Near-Record Speeds In Speedbowl Action
Waterford, CT — The respective last laps in last Saturday night’s features are Waterford Speedbowl, including at 14.096 seconds effort by eventual SK-Modified winner Rob Janovic Jr., were all close to existing “qualifying” records.
Janovic’s lap was a mere .003 off the SK record set at last year’s Pepsi 300 by Kenny Horton. It was actually not the fastest SK lap of the night, the electronic scoring catching Jeff Pearl below the 14-second bracket in a heat.
“The asphalt has just aged so perfectly,” offers Janovic, the defending champion. “The temperature and the humidity have been right for the engines generating optimum power. That is a factor but I think it’s more than that. It’s the asphalt.”
Action continues Saturday night with Legends returning to join the incredibly quick SKs, Late Models, Sportsman and Mini Stocks. Qualifying begins at 5 PM.
The quickest Late Model feature lap last Saturday – a 15.502 by eventual winner Bruce Thomas Jr. – compares favorable with Dennis Botticello’s record 15.446 established in 2005. Jack Aquilina’s 17.519 was just off Al Stone III’s 17.465 set a year ago. Ken Cassidy Jr. had the fastest Mini Stock feature lap last week, his 17.497 ever so close to the record 17.417 currently belonging to Joe Godbout III.
Last week’s speeds are compared to the almost always single-lap, qualifying-run times.
The speeds became apparent in qualifying for the SK-150, pole-sitter Doug Coby, Matt Hirschman, Kenny Horton, Dennis Gada and Jeff Pearl all posting impressive runs. Randy Cabral then ran a sensational 12.848 seconds lap in the Northeastern Midget Association feature, the latter converting into well over 100 mph on the three-eights oval.
Janovic says he once thought 14 seconds flat was the limit for SKs. He admits to be “wrong about that” but still wonders if the speeds can actually increase.
Still the figures bring more excitement to upcoming dates for two of the region’s fastest touring divisions – the True Value Modifieds Series on May 4 and the International SuperModified Association on May 24.
Is this the year the 57-year old Speedbowl sees that first 11 seconds lap?
Sources: David Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR