David Lougee, Wire to Wire for first Sports Truck Win at Seekonk Speedway

Posted by Wayne G. Barber Photos from the Wayne G. Barber Collection

Track photo by Lester Gray

  David Lougee #22 came off the outside pole, took the front from Lenny Guy #77 and refused to relinquish the lead for the full 25 laps, enroute to snaring his first feature win in the division. Mike Duarte #50 chased him for 23 of those laps and John Paiva #21 for the last two. With a restart on lap 23, Lougee had to give up a long lead and brawl it out with Paiva on his outside. Paiva used a drop-under to get

below but Lougee stayed steady, held the hammer down and kept Paiva at bay to win by mere inches and just two hundredths of a second on the clock. Paiva was second, followed by Rob (drop kick ) Murphy#82, Duarte took fourth, and Chase Belcher#81 rounded out the top five.
  Lougee, who already led Belcher in divisional points, was quick out of the box but Guy bore down and drove back alongside in turn two, but he got high and wide, allowing Lougee to go to the front. Duarte, who started low in the second row, also was able to sweep under Guy and into second.

 5 time track sports truck champion Mike Cavallaro #80 started fifth and as Darryl Church #4 faded from fourth on the outside, Cavallaro swept under him and Guy into third. Lougee moved away with Duarte and Cavallaro in pursuit, as behind them, Belcher, Paiva and Rob Murphy scrambled to join in. Lougee went out to a two-car lead on Duarte, who in turn was five up on Cavallaro while Paiva was harrying Mike’s back bumper. Murphy got past Belcher to chase Paiva. As Duarte began to close onLougee, Paiva looked under Cavallaro, found nowhere to go and looked to the outside. He dropped back under but Mike slammed the door. Duarte closed to Lougee’s bumper while Paiva tried to knife in under Cavallaro. There wasn’t enough room and he went into the grass to make his attempt,but made contact with Cavallaro and fell back. In the meantime, Murphy rushed up his outside, then went way outside in turn four. Lap 10 saw Paiva finding space underneath Cavallaro and Murphy dodging to the outside for a three wide and Cavallaro the meat in the sandwich. Mike fell back and Paiva went to third followed by Murphy. Belcher barged underneath into fifth. Lap 13 saw Belcher underneath Murphy and into fourth.
  As Lougee and Duarte continued to run hard at the front, Paiva, Belcher, Murphy, Cavallaro, Guy and Dan Johnson closed up nose-to-tail,running hard. But by lap 15, Lougee and Duarte were leading the pack by more than a straightaway. And they were lapping Ed Perry by lap 17. The competitors held position until lap 23, when caution was called for debris – a muffler from under one of the trucks – in the middle of the back stretch. Duarte was alongside Lougee while Paiva and Belcher shared row two and Murphy and Cavallaro were row three. Paiva jumped in under Duarte into second and Murphy, too, sailed on under. Paiva went directly to try pushing under Lougee, who pushed down and slammed the door. Paiva fastened onto his bumper and pushed him for several yards down the speedway, but Lougee held firm and held the outside line for a .200 of a second first career victory to add to his division lead  Source: Seekonk Speedway Media Press Release.