The Northeastern Midget Association heads to the famed Star Speedway in Epping, NH on Saturday night. It has been a favorite stop for the midgets since the 60’s, in fact Star has hosted more NEMA events than any other facility.
Some of the greats have gotten their first NEMA victory at Star including Joey Coy, Mike Favulli and Billy Mann, as well as modern day drivers like Jeff Horn, Joey Payne, Bobby Seymour and Russ Stoehr. There will be plenty of drivers gunning for their first on Saturday night.
Stoeher leads all active drivers with 10 wins at Star.
The NEMA midgets bring a see-saw battle at the top of the point standings in both of their classes.
The top spot has traded back and forth between young Avery Stoeher of Lakeville, MA and another Massachusetts South Shore native, Randy Cabral of Kingston. Cabral now leads by 13 points thanks to a runner-up finish last time out at Waterford. Stoehr could only muster a fourth place in that event and lost his grip on the points lead.
Consistancy is what’s keeping them close. Of the 9 races so far this season Randy has won 3 and finished second 3 times. Avery has been only a shade off that with 2 wins, a second and a pair of thirds.
The other points battle in the full midgets is right behind them between Suffield CT’s Todd Bertrand in third and Brimfield, MA resident Seth Carlson. The latter has been red hot in the last two races, with a win and third. He has closed the gap on Bertrand and now trails by just 10 points.
It’s just as tight in the Lites. A win by Marshfield, MA’s Danny Cugini at Waterford last time catipulted him to the top of the standings over Ryan Krachun of Neshanic Station, NJ. Even without a victory, Krachun had a lock on the top spot for several weeks. Cugini now leads by 11 points going into Star.
Krachun could now fall into the clutches of another consistant finisher. Andy Barrows of New Ipswich, NH is only 17 points out of second.
The real story in the Lites this season has been PJ Stergois of Candia, NH. Though he missed 3 races, he’s only finished outside the top 3 once in the 8 main events he’s run. 4 of those podium finishes were victories. He’ll be looking to score another one at his “home” track on Saturday night.
THE SUNDOWN SHOWDOWN
A special match race sponsored by All Star Performance has been added to the program. “The Sundown Showdown” will feature some of Star Speedway’s historic superstar drivers taking on some of the young, up and coming stars of the NEMA. A trophy and huge bragging rights are on the line for this sure-to-be-special, multi-generational race.
Star owner Bob Webber has invited these driver/NEMA LITES car pairings: Chris Perley in the Ted Smith #93
Joey Payne in the Dan Cugini #51
Jon McKennedy in the Frank Manafort #76
Mike Ordway in the Bill Stergios #11
Russ Stoehr in the Scott Bigelow #32
Avery Stoehr in the Russ Stoehr #15a
Anthony Payne in the Jennifer Scrivani #211
Matt Swanson in the Matt Seymour #9