8/22/2019
Ovitt, Coy Take Down NEMA's Angelillo Memorial at Lee USA
This past Friday, the Northeastern Midget Association visited Lee USA Speedway, with special guest, Sammy Swindell, for the coveted Angelillo Memorial race. Alby Ovitt dominated the NEMA portion of the event to take down his first ever feature win in a midget, while Richie Coy, from the famed Coy Racing stables, took down a hard fought Lites win.
Lee USA is a most fitting place to honor the Angelillos after many feature event victories at the Speedway. Marilyn, who passed away in September of 2007, and Gene, who died in March of 2010, were the most successful owners in NEMA history. The Dumo's Desire team captured 14 championships and over 100 feature wins. In addition, they served the club in a number of positions. Gene was president and Marilyn secretary for a number of years. Gene's final win was Waterford's 2009 Wings and Wheels. Russ Stoehr was the driver.
Gene initiated the first Angelillo race, calling it the "Marilyn's Passion" at Monadnock in 2009. Russ Stoehr and PJ Stergios (Lites) were the winners. Their daughter Laura Kibbe brought the race to Waterford following Gene's death, and with the current turmoil at the Speedbowl, the club brought the race to Lee.
In the NEMA feature, Alby Ovitt, one of the winningest drivers in Lee USA Speedway street stock history, wasted no time driving from his fourth starting position around the outside of Andrew Lunt for the lead by the end of the first lap. Ovitt, who rarely finishes worse than second place in the Street Stock division at Lee, began to set a torrid pace at the front of the field. His best time, 13.30 seconds, came on lap four. Behind Ovitt the battle for second place was heating up as the laps wound down between teammates Todd Bertrand and Randy Cabral. Bertrand and Cabral split the lapped car of Lunt with two laps remaining, with Bertrand coming out on top for the runner up spot. Cabral was third followed by Jim Chambers, Sammy Swindell, Avery Stoehr, Paul Scally, Andy Lunt, Mike Horn and John Zych.
"I can't thank Tim Bertrand and his team enough for giving me this opportunity. It has been a dream to win a midget race, and to do it at my home track is amazing. I also need to thank Russ and Avery Stoehr for giving me the opportunity to get into midgets and Keith Bothelo who spent his entire birthday on Thursday working on the car to get it ready for Lee," said Ovitt.
In the Lites feature, a caution that sent Matt Merry into the wall on lap one, paused the field before the race got under way. Earlier in the day, Jim Cataldo was taken to the hospital after an altercation with the wall and was released later that evening. When the green flag flew, and racing resumed, NJ's Richie Coy, jumped out into the lead.
Coy began clicking off coinsistently quick laps in the 14.4/14.5 range. Behind him, PJ Stergios was making a charge, never letting Coy out of his sight, running similar laps.
As the laps wound down, Stergios closed the gap and made a run at Coy, but could not make the pass. Ryan Locke came from the seventh spot to pass Anthony Marvuglio for third with one lap remaining, and Coy was able to hold on for the victory.
"We were junk all day and threw the kitchen sink at it for the feature. On the original start I got together with Matt Merry and he ended up in the fence, I got loose under him and we touched wheels. I hate that he got into the fence. On the next restart I got a good jump on the outside and cleared Chase Locke out of 2. The car felt great. From that point on, all I was trying to do was run away and hide. I didn't realize that PJ was there the whole race. I was just trying not to make a mistake. Then the caution comes out as I'm in turn 3 about to take the checkered flag. I knew I had to have a great restart with PJ outside and Anthony behind me. I punched and got away from PJ, but Anthony showed me his nose going into one. I gave him just enough room not to wreck and drive off turn 2 clear and ran 2 hard laps to the checkered. It's been almost 2 years since our last win. We've had 4 or 5 races slip away from us that we should have won but didn't. Last night was awesome. The Lites are so close that it's tough to grab one of these races!," said Coy.
PJ Stergios finished second followed by Ryan Locke, Marvuglio, Jake Trainor, Randy Cabral, Alan Chambers, Drew Eldridge, Ben Mikitarian and Jeff Champagne.
NEMA returns to the Star Classic on September 7th, with both the Lites and NEMA on tap.
Article Credit: Timothy Bertand
