |
Rob Ricardi |
- - - |
Glen Cabral |
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16 |
52 |
Tyler Rivard |
- - - |
Kevin Park |
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17 |
48 |
Matt Janisch |
Nazareth, PA |
Matt Janisch |
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Trainor Captures
NEMA's O'Brien Memorial
at New London Waterford
Speedbowl |
On Saturday July 28th, the Northeastern Midget
Association invaded the New London-Waterford Speedbowl for
the annual Jim O'Brien Memorial Race, a fifty lap event.
Youngster Jake Trainor beat back veterans Avery Stoehr,
Richie Coy and Paul Scally to take down his first ever
victory, to become one of the youngest ever winners in the
Northeastern Midget Association at thirteen years old.
Jim O'Brien was a legendary car owner and club officer,
who for a span of four decades personified the best of NEMA.
At a very young age, he was introduced to the Midgets by his
father and in 1970, joined the NEMA family as a car owner.
He earned feature wins with Johnny Evans, driving his Falcon
powered Kurtis, and Doug Cleveland who powered to victory in
his home built "Pink Panther" laydown chassis.
"Jim
O'Brien was a staple in the foundation of NEMA," said NEMA
President Tim Bertrand. "He was one of the pioneers who
helped pave the way for pavement midget racing in the
Northeast, as we see it today," he said. "To put on such a
great show for the fans with the Lites was icing on the cake
for Jim and the O'Brien family," said Bertrand.
When
the green flag flew in the O'Brien Memorial this past
Saturday, Trainor and Kyle Valeri brought the field to the
green flag. Meg Cugini jumped out into the lead from her
third starting spot. Cugini paced the field through the
first ten laps, as Valeri and Trainor were closely in tow.
Trainor would get by Valeri, and then begin setting his
sights on Cugini. On lap ten, Trainor would strike and pass
Cugini for the lead.
Further back, Avery Stoehr was
working his way from the twelfth starting position and was
fifth by lap twelve, along with Richie Coy, Paul Scally, and
Dylan Duhaime.
A lap twenty five caution, the only
one of the event, would bunch the field back up. On the
restart, Stoehr would blast his way into second, and stay
within two carlengths of Trainor.
As the duo
approached lapped traffic, Stoehr looked low a couple of
times, but Trainor worked the traffic masterfully, and would
go on to take down the victory. Stoehr would finish second,
followed by, Coy, Scally, Duhaime, John Zych, Ryan Locke,
Dan Cugini, Meg Cugini and Randy Cabral.
"The race
started off with me just working the top after falling to
3rd on the start. Kyle Valeri and Meg Cugini put up a good
fight trying to run them on the top. Once I got the lead, I
took it easy until the caution came out on lap 24 for a car
dead on track. By then it was mainly defensive driving and
constantly hearing the 21 car driving in right on my left
rear. With 3 to go I came up to a lap car that I got around
quickly on the top and if Avery didn't get hung up for about
corner he probably would of gotten me. And I really had no
words after winning, and I couldn't believe I held off the
21 to win. I just want to thank all the members who believed
in me and made this year possible," said Trainor.
"We
had to start further back, but the car was working awesome
on the top," said Stoehr. "On the restart I got to 2nd and
my car got progressively tighter - then I moved down to the
bottom and was hoping Jake Would get hung up in lapped
traffic but he really did a phenomenal job kept it under him
watched him get loose a few times and he straightened it
right out, he did a great job, hats off to those guys," said
Stoehr.
NEMA picks back up on August 8th with the
full NEMA cars at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
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On Saturday July 28th, the Northeastern Midget Association
Lites will shine at the “Bowl” for the fourth running of
this memorable event. Last year, Jim O’Brien was sure
smiling down from above as Ryan Bigelow dominated the field
at the historic Thompson Speedway to take down the coveted
win. This year, the NEMA Lites will take center stage and
continue to write history for the fourth annual Jim O'Brien
Memorial Race.
Jim O'Brien was a legendary car owner and club officer, who
for a span of four decades personified the best of NEMA. At
a very young age, he was introduced to the Midgets by his
father and in 1970, joined the NEMA family as a car owner.
He earned feature wins with Johnny Evans, driving his Falcon
powered Kurtis, and Doug Cleveland who powered to victory in
his home built “Pink Panther” laydown chassis. In 1975 he
won the Coca-Cola dirt track championship with Hank Stevens
at the wheel. Jim was an innovative fabricator and engine
builder and with his sons by his side, he always built his
own cars and motors. For years he served as a NEMA contest
board member, once a vice-president, and for 13 consecutive
years as the treasurer. His life-long dedication to the club
was truly outstanding and in 2003, he was inducted into the
NEMA Hall of Fame. However, most notably Jim was always one
that stood-up and fought for fair competition and defended
the “little guy” – racers who ran with small budgets.
In the same spirit of Jim O’Brien, the NEMA Lites were
created with two principals - cost effectiveness and fair
competition. While the NEMA midgets are considered the
fastest midgets in the world, the NEMA Lites boast to be
“lite” on the wallet, making them the perfect fit to
highlight the Jim O'Brien memorial race.
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Special Thanks to our 2018 Sponsors:
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United
Consultants
Motor Cars
International
Bertrand
Motorsports
R.E. Dinneen Architects
Cataldo Racing
Triple M Motorsports
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The Engels Family
The Park
Family
Lu & Mike
Jarrett
Gil
Bertrand
Mike Scrivani
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Spirit of Jim O'Brien Awards
sponsored by
Seymour Performance Products
Trophies provided by
MLM Diagnostic Services
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Sponsorship opportunities are
still available...
www.midgetracers.com/memorial-race.html
Sponsor Laps
$25 each
Bronze Sponsor $100-$249
Silver Sponsor
$250-$499
Gold Sponsor $500+
Please send check
payable to "NEMA" and address to Matt O'Brien, 149 Aldrich
Rd, Wilmington, MA 01887
or visit our GoFundMe page by
Clicking Here.
Email Matt at arcracer16@yahoo.com |
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