TRAINOR TAKES SEEKONK’S 27TH ANNUAL BOSTON LOUIE SEYMOUR MEMORIAL
By: NEMA
Seekonk, Massachusetts (July 15, 2023)………For the past 27 years, the race held in honor of the Massachusetts based car owner, "Boston Louie" Seymour, who campaigned his winning midgets, sprints and Silver Crown cars across America, has brought together the very best in open wheel Midget racing.
This past Saturday, July 15, at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway was no different as Jake Trainor took down the NEMA Lite/USAC Eastern Focus Midget portion of the event.
In a strong field of 29 cars, P.J. Stergios in the Matt Seymour Racing #4 led the field to green flag racing for 50 fast laps. Stergios took the lead going into turn one as Chris Lamb in the #9L, Jacob Perry in the #47 and Joey Bailey in the Scrivani Racing #21 went three wide down the backstretch.
On lap two, Stergios maintained his lead over Perry while Randy Cabral in the #35 raced his way to 3rd from his 7th place starting position followed by Bailey and Chase Locke in the Seymour Racing #1.
Over the next few laps, the top-five began to spread out as a race between positions 6-9 began to occur between Lamb, J.T. Bierman in the Radical Racing #5, Jake Trainor in the Seymour Racing #4s and Avery Stoehr in the Parker Brothers’ Racing #10.
On lap 10, Stergios continued his lead, followed by Cabral and Perry, but going down the backstretch, the leaders started to encounter lapped traffic and Cabral was able to capitalize and take over the first position. By lap 20, Cabral had extended his lead to a couple of car lengths over Stergios, Perry, Trainor, and Locke. A few laps later, on lap 23, Stergios closed the gap between him and Cabral. Trainor, who started in the 12th place starting position, took over the 3rd position from Perry.
On lap 26, the caution flag was flown, and the drivers realigned for a double file restart. Cabral led the field to the green as a side-by-side battle for first occurred between Cabral and Stergios for nearly four laps until Cabral was able to pull away from Stergios.
On lap 32, Cabral was able to extend his lead as a race for second occurred between Trainor and Stergios, but going into turn three, Trainor was able to take the low line from Stergios to take over the 2nd position. With 10 laps remaining, Cabral and Trainor skillfully navigated through lapped traffic as Trainor was now on the back bumper of Cabral. On lap 41, going down the front stretch, Trainor drove to the inside of Cabral to take over the first position.
A late race caution on lap 45 brought the cars back together for a double file line up. Trainor led the field back to the green and continued his lead as Locke got a good run going into turn one and battled for second with Cabral, but Cabral drove around the outside going into turn two to remain in the second position.
In the following laps, working his way up from his 10th place starting position, Kyle Valeri in the Valeri Motorsports #17 and Perry began to battle for the 4th position. On lap 48, going into turn one, Valeri took the low line from Perry to take over 4th.
As the checkered flags flew, Trainor went on to win the Boston Louie Seymour Memorial, followed by Cabral and Locke to round out the top-three.
In victory lane, Trainor commented on his win, “I had to work for that; that was 50 laps wide open, but this year has been awesome, and I can't thank everyone enough that makes this all possible, and it is that much more special to get the win on Boston's night.”
Rounding out the top-10 were strong finishes by Trainor, Cabral, Locke, Valeri, Perry, Bailey, Todd Bertrand, Alby Ovitt, Ryan Macartney and Dan Cugini.
NEMA's announcer, Pete Falconi welcomed Alan Bestwick, Jack Arute and Kevin Boucher to the announcers’ booth as well as many video shoutouts leading up to and on the day of the Boston Louie from drivers Rusty Wallace, Ryan Preece and Santino Ferrucci.
Ken Schrader, former NASCAR Cup Series regular and current SRX driver, climbed into Seymour Racing’s The Spirit of Boston No. 29 and won the third and final heat race of the night.
The Legacy of Boston Louie lives on through the continued support and sponsorships of Mike Nocella from Nocella Paving, Bentley's Saloon, Hoosier Tire, Eddie from Shea Concrete and many others.
