Waterford, CT - Pete
Pernesiglio got away on a restart with 11 laps remaining, but he knew he wasn't finished
with two-time defending Northeastern Midget champion Russ Stoehr. And sure enough, Stoehr
came back to make another challenge before the Long Island could claim the 25-lap NEMA
feature segment on Sunday's Budweiser Modified Nationals at Waterford Speedbowl.
It was the second career win for Pernesiglio who started on the pole but found it anything
but easy. He had to best Stoehr on two restarts, the last with 11 laps remaining.
"I figured if I got him on the first one I could do it again," said Pernesiglio.
"But he was right there and I just gave it all I had. I turned the wick up as high as
I could."
They were side-by-side for two laps before Pernesiglio "saw [Stoehr's] left front
disappear. Then I felt I was in pretty good shape. But I know Russ. I knew he wasn't going
to keep trying the outside and that he would lay back, cool his tires and make another
charge."
So, with five laps left, Pernesiglio was "looking for shadows" but never saw
them "I didn't know how far Russ was behind me," he said. "I just figured
'if I can concentrate I'll be OK.'"
"The car was working pretty well toward the end," said Stoehr, who now has two
straight runner-up finishes. "We just didn't have enough time."
Randy Cabral, after battling Drew Fornoro, wound up third. Five through 10 were Ryan
Dolan, Tim Heath, Kyle Carpenter, Howard Bumpus, Adam Cantor and Ed Breault. Carpenter won
the Hard Charter Award.
Five cautions (an usually messing Speedbowl outing for NEMA) worried Pernesiglio whose
"nerves were shot" at the end of the event. After turning 13.2 seconds laps en
route to a heat win on Saturday, he "felt pretty good going into Sunday." But
the cautions dimmed that.
Barry Kittredge provided the opposition on the first three restarts. On the third he blew
a tire that sent him into the first turn armco. It set up the first of' Stoehr's
challenges. It followed other crashes that involved Glen Cabral, Timmy Spada, Ben Seitz,
Mark Buonomo and Bobby Seymour.
Pernesiglio's first win came at Star Speedway in June of '99. "I wanted a second one
bad to prove the first was no fluke," he said. "Tell you the truth, this one was
harder to get." |
