John Zych Jr., Randy Cabral Score NEMA Wins At Wiscasset Speedway

(Press Release from Northeastern Midget Association)

Last Saturday evening, the Northeastern Midget Association rolled into one of its favorite stops of the year, at the Wiscasset Speedway.  Multi time champion John Zych beat back a brief challenge from 2019 champion Avery Stoehr to take down the NEMA portion of the show under threatening skies, and Randy Cabral took down the Lites portion of the event in his family owned #36.  

In the heat races, Avery Stoehr took down the first heat, setting a new track record as recorded on the Wiscasset Speedway MyLaps system of 12.875 seconds, over Andy Lunt.  John Zych won heat 2 over Doug Cleveland.  In the Lites division, Tiana Kibbe took down her first ever heat race win in an impressive victory over Jake Trainor. Randy Cabral won heat 2 over Mikey Pernesiglio.

In the feature events, Doug Cleveland and Andy Lunt led the NEMA field to the green flag.  Rain was lightly falling on the surface, creating a slick racing surface, but the NEMA cars roared to the green flag.  Quickly, John Zych blasted from his sixth starting spot into second, and then past Lunt into the lead on lap four.  Lunt continued to run impressively in second, until a spin on lap eight put him to the rear of the field.  When the green flew again, Zych lined up against Randy Cabral.  Cabral, having engine issues, would fall back on the restart, and Avery Stoher would move into second behind Zych.  Stoehr would hound Zych, but never muster up the steam to pull even with him.  Further back, NASCAR modified star Ronnie Williams, making his NEMA debut in the Bertrand 17, had come from last on the starting grid to move into the third spot.  Over the final laps, Zych would pull 4 carlengths away from Stoehr to take down the win, Williams was third, Matt Merry fourth, followed by Paul Scally, Randy Cabral, Matt O’Brien, Doug Cleveland, Andy Lunt, and Alan Chambers rounded out the top ten.

“As much as it was raining, I was really surprised that we were able to race. I was wiping my visor off under caution laps.  My strategy was to take any opportunity that I had. I got a good start and tried to get out front as soon as I could,” said Zych.   “From the middle of the race to the last 10 laps, I was trying to keep the car as straight as possible and save some tires. Then car was starting to tighten up at the and then at that point just trying to be as fast as possible knowing there were fast cars behind me.  I was happy to be back at Wiscasset. A great track and even better people. Want to thank everyone there for having us,” said Zych.

In the NEMA Lites feature, Dennis O’Brien got the jump off of turn four on the initial green, but Chris Vose quickly moved into the lead.  Vose set the pace for the first four laps of the event out front.  Quickly, Randy Cabral, in his family owned 35, quickly used the outside groove to move into the lead on lap five.  Cabral was setting the pace with Vose in second, but further back, Jake Trainor in the Seymour 29, and Jim Santa Maria were moving through the field, with Mikey Pernesiglio also hanging in the top five.

As the laps wound down, Cabral would go on to take down the win over Trainor by .4 second, Jim SantaMaria, Chris Vosey, Mike Pernesiglio, Avery Stoehr, Kyle Valeri, Richie oy, Conner Souza, and Tiana Kibbe rounded out the top ten.

“I wasn’t too worried about the rain the track was warm so it was drying. I knew once the green was out I needed to get to the front but fell back to about 6th and was able to get back up to the front. I knew the 30 and 29 were coming cause I saw them on the board but I also saw  coming so I knew in lap traffic I could lose to any of them. I was hoping for no caution as the laps were closing because I knew I didn’t have the car to win if that happened,” said Cabral.