NEMA Winner Ben Seitz with Seekonk Speedway's Mrs. Irene Venditti

Seekonk, MA: Ben Seitz of Monument Beach, MA continued his domination of the Seekonk Speedway this season winning the 25-lapper as part of Open Wheel Wednesday. A huge crowd was on hand to see Seitz, who also earned the Hard Charger Award, come from deep in the field to take down the exciting win over Pete Pernesiglio of Lake Grove, NY. The win is Seitz’s second at Seekonk this year and fourth of the year overall. Seitz was photographed in victory lane with track matriarch Irene Venditti back in June as well.

The opening lap was an indication of the type of racing that the fans would see throughout the night. Shane Hammond took the lead from pole sitter Mike Luggelle only to lose it on the same lap to Pete Pernesiglio.

The first caution flew immediately for troubles for Shawn Torrey. Under the caution, Keith Botelho, who was making his 2005 debut in the Marco Campanale #54 headed to the infield with mechanical problems.

Back under green Hammond continued to chase leader Pernesiglio with Mike Keeler in hot pursuit. Seitz, Joey Payne, Chris Perley, and Adam Cantor were making their way through traffic and had their sites set on the front-runners when the second caution of the event flew for a spin by Bobby Santos in the Cabral Family #35.

Pernesiglio led Hammond, Keeler, Seitz, and Perley to the restart on lap 11. Payne, Cantor and a charging Randy Cabral lurked outside of the top five. Keeler made his move on Hammond and into the runner-up spot taking Seitz with him into third. It was not long before Seitz surpassed Keeler. Perley meanwhile had moved into fourth followed by Payne.

With the leaders in heavy traffic the best battle on the field was for the sixth position between Cabral, Jeff Horn, and Shane Hammond. The trio diced their way through lapped traffic and showcased some three-wide racing for position. By the time things settled down it was Cabral with sixth over Hammond and Horn.

Much to the dismay of Pernesiglio, who had been holding off Seitz, a spin by Rich Gerbe brought out the caution with only six laps to go to bunch up the field. The restart pitted Pernesiglio against Seitz, Keeler, Perley, and Payne inside the top five.

Pernesiglio got a great run in the inside groove as did Keeler moving Seitz temporarily back to the third position. It did not take long for Seitz to regain his composure and the second position. The defending champ got a great run on the outside of Pernesiglio coming out of turn two and was able to take over the lead on the backstretch with only four-laps remaining.

The final caution of the event flew for a scary incident that involved the top-five car of Mike Keeler. While running in a large pack of cars, contact was made launching Keeler over the wheel of another car and straight into the outside wall. Keeler was not injured.

The final shootout gave Pernesiglio one last shot at the race leader, Seitz. The late race restart found Seitz at the point followed by Pernesiglio, Perley, Payne, and Cabral. After a failed attempt at the restart, the action finally got underway for a heated final two laps.

Pernesiglio got a great run on the restart and looked to be in contention for the win, but Seitz had other plans. After a quick battle, Seitz took control of the event and went on to win his fourth feature event of the season. Pernesiglio settled for second over Perley, Payne and Cabral. Last week’s winner Jeff Horn continues to run well finishing in the sixth position. Hammond, Cantor, Matt O'Brien and Luggelle rounded out the top-ten.

The Northeastern Midget Association returns to action on August 6, 2005 at the Waterford Speedbowl.