Pearl Prevails on Nostalgia Weekend at Speedbowl
Waterford, CT — Fittingly, it was a familiar name in victory lane on Nostalgia Weekend at the Speedbowl, as second-generation racer and past champion Jeff Pearl held off Dennis Gada to grab his fifth SK Modified feature win of the season.
Other winners were Bruce Thomas Jr. (Late Model), Dwayne Dorr (Sportsman), Randolph Churchill Jr. (Mini Stocks), and Nokie Fornoro (NEMA Midgets).
Pearl passed early leader Frank Mucciacciaro Jr. on the fourth circuit, quickly distancing himself from the field. By the mid-way point defending champion Dennis Gada moved into contention, attempting to overtake the winner in both the high & low grooves. At the finish, Pearl prevailed by a car-length. Rounding-out the top-five was current point-leader Rob Janovic Jr., Mucciacciaro, and Tyler Chadwick.
“Dennis and I have run together for a long time, and I know his driving style pretty well by now,” said Pearl. “He’s the type of racer that you can trust when running that closely, but he’s got a lot of tricks in his bag and you better be ready for it. If he was going to pass me tonight, it was going to have to be on the inside.”
Six-time champion Gada echoed similar a sentiment at the conclusion of the event. “It was a good race; I just didn’t have enough to get him tonight. We’ll take a second-place to Jeff Pearl anytime.”
Bruce Thomas Jr. came out on top in the 30-lap late Model main, taking his eighth feature event of the year. Larry Goss, Dennis Botticello, Ron Yuhas Jr., and Ernie Betrand followed.
Thomas took the lead shortly after the halfway-point, passing Ron Yuhas Jr. Having opened-up a substantial lead, he then withstood a late-race restart challenge from Larry Goss.
“It was fun out there tonight,” stated Thomas. “I went to the outside and just cruised after that last restart. The outside was there just like it’s been all year. The car was hooked-up, and after getting up-front, I was able to just go.”
In 20-lap Sportsman feature action, Dwayne Dorr grabbed the lead from Jim Procacaccini on lap six, and nosed ahead of Mark Lajoie during a late race restart for the victory. It was his sixth feature win of the season.
The events single yellow flag was the key to success for the defending champion.
“The difference was definitely the restart,” said Dorr. “When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time watching my hero Phil Rondeau on restarts. He won a ton of races that way. When we build a race car, one of the things we do is make sure that it shifts right. We think a lot about what the car will do on restarts, it’s very important”.
Randolph Churchill Jr. took the first win of his career in the 20-lap Mini Stock main event.
A second-year competitor, Churchill chased “Jeff “Soup” Civardi for the majority of the race, finally making the pass with only three-laps remaining.
“It was close and I was running out of time,” stated the winner. “I decided that I was going to have to go by Soup on the outside, and luckily, it stuck. Kenny (Cassidy) was coming up on the inside of me and I had to take the chance and go for it. During those last laps, I tried not to think about it being my first win.”
Joe Godbout III was able to wrestle second away from Civardi on the final lap. Point leader Cassidy finished fourth, while it was defending champion Danny Field rounding-out the top-5.
In the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association feature, Nokie Fornoro took the lead with 10-laps to go and remained unchallenged. It was Fornoro’s fourth career victory at the Speedbowl, and first since 1985. The caution-free race was run in a record-setting six minutes and eight seconds.
SK MODIFIED (35); 1. Jeff Pearl, 2. Dennis Gada, 3. Rob Janovic Jr., 4. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., 5. Tyler Chadwick, 6. Diego Monahan, 7. Don Fowler, 8. Shawn Monahan, 9. Tom Fox, 10. Jeff Paul, 11. Matt Gallo, 12. Mike Sweeney, 13. Shelly Perry, 14. Glenn E. Pressel III, 15. Wendell Dailey, 16. Clifford Fitzgerald III, 17. Dennis Charette, 18. Zachary Sylvester.
LATE MODEL (30); 1. Bruce Thomas Jr., 2. Larry Goss, 3. Dennis Botticello, 4. Ron Yuhas Jr., 5. Ernie Betrand, 6. Dave Zemke, 7. Richard Staskowski, 8. Ed Reed Jr., 9. Corey Hutchings, 10. Rich Duranti, 11. Jeff Paul, 12. Robert LeBlanc Jr., 13. Rick Nelson, 14. Terrance O’Brien, 15. Mike Kluczinsky, 16. Vincent Esposito.
SPORTSMAN (20); 1. Dwayne Dorr, 2. Mark Lajoie, 3. Al Stone III, 4. Walt Hovey Jr., 5. Christopher “Moose” Douton, 6. Dan Emery, 7. John Puglisi, 8. Josh Galvin, 9. Mark “Bugsy” Bougue, 10. Ed Clark, 11. Jim Procaccini, 12. Gerald LaPlante, 13. Jack Aquilina, 14. Edward Lamb Jr., 15. Ed Giles, 16. Joseph Nogiec, 17. Joe Bavolocco, 18. Travis Robinson, 19. Ken Woodward Jr.
MINI STOCK (20); 1. Randolph Churchill Jr., 2. Joseph Godbout III, 3. Jeff “Soup” Civardi, 4. Ken Cassidy Jr. 5. Danny Field, 6. Lou Bellisle, 7. Kyle James, 8. Phil Evans, 9. Bill Leonard, 10. Chuck Rodgers, 11. Richard Brooks, 12. Jack Aquilina, 13. Nate Appell, 14. Ian Brew, 15. Nick Pappacoda, 16. Chris Lee, 17. Christina Cunliffe, 18. Brandon Plemons.
NEMA MIDGETS (25); 1. Nokie Fornoro, 2. Greg Stoehr, 3. Adam Cantor, 4. Lou Ciconni Jr., 5. Erica Santos, 6. Shane Hammond, 7. Joey Payne, 8. Jeff Abold, 9. Ben Seitz, 10. Jeremy Franskowski, 11.Chris Leonard, 12. Randy Cabral, 13.Andy Shlatz, 14.Tim Heath, 15.Paul Scally, 16.Mark Irving, 17. Barry Kittredge, 18. Mike Luggelle, 19. Glen Cabral, 20. John Zych, Jr., 21.Steve Powers, 22. Shawn Torrey, 23. Paul Luggelle, 24. Bobby Kuiken.
Sources: David Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR