Sep 26, 2020 |     

JOHNSON, RUGGERIO SLUGFEST ENDS WITH ANOTHER ONE FOR JAKE

BY SOUZA MEDIA

SEEKONK, Mass. — Over the final half of the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends Cars feature, Jake Johnson and Giovanni Ruggerio put on a show racing for the lead and the win. The tale of the two drivers was completely different, with Johnson chasing his fourth win, while Ruggerio was looking for his first. In the end, it was Johnson taking the No. 15 back to Victory Lane.

With just three weeks left in the season, Seekonk race teams returned to the third-mile to continue the Everett’s Auto Parts Diamond Jubilee Series — with no fans in the grandstands due to COVID-19 regulations from the state of Massachusetts.

Johnson started deeper than Ruggerio did, with Ruggerio lining up to the outside of the front row, and taking the early lead from Jacob Burns. Ruggerio would comfortably lead a few laps, but Johnson closed to his bumper when the field was hitting the halfway point. Johnson would try the inside, and the outside, and the show was on between the two.

They raced side-by-side for much of the remaining laps, but in the end, it was Johnson who took his ride to the winner’s circle. Ruggerio, who is running his first full-time year in the Legends Cars, finished second — a career best.

Luke LeBrun was third, followed by Reagan Parent and Josh Parsons. In his return to the Legends Cars in 2020, after winning the 2016 track championship and leaving for a tenure touring in the Pro Stocks — Johnson holds the points lead heading for the final two weeks.

The Nick’s Pit Stop Legends Cars (Abington, MA) return to the track with another 25-lap feature on Friday, October 2.