Janovic Double-Down Shootout SK Champ, Pearl and Gallo Snare Features At Speedbowl
Waterford, CT — Jeff Pearl and Matt Gallo won the twin 25-lap SK Modified features at the Waterford Speedbowl’s Double-Down Shootout on Saturday evening.
Crowned overall Double-Down Shootout champions were Rob Janovic Jr. (SK Modified), Bruce Thomas Jr. (Late Model), Walt Hovey Jr. (Sportsman), and Randy Churchill Jr. (Mini Stock).
Claming victories in round-two features (rescheduled from an earlier date), were Tim Jordan (Late Model), Al Stone III (Sportsman), and Glenn Colvin (Mini Stock). In the accompanying Legends and X-Car main events it was Jason Palmer and Patrick D’Addario Sr. respectively.
Jeff Pearl jumped out to an early lead in the first of dual 25-lap SK events, but was shortly chased closely by Keith Rocco. With eleven-laps remaining, Rocco and third-place Dennis Gada tangled, the latter slamming the wall with great force finishing both for the event. Upon resumption, it was Pearl again, with Doug Coby in hot pursuit. With only a handful of circuits remaining, Ron Yuhas Jr. overtook Coby for second. It was the 30th career Speedbowl SK triumph for the 1998 champion.
“We struggled a bit in that one,” stated Pearl. “Our car was just 90-percent tonight, but it was enough to stay-out front. These guys are tough, they beat and bang on you, but you can play the same game. Hey, we’re sitting-in victory lane, and that’s the main thing. My car was great on the straights, but not good in the turns. That’s what really won the race for us tonight – the motor.”
In the second feature, it was veteran Pete Pavone taking the lead followed closely by Dan LaJeunesse. A late restart shuffled the top-spots, with Tyler Chadwick getting the advantage at the green. Yet another yellow set the stage for a 2-lap shootout between young guns Chadwick, Matt Gallo and LaJeunesse. At the finish, Gallo prevailed to win his first-ever SK Modified feature. Following was 2007 champion Rob Janovic Jr., Chadwick, LaJeunesse and Doug Coby.
Youngster Gallo, a senior at Berlin, Ct. High School and a member of a long-time racing family was excited but forthright in his victory lane speech.
“It was hectic up there at the front, and I knew the other guys were super-strong,” he said. “My car ran really-well on the outside, so I just got up there and kept digging. This means a lot to me and my family. It keeps a streak of winning at least one a year going back to when I was in quarter midgets. This is just great.”
Returning Late Model veteran Phil Rondeau led the opening circuits of the Late Model 25-lapper, before overtaken by 2006 titlist Tim Jordan. Defending champion and victor of the first segment, Bruce Thomas Jr. nearly made it a clean-sweep pressuring Jordan to the stripe. Jeff