Joe Marfeo came close to winning last week but was passed late in the race. This week, he became the spoiler, grabbing the lead in the waning laps of the 25-lap feature. Chasing him across the line were Connor Holderbach, John O’Sullivan, Austin Teras and Joshua Parsons.
Adam Avedisian had the pole and Mike Marfeo – Joe’s father – was at his shoulder. Avedisian went tot he front trailing Marfeo while Mason Levesque worked under Brandon Hammann. On the first lap, two 3-wide situation wound through the corners as the 26-car field struggled for racing room.
By lap two, Avedisian was enjoying a five-car lead over Hammann, Colin Haley and Mike Marfeo, but Shileigh Martinez had leapt into fifth from her ninth place starting position and was rocketing along. She ducked underneath and into fourth, sending Marfeo back to fifth. But Haley got under and into second just before Matt Vallerand spun on the backstretch.
Hammann grabbed the lead from Avedisian at the green and Martinez dropped onto his bumper. Lap 5 saw her take to the outside for the pass and by lap 7 Schileigh had the lead. Hammann continued in second with Avedisian and Haley in tow, but a spin out of turn two brought several cars together in turn four. Josh Parsons made for the pit entrance. Caleb Call pulled away at first but then retired to the pits. Teras pulled away and rejoined the field. Jesse “The Mop” Jakubajtys pitted for quick repairs while Call went off on the hook.
Shileigh and Hammann lined up for the restart and she was away right out of the box. One lap later, she was ten cars up on the field. Avedisian went to second, followed by Derek Gluchacki. But this run, too, would fall to a lap 10 spin by Vallerand, coming down the frontstretch.
Shileigh went to the lead again, nosing out on Hammann and pulling Gluchacki along on her rear bumper. Behind them, her brother, Brandon Martinez was working underneath Avedisian for third and captured the position on lap 12. Mike Marfeo roared up and started looking under Brandon. Gluchacki remained 1 car behind the leader and Marfeo got past Brandon into third. Brandon looked underneath to get his position back, but Marfeo slammed the door.
Brandon tried again and got underneath. Marfeo heated it up and they ran wheel to wheel for three laps before Martinez could pull ahead and secure the position. Marfeo continued to run hard on Brandon’s bumper.
By lap 19, Shileigh was two cars up on Gluchacki. He moved in and looked underneath and went there but Shileigh was not ready to concede the lead and powered up. They ran side-by-side with Shileigh pushing the edge to hold on but went around in turn two. Gluchacki was called for the assist. Brandon then was called to the rear for contact with Gluchacki under Caution.
Now, Marfeo lined up with Holderback for the Lap 20 restart. Marfeo grabbed the front with Holderbach on his bumper and O’Sullivan on his. Marfeo went to a three-car lead while Teras moved in behind Sullivan.
Marfeo continued to add to his lead over the ensuing laps: 6 cars on lap 22, eight lengths on lap 23 and out to 12 cars on lap 24 under the white flag. Holderbach could not close the gap and they finished first and second with O’Sullivan grabbing third over Teras and Parsons in fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top ten on the event were Avedisian in sixth, followed by Hammann, Jakubajtys, Joey Lembo and Colin Haley.