Dimatteo wins in Legends action again; Ternullo takes Bandoleros; Brouwer back in Victory Lane for first time since 2003 while Voglesong wins in X-Cars
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl’s Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday race program was back in action Wednesday evening, completing a 6-event program in brisk order under ideal summer conditions. Dana Dimatteo continued his hot streak in Legends Cars action, winning his second race in the past five days at the track in exciting fashion. Joey Ternullo of Middletown extended his points lead in the Bandolero division by taking down another victory. In Super X-Car action veteran racer and former track champion John Brouwer Jr. of Groton won the feature. Past X-Car champion Brad Voglesong of Middletown returned to the winner’s circle for the second time of the year and Bill Reiman of Southington won the night’s Wacky Race.
The Legends Cars feature played host to a great battle for the top-five positions throughout a special 30-lapper. Carl Blandina led the opening lap before giving way to fellow veteran Tom Gray. Teenager Dave Garbo Jr. took second position over Blandina ahead of a spirited battle behind him that consisted of Ed Field plus young guns Dimatteo, Troy Talman and Angelo Belsito. Former champion Jason Palmer was slicing through the field just behind that pack, joining the mix before the race was 10 laps old.
Dimatteo was up to second place when caution waved for the second time of the race on lap-13. Belsito’s top-five run ended on the restart attempt as he spun from third position when Garbo faltered on the restart. Palmer made his way into the top-five following the ensuing restart, then tracked down Ed Field for fourth position. Palmer raced inside Field to take the spot at halfway on lap-15.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
Out front, the lead was the hot spot as Dimatteo was all over Garbo. Dimatteo was able to find room inside Garbo on lap-16, enabling him to take over the race lead on lap-17. Garbo momentarily became hooked with Dimatteo exiting turn two, slowing his momentum and giving Palmer, who was already up to third, the chance to throw his car under Garbo’s for second place. He secured the spot as they raced to the stripe on lap-18.
Over the remaining laps Palmer tried the outside of Dimatteo, to no avail. Garbo was not done, racing tight in third position looking back underneath Palmer. The top three raced the final laps in close quarters. With the white flag in the air, Palmer made one final attempt outside Dimatteo. A valiant effort through turns three and four pulled him alongside Dimatteo, while Garbo looked to inside both exiting turn four. The three drag raced to the checkered flag with Dimatteo holding on by just .018 seconds over Palmer, with Garbo a half-car length shy in third. Blandina and Field completed the top-five.
Robby Jones led the bulk of the 20-lap Bandolero feature. Tight racing was the order of the night in the race as the battle behind Jones raged on with Taylor Martin advancing to second position and Rachel Forte to third. On lap-13 the second caution period of the race slowed the event, returning the field to Jones’ bumper.
Jones resumed his lead on the restart but the action behind continued to stay hot. Forte dove low under Martin for second position in turn one, but dropped back when she got loose into the infield. Ken Morin Jr. and Corey Dimatteo both moved in behind both Jones and Martin, and it wasn’t long before they started to mix things up. As the laps counted down both Morin and Dimatteo challenged Martin for second. The pack went three wide through turns one and two on lap-18, with Martin spinning out of second position onto the backstretch. The caution waved shuffling the running order following the incident.
Ternullo lined up in third position for the restart, and when the green flag was shown to the field he quickly put himself into second position ahead of Dimatteo. Ternullo then went to the inside of Jones to take command of the racing. He went on to the win, his third on the season. Dimatteo and Jones completed the podium finishers.
The 20-lap Super X-Car feature saw Jim Boyle lead the way over the majority of the event. He held off early challengers Mark Boisvert and Dan Moon. Three cautions slowed the race over the first 11 laps, with Boyle up to the task on each restart. Brouwer was moving up through the pack each time, eventually rising to second position for the lap-11 restart.
The final nine circuits were completed without interruption and Brouwer looked every bit his veteran status, ultimately taking the lead. He used the outside groove to overtake Boyle for good on lap-16. Points leader Mike Maskell moved up to second position past Boyle and applied pressure to Brouwer over the final three laps, but could not make an outside bid successful. Brouwer went on to the win, his first at the track since 2003. Maskell was second over a hard charging John Yagmin. Peter Pollard snuck ahead of Boyle on the final lap to claim fourth position at the finish.
Onie Pierce bolted out to the lead early in the 20-lap X-Car race before a caution flag caused his advantage to vanish on lap-3. Christopher Lee spun in front of half of the field in turn one with everyone taking evasive action to miss him. Pierce continued to lead after the restart, with several three and four wide battles underway around the speedway as the large field of cars jostled for position.
Voglesong was a big benefactor of the action, using the bottom lane of the track to advance into third position by lap-5. Randy Johnston followed Voglesong’s path, cutting his way through the competition to stay with the former champion. Three more cautions kept the race slowed and the contenders bunched up.
The race finished its final 12 laps under green with Voglesong looking impressive. He took over the lead from Pierce, going on to take down the victory a comfortable margin ahead of Johnston, the points leader. Behind Johnston, Patrick Williams, Shawn Stula and John Bowes completed the top-five as Pierce dropped back to eighth.
Reiman mastered the extra left-hand turns during the Wacky Flag Pole Race to take down his fist checkered flag of the season.
For more information about Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday and the calendar of events, please visit www.speedbowl.com or contact track offices at 860.442.1585.
Waterford Speedbowl 7/6 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 2. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 3. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 4. Carl Blandina, Milford; 5. Ed Field, Deep River; 6. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA; 7. Joey Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 8. David Caissie, Marlboro, MA; 9. Troy Talman, Oxford, MA; 10. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 11. Dan Butler, Waterford; 12. Nicholas Lascuola, Brockton, MA; 13. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 14. Arthur Marrero, Baltic; 15. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 16. Scott McNickle, Ledyard; 17. Richard White, North Stonington; 18. Matt Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 19. Tom Gray, Sprague
Standings after eight events: 1. Dimatteo, 343; 2. Mucciacciaro, 338; 3. Belsito, 296; 4. Garbo, 295; 5. Giovanni Giarratana, 290; 6. (tie) Field, Blandina, 282; 8. Palmer, 277; 9. Talman, 208; 10. Nick Ladyga, 192
Bandoleros (20-laps): 1. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 2. Corey Dimatteo, Farmington; 3. Robby Jones, Waterbury; 4. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 5. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 6. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 7. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock; 8. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 9. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 10. Alan Eastman Jr., Fishers Island, NY; 11. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 12. Jacob Urch, West Suffield; 13. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA
Standings after nine events: 1. Ternullo, 421; 2. Martin, 397; 3. Churchill, 393; 4. Forte, 361; 5. Dimatteo, 351; 6. Urch, 344; 7. Molleur, 338; 8. Jones, 320; 9. Perry, 264; 10. (tie) Lamothe, Rene Morgillo, 228
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. John Brouwer Jr., Groton; 2. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 3. John Yagmin, Tolland; 4. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 5. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 6. Ed Ryan, Preston; 7. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 8. R.J. Cunningham, Durham; 9. Robert Norman, Clinton; 10. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 11. Bill Reiman, Southington; 12. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 13. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 14. Eric Finkbein Jr., Manchester; 15. Ken Downing III, Branford; 16. Joe Choquette, Preston; 17. Bob Tetreault, Dover Foxcroft, ME; 18. John Bennett, Ledyard; 19. Shawn Butler, Jewett City
Standings after eight events: 1. Maskell, 368; 2. Pollard, 349; 3. Alessio, 335; 4. Downing, 322; 5. Yagmin, 305; 6. Ryan, 300; 7. Moon, 280; 8. Boyle, 270; 9. Norman, 230; 10. Perkins, 216
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 2. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 3. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 4. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 5. John Bowes, Willington; 6. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 7. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 8. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 9. Christopher Ivory, Oakdale; 10. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 11. Javier Rivera, Willimantic; 12. Christopher Garside, Waterford; 13. David Amspacher, Uncasville; 14. C.P. Burdick, Deep River; 15. Christopher Lee, Uncasville; 16. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 17. David Lloyd, Mystic; 18. Ron Dimauro, Plymouth; 19. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 20. Richard Mollo, Seymour; 21. Robert Butler, Norwich; 22. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 23. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 24. Todd Nadeau, Ledyard; 25. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; 26. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 27. Michael Marvin, Colchester; DNS – Michele Cicio, Baltic; DNS – Melissa Clavette, Bozrah
Standings after eight events: 1. Johnston, 414; 2. (tie) Voglesong, Zaikarite, 384; 4. Garside, 373; 5. Williams, 346; 6. Stula, 300; 7. Trask, 286; 8. Ivory, 264; 9. Limkemann, 260; 10. Amspacher, 242
Super X-Car Flag Pole Wacky Race: 1. Bill Reiman, Southington; 2. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 3. Jon Porter, Canterbury
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR