Kingston’s Randy Cabral made a major statement about the caliber of competition for the NEMA Midgets return to the Riverhead Raceway out on Long Island, NY, after an absence of 40 years.   (Credit: NEMA Photo)

Randy Cabral was in the “right place, at the right time” last Saturday evening, as he was victorious in the Northeastern Midget Association’s first return to Riverhead Raceway in nearly 40 years.  It was a historic victory – as it marks the seventeenth consecutive season that Cabral has been victorious, breaking the long standing record set by NEMA great, Dave Humphrey of Seekonk.  It also ties Cabral with Russ Stoehr of Bridgwater for 3rd on the all time NEMA win list with 49 wins.

In Lites action, Joey Payne, substituting for his son, Anthony, who had come down with the flu, took down a thrilling win over Danny Cugini of Marshifield.  It marks the 32nd straight season that Payne has won a race, across all of the divisions he has run.

In the NEMA feature, Paul Scally of Randolph jumped out into any early lead from the front row.  Behind Scally, the action was two and three wide on the small 1/4 mile track. By the halfway point, it was still Scally in command, and Jim Chambers had worked his way up to second.

A lap fourteen restart bunched up the field, and when the green flag flew, John Zych Jr. blasted by Scally and Chambers into the lead.  A few laps later, Chambers had closed the gap on Zych, and started to haunt the back of the #9 Zych machine.  Behind them, home town favorite and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standout, Justin Bonsignore had worked his way from the eight spot into third, and was gaining ground as the leaders battled for the top spot.

Contact between Zych and Chambers lap eighteen saw Chambers come out on top, and two laps later Zych would spin into the infield, fighting a loose race car.  The cars lined up single file, for what he fans hoped to be an epic battle between Chambers and Bonsignore.  However, it all went wrong at that point, as Bonsignore caught the right rear tire on the Chambers machine, who was fighting a right front tire that had unknowingly gone flat – and rocketed the #74 Bonsignore machine head on into the fence.  After being shaken up, Bonsignore walked away with minor bruises.

On the final restart, Randy Cabral, who was biding his time, inherited the lead, with Star winner Avery Stoehr of Lakeville behind him.  Cabral jumped out into the lead and was never seriously challenged.  He took down the win over Stoehr, Alan Chambers, Paul Scally, Danny Cugini, John Zych Jr., Todd Bertrand, Bethany Stoehr of Bridgewater, Seth Carlson and Jim Chambers.

“It wasn’t the way I wanted to win,” said Cabral, who was reflecting on his teammates destroyed race car.  “But I guess we need to take them as they come.  The car was loose, but good enough to hold them off,” he said.  On beating Humphrey’s record, Cabral said “Dave is a class act, always has been.  It’s humbling to even be mentioned in the same category as him, nevertheless breaking a record of his,” he said.

In the NEMA Lite race, New Jersey’s Joey Payne Jr. was substituting for son, Anthony, in the Scrivani 21, as he had come down with the flu and high fever on the morning of the Riverhead event.  Riverhead proved to be kind to the elder Payne, as he beat back Danny Cugini to

Payne, by virture of the NEMA handicapping system, would start from the outside pole.  In the early stages of the race, Payne held a commanding lead, stretching it out at times to nearly a straightaway.

Further back, Thompson Icebreaker winner, Danny Cugini was working his way to the front, and a caution with nine laps remaining would pair the Payne/Cugini duo up side by side.  Cugini looked to have a nice jump on Payne of of turn four, but the wiley veteran drove down hard into turn turn one and and Cugini’s car broke loose.  A little smoke off of the Cugini machine, and Payne was right back to the lead.  He would beat back Cugini on one additional restart enroute to victory.

Payne would take down the win over Cugini, Star winner, Jim Chambers, Alan Chambers, Jim Cataldo, Meg Cugini, Paul Scally, Ryan Locke, Jeremy Decourcey and Randy Cabral.

NEMA Finish order:

1 47 Cabral, Randy Bertrand, Tim 2 15a Stoehr, Avery Stoehr, Russ 3 7 Chambers, Alan Chambers, Mike 4 30 Scally, Paul Scally, Paul 5 51 Cugini, Danny Cugini, Dan 6 9 Zych, John Zych, John 7 39 Bertrand, Todd Bertrand, Todd 8 5b Stoehr, Bethanny Stoehr, Greg 9 71 Carlson, Seth Feigel, Gene 10 21 Chambers, Jim Chambers, Mike 11 28 Pernesiglio, Peter Jr. Pernesiglio, Pete 12 74 Bonsignore, Justin Bertrand, Tim 13 50 Park, Kevin Pernesiglio, Pete

NEMA Lite Finish Order:

1 21 Payne, Joey Scrivani, Mike 2 51 Cugini, Danny Cugini, Glen 3 12 Chambers, Jim Chambers, Jim 4 17 Chambers, Alan Chambers, Mike 5 2 Cataldo, Jim Cataldo, Jim 6 41 Cugini, Megan Cugini, Glen 7 30 Scally, Paul Scally, Paul 8 38 Locke, Ryan Locke, Ken 9 20 DeCourcey, Jeremy Decourcey, Jeremy 10 35 Cabral, Randy Cabral, Glen