(Press Release from Northeastern Midget Association)
This past Saturday the Northeastern Midget Association rolled into Bobby Webber’s Star Speedway for one of New England’s largest short track races of the year, the Star Classic. Banner car counts in all divisions and beautiful weather highlighted the evening. NEMA presented the Webber family with a celebratory gift, marking a 40 year partnership between the club at Star Speedway at its driver’s meeting, accepted by Tim Webber.
NEMA celebrated Jim O’Brien, a legendary car owner and club officer who, for a span of four decades, personified the best of NEMA. He was an innovative fabricator and mechanic, and with his sons by his side, he always built his own cars and motors. For years he served as a NEMA contest board member, once a vice-president, and for 13 consecutive years as treasurer. His life-long dedication to the club was truly outstanding, and in 2003 he was inducted into the NEMA Hall of Fame. However, most notably, Jim was always one that stood- up and fought for fair competition and defended the “little guy” – racers who ran with small budgets.
In the Lites feature, PJ Stergios returned to victory lane in the 50 lap feature event. Stergios, after sitting our pieces of the last two seasons due to health complications, was back in exceptional form for the O’Brien Memorial. He pulled off a convincing victory over Joe Bailey, who had an impressive run in the Scrivani 21. Stergios would take down the 50 lap event win, followed by Bailey, Ryan Locke, Matt Seavy – an exceptional run, Richie Coy, Anthony Marvuglio, Ian Cummens, Chase Locke, Kyle Valeri and Drew Eldridge.
“I’ve been watching NEMA race at Star since I was a kid in the frontstretch stands, so a win on Classic weekend means a lot to me. The car was spot on today, and these 50 lap races seem to suit my style a little better. With 5 to go I was just trying to do my best to leave enough tire left in case of a late race restart, but thankfully that never came. I’d like to thank my wife Chloe and my Dad for all the help, and also the Webber family for putting on an awesome event,” said Stergios.
In the NEMA feature, Alan Chambers and Mike Horn brought the field down to the green flag. Chambers would get the jump on the start with Horn dogging his rear bumper. Horn would drop out on lap seven with an ignition pickup issue, and Chambers would.begin to set a torrid pace. Behind him, young Jake Trainor and three time champion, John Zych, were working their way through traffic. Trainor ran an excellent race, in the runner up spot, before Zych would over take him on the last lap. Chambers was masterful in lapped traffic, as he would go on to take down his first ever victory, followed by Zych, Trainor, Todd Bertrand, Avery Stoehr, Doug Cleveland, Paul Scally, Jim Chambers, Matt O’Brien and Matt Merry.
“It feels great to get a win in a club that has been around for over 60 years and add my name to the books with the legends we all grew up watching! To get it at Star Speedway one of the clubs most visited tracks, and at the classic that I have been watching since as long as I can remember just makes it that much better! We worked hard this offseason, switching everything from the engine package to the suspension. I have had a good car all season, it was just a matter of putting it all together finally. With 5 to go I caught up to lap traffic, I have raced a lot of races at Star speedway and was confident in the car I had, if anyone was catching me at that point I didn’t think they could get through the traffic as quick as I could I knew we had a good car, when I saw I was starting pole position the only strategy at that point was to get out front and run smooth consistent laps I would like to thank Sean at Scotts roofing services and Jon at circle performance engines for all the support, and also Jim chambers, Eric Decourcy and Steve Bullek for the help on the car and all the work they put in. I huge thank you to Star Speedway and the O’Brien family for all the work they put into making the show happen!,” said Chambers.
The O’Brien family presented the following awards as well:
Spirit of Jim O’Brien Awards – Sponsored by Jim O’Brien & Sons Engineering:
Outstanding Racer – Tiana Kibbe
Outstanding Competitor – PJ Stergios
Outstanding Innovator – Mike Scrivani
Hard Charger Awards -Sponsored by Bertrand Motorsports
Jim O’Brien Memorial NEMA Lite – PJ Stergios
Bob Webber Sr Memorial NEMA – Jim Chambers
Heat & Feature Bonuses – Sponsored by Seymour Performance Racing
NEMA Lite Heat 1 – Matt Seavey
NEAM Lite Heat 2 – Ryan Locke
NEMA Heat 1 – Alan Chambers
NEMA Heat 2 – Mike Horn
$50 Finishing Bonus for 4th Place – Sponsored by Valeri Construction
NEMA Lite – Matt Seavey
NEMA – Todd Bertrand
NEMA continues on in two weeks to the Russ Conway Oktoberfest at the LEE USA Speedway, where the action will be heated!
NEMA Lites Results Star 9/19/20
Leave a Reply