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USAC EASTERN FOCUS MIDGET RACE RESULTS: July 15, 2023 – Seekonk Speedway – Seekonk, Massachusetts – Boston Louie Seymour Memorial – Co-Sanctioned By NEMA Lites – Non-Points Special Event
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Alby Ovitt (#20 Parker), 2. Tiana Kibbe (#94 Kibbe), 3. Trent Goodrow (#44 Keller), 4. Jacob Perry (#47 Cabral), 5. Joey Bailey (#21 Scrivani), 6. Avery Stoehr (#10 Parker), 7. Paul Scally (#30 Scally), 8. Dan Cugini (#16 O'Brien), 9. Kyle Ferrucci (#99 Ferrucci), 10. Ryan Tidman (#26 Tidman). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Jake Trainor (#4s Seymour), 2. Todd Bertrand (#48 Bertrand), 3. Brayden Egan (#59 Egan), 4. Kyle Valeri (#17 Valeri), 5. Chase Locke (#1 Seymour), 6. Ryan Locke (#61 O'Brien), 7. Brady Allum (#87 Allum), 8. Mike Pernesiglio (#28 Pernesiglio), 9. Jeremy Utley (#23 Utley), 10. Drew Eldridge (#55 Eldridge). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ken Schrader (#29 Seymour), 2. Randy Cabral (#35 Cabral), 3. P.J. Stergios (#4 Seymour), 5. Ryan Macartney (#24 Poe), 5. J.T. Bierman(#5 Radical), 6. Chris Lamb (#9L Radical), 7. Ethan Dion (#9L Radical), 8. Christopher Vose (#3 Vose), 9. Ben Mikitarian (#9 Mikitarian). NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Jake Trainor (#4s Seymour), 2. Randy Cabral, 3. Chase Locke, 4. Kyle Valeri, 5. Jacob Perry, 6. Joey Bailey, 7. Todd Bertrand, 8. Alby Ovitt, 9. Ryan Macartney, 10. Dan Cugini, 11. Ken Schrader, 12. J.T. Bierman, 13. Paul Scally, 14. Brady Allum, 15. Brayden Egan, 16. Ethan Dion, 17. Kyle Ferrucci, 18. Jeremy Utley, 19. Tiana Kibbe, 20. P.J. Stergios, 21. Ryan Locke, 22. Drew Eldridge, 23. Trent Goodrow, 24. Christopher Vose, 25. Mike Pernesiglio, 26. Avery Stoehr, 27. Chris Lamb, 28. Ryan Tidman, 29. Ben Mikitarian. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 P.J. Stergios, Laps 11-27 Randy Cabral, Lap 28 P.J. Stergios, Laps 29-41 Randy Cabral, Laps 42-50 Jake Trainor.
NEXT USAC EASTERN FOCUS MIDGET RACE: July 29, 2023 – New River All American Speedway - Jacksonville, North Carolina
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fast Qualifier: Paul Scally ($100)
Fram Jones Racing Products/Wrenches Heat Race Winners: Alby Ovitt, Jake Trainor & Ken Schrader ($100)
Hard Charger from Skip Hultgren in Memory of Mike Streicher: Jake Trainor ($250)
Mechanic of the Race from Skip Hultgren Honoring Engine Builder Denny McNutt: Glen Cabral ($250)
First Car Out from Freddy Cleveland: Ben Mikitarian ($100)
Win Heat Race & Feature Tony Stewart Bonus: Jake Trainor ($500)
Top Father/Son Award in Memory of Jim O'Brien: Randy & Glen Cabral ($100)
Hard Luck Award from the Shane Hammond Believe Foundation: Chris Vose ($100)
Leader at Lap 29 from Bentley's Saloon: Randy Cabral ($250)
High Miler Awards in Memory of Steve “The Bopper” Stapp: Brady Allum (Taylorsville, N.C.), Chris Lamb (Colfax, N.C.) & Nick Poe (Centerville, Ohio) ($100 Each)
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