Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – THOMPSON, CT – Todd Bertrand out of Danielson, CT went back-to-back in the NEMA Lites as he won the 20 lap feature. Rowan Pennink won in the 50 lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature as it was their first Icebreaker appearance for the series kicking off their 2018 season.
Ryan Locke led the field to the green in the 20 lap NEMA Lites feature. A crash happened in turn one as Anthony Burr flipped his car. Kyle Valeri and Paul Scally were involved in the wreck. Valeri and Scally were able to continue. Bertrand was able to dominate the race Another caution came out with five laps to go for Dan Cugini, Avery Stoehr, and Anthony Nocella for a crash up in turn one.
Bertrand was able to get a good restart as he was nervous since he had never done a single file restart before. He led the final five laps to score back-to-back feature wins. Randy Cabral came in second and Jim Chambers finished in third.
Richard Savary led the field to the green in the 50 lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature event. On lap 17, the top nine branched out. The first caution of the race came out on lap 18 for a spin by Robert Bloxsom, III near the start-finish line.
They would go back to green as another caution came out a lap later as Steve Masse spun that collected Tony Ricci and Mike Willis, Jr. All three cars were able to continue.
There would be another restart and a couple laps later Steve Masse made contact with Carl Mederios, Jr as Mederios, Jr made contact with the inside barrier sustain heavy left side damage on lap 21.
Pennink would lead the field on the restart. Anthony Nocella moved into third place from Richard Savary. Nocella would pursue Chase Dowling for second but Dowling would keep the position. With 15 laps to go, the top three cars were a car length of each other.
There would be another caution in the closing laps as Tony Ricci, Richard Savary, Rob Richardi, Jr and Mike Willis, Jr were all involved in an incident in turn one.
Pennink would lead the final restart to go on to the win the season opener for the Valenti Modified Racing Series. It would be the 12th win in the series for Pennink.
Bryan Narducci took down the win in the Lite Modified race. Scott Seryndynski took down the win in the EXIT Realty 375 Pro Sportsman Challenge. Corey Coates took down the win in the EXIT Realty Pro Truck Series.
The 44th annual Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park will conclude on Sunday.
