SEEKONK, Mass. — Randy Cabral had a lot of help in winning the Boston Louie Seymour Memorial for the NEMA Midgets — a glove from fallen friend Shane Hammond and a borrowed engine from Bobby Santos III helped carry Cabral to victory lane.
Cabral started eighth in the 27-car field and quickly used the outside lane to work his way into the lead by lap three. He took the lead from Paul Scalley, who started on the pole.
Jeff Abold started 14th on the grid and used the inside and outside lanes to work himself into the top five, but he wasn’t done there. By lap 10, he overtook Santos for third and was in the runner-up position by the next circuit. Cabral and Abold started to pull away from the rest of the field as Mike Keeler fell back, and Santos found himself trying to hunt down the leaders. Cabral, who at one time had a three-second lead, had Abold closing quickly on his tail. By lap 18, the leaders were working heavy lapped traffic. Lou Cicconi moved into the top five by lap 15, and by lap 18, he moved by Keeler into fourth. At lap 20, Jeremy Frankoski was running fifth.
With seven laps remaining, Abold was working the Bertrand Motorsports mount high and low, trying to get by as he and Cabral darted in and out of heavy traffic. Lap 25 was the end for Cicconi, as he spun off of turn four, but was able to limp his machine into the infield. As the laps wore down, the lead duo continued to fight for the point.
Abold made one final charge off of turn four, but was unable to get by the now four time NEMA winner. Abold was .158 second behind, while Santos was third, Frankoski fourth and Joey Payne rounded out the top five.
Cabral gave credit to his crew members, who switched engines prior to the event.
“I can’t say enough for this crew,” Cabral said. “We had engine problems this afternoon, and I had given up.”
The NEMA Lites were part of their first Boston Louie Memorial, and Shaun Gosselin earned his first Seekonk Speedway victory.
The finish:
Randy Cabral, Jeff Abold, Bobby Santos III, Jeremy Frankoski, Joey Payne, William Wall, Adam Cantor, Mike Keeler, Mike Horn, Mike Lugelle, Nokie Fornoro, Paul Scalley, Johns Zych, Aaron Wall, Doug Cleveland, Barry Kitteredge, Abby Martino, Jim Peruto, Brian Cleveland, Lou Cicconi, Lee Bundy, Erica Santos, Greg Stohr, Paul Lugelle, B.J. MacDonald, Howie Bumpus.