This past Saturday, the Northeastern rolled into the Oswego Speedway for the first time in nearly eight years. The wheel-to-wheel action of the midgets did not disappoint, topping speeds of over 135MPH at “The Big O”. John Zych triumphed after and intense battle with Matt O’Brien, and Jake Trainor came through the field to take down the NEMA Lites victory in thrilling fashion with three laps to go in the Feature event.
In the Lites feature, Joey Bailey jumped out into an early lead in the Scrivani 21. Bailey won the heat race event earlier in the day in convincing fashion. It appeared as if Bailey would take down his first even NEMA Lites feature win, but behind him, points leader Jake Trainor was pouncing through the field in the Seymour 29.
As the laps wound down, Trainor was reeling in Bailey, and with six laps to go, was on his bumper. Trainor would look low, and make the pass on Bailey, and go on to take down the victory. Chase Locke returned to the Lites in the Seymour #1 car, to finish a very impressive third place, on the podium. PJ Stergios, Mike Pernesiglio, Avery Stoehr, Richie Coy, Randy Cabral, Kyle Valeri, and Mike Netishen rounded out the top ten.
In the NEMA event, long time club veteran Matt O’Brien led the field to the green with Mike Horn in the A1. O’Brien, who had taken down his first ever heat race victory earlier in the day, would jump out into the lead and solidly in command over the first five circuits.
Futher back, John Zych had come from the fifth spot into second by lap three. Zych began hunting down O’Brien, while Nathan Byrd in the Bertrand 17 ran third.
As the trio approached lapped traffic, Zych reeled in O’Brien, and Todd Bertrand in the #47 passed Byrd for third. With five laps to go, Zych made his bid for the lead and passed O’Brien on the bottom. Bertrand would pass O’Brien on the next lap. As the laps wound down, Bertrand would get within 3 car lengths of Zych, but could not muster up enough ground. Zych took down the victory over Bertrand, Randy Cabral, Avery Stoehr, O’Brien, Byrd, Mike Horn, Jake Trainor, Doug Cleveland and Eric Bacon
NEMA MIDGETS – OSWEGO – 9/4/21
Pos.
#
Driver
Hometown
Owner
1
9
John Zych Jr.
Mendon, MA
John Zych Sr.
2
47
Todd Bertrand
Danielson, CT
Bertrand Motorsports
3
74
Randy Cabral
Kingston, MA
Bertrand Motorsports
4
39
Avery Stoehr
Assonet, MA
Bertrand Motorsports
5
16
Matt O’Brien
Wilmington, MA
Matt O’Brien
6
17
Nathan Byrd
Sun City, AZ
Bertrand Motorsports
7
A1
Mike Horn
Ashland, MA
Jeff Horn
8
8t
Jake Trainor
Medway, MA
Mike Trainor
9
87
Doug Cleveland
Sudbury, MA
Doug Cleveland
10
16L
Eric Bacon
– – –
Dennis O’Brien
11
26
Jeff Champagne
– – –
Randy Cabral
12
16
Richie Coy
Haskell, NJ
Matt O’Brien
13
28
Mike Pernisiglio
Ronkonkoma, NY
Pete Pernisiglio Sr.
14
21
Joe Bailey
Monroe, NJ
Mike Scrivani
15
11
PJ Stergios
Candia, NH
Bill Stergios
HEAT 1: 16, 1, 17, 47, 74, 9, 87, 8t, 39
NEMA LITES – OSWEGO – 9/4/21
Pos.
#
Driver
Hometown
Owner
1
29
Jake Trainor
Medway, MA
Matt Seymour
2
21
Joe Bailey
Monroe, NJ
Mike Scrivani
3
1
Chase Locke
Chester, NH
Matt Seymour
4
11
PJ Stergios
Candia, NH
Bill Stergios
5
28
Mike Pernisiglio
Ronkonkoma, NY
Pete Pernisiglio Sr.
6
94
Avery Stoehr
Assonet, MA
Curt Kibbe
7
19
Richie Coy
Haskell, NJ
Richie Coy
8
35
Randy Cabral
Kingston, MA
Glen Cabral
9
17
Kyle Valeri
Monument Beach, MA
Peter Valeri
10
26
Mike Netishen
– – –
Randy Cabral
11
16
Eric Bacon
– – –
Dennis O’Brien
12
3
Christopher Vose
Gloversville, NY
Christopher Vose
HEAT #1: 1, 28, 11, 17, 19,3
HEAT #2: 21, 29, 35, 94, 16, 26
On Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 11:12 PM Timothy Bertrand <timothy.bertrand@gmail.com> wrote:
Cabral Doubles up at the High Banks of Hudson in NEMA Sunday Special
Hudson, NH
The Northeastern Midget Association rolled into the high banks of the Hudson International Speedway this past Saturday evening. It was the first time the full midgets visited Hudson in nearly 20 years, and the second time this season for the LItes. Seven time NEMA champion, Randy Cabral, dominated the evening winning both the Lite and NEMA portions of the show. Cabral extended his historic run, winning a feature event in the last 22 consecutive seasons – a mark that surpassed Dave Humphrey’s fifteen consecutive seven years ago.
In the LItes, Chris Vose and Mike Pernesiglio took down the heat race wins. In the feature, Tiana Kibbe jumped out into the lead from her pole starting position. Behind her, Randy Cabral was working the outside lane, and worked his way into second on lap three. Cabral would begin hounding Kibbe, and make the pass under her into turn one and two on lap four. Once in command, Cabral quickly went to work pulling away from the field.
Behind him, points leader Jake Trainor was making his way to the front, with last week’s feature winner, Richie Coy, in tow. Trainor would overtake Kibbe on lap 26, and Coy would overtake her on lap 27. Out front, it was all Cabral enroute to his feature event win. Trainor would finish second, followed by Coy, Kibbe, Mike Pernesiglio, Kyle Valeri, Joey Bailey, Chris Vose, Paul Scally. And Dylan Coutu.
In the NEMA feature, Doug Cleveland and Mike Horn brought the field to the green. Cleveland, having one of his best seasons yet, blasted out into the lead – but the field was brought to a halt due to an Avery Stoehr flip, after contact with Matt Merry. Both drivers were OK, and the field went back to racing.
On the restart, Cleveland lined up next to Randy Cabral. When the green flag flew, Cleveland had the edge off of turn four, but Cabral beat him into the first turn. Once in front, Cabral set sail, dominating the remainder of the feature, winning by over a half lap.
Cabral took down the victory, followed by Cleveland – who had his best run in over two decades, a well deserved podium, Mike Horn, AZ’s Nathan Byrd, Alan Chambers, Paul Scallly, John Zych, Matt Merry, and Avery Stoehr.
“We got lucky tonight,” said Cabral. “We were thrashing on the 17 after it broke and on our own cars and forgot to charge the battery. It died on the last lap and the motor started breaking up bad,” he said. “The car was spot on tonight. Tim and I talked before the feature and made some calls, and they worked great,” he said.
NEMA picks back up at the Wiscassett Speedway in two weeks.
Tim Bertrand