By Tim Boucher
Another week of Thompson’s Thursday Night Thunder is in the books and as always plenty of action took
place. The mini stocks started out the night with a hell of a show between Ron Rixham and Andy Publicover.
Those two, being good friends on and off the track ran each other extremely clean throughout the race as
they swapped the lead back and forth. In the end It was Rixham in for the win and Publicover for 2nd. Leo
Defevers had a great seat to see it all finished 3rd with Mike Romano and Brad CAddick rounding out the top
5.
The Limited Sportsman were up next and as always they put on an exciting show. Something about the lower
tiered divisions always seem to put on the better shows in my opinion. Ed Puleo jumped out to an early lead
only to have taked away by a lap 8 caution. On the restart Danny Cates motored by Puleo and established
himself at the point. He was hardly challenged from there on out to take down his 3rd win of the year. Big
things are in store for this kid, as he plans on moving to the Sk mods next year, hope he can afford all the
repairs as those guys are tough on their cars!! Following him to the line would be Ed Puleo, Glen Boss, who
has struggled this year with his car, Joe Arena and Scott Sundeen.
The TIS Mods were up next and former LM competitor Leo “Bim” Adams would lead the charge. This would
last til he spun himself out of contention handing the lead to Tim O’Sullivan. One more caution late in the
race with under 5 to go would erase his lead, but with the single file restart he wouldn’t have much of a
problem taking down the win. Following him to the line would be Roger Larson, Kurt Vigeant, Chad Hancock
and Mike Viens.
The Pro Stocks took to the track next for their 30 lapper. A spin by Matt Davenport in the opening laps sent
the field scrambling in turn 2 and surprisingly everyone made it out unscathed. Norm Wrenn set the early
pace and would hold back various charges from teammate Dave Berghman, and fellow competitors Jeff
Connors and Fred Astle. All unsuccessful getting by as Wrenn cruised to the victory finally breaking his bad
luck streak. Maybe the fact that he had to borrow a drivers suit from Jeff Zuidema contributed to the win, who
knows! Rounding out the top 5 would be Zuidema, Astle, former Seekonk pro stocker Les Rose, and
Connors.
The Late Models had a good race with some great racing up front between the leaders. Jeff Hartwell and
Dave Trudeau led the pack in the early stages with Corey Hutchings closing the gap on them. Contact
amongst the three resulted in Hartwell spinning and Trudeau pit side with damaged suspension on the left
front. This handed the lead to Hutchings who cruised on to victory but hot on his tail would be point leader
Steve Landry, Zuidema once again, Marc Palmisano and Mark Jenison.
The SK’s ended the night….on a rough note at that. Of the 27 cars that started the race, only 10 finished,
several with moderate to heavy damage. The race started rough as a wreck in turn one damaged about 6
cars including Bert Marvin once again. They went green again and Keith Rocco would set the early pace
throughout the numerous cautions. The field would get weeded out again after a lap 12 restart that
eliminated several more racers including Rocco, Jimmy Blewett and several others. After several attempts to
get past lap 12, officals reverted to single file restarts. A couple more cautions Woody Pitkat would take
command and hold back all charges and take down the win. Todd Ceravolo, Tommy Cravenho, Jeff Malave
and Buddy Charette would survive for top 5’s.
With rain and showers all day long, Stafford getting their show in wasn’t looking good. But with it clearing
around 3pm, the track crew worked to get the surface in race ready form and by 7pm they were racing.
Features only would be on the slate and the Sk Lights started the night. It looked as if it would go green to
checker for their 20 lapper but a caution on lap 19 slowed the event. It would all fall apart from there as each
attempt to get the race going would only be slowed by another caution. After the 3rd attempt, the officials
red-checkered the event after a hard hit in the turn four wall by Shelly Perry, she would be OK. Matt Gallo
would take down his first career win. Following him across the stripe would be Tim Fogg, Duke Place, Wade
Mattesen, and Brit Anderson.
The Late Models were up next and a full field were on hand. Like many weeks before Wayne Coury would
take the early lead only to have Ryan Posocco track him down and overtake the point around lap 8. Wood
Pitkat would follow suit and run nose to tail with Posocco. The two Stafford natives would take the checkers
in that order with Todd Owen, Jim Peterson and Mark Lewis rounding out the top 5.
The Limited Late Models would tackle the half mile next with Darren Havanec leading the field. Andrew
Durand would take command on lap 3, survive a few restarts for minor spins and soldier on for the win. Scott
Foster would be his closest competition but would have to settle for 2nd. George Nocera who tried
EVERYTHING to get by Foster would take 3rd with Kevin Gambacorta and Bill Davis earning top 5’s.
The SK Mods were up next on the docket with Lloyd Agor leading the charge. He would be hounded by Willie
Hardie and eventually would hand the lead to him. Only a few cautions would slow the event in what was a
fairly clean race unlike weeks past. Frank Ruocco would eventually get by Agor for 2nd. By the time he got
by he was unable to give Hardie much of a fight. Agor would settle for 3rd with Todd Owen and Chris Jones
rounding out the top 5. A driver change this week put James Civali in the 81 Prestige Motorsports formerly
driven by Ted Christopher. Civali would start in the back and after a rough riding penalty came from the
back again and finish in 6th.
The DARE Stocks would finish the night and Barry Fluckiger would take down his first career win. He would
get the lead on an early race restart and took command from there on out. A caution with 4 to go would
bunch up the field but Fluckiger would hold back all challenges. Jim Brice would settle for second with Norm
Sears, Lori-Jo Rzeszutek and Ray Grassetti rounding out the top 5.
With an overcast day and cool temperatures, Seekonk Speedway played host to the Boston Louie Memorial
for the NEMA Midgets. The Seekonk Sport Trucks opened the night for feature racing, with Brian Vincent
leading the opening laps. A caution about 6 laps in for a wreck involving Freddi Astle and a few others
bunched up the field. On the restart Adam Murphy took command. In the closing laps he was involved in a
torrid battle with Matt Breault when out of nowhere Adam Saleeba dived bombed them in the final turns and
stole 2nd from Breault. Post race inspection resulted in another DQ for Murphy giving the win to Saleeba,
with Breault, Brian Clarke, Lenny Guy, and John Dumas rounding out the top 5.
The Late Models were the next Seekonk division to take to the track, and unlike previous LM races this one
ran clean. It would of gone green to checker but officials had to throw the caution for Jon Dickerman, who
failed to heed the black flag for a fuel leak. Once back to green Glen Lawton motored by Kevin Casper and
ran away with the race. Gerry Degasparre would get 2nd with Matt Hudon 3rd, Casper 4th and Ray Parent
5th.
The NEMA Midgets were next for the Boston Louie Memorial, and as always it was a great race. Nokie
Fornoro started on the pole and led the whole way, with 3 minor cautions slowing the event. Joey Payne and
Bobby Santos III would both pressure Nokie for the lead but were unsuccessful. When the checkers flew it
was Fornoro in for the win, Payne, Santos, Jeff Horn and Randy Cabral would round out the top 5.
The A.R.C. pro stocks were up next and with the temperatures dropping they gave the racers a few extra hot
laps to get some heat in the tires. When the green flag dropped Rob Murray would jump out to the early
lead. In another cleanly run race the only incident came shortly after halfway when Dean Pettey made
contact with a lapped car of Jim Silvia, sending him spinning coming out of turn two. In his Silvia’s spin he
caught 4th place runner Charlie Rose sending him into the wall backwards, puncturing his fuel cell….no fire,
but his night was done. On the restart Freddie Astle made quick work of Rob Murray and motored on for the
win. Following him across the line would be points leader Dave Darling, Pettey, Vinny Annarummo and
rookie Mike Brightman.
The Streeters rounded out the night in front of just a few remaining racefans. John Geremia III led the first 11
laps only to be black flagged for excessive smoke which I’m sure was a heartbreaker for the young rookie.
Paul Lallier and Billy Brady would contest for the lead waging a hot battle. In the end Lallier got the best of
the rookie racer and would go on for the win. Point leader Al Clements IV, Tony Oliveira and Peter Donato
would round out the top 5.
place. The mini stocks started out the night with a hell of a show between Ron Rixham and Andy Publicover.
Those two, being good friends on and off the track ran each other extremely clean throughout the race as
they swapped the lead back and forth. In the end It was Rixham in for the win and Publicover for 2nd. Leo
Defevers had a great seat to see it all finished 3rd with Mike Romano and Brad CAddick rounding out the top
5.
The Limited Sportsman were up next and as always they put on an exciting show. Something about the lower
tiered divisions always seem to put on the better shows in my opinion. Ed Puleo jumped out to an early lead
only to have taked away by a lap 8 caution. On the restart Danny Cates motored by Puleo and established
himself at the point. He was hardly challenged from there on out to take down his 3rd win of the year. Big
things are in store for this kid, as he plans on moving to the Sk mods next year, hope he can afford all the
repairs as those guys are tough on their cars!! Following him to the line would be Ed Puleo, Glen Boss, who
has struggled this year with his car, Joe Arena and Scott Sundeen.
The TIS Mods were up next and former LM competitor Leo “Bim” Adams would lead the charge. This would
last til he spun himself out of contention handing the lead to Tim O’Sullivan. One more caution late in the
race with under 5 to go would erase his lead, but with the single file restart he wouldn’t have much of a
problem taking down the win. Following him to the line would be Roger Larson, Kurt Vigeant, Chad Hancock
and Mike Viens.
The Pro Stocks took to the track next for their 30 lapper. A spin by Matt Davenport in the opening laps sent
the field scrambling in turn 2 and surprisingly everyone made it out unscathed. Norm Wrenn set the early
pace and would hold back various charges from teammate Dave Berghman, and fellow competitors Jeff
Connors and Fred Astle. All unsuccessful getting by as Wrenn cruised to the victory finally breaking his bad
luck streak. Maybe the fact that he had to borrow a drivers suit from Jeff Zuidema contributed to the win, who
knows! Rounding out the top 5 would be Zuidema, Astle, former Seekonk pro stocker Les Rose, and
Connors.
The Late Models had a good race with some great racing up front between the leaders. Jeff Hartwell and
Dave Trudeau led the pack in the early stages with Corey Hutchings closing the gap on them. Contact
amongst the three resulted in Hartwell spinning and Trudeau pit side with damaged suspension on the left
front. This handed the lead to Hutchings who cruised on to victory but hot on his tail would be point leader
Steve Landry, Zuidema once again, Marc Palmisano and Mark Jenison.
The SK’s ended the night….on a rough note at that. Of the 27 cars that started the race, only 10 finished,
several with moderate to heavy damage. The race started rough as a wreck in turn one damaged about 6
cars including Bert Marvin once again. They went green again and Keith Rocco would set the early pace
throughout the numerous cautions. The field would get weeded out again after a lap 12 restart that
eliminated several more racers including Rocco, Jimmy Blewett and several others. After several attempts to
get past lap 12, officals reverted to single file restarts. A couple more cautions Woody Pitkat would take
command and hold back all charges and take down the win. Todd Ceravolo, Tommy Cravenho, Jeff Malave
and Buddy Charette would survive for top 5’s.
With rain and showers all day long, Stafford getting their show in wasn’t looking good. But with it clearing
around 3pm, the track crew worked to get the surface in race ready form and by 7pm they were racing.
Features only would be on the slate and the Sk Lights started the night. It looked as if it would go green to
checker for their 20 lapper but a caution on lap 19 slowed the event. It would all fall apart from there as each
attempt to get the race going would only be slowed by another caution. After the 3rd attempt, the officials
red-checkered the event after a hard hit in the turn four wall by Shelly Perry, she would be OK. Matt Gallo
would take down his first career win. Following him across the stripe would be Tim Fogg, Duke Place, Wade
Mattesen, and Brit Anderson.
The Late Models were up next and a full field were on hand. Like many weeks before Wayne Coury would
take the early lead only to have Ryan Posocco track him down and overtake the point around lap 8. Wood
Pitkat would follow suit and run nose to tail with Posocco. The two Stafford natives would take the checkers
in that order with Todd Owen, Jim Peterson and Mark Lewis rounding out the top 5.
The Limited Late Models would tackle the half mile next with Darren Havanec leading the field. Andrew
Durand would take command on lap 3, survive a few restarts for minor spins and soldier on for the win. Scott
Foster would be his closest competition but would have to settle for 2nd. George Nocera who tried
EVERYTHING to get by Foster would take 3rd with Kevin Gambacorta and Bill Davis earning top 5’s.
The SK Mods were up next on the docket with Lloyd Agor leading the charge. He would be hounded by Willie
Hardie and eventually would hand the lead to him. Only a few cautions would slow the event in what was a
fairly clean race unlike weeks past. Frank Ruocco would eventually get by Agor for 2nd. By the time he got
by he was unable to give Hardie much of a fight. Agor would settle for 3rd with Todd Owen and Chris Jones
rounding out the top 5. A driver change this week put James Civali in the 81 Prestige Motorsports formerly
driven by Ted Christopher. Civali would start in the back and after a rough riding penalty came from the
back again and finish in 6th.
The DARE Stocks would finish the night and Barry Fluckiger would take down his first career win. He would
get the lead on an early race restart and took command from there on out. A caution with 4 to go would
bunch up the field but Fluckiger would hold back all challenges. Jim Brice would settle for second with Norm
Sears, Lori-Jo Rzeszutek and Ray Grassetti rounding out the top 5.
With an overcast day and cool temperatures, Seekonk Speedway played host to the Boston Louie Memorial
for the NEMA Midgets. The Seekonk Sport Trucks opened the night for feature racing, with Brian Vincent
leading the opening laps. A caution about 6 laps in for a wreck involving Freddi Astle and a few others
bunched up the field. On the restart Adam Murphy took command. In the closing laps he was involved in a
torrid battle with Matt Breault when out of nowhere Adam Saleeba dived bombed them in the final turns and
stole 2nd from Breault. Post race inspection resulted in another DQ for Murphy giving the win to Saleeba,
with Breault, Brian Clarke, Lenny Guy, and John Dumas rounding out the top 5.
The Late Models were the next Seekonk division to take to the track, and unlike previous LM races this one
ran clean. It would of gone green to checker but officials had to throw the caution for Jon Dickerman, who
failed to heed the black flag for a fuel leak. Once back to green Glen Lawton motored by Kevin Casper and
ran away with the race. Gerry Degasparre would get 2nd with Matt Hudon 3rd, Casper 4th and Ray Parent
5th.
The NEMA Midgets were next for the Boston Louie Memorial, and as always it was a great race. Nokie
Fornoro started on the pole and led the whole way, with 3 minor cautions slowing the event. Joey Payne and
Bobby Santos III would both pressure Nokie for the lead but were unsuccessful. When the checkers flew it
was Fornoro in for the win, Payne, Santos, Jeff Horn and Randy Cabral would round out the top 5.
The A.R.C. pro stocks were up next and with the temperatures dropping they gave the racers a few extra hot
laps to get some heat in the tires. When the green flag dropped Rob Murray would jump out to the early
lead. In another cleanly run race the only incident came shortly after halfway when Dean Pettey made
contact with a lapped car of Jim Silvia, sending him spinning coming out of turn two. In his Silvia’s spin he
caught 4th place runner Charlie Rose sending him into the wall backwards, puncturing his fuel cell….no fire,
but his night was done. On the restart Freddie Astle made quick work of Rob Murray and motored on for the
win. Following him across the line would be points leader Dave Darling, Pettey, Vinny Annarummo and
rookie Mike Brightman.
The Streeters rounded out the night in front of just a few remaining racefans. John Geremia III led the first 11
laps only to be black flagged for excessive smoke which I’m sure was a heartbreaker for the young rookie.
Paul Lallier and Billy Brady would contest for the lead waging a hot battle. In the end Lallier got the best of
the rookie racer and would go on for the win. Point leader Al Clements IV, Tony Oliveira and Peter Donato
would round out the top 5.