Lonnie Sommerville: PASS North Series
Seekonk Speedway Race Report
SEEKONK, Mass. – Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, New Brunswick, finished fourth in the PASS North Series PASS 150 at Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass., on Saturday, August 6. It was Sommerville’s second straight Top-5 finish, and came after he won his heat race in his debut at the unique .333-mile facility. Sommerville started 11th and moved into the Top-5 by Lap 61. Despite a tight handling race car, Sommerville capitalized on a restart with 12 laps remaining to grab fourth at the checkered flag.
WHO: Lonnie Sommerville, Saint John, New Brunswick
TEAM: Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders/Community Pharmacies Chevrolet
CREW CHIEF: Seth Holbrook, Turner, Maine
TEAM MANAGER: Gary Crooks, Mooresville, N.C.
WHAT: PASS North Series PASS 150
WHERE: Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass. (.333-mile oval)
STARTED: 11th
FINISHED: 4th
LAPS LED: 0 times for 0 laps
PASS North Series
LAST RACE: July 23, Brackett Mechanical 150, Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine (3rd)
NEXT RACE: August 28, PASS 150, White Mountain Motorsports Park, N. Woodstock, N.H. (.25-mile banked oval)
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LONNIE, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR RUN TONIGHT?
“The car seemed like it was going to be all right – it was a little snug – but the longer we ran, the more green flag laps, it just got tighter and tighter. I just had a hard time getting it to turn. I moved my line around, but it just got tight and got away from us a little bit.
“I’ll be honest, it was probably the first race this year that we didn’t have a handle on things when we were happy going into the race. That’s nothing to cry about this late in the season, going to all these race tracks we’ve never been to before all year. We could come back here next week and we’d be a lot better, I guarantee that.”
DO YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE FACT THAT YOU STRUGGLED BUT STILL FINISHED IN THE TOP-5?
“Absolutely. We got here and we were good right off the truck. We just made a few slight changes here and there…and we were pretty happy. We were good in practice, we were good in the heat race. The track rubbered up, and it had a lot more grip than we needed.
“We’ll take a fourth and we’ll head on to White Mountain. We had a pretty good test there (back in May), so we’re pretty excited to go back there and see if we can get another win under our belt this year.”
DID YOUR ENGINE CHOICE THIS WEEKEND PLAY A ROLE?
“Our little crate motor probably hurt us a little tonight. Had we had a bigger motor – our 9-to-1 motor – more horsepower might have made the difference up. We thought the crate motor would be fine at a place like this, that’s this round – but when it’s this round and you’re not turning, it makes it hard. You’ve got to turn and make straightaways out of it, and we couldn’t.”
Read more on the PASS forum – http://www.neracingforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17