(Press Release from Northeastern Midget Association)
The much anticipated Iron Mike Memorial was met Saturday afternoon by partly cloudy skies, and 0% chance of rain for most of the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, surprise showers deemed mother nature the winner of the NEMA feature, while Anthony Nocella took down the NEMA Lite portion of the Iron Mike Memorial.
In the Lites feature, Nocella started in the 5th spot by virtue of some early line up shuffling, and quickly went to work on the field. Driving the Frank Manafort FMR Racing #76, he quickly worked his way into the lead in the early stages of the race. By the halfway point, Nocella had the field in command, while further back, Jim Chambers was holding strong in the runner up spot, and both Randy Cabral & PJ Stergios were slicing their way through the field. At the finish, that’s the way they would run with Nocella taking down the victory, followed by Chambers, Cabral, Stergios, Danny Cugini, Andy Barrows, Paul Bigelow, Scott Bigelow, Anthony Payne and Megan Cugini.
“The car was just great tonight,” said Nocella, a soft spoken gentleman, of few words. “The crew put a great car under me, and we were able to get to the front quickly,” he said.
In NEMA action earlier in the day, Randy Cabral paced the field with a blistering 11.71 time during practice, the fastest to date by a midget at Monadnock. 2013 champion John Zych was closely in pursuit with a 11.86. In heat race action, Joey Payne won the first heat in the Bertrand 74 over Avery Stoehr, and in the second heat, Seth Carlson took down the victory, while Cabral charged from last to second.
The Iron Mike Memorial NEMA feature has been rescheduled for Saturday, September 5th with qualifying and the line up set from this past Saturday evening’s qualifying races. The Lites will run a full program on that evening, and NEMA will run double features – celebrating the life and racing career of Shane Hammond with the second feature that night.
NEMA picks back up its schedule on July 1 with the Boston Louie Memorial at Seekonk Speedway, slated to be broadcast by Speed Sport/MAV TV. More information can be found on the organization’s website at www.nemaracing.com
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