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Waterford, CT (July 24, 2010) - Waterford
Speedbowl beat the evening’s heavy downpours from Mother Nature to
complete Nostalgia Night featuring exhibition racing from vintage
racing groups, the Shane Hammond Memorial event for the NEMA Midgets
plus four-divisions of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing.
Salem’s Jeff Pearl returned to the winner’s circle to claim his 33rd
career SK Modified® win. Tim Jordan of Plainfield and Dan Field of
Deep River used wins in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model and
Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock feature races to stay out front in their
respective division point battles. Andover’s Norm Sears won his
second Street Stock race in dominant fashion, while Massachusetts
drivers Russ Stoehr and Randy Cabral split the NEMA Midget and NEMA
Lite Shane Hammond Memorial races.
The 35-lap SK Modified® race thundered out onto the track with Diego
Monahan and Joe Perry leading the field to the green flag. Monahan
took the race lead and with just one lap complete Doug Coby came to
rest in turn four with a flat left rear tire, bringing out the first
caution flag. Monahan would take back over and held his lead through
two additional early incidents.
When racing settled in, Monahan was out front by two lengths over
Perry. Joe Gada was third with Tom Abele holding down fourth. Ron
Yuhas Jr. and Pearl put down the best battle on the track for fifth
on lap 10. Pearl came to life in the outside lane, moving back by
Yuhas on lap 11 after spending several laps to his outside and then
pulled outside Abele for fourth. Abele bobbled on lap 14 between
turns one and two causing his car to snap back up the track to
create a more serious altercation that collected Jeff Paul, Rob
Janovic Jr., Adam Gada and Glen Pressell III. All but Paul were done
for the night after their contact.
Hard racing inside the top-ten positions took place following the
lap 14 restart. Pearl raced into third around the outside of Gada
with defending champion Ron Yuhas Jr., Todd Ceravolo and point
leader Keith Rocco all racing hard for fifth. Tucker Reynolds Jr.
and Tyler Chadwick were locked in a hard battle for eighth. Trouble
on lap 17 saw Yuhas break traction racing into turn one with
Ceravolo looking under his left rear. Caution waved for a spinning
Yuhas, dropping him from the top five.
Monahan had serious company at the front when racing went back to
green. Pearl advanced to second with Ceravolo behind in third. Pearl
looked both high and low on Monahan with Ceravolo countering Pearl’s
move trying to find any lane he could for second. The top three
raced an exciting two laps with Ceravolo ultimately making the
impressive moves on lap 21. An aggressive move under Pearl entering
turn one grabbed Ceravolo second, and he wasted no time darting
outside Monahan off turn two intent on taking over the race lead. He
made that move stick to be the new leader on lap 22.
Ceravolo stretched out his lead over the next several laps. Pearl
stalked Monahan for second, eventually making an inside move
entering turn three on lap 29. Just as Pearl was clearing Monahan,
Ceravolo’s machine suffered electrical failure and he dropped off
the pace exiting turn four, continuing his season of utter
misfortune. Pearl’s maneuver on Monahan handed him the lead. With
four laps remaining Chadwick and Perry made contact battling for
third sending Chadwick around in turn one for a caution. On the
restart Perry and Joe Gada made contact with both cars crashing in
turn one and dropping them out of the top five.
Over the final four laps Pearl went unchallenged to his second win
of the year. Monahan crossed the stripe in second, but failed
post-race inspection moving Yuhas up to an impressive runner-up
finish after his spin mid-way through the race. Coby rebounded from
his early troubles for his first podium finish of the year in third,
with Reynolds Jr. and Paul completing the top-five finishers.
The 30-lap Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race saw Rich Staskowski
take the early lead with Jordan and Ernie Bertrand battling for
second over the opening laps. Bertrand eventually overtook Jordan
for the spot and focused on Staskowski out front. After an
extraordinary five lap battle Bertrand was able to take the race
lead on lap 10. One lap later a multi-car accident in turn three
eliminated Dennis Botticello and Brian Andronaco Jr. Jason Palmer
was also involved.
Bertrand resumed at the front following the restart. He would be
challenged by point leader Tim Jordan as the race reached halfway,
as Jordan tried to find racing room to the bottom of Bertrand before
climbing the track and pulling alongside his outside on lap 16. He
nudged ahead in the outside lane, and was in sole command of the
lead by lap 18. Jeff Smith took the top groove and also moved past
Bertrand into second, with Bertrand holding third over Joe Curioso.
Bruce Thomas had entered the top five behind them on lap 20.
Up front Jordan held a one car advantage over Smith. Further back
Thomas was pressuring Curioso for fourth, which escalated into both
cars making contact coming to the stripe on lap 23, getting into the
frontstretch wall to bring out caution. Both drove to the pits for
repair, but were done for the night.
Jordan nailed the final restart versus Smith and went on to his
third victory of the season to pad his lead in the championship
standings over Smith. Smith finished a car back in second, with
Staskowski, Bertrand and Vin Esposito rounding out the top five.
Norm Sears took command of the 25-lap Street Stock race on lap 2,
passing by pole sitter Chris Meyer. Caution waved seven laps in
after Nate Appell spun through the wet infield into turn one. When
racing resumed two more laps were completed when Ed Puleo, winner of
two straight races headed into the event, caught the backstretch
wall and slowed to bring out caution flag with damage to the right
side of his machine.
Sears continued to lead following the restart, stretching out to a
seven car advantage as the race reached halfway. Josh Galvin moved
to second with point leader Walt Hovey Jr. up to third. Greg Moran
Jr. and Al Stone III rounded out the top five through lap 15. Sears’
commanding advantage was erased when caution showed on lap 18 as two
cars got out of shape into the infield.
Sears was strong out front on the restart, but Galvin and Hovey’s
electric season continued as their battle for the second position
intensified. After two laps of slugging it out, that battle ended
with both cars making hard contact with the wall exiting turn four
bringing out caution, sending both to the pits for repair.
Sears bested Moran on the final restart to cruise to his second
victory of the year. Stone got by Moran for second at the stripe,
with Moran finishing third. Ronnie Oldham Jr. was fourth with Appell
rebounding for fifth.
Charles Canfield started the 25-lap Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock race
in the lead but Chris Williams eventually took over on lap 2,
putting distance between himself and Canfield who was holding back
the challenges of Field who was already up to the third position.
Field took over second from Canfield on lap 4 and set high sights on
Williams out front.
Field benefitted by way of the caution flag, as he was able to line
up alongside Williams for a restart. With the green flag back in the
air, he was able to drive his way past Williams to become the third
leader of the event on lap 8. Ken Cassidy Jr., the point leader
heading into the event, was on the move and he took over second
place on lap 9. Cassidy closed in on Field with 13 laps complete,
with Field able to fend him off to hold his lead. Mark Panaroni
steadily progressed through the field up to third position by lap 16
and joined the battle for the win.
Over the final nine laps of the race the top three put on a spirited
battle for the checkered flag. They ran in tight quarters with Field
holding the bottom groove, Cassidy peeking to his outside looking
for momentum to take over at the front, and Panaroni waiting behind
the two. Cassidy couldn’t find enough grip on the top side of the
track to make the move stick and fell victim to Panaroni who filled
the gap to his inside. At the stripe Field had his fifth win of the
year and was able to reclaim the points lead. Panaroni nipped
Cassidy for second, with Williams and Louis Bellisle rounding out
the top-five finishers.
Saturday 7/24 Results
and standings:
NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series SK Modifieds®
(35-laps): 1.
Jeff Pearl, Salem; 2. Ron Yuhas Jr., Groton; 3. Doug Coby,
Milford; 4. Tucker Reynolds Jr., Westbrook; 5. Jeff Paul, Ledyard;
6. Keith Rocco, Wallingford; 7. Justin Gaydosh, Newington; 8.
Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard; 9. Joe Gada, Salem; 10. Jimmy Smith,
Woodstock; 11. Joe Perry, Ashaway, RI; 12. Todd Ceravolo, Gales
Ferry; 13. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., Milford; 14. Tom Abele Jr.,
Norwich; 15. Kyle James, Ashaway, RI; 16. Rob Janovic Jr.,
Waterford; 17. Adam Gada, Bozrah; 18. Glen Pressell III, Gales
Ferry; 19. Mike Sweeney, Middletown; 20. Rick Ceravolo, Groton;
21. Jeff Gallup, Agawam, MA; 22. Matt Gallo, Kensington; DQ –
Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill
Standings after fourteen
events (top-ten): 1. Rocco, 651; 2. Yuhas, 637; 3. Chadwick,
545; 4. Janovic, 544; 5. Paul, 539; 6. Pearl, 460; 7. J. Gada,
412; 8. (tie) Monahan, Abele, 406; 10. Perry, 382
NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (30-laps): 1.
Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 2. Jeff Smith, Old Lyme; 3. Richard
Staskowski, Hope Valley, RI; 4. Ernie Bertrand, North Branford;
5.Vin Esposito, Seymour; 6. Marc Curtis, Worcester, MA; 7. Jason
Palmer, Berlin; 8. Brian Andronaco Jr., Wilton; 9. Jeffrey Paul,
Ledyard; 10. Joe Curioso, Mystic; 11. Bruce Thomas Jr., Groton; 12.
Larry Goss, North Windham; 13. Dennis Botticello, Suffield
Standings after eight
events (top-ten): 1. Jordan, 381; 2. Smith, 361; 3. Esposito,
337; 4. Staskowski, 324; 5. (tie) Palmer, Bertrand, 318; 7.
Thomas, 316; 8. Botticello, 310; Andronaco, 293; 10. Paul, 286
NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Street Stocks (25-laps):
1. Norm Sears, Andover; 2. Al Stone III, New Haven; 3. Greg Moran
Jr., Preston; 4. Ronnie Oldham Jr., Old Saybrook; 5. Nate Appell,
Westbrook; 6. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 7. Chris Meyer, North
Franklin; 8. Scott Young, Willimantic; 9. Chris Kvaka, Stratford;
10. Paul Gaedeke, ; 11. Walt Hovey Jr., Chaplin; 12. Phil Evans,
Uncasville; 13. Ed Puleo, Branford; 14. Josh Galvin, Franklin
Standings after fourteen
events (top-ten): 1. Hovey, 631; 2. Stone, 598; 3. Puleo, 586; 4.
Sears, 552; 5. Plemons, 549; 6. Galvin, 522; 7. Steve Barrett, 496;
8. Meyer, 483; 9. Oldham, 469; 10. Moran, 418
NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (25-laps):
1. Danny Field, Deep
River; 2. Mark Panaroni, Ivoryton; 3. Kenneth Cassidy Jr., Lisbon;
4. Chris Williams, Waterford; 5. Louie Bellisle III, Griswold 6. Ian
Brew, Wood River Jct, RI; 7. Sean Caron; East Hampton; 8. Greg Moran
Sr., Preston; 9. Ben Bargnesi, Norwich; 10. Nick Pappacoda, North
Branford; 11. Ray Christian III, Noank; 12. Bill Leonard, Wood
River Jct, RI 13. John Kelly, New London; 14. Jeffrey Cembruch,
Wallingford; 15. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 16. Steve Violette,
Canterbury; 17. Alan Hall Jr., North Haven; 18. Christina Kellerman,
Stratford; 19. Eric Bourgeois, East Haddam
Standings after fourteen events (top-ten): 1. D. Field, 647; 2.
Cassidy, 642; 3. Caron, 597;
4. Bellisle, 516; 5. Brew, 489; 6. Williams, 479; 7. Moran, 464;
8. Canfield, 442; 9. Violette, 400; 10. Christian, 350
NEMA Midgets Shane Hammond Memorial (27-laps): 1. Russ Stoehr,
Lakeville, MA; 2. Greg Stoehr, Bridgewater, MA; 3. Randy Cabral,
Plymouth, MA; 4. Chris Deritis, Philadelphia, PA; 5. John Zych,
Liverpool, NY; 6. Jeff Horn; 7. Anthony Nocella Marlboro, MA; 8.
Erica Santos, Franklin, MA; 9. Mike Horn; 10. Pete Pernesiglio,
Ronkonkoma, NY; 11. Paul Scally, Raynham, MA; 12. Adam Cantor, Dix
Hills, NY; 13. Matt O’Brien; 14. Barry Kittredge; 15. Lee Bundy;
16. Jim Miller, Weymouth, MA
NEMA Lite Midgets (25-laps):
1. Randy Cabral,
Plymouth, MA; 2. Chris Haskell; 3. Todd Bertrand, Suffield, MA;
4. Ed LeClerc, ; 5. Jim SantaMaria, Burlington; 6. Joey
Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 7. Andy Barrows; 8. Bethany Viets; 9. Carl
Medeiros Jr.; 10. Ryan Bigelow; 11. Kevin Parks; 12. Paul
Bigelow, Manchester; 13. Lanson Fonoro; 14. Jay Dimond, Plymouth,
MA; 15. Paul Luggelle, Holbrook, MA; 16. Tom Fox, Plainfield; 17.
David Moniz, Fairhaven, MA |
