On Friday night, we saw some of the best Fast Friday racing in the history of Seekonk Speedway. We had two close finishes and it was hard to determine who was going to win until the checkered flag came out. Sometimes, it even took a minute or two after the race to declare who was the winner.
We started things off with the Seekonk Grand Prix Bandolero’s and it was Ryan Arieta grabbing his third win of the season in the Bandit division. Arieta started inside the top five and worked his way to the point after a mid-race incident dropped a few of the top contenders to the back of the field. His third win also helped him get a little bit closer in the championship standings with just a few races left on the season.
In the Seekonk Grand Prix Bandolero Outlaw’s, a wild crash in the middle of the race changed the complexion of the 15 lap feature. While leading, Brittany Campbell and Mason Tessier got together and both of them went spinning. Unfortunately, Connor Souza had no where to go and piled right into the two of them. Unfortunately, all three of the cars had their night come to an end much earlier than they would have liked. While they crashed, Somerset, Mass. driver Evan Marchand took the lead and never gave it away. Congrats to Evan on his first win of the season and his first career Bando win.
In the Sport 4 class, a wild finish between Jordan Lopes and AJ Manuel headlined the finale of the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series. The 25 lap feature saw Manuel, Dave Westgate, Chris Pacheco and Mike LeFort all going for the Triple Crown title and early on, it looked like LeFort may be the guy to beat. He led a lot of the early part of the race but his motor went up in smoke in the closing laps, handing Manuel the position. Manuel went hard trying to get the race win, but came up literally inches short. Timing and scoring showed that the race was a tie, but Lopes inched his nose out ahead across the line. While Lopes celebrated the feature win, Manuel celebrated the Phil’s Triple Crown championship in his No. 88.
The 12 lap Minicup feature went quickly and it was Ava Chouinard who grabbed her second victory of the season. Chouinard is the daughter of former Pure Stock driver Billy Chouinard and she has picked up where he left off — in Victory Lane. She became the first driver to win two races this season in a competitive class. Hugh Bowser finished second one week after winning in his No. 22.
In the 25 lap Pure Stock feature, another wild finish took place. It looked like Lenny Sousa was going to get the job done for much of the race, but in the final laps, he went spinning after some contact with Dylan Cabral. In the end, Cabral was able to continue and he had a hard job trying to hold off Colby Lambert. Cabral was eventually able to take the victory, but he didn’t make it through post-race technical inspection, handing Lambert his third straight win. With the victory, Lambert increases his points lead.
In the only other feature, the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends put on a great show and it was Derek Gluchacki taking down his second career win. Behind the wheel of his Nick Lascuola Racing No. 03, Gluchacki put himself at the front early on and he never looked back in a dominating performance. He came into the race third in the championship standings and helped himself close the gap to the top with the win.
Next Friday night, we have the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series finale for the Pure Stocks! We are down to the final few Friday’s of 2017.
FAST FRIDAY RECAP
WITH KYLE SOUZA
AUGUST 11TH, 2017