| SATURDAY, MAY 12th |
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| 9th for Lonnie at
Star |
EPPING, N.H. – Lonnie Sommerville
of Saint John, New Brunswick, finished ninth in a
caution-filled PASS North Series Star 150 at Star
Speedway in Epping, N.H., on Saturday, May 12.
Sommerville, who started on the pole and led on two
different occasions in the No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders
Chevrolet, was involved in three separate incidents over
the course of the night. He was able to make several
repairs and adjustments on pit road during the race to
fix the handling on his car and salvage a Top-10 finish
for the night on the quarter-mile bullring.
STARTED: 1st - FINISHED: 9th - LAPS LED: 2 times
for 16 laps
NEXT RACE: May 26, PASS 150, White Mountain Motorsports
Park, N. Woodstock, N.H. (.25-mile oval)
LONNIE, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP TONIGHT?
“Star. That sums it up. It's just kind of a replay of
how our night went last year here. We had a good race
car, and guys were just being impatient 50 laps into a
race.
“I got on the outside (on an early restart), and (crew
chief Gary Crooks) said to roll out of it and let those
guys go and fall in line. We had all kinds of race car,
and I probably should have raced them a little harder,
because I got back there with those guys you don't want
to be back there with.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
“We were in a couple of altercations. Fifty laps into a
race, and I just don't get when a guy gets six inches on
you where he thinks he's going. But a good race team
rebounds from that, and we did.
“We looked like we were going to get back into the Top-5
fairly quickly, and it was just a racing deal when the
35 and the 60 got together. Everybody stacked up, and I
got into the back of the 60. I broke the fender, the
nose, and probably bent the left front spindle, too. It
was just a handful after that.
“We came in and made some adjustments, and got back out.
Then it was the same deal again. We got dumped by a guy
that I'm pretty sure was five laps down.”
IT WAS OBVIOUSLY A VERY FRUSTRATING NIGHT.
“It seems to be for us, Star was the same way last year
and we ended up coming out with a fourth-place finish.
This week wasn't so good, but we'll make the best of it
and go forward.” |
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Lonnie
Sommerville: PASS North Series
Star Speedway Race
Preview |
THE STORY
FALMOUTH, Maine – Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, New
Brunswick, will try and keep momentum rolling when the
PASS North Series heads to the Star 150 at Star Speedway
in Epping, N.H., on Saturday, May 12. Sommerville is
locked in a tie for the PASS North Series points lead
after one event, and he finished fourth in this event
last season in the Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay
Builders Chevrolet. Sommerville heads into the race
after finishing second in the season opener at Beech
Ridge Motor Speedway last weekend.
BEST CAREER STAR SPEEDWAY FINISH: 4th
(May 2011)
LAST RACE AT STAR SPEEDWAY: 4th (May
2011)
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: T-1st
DID YOU KNOW?
 This
is the first time Lonnie Sommerville has had even a
share of the PASS North Series points lead.
After
finishing second last weekend, Lonnie Sommerville hast
posted an average finishing position of 2.7 in his last
four starts at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
Lonnie
Sommerville had one win and 10 Top-5 finishes in 14
starts last season, en route to a second-place finish in
the final PASS North Series standings and co-Rookie of
the Year honors.
Mulkern
Racing will return to a one-car effort this weekend,
after entering both Lonnie Sommerville and Scott Mulkern
in the season opener at Beech Ridge.
Lonnie
Sommerville finished fourth in the Star 150 last season,
his first career visit to the track.
Lonnie
Sommerville builds race cars for his own Lonnie
Sommerville Racing organization in New Brunswick.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
LONNIE SOMMERVILLE, Driver of the
Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders Chevrolet, On
his solid start to the season with a runner-up finish
last weekend at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway: “The first
six, seven, eight races you've just got to keep par and
try and not lose ground (in the standings). The first
eight races aren't as important as the last eight or so
– but it is important to come out of there not digging
yourself out of a hole.
“We still have 15 races to go, so it is what it is – but
I am disappointed in (second last week). It's neat we
can be disappointed we finished second in a race, but
it's disappointing in a way because we know we were
unhappy with how our car was. That's a good thing.”
On what his impressions of Star Speedway: “Every race
track is unique and has its unique characteristics. At
Star, there's a bump going into turn one, and it's bumpy
down the backstretch. We can't do what we'd do at some
other tracks with bump stops and that stuff.
“Every track has things you have to work around. I try
to play all these tracks back in my head now that I've
been to all of them, and for me, when I think of Star
it's how rough the surface is. We can't do some of the
things we do at other places because of that.”
On how Star Speedway compares to other quarter-mile
tracks, including his home track of Speedway 660 in
Geary, New Brunswick: “It's a little faster than what
660 would be, but you still drive it the same way. You
can move around a little bit and try different places.
It's not like a Beech Ridge or Oxford, where you have to
be really careful not to burn your tires off it.
“You can get up on the wheel and get after it. Even as
well as I did at Beech Ridge, I'd rather run the way you
have to run at a place like this. I would rather run
hard. It's not like you want to go as hard as you can
every single lap, but I feel like driver can make a
difference at a place like this.” |
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| Lonnie 2nd at BRMS |
SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Lonnie
Sommerville of Saint John, New Brunswick, started the
2012 PASS North Series season off on the right foot by
finishing second in the SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, on
Saturday, May 5. The result marked Sommerville's fourth
straight Top-5 finish at Beech Ridge in the Mulkern
Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders Chevrolet dating back
to this event last season. Sommerville led on two
different occasions early in the race after starting
fourth in the 32-car field, but a long green-flag run to
the checkered flag kept him just short of the top spot
at the finish line.
WHAT: PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150
WHERE: Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine
(.375-mile oval)
STARTED: 4th
FINISHED: 2nd
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 2nd
LONNIE, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR DAY?
“It's definitely a solid run. Obviously not the car we
wanted, but (winner Joey Doiron) just had an awesome
race car. Watching him go was pretty much how I felt
last year when we rolled into Beech Ridge.”
WHERE DID THE CAR NEED TO BE BETTER?
“It was way too tight. We just missed it.
“We changed it after the heat race. We freed it up a
little bit more, but we just should have went more. We
second-guessed ourselves. We were so good in the heat
race, we didn't want to go too much. We definitely
didn't go too much. We didn't go enough. Most of the
race, I just tried to save my stuff.”
STILL, IT'S A GOOD START TO YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
HOPES.
“It is what it is. We're chasing a big picture, and
second-place to start the season off is a good run for
the big picture. It's a good night for Southern Maine
Motors and everyone at Mulkern Racing for their home
track and the sponsor of the race.
“It's a good night for all of us.” |
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| Scott Posts a DNF
for 30th |
SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Scott Mulkern
of Falmouth, Maine, finished 30th in the season-opening
PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at Beech
Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, on Saturday,
May 5. Mulkern absorbed a hard it into the frontstretch
wall just past the halfway mark of the event to end his
day early. He qualified the Mulkern Racing No. 84
SouthernMaineMotors.com/Community Pharmacies Chevrolet
in the 14th position and had climbed as high as sixth at
the time of his accident.
WHAT: PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150
WHERE: Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine
(.375-mile oval)
STARTED: 14th
FINISHED: 30th
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 30th
SCOTT, WHAT HAPPENED TO TAKE YOU OUT OF THE
RACE?
“I looped it, and it went into the wall.
“It just flipped around on me. I don't know. Something
felt weird. I asked (Mulkern Racing crew chief Gary
Crooks), 'Do I always have that much caster?' Something
felt funky. I might just be getting old – I don't know.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION SOMETHING WAS WRONG?
“No, and it wasn't too bad, actually. It was pretty
good. But I got loose twice today in practice, and once
I almost crashed and another time I just spun off the
turn in the dirt.” |
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Lonnie
Sommerville: PASS North Series
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Race
Preview |
-
THE STORY
Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, New Brunswick, kicks
off a second full season of PASS North Series
competition when the series opens 2012 with the
SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at Beech Ridge Motor
Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, on Saturday, May 5.
Sommerville, who finished fourth in this race a year ago
in the Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders
Chevrolet, earned his first career PASS North Series
victory at Beech Ridge in July of 2011. Sommerville has
never finished worse than fourth at Beech Ridge since
joining Mulkern Racing.
WHO: Lonnie Sommerville, Saint John, New Brunswick
TEAM: Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders
Chevrolet
CREW CHIEF: Gary Crooks, Mooresville, North Carolina
BEST CAREER BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY FINISH:
1st (July 2011)
LAST RACE AT BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: 4th (September
2011)
WHAT: PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150
WHERE: Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine
(.375-mile flat oval)
WHEN: Practice, Thursday, May 3 and Friday, May 4, 2-6
p.m.; Qualifying, Saturday, May 5, 3 p.m.; Race,
Saturday, May 5, 5 p.m.
PASS North Series
NEXT RACE: Saturday, May 12, PASS 150, Star Speedway,
Epping, N.H. (.25-mile oval)
FINAL 2011 POINTS POSITION: 2nd
DID YOU KNOW?
Lonnie Sommerville posted an average finishing position
of 3.0 in three starts at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway
last season.
Lonnie Sommerville had one win and 10 Top-5 finishes in
14 starts last season, en route to a second-place finish
in the final PASS North Series standings and co-Rookie
of the Year honors.
Mulkern Racing will bring a two-car effort to Beech
Ridge this weekend, with both Lonnie Sommerville and
Scott Mulkern competing in the event.
Mulkern Racing won the 2011 season finale at Oxford
Plains Speedway with Scott Mulkern driving as a teammate
to Lonnie Sommerville.
Lonnie Sommerville builds race cars for his own Lonnie
Sommerville Racing organization in New Brunswick.
Scott Mulkern finished second in the PASS 300 at Beech
Ridge last September.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
LONNIE SOMMERVILLE, Driver of the
Mulkern Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders Chevrolet, On
the key to winning at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway: “It's
a place where you're never really comfortable there. You
really have to drive the race car there. Mine and Scott
(Mulkern's) driving styles, a place like that is more
suited to our driving styles.
“Most people don't realize that your'e always free
there, but you burn the right front tire off. You don't
just go out there and run 90 percent as hard as you can
all the time. You run maybe 70 percent at the start, and
you'll have 70 percent left at the end when other guys
have fallen off to 40 or 50 percent. In these longer
races, you have to save your stuff at any track. But
Beech Ridge is so hard on tires and the groove changes
all the time, so it's even more so there. It's such a
racy place, you have to be smart about it all the time.”
On Mulkern Racing's success at Beech Ridge in 2011: “I
think it was just about us understanding what we needed
for our race cars, And with (Mulkern Racing crew chiefs
Gary Crooks and Seth Holbrook) being able to give Scott
and I what we needed as drivers, the preparation at the
shop turned into basically fine-tuning at the track on
race day. We'd unload and try and make the cars better,
but we'd end up going back to what we unloaded with
because it was so good.
“Scott has a lot of laps there, and he had better race
cars last year. I had some success with my own team
there before, too. It's a place I really like, and it
took me a while, but I've figured it out.”
On his goals for this weekend at Beech Ridge:
“Obviously, I want to win the race. For us, it's about
going to the race track, having everything go smoothly
and doing our jobs. If we all do our jobs to the best of
our capabilities, and we end up finishing second, third
or fourth, then we'll go back and we'll work on our
program. You never know what other guys have done to
their cars over the winter.
“But for us, if everybody goes and gives 110 pct and we
win, we did our job.”
GARY CROOKS, Crew chief on the Mulkern
Racing No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders Chevrolet, On having a
two-car effort at Beech Ridge this weekend: “We run the
exact same setup in both cars, and we did that at Beech
Ridge and Oxford last year. There's no negative in that
aspect. If Seth tries something different with Scott and
it works, then we find out about it; if we try something
with Lonnie and it works, they find out about it. That
part of it is all good.”
UP NEXT
The PASS North Series continues with the PASS 150 at
Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., on Saturday, May 12...
Lonnie Sommerville finished fourth in the caution-filled
event a year ago. It was his first career visit to the
tight quarter-mile track. |
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Scott Mulkern:
PASS North Series
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Race
Preview |
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THE STORY
Scott Mulkern of Falmouth, Maine, will try to win his
first career PASS North Series race on his home track
when the series heads to the SouthernMaineMotors.com 150
at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, on
Saturday, May 5. Mulkern won the PASS North Series
finale at Oxford Plains Speedway last October for his
second career PASS North victory, but he came up one
spot short of winning at Beech Ridge when he ran second
in the PASS 300 there last September. The Mulkern Racing
No. 84 SouthernMaineMotors.com/Community Pharmacies
Chevrolet plans to compete in at least five PASS North
Series events in 2012, including all three at Beech
Ridge and two at Oxford.
WHO: Scott Mulkern, Falmouth, Maine
TEAM: Mulkern Racing No. 84
SouthernMaineMotors.com/Community Pharmacies Chevrolet
CREW CHIEF: Seth Holbrook, Turner, Maine
BEST CAREER BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY FINISH:
1st (PASS Outlaw division)
LAST RACE AT BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: 2nd (September
2011)
WHAT: PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150
WHERE: Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine
(.375-mile flat oval)
WHEN: Practice, Thursday, May 3 and Friday, May 4, 2-6
p.m.; Qualifying, Saturday, May 5, 3 p.m.; Race,
Saturday, May 5, 5 p.m.
PASS North Series
NEXT RACE: Saturday, May 12, PASS 150, Star Speedway,
Epping, N.H. (.25-mile oval)
FINAL 2011 POINTS POSITION: 23rd (started 5 of 14 races)
DID YOU KNOW?
Scott Mulkern won the track championship at Beech Ridge
in 1985 – the last year the facility was a dirt track.
Mulkern Racing driver Lonnie Sommerville had one win and
10 Top-5 finishes in 14 starts last season, en route to
a second-place finish in the final PASS North Series
standings and co-Rookie of the Year honors. It was the
second straight runner-up finish for Mulkern Racing in
the final PASS North standings.
Mulkern Racing will bring a two-car effort to Beech
Ridge this weekend, with both Lonnie Sommerville and
Scott Mulkern competing in the event.
Scott Mulkern finished second in the PASS 300 at Beech
Ridge last September.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
SCOTT MULKERN, Driver of the Mulkern
Racing No. 84 SouthernMaineMotors.com/Community
Pharmacies Chevrolet, On Super Late Model racing Beech
Ridge Motor Speedway: “I don't race too many different
tracks anymore, but it's always been kind of like Oxford
to me. The slower you go, it seems the faster you go.
You just can't overdrive it there.
“I raced the first ACT (Pro Stock) race they ever had
there, and guys came in and had never raced on a track
like that. Usually, you get in a race car and you want
to put it to the floor and hold it there, but you just
can't do that at Beech Ridge. Once tires go away, you're
just trying to save your stuff, keep your momentum and
get a real rhythm going. A lot of guys will overdrive
there. Some guys never figure that out 100 percent, but
it's just about being smooth every lap.”
On keeping up with the changing track conditions at
Beech Ridge: “You need to race the track a lot there.
That's almost true everywhere, but there you really have
to be able to do that. It's easy to say. When you get up
beside guys and you're almost clear, but guy comes back
a half-car length, you can't get frustrated with that.
You have to stay focused, get the same (corner) entry
and exit as you've had all along. If you're faster car,
you'll get that spot.
“It's really easy when you get racing beside a guy to
change what you did to get to him in the first place.”
SETH HOLBROOK, Crew chief on the
Mulkern Racing No. 84 SouthernMaineMotors.com/Community
Pharmacies Chevrolet, On the key to running well at
Beech Ridge: “It's a really tough place on teams. You
have to do your best to keep up with the race track,
because it changes all the time. It's tough to do that
there, but if you can win at Beech Ridge or Oxford, you
can win anywhere.”
UP NEXT
The PASS North Series continues with the PASS 150 at
Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., on Saturday, May 12...
Mulkern Racing driver Lonnie Sommerville finished fourth
in the caution-filled event a year ago. It was his first
career visit to the tight quarter-mile track. |
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TWO FOR THE SHOW:
Mulkern Racing Gears Up |
| Two-Car PASS Super
Late Model Effort Ready To Take Next Step |
FALMOUTH, Maine – After a pair of
wins last season and a runner-up finish in the PASS
North Series championship standings, Mulkern Racing
heads into 2012 eager to build on the success it forged
in the second half of 2011.
New Brunswick driver Lonnie Sommerville is back with
crew chief Gary Crooks to run the full PASS North
schedule, while team owner Scott Mulkern will run a
partial schedule with Seth Holbrook calling his shots
atop the pit box. Sommerville won at Beech Ridge Motor
Speedway in July and finished second in the final
standings as a PASS rookie – garnering co-Rookie of the
Year honors for his efforts, while Mulkern won the
season finale in October at Oxford Plains Speedway.
Both drivers feel all the parts are in place to improve
on their strong finish a year ago.
“We can keep things going. We're going to just get
better and better, I really believe that,” Mulkern said.
“Time is everything, really. It takes time to build all
the stuff you need to get it where you want it. If
you're working on setting everything up, it just takes
time.”
Sommerville believes that the team jelled in 2011, once
it got to know both Sommerville and Crooks.
“I think Gary and I knew what our potential was having
worked together so much in the past, but the other guys
on the team probably needed to see it for themselves,”
Sommerville said. “I think once we went out and finished
fourth (in the season opener at Beech Ridge), everybody
started believing in what we had.
“We've all worked together now, and we all have a little
more fire in our bellies to get this done. I think we're
all on the same page.”
The PASS North Series season begins next Saturday, May
5, with the SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at Beech Ridge –
the first of three scheduled events at the track in
2012. Sommerville's No. 48 A.E. McKay Builders Chevrolet
posted an average finish of 3.0 in the three starts at
Beech Ridge in 2011, while Mulkern's No. 84 Southern
Maine Motors/Community Pharmacies Chevrolet finished
second in the PASS 300 at the track in September.
Mulkern plans on competing in the three races at Beech
Ridge this season, the two dates at Oxford, the
All-American 400 at Nashville in October, and the
Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola,
Fla., in December. He will also turn over his seat to
Ted Christopher when PASS makes its inaugural visit to
Stafford Motor Speedway in August and field a third car
for Alan Wilson at Oxford in July.
Mulkern Racing will also back the effort of Bobby
Timmons, a 19-year-old driver from Windham who will
compete as a rookie in the NASCAR Whelen All-American
Series at Beech Ridge on Saturday nights this season.
Crooks thinks last year's second half is the perfect
springboard to this season.
“Last year, we knew our potential going in,” said
Crooks, of Crooks Racing Inc. in Denver, N.C. “What we
didn't have was confidence we could hit the ground
running. We felt pretty good after Beech Ridge, running
fourth, and then we strung together a few more finishes
like that. It was funny, because we went from knowing
what we could do to almost being frustrated because we
weren't achieving it.”
With two cars running most race weekends this year and
Tony Ricci working in the shop during the week, Crooks
said the organization will benefit as a whole.
“We run the exact same setup in both cars, so there's no
negative in that aspect,” Crooks said. “If Seth tries
something different with Scott and it works, then we
find out about it; if we try something with Lonnie and
it works, they find out about it. That part of it is all
good.”
Confidence is the buzzword around the Mulkern Racing
shop with just days remaining before the first green
flag of the season.
“We all communicate well, we all do our job at the race
track,” Sommerville said. “In that sense, I'm confident
we can compete for the championship. You can always
improve, and going back to some of these tracks for a
second and third time, we have notes now we can work
from.
“When that car leaves the shop, I am 100 percent
confident in saying the preparation was 100 percent.”
A lot of the credit, Sommerville says, goes to Mulkern
Racing owners Scott and Vickie Mulkern.
“Last year, we really were competitive every week and
fast every week with both race cars,” Sommerville said.
“Any success we have is about their contribution to the
sport, and any failure is never going to be on their
shoulders. There's nothing we want for. If we need it to
go faster, it's at our fingertips. I can't imagine
there's another team out there that has something we
don't have to make them better than us.
“(Scott and Vickie) have the same passion for the sport
that we do.” |
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| PASS North Banquet -
Friday, November 4, 2011 |
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At the PASS 2011
Banquet, Lonnie Sommerville received his trophy for
second in the North SLM points standings and a plaque
for Co-Rookie-of-
the-Year along with Kyle Desouza. |
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Previous Race Results and
Photos HERE |
Welcome to our new little buddy OSCAR!
He joined the crew on Nov. 4th, 2006
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In Loving Memory
Our Best Friend
Rexie!
1991 - 2006 |
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D.J. Shaw
NASCAR K&N Pro
Series
- Proudly Sponsored by
Mulkern Racing |
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DJ the PASS North SLM
Winner
at White Mountain |
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After a 2nd at White Mount on 9/11 and the pole
at the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge on 9/18, DJ takes
the win at White Mountain in the 9/24 PASS 150. |
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Bobby Timmons III
Beech Ridge Pro Series
- Proudly Sponsored by
Mulkern Racing |
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Coming Soon......
1965 Plymouth Belvedere SuperStock Class
Vintage 426 Hemi Block |
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GARY BELLEFLEUR |
Gary
Bellefleur
Memorial Fund
.
If you wish to make a donation,
please make checks payable to
The Gary Bellefleur Memorial
Fund and mail to:
Mulkern Racing LLC
Attention: Bellefleur
Memorial Fund
58 Hadlock Road
Falmouth, ME 04105
..
Full Info & Story HERE |
.
Bub 1957-2010
Our Condolences to the
Bilodeau Family
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