Long Island Motorsports News - New England Motorsports South by Lou Modestino Weekly Column

      October 3, Brockton, MA--- Seekonk Speedway 62nd annual season comes to a spectacular conclusion this weekend, October 6-7, with over 650 laps of green flag racing, 10 different divisions, and in excess of $47,000 in purse money and another $5,700 in lap money bonuses on the line for the D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Festival of Racing.

       Highlighting the card will be a $14,700 100-lap open competition Pro Stock race with $3,000 going to the victor, $275 to qualify, and an additional $2,500 up for grabs in lap money awards. The True Value Modified Racing Series, Northeastern Midget Association, and Pro Four Modified Series will also be in action, along with open competition events for Late Models, Street Stocks, Sport Trucks/Four Cylinders, Pure Stocks, and 600 and 750 restrictor-plate SYRA Mini Cups.

       The weekend begins with an open practice for all divisions on Friday, October 5. The pit area will open at 9 a.m., with practice rounds running non-stop from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Pit admission is $20.

      The pit gates will swing open at 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 6, with technical inspections beginning at 8:45 a.m. Practice for all divisions will run from 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Starting positions for the qualifying races will be determined by the luck of the draw. Qualifying heats will begin at 1:30 p.m. with “straight up” starts for the features coming from the Late Model, Street Stock, and Sport Truck/Four Cylinder preliminaries. A random redraw of the highest finishing Pro Stocks will set the stage for the 24-car main event. Consolation rounds will follow as needed for all divisions to fill in the final feature race starting spots.

     The SYRA Mini Cup 600 and 750-restrictor plate divisions will open the feature race schedule, with a 30-lap $250 to win main for the Sport Trucks/Four Cylinders sandwiched in between their 25-lap events. The Pro Four Modified Series will roll out their 25-lap feature next, and be followed by the Pure Stock class, which will bring Saturday’s program to a close with a 25-lap feature. Lap money for the Sport Trucks/Four Cylinders is posted at $25 per lap with $20 per lap for the Pure Stocks.

    At 11:30 a.m. Sunday will begin with limited practice for NEMA midgets, True Value Modifieds, and Pro Stocks at noon.
The first of five Sunday features, a 30-lap $250 to win 26-car event for the Street Stocks, will kick off the festivities at 1 p.m. A 25-lap main for the Northeastern Midget Association will follow. The 50-lap open competition Late Model event will pay $700 of the $4,460 purse to the victor, and will immediately precede the Pro Stock main, which is expected to draw competitors from New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New York. Street Stocks, Late Models, and Pro Stocks will also vie for lap money, which has been posted at $25 per lap led. The True Value Modified Racing Series will bring the weekend and the 2007 season to an exciting conclusion with a 100 green flag lap feature.

       Bruce Batchelder of NH and John McKennedy of Chelmsford ended up the winners in last weekend's Twin Modified features at the Star Speedway in Epping, NH. But, Henry Stampfl of Plainville ended up winning the war with two top finishes in the main events and accumulated enough points to win the Modified Championship at that track. Stampfl, however, was being stalked by Rusty Ball of Keene, NH in his championship efforts for the entire season. But, Henry managed to keep Ball from taking the point lead. We also understand that track owner Bob MacArthur plans for 2008 is to make the Modified cars the lead division at that southern Granite State oval. It's expected that Henry Stampfl will return to the Star Speedway next year to defend his title.

        Perfect weather for the 4th Annual Circus of Dirt at the Brockton Fairgrounds resulted in a strong turnout of entries for the event which was sanctioned by the AMA and the New England Dirt Track Series over the weekend. When it was all over local and New England riders held their own against New York and Pennsylvania riders in nine out of eleven classes. The dry weather, too dry in fact, also resulted in several breaks in between qualifying heats and the features for the venue's water tanker and grooming equipment to work on the track surface in an effort to keep the dust down to a minimum.

Among the winners were Jason Pacheco of Taunton who went home with the Vintage Amature winners trophy while Carver's Asa Irish did the same thing in the Vintage Expert. Plymouth's Brian McKenna ended the afternoon with another win in the the 250 Pro main event over Brent Laskawa of Londonderry, NH. The 250 Amateur feature saw first place go to David Berryman of Plymouth who managed to hold off Kyle O’Connor from Middleboro.

Troy Estabrook of Litchfield, NH managed to take both the Sportsman and the Open Pro features aboard his Honda machine. In the process of all that he beat invader Dennis Flynn of Hopewell Jct., NY in the Sportsman and Adam Carpenelli of E. Greenbush, NY in the Open Pro classes. Another Granite State rider Harland Hildebrand of Milford, NH bested Samantha Slingerland of Hudson, NH and Bobby Bettencourt of W. Bridgewater in the 65 cc event.

     In between the motorcycle action a trio of fearsome looking Monster Trucks entertained the packed grandstands with the Connecticut based "Thrasher", "Backdraft" and the "Eradicator" jumped over dirt and crushed junk cars in the infield much to the delight of the fans.

      Raynham's Tom Cravenho revealed that his return to the NASCAR Whelen All American Racing Series-Sunoco Modified Division at the Thompson (CT) Speedway next season is up in the air. All that even though he finished up third overall in that point championship. Tommy made it sound like money was tight for his car owner the Moniz family of Falmouth owners of Falmouth Ready Mix, a cement company.

     It's pretty much the same story for Jimmy Kuhn, Jr. and his dad Jim, Sr. They have really focused on the True Value Modified Series this year and seem to always be in the hunt for a win. Jim, Jr. has been very consistent this year as in 2006 with the TVMRS where he finished second in the point chase. According to Jim Kuhn, Sr. their sponsor SPI Sweeping Co. has not committed to next season. "Our sponsor budgeted all of the money for this year before the season started. He has not given us any commitment for 2008," said Kuhn, Sr. A tight money crunch has a lot to do with all of this.

     Their are similar circumstances in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Bridgewater's Dick Houlihan, driver of the Viverios Insurance car, plans to retire from the sport at the end of the current season. The Brady Bunch Team out of Brockton with Jerry Marquis at the wheel goes from year-to-year which is nothing new. However, principal Joe Brady has some health issues as does his wife Linda. Canton's Rick Savary drives Art Barry's car which is sponsored by Superior Oil. Barry has plans to retire at the season's end. The Boehler Team out of E. Freetown had problems in the early going of the 2007 season. But sponsorship jelled in time for Mike Boehler to put together a deal for Bobby Santos, III of Franklin.   Considering all this economic instablity, both the NASCAR WMT and the TVMRS could be down on entries from the area next year.

            Last Sunday's Lakeville Speedway Reunion was a homerun. According to the organizers over 1,000 fans of the old track turned out. Lots of antique racecars turned out including those from NEAR, STARS and unaffiliated. Also, there was a strong turnout of Classics, Antiques and Muscle Cars. Prior to the event the organizers reshaped the original 5/8 mile dirt oval getting as close to what it looked like before the track closed up for good. The Lakeville Lion's Club hosted the event with the help of STARS organizers headed by the Lima family out of New Bedford. We also expect that this will be an annual event.

     Let's see what else is happening this weekend in southern New England and elsewhere. On Sunday the Quoboag Riders in Monson will host a motorcycle hillclimb all day while the flat track motorcycle crowd move to their flagship track the Wachusetts Valley Riders Club in Winchendon for racing action starting at noon. For the draggers it's ET action all day Saturday and Sunday at the New England Dragway in Epping, NH.

Lou Modestino is a long-time columnist and Public Relations person, working for numerous tracks in the northeast, and now writes for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA. He may be reached at lmodestino@hotmail.com.

Long Island Motorsports News encourages you to patronize our fine sponsors---

Disclaimer: Views expressed by columnists and all others on this website are strictly their own, and may not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of the management of Long Island Motorsports News.

Long Island Motorsports News, your source for racing coverage, is updated daily.