NEMST1Under the hot sunny summer skies of Southern Massachusetts 29 Texas Roadhouse Mini Stocks rolled into the pit area of Seekonk Speedway for the first race of the 2015 Thirty Racewear Triple Crown and the 7th event for the season points championship. Toby Wells has won the previous 6 events in 2015 in dominating fashion.

 

Of the 29 mini stocks in the pit area there was a mix of NEMST veterans, rookies, and Seekonk regulars coming to show their hand in the 40 lap main event to be held later in the evening. The heats races went smooth with Glen Thomas, Derek Robbie, and Darryl Church taking home their respective wins and rolling into the feature with incredible momentum.

The feature kicked off to a blazing pace with Church, Zakarite, and Thomas breaking away from the quick pack early on. Thomas would move to the lead early and begin to space out a commanding lead. Wells quickly moved up from his 11th place starting spot and by lap 11 rolled into the second position. A hard crash on lap 19 slowed the pace at Justin Faford made hard contact with the front stretch retaining wall and reset the field for a much anticipated restart.

 

Thomas was fast on the gas and pulled Wells on the restart and into the first set of corners. 3 laps later the stalled car of Mitch Bombard slowed the pace once again as he required a caution and push truck to be removed from the track. Wells would line up to the outside of Thomas once more. Thomas again pulled the restart and Wells would suck in behind the rear bumper of the red, white, and blue Nissan.

 

Finally on lap 30 the final caution came out as the 21 and 43 spun in turn 2 in front of the lead pack. Wells, after being beat on the two previous restarts, would line up to the right of Thomas one last time. A jump by Thomas resulted in a lazy green and the front row drivers were warned to follow NEMST restart procedures on the ensuing restart. The next time around the drivers pulled forward together and battled side by side into turn 1. Wells pulled ahead slightly down the back straight but lost ground entering turn 3 on the high side. He would stay to the outside of Thomas for the following lap but losing slight ground to his rear wheel drive competitor.

 

Thomas would gain a little more ground as Wells fell in behind but made a strong run nearly touching the rear bumper of Thomas the entire way around the track. In the end it was enough as Wells fell back two car length and had to settle for second place. His first non-win of the 2015 NEMST season. For Thomas it was his first win on the touring series and also erased the bounty placed on Wells earlier in the season. Surviving a tough battle Tim Collins held onto third at his first visit to Seekonk with Joe Baxter and local driver Darryl Church completing the top 5.

 

The NEMST is back in action on August 29 as part of the famed Oxford 250 weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway for a 50 lap feature in honor of AJ Roberti, longtime friend of NEMST promoter Bob Guptill. Please visit our website at www.northeastministocktour.com or Like Us on Facebook for up to the minute NEMST information.

 

Twisted Tea Pole Starter: Darryl Church

Thirty Racewear Hard Charger: Tim Collins (+10)

Sunoco Race Fuels Winners Circle Challenge: Glen Thomas

Texas Roadhouse Hard Luck Award: Nick Anderson

RH2way Top Rookie: Darryl Church (5)

 

Finish Car No Driver Hometown
1 53 Glen Thomas New London, CT
2 2NH Toby Wells Dublin, NH
3 18X Tim Collins Windsor, ME
4 24 Joe Baxter Pascoag, RI
5 4 darryl church brockton, ma
6 85 Michael Viens Seekonk, MA
7 6MA derek douglas bellingham , ma
8 O7 Pete Zakarite Niantic, CT
9 88 Jacob Rheaume Rochester, NH
10 10RI richrad sprague jr warwick, ri
11 90 Desmond Skillings Antrim, NH
12 42 Loren Smith Jr Bow, NH
13 84 William Schoeler Warwick, ME
14 7 eric pelletier dayville, ct
15 11RI emily sprague warawick, ri
16 19RI Dylan Cabral Richmond, RI
17 43 Dana Shepard Putney, VT
18 55 Nicholas Anderson Oxford, MA
19 21 william potter cventry, ri
20 1 Chuck Mcdonald Grotom, CT
21 22 Shaun Waites Sr Raymond, NH
22 10CT Mitchell Bombard Willimantic, CT
23 O4 justin faford westminster, ma
24 69 Louis Maher North Brookfield, MA
25 54 Eric Finkbine Jr Columbia, CT
26 81 david banville somerset, ma DNS
27 66 Devin Miranda Taunton, Ma DNS
28 33 Matt Sonnhalter E. Thetford, VT DNS
29 25 Nic Skillings Hillsboro, NH DNS