Pro Four Modifieds of New England race recap
The New Waterford Speedbowl May 31, 2008
Another weekend of rain in the forecast left many Pro Four Modifieds of New England teams waiting until the last minute before making the trek to The New Waterford Speedbowl. Kraze Korlacki Speed Equipment of Seekonk, MA, sponsored this week’s feature race. Although the weather forecast was uncertain, we fielded 17 cars for this event, the highest car count so far this season. With many teams still scrambling to get going for the 2008 season, car counts should only climb with future races. We have still yet to have many of our veteran drivers bring their race cars from a longer winters nap!
It was great to see the hauler of Dan Meservey’s #11a arrive for the first time this year. Many of the Pro Four Crews converged on his hauler to help him unload and get ready for the feature.
The crews and drivers seemed to all be in great spirits and even through the rush of arriving near the start of practice and quick turn around for the heat races. The drivers brought their A-games this weekend, as most of the racing was Green to checker and caution free. Unfortunately for rookie Pro Four Driver #83 Franky Perry, his string of bad luck continued as he lost a wheel during practice and the damage ended his evening early.
Each of the heat races showed that the drivers came to race. No cautions slowed the heat races and the fans were given some great side by side racing that the New Waterford Speedbowl is known for.
The feature race was a showcase of the drivers and their abilities to run this tough track at high speed. The #25 of Tyler Anderson was on the pole for the feature race with the #12 of Rob Richardi, Jr. right beside him. When the green flag was shown on lap #1, it was Richardi that led the way across the stripe. He led for the first five laps until the #27 of Kevin Iannarelli powered his way to the front. These two drivers would be pushing each other for most of the race followed by Tyler Anderson in the #25, Phil Lausier in the #07, and the #10 driven by Brian Vincent.
While these drivers battled for the top five positions through most of the race, battles for position in the entire field gave the fans some great moves to watch. George Sherman, driving the #13 and the #4 of Cory Cleary were locked in a fierce battle throughout the entire race. Even the Limited Pro Four drivers were showing that they were taking no prisoners and not giving up ground easily as the #34 of Mark Giordano and the #16 driven by Stan Mertz were locked in a duel with Mertz waiting for Giordano to slip. The only caution of the race came on lap 22 when #34 Giordano went into turn one with #16 Mertz in close pursuit. Unfortunately, #16 Mertz dove into the corner too hot and hit #34 causing him to spin. While Giordano was able to continue, Mertz was given the black flag for fluid leaking from his car.
At the same time that all the competitors were racing together in battles all over the track, the #1m of “Stormin” Norm Wrenn was storming his way through the field after starting scratch on the field. By lap 19, Wrenn had worked his way into the top 5 and had his sights set on the top position. On the Lap 23 restart, Wrenn powered by the #12 of Richardi and then went after the #27 of Kevin Iannarelli. Wrenn would have to settle for second place this evening as Iannarelli’s car seemed to be on rails as he took the checkered flag for tonight’s Kraze Korlacki Speed Equipment 25 lap feature race.
Car # Driver Name Finishing Position
27 Kevin Iannarelli 1
1m Norm Wrenn 2
12 Rob Richardi Jr. 3
10 Brian Vincent 4
13 George Sherman 5
4 Cory Cleary 6
07 Phil Lausier 7
25 Tyler Anderson 8
11a Dan Meservey 9
07x Robin Berghman 10
34 Mark Giordano 11
16 Stan Mertz 12
00 Dave Richardi 13
99 Bill Joerres 14
56 David Bedard 15
19 Tim D’Amico 16
83 Franky Perry 17
This was the first win of the season for Kevin Iannarelli who was followed by Norm Wrenn in second and the third place car of #12 Rob Richardi, Jr.
In the Limited Divison, it was #4 Mark Giordano taking home 1st place followed by #16 Stan Mertz and third place #99 Bill Joerres.
The Pro Four Modified of New England look forward to their return to Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH on June 13, 2008. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Sources: Stan Mertz/Pro 4 Modified PR