After three straight seconds, point leader Russ Stoehr scored his first win of the season Saturday night, capturing the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association feature at Star Speedway. The two-time defending champion came back from an early confrontation to notch his 38th career NEMA win.

Stoehr had the Angelillo 45 in the lead by lap 11 but had to battle Drew Fornoro (Campanale Bros. 54) side-by-side for three circuits before taking control. The Hard Charger winner, he managed to pull away over the final five laps and finished several car lengths ahead of runner-up Fornoro.

He was one of five cars in a "pile up" before the race was two laps old. "There was a whole group of cars it seemed," said Stoehr of the incident. "I don’t know exactly what happened but I got sideways and the right front tire of another car got in the cockpit. It landed atop my left arm. We got it pulled off and carried on."

Stoehr was 16th went things finally got started. "The car worked very well on the outside. I went out there and started passing cars," he said. He was fourth , behind Pete Pernesiglio, Barry Kittredge and Fornoro, when caution flew again on lap six.

Pernesiglio, who led since lap two, gave it up to Fornoro out of turn four on lap eight. Stoehr quickly moved to second and looked outside. "Drew is never going to give you the bottom," he explained. "I never even tried the bottom. Once I got in the lead, I pulled down in the groove."

Pernesiglio held on for third with Bobby Santos III coming from 12th to finish fourth in a Seymour car. Ryan Dolan, the fastest car for much of the night, was fifth. Dolan, the first head winner, was one of the cars involved in the early incident with Stoehr. Bobby Seymour, Adam Cantor and rookie Ben Seitz were part of it as well.

Santos and Dolan are key part of NEMA’s youth movement. Santos, who dropped out while fourth the week before an Adirondack Speedway, continued to impress. Howard Bumpus was the second heat winner while Tim Heath took the consi

The race had trouble getting started, two yellows and two false starts happening before lap two was completed. There was only once more caution after that.

The win put Stoehr into a tie with Nokie Fornoro for third place on NEMA’s all-time win list. "Nokie has won races all over the country," said Stoehr. "Still, it is a nice feather in our cap. We have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time."

NEMA returns to Waterford Speedbowl Saturday night. The Pernesiglio team will be out to make two straight at the Connecticut shoreline oval.

RESULTS
1. Russ Stoehr, 2. Drew Fornoro, 3. Pete Pernesiglio, 4. Bobby Santos III, 5. Ryan Dolan, 6. Howard Bumpus, 7. Bobby Seymour, 8. Kyle Carpenter, 9. Barry Kittredge, 10. Tim Bertrand, 11. Adam Cantor, 12. Ed Breault, 13. Mike Luggelle, 14. Bob Bradbury, 15. Dave Rosenfield, 16. Mark Buonomo, 17. Bob Boetticher, 18. Randy Cabral, 19. Wayne Arute, 20. Lee Smith, 21. Ben Seitz, 22. Rudy Beotticher Jr., 23. Matt O’Brien, 24. Larry Cheetham.