NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS SOUTH
By Lou Modestino (for 4/20-4/22/12)

Mike Horn will come to the Northeastern Midget Association’s 60th birthday celebration at Waterford Speedbowl Saturday, May 12 with plenty of motivation. The second-generation racer hopes to get away with his second straight Marvin Rifchin Trophy.

The Rifchin Trophy, a coveted prize, is just part of the excitement as NEMA marks its Diamond Anniversary with 60 feature laps, 30 each for NEMA and the NEMA Lites. Tire maker (M&H) Marvin Rifchin was a major contributor to NEMA and, Horn reports, “winning a trophy that honors him was very special.” Last year’s win at Thompson was emotional. No word comes to Horn to describe a repeat win. Rifchin and the Horn family, like many in NEMA, were very close.

NEMA President Mike Scrivani Jr. is putting together an impressive “guest list.” Already confirmed are past champions Dave Humphrey, Johnny Mann and Butch Walsh. “We expect to announce others soon,” says Scrivani.

History is not lost on Horn, the son of open cockpit veteran Jeff Horn. He, of course, treasures the memories of his dad’s success driving for Bay Hayes and the continuing friendships with folks like Humphrey. One of his dad’s wins came at the ‘Bowl.

“I’m fascinated by what happened in the past,” he says. “I’m really interested in what makes people successful. Having those people around in addition to honoring Marvin makes you want to step it up a notch.” The Speedbowl has not been kind to Horn. “I haven’t had the best luck there,” he reports, claiming “some of that is due to my own decisions and some of it due to the mistakes of others.” He’ll come with a fresh motor (Esslinger) determined to “do better.”

Blast Off winner John Zych Jr. is one of a number of active drivers that have won at the Speedbowl. In addition to defending champion Randy Cabral (eight wins) and Russ Stoehr (7), Joey Payne, Todd Bertrand, Barry Kittredge, Chris Leonard, Jim Miller and Greg Stoehr will be looking to return to the ‘Bowl’s victory Lane. Anthony Marvuglio and Paul Scally have had strong runs there as well.

Anthony Nocella and Ian Cumens hope to put Team Seymour back in the ‘Bowl’s Lites Victory lane. Blast off winner Ryan Bigelow will be looking to make it two in a row. Other Lites hopefuls are Kenny Johnson, Christian Briggs, Bethany Stoehr, Carl Medeiros Jr. and Brandon Igo.

NEMA NUGGETS – Mike Horn has great admiration for the teams “that just keep working on what they have. They just keep making little changes here and there rather than running out and buying new stuff all the time”…Horn is part of the Bertrand Motorsports “family” that also includes Zych.

As Stafford native Cory Casagrande gives chase to the Limited Late Model championship this season at Stafford Motor Speedway, he will have a new primary sponsor on his car with Shark Cycle. Casagrande won three races in his rookie season of Limited Late Model competition last season, and the new sponsorship from Shark Cycle might just be the extra ingredient that Casagrande needs to challenge for the championship this season.

When the SK Modified cars hit the track at Stafford Motor Speedway for the first time this season, Stafford veteran Curt Brainard will have a bull’s-eye on his familiar #96. Brainard has lined up TheAmmoZone.com as his new primary sponsor for the 2012 season, and
with TheAmmoZone.com’s bull’s-eye logo on the side of his car, Brainard will be hard to miss while he is out on track.

Stafford Motor Speedway has announced that championship winning Whelen Modified Tour car owner Bob Garbarino will serve as the grand marshal of the 41st Annual CARQUEST TECH-NET Spring Sizzler. Garbarino has fielded an entry for every Spring Sizzler except for the 1981 race, and he will send the Whelen Modified Tour field on its way for this year’s 41st annual edition of “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring” with the most famous words in motorsports, “Drivers start your engines.” “It’s a honor that Rich Pallai from CARQUEST Auto Parts and Mark and Lisa Arute asked me to do this,” said Garbarino.

Stafford Motor Speedway has again lined up an impressive field of current and former open wheel champions for its CARQUEST
Champions For Charities Event as part of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June 30th. During the coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of its championship winning drivers and the charity they will be racing for and this week’s CARQUEST Champions For Charities spotlight falls on 2-time Wild Thing Kart Senior Champ Champion (2010, 2011) Ron Midford, Jr., who will be racing to help support The Greg Caron Family Fund.

Windsor Locks, CT., racer Les Hinckley III, knows the way around Monadnock Speedway. Ninteen pro-stock wins in four seasons and a championship proves it. Add four wins in the potent open-wheel modified racecars and it’s safe to say the second-generation racer is right at home at the Winchester, NH racetrack.

“I learned how to go fast at Riverside, I learned how to win races and a championship at Monadnock,” said Hinckley.“I really grew up as a driver there. My career really started to develop there and take me where I am today. Fortunate for me that carried over from Riverside, Hinckley said.

Monadnock is considered a “tough” track to figure out, to get the right set up, a tough track to win at. Hinckley agrees.“The place is unique. Both ends of the track are different. It can be hard on those not familiar with it,” said Hinckley. Guys that run there know the place well. A guy like (Jim) Boniface can run with the top five. He runs real good there.”

Hinckley leads the list of entries for Monadnock Saturday night, April 21, the first of three appearances for the VMRS at
the famed oval. Saturday’s race is the Bond Auto Parts 100, a traditional spring event.

Additional entries expected include, recent winner and two-time champion, Jon McKennedy, E.Chelmsford, MA., defending series and two-time champion, Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT., three-time series winner Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT., two-time series winner, Rob Goodenough, Swanzey, NH., and Jim Boniface, of Winchester, a three-time series winner. Former NASCAR champion Todd Szegedy, of Bethel, CT., is also expected.

Last years race featured constant side-by-side racing often with five to seven car battles “That race was one of most intense and exciting races I have ever been involved in,” said Hinckley. Fans hope for a repeat this weekend. Qualifying races start at 5 p.m.

We checked with Wal-Mart in Halifax about the weekly Friday night cruise at that big box store on Rt. 106. We were told that the big weekly cruise night starts at 5 p.m. on May 4. The Bass Pro Shop cruise kicks off the season on Thursday night at Patriot Place in Foxborough at 5 p.m. On Saturday MX338 in Southwick offers motoX action all day starting at 9 a.m. Seekonk Speedway offers another practice session for all divisions starting at noon while Waterford Speedway Bowl in Connecticut offers a NASCAR program at 6 p.m. On Sunday Seekonk comes back with the Debs VW Car Show all day long.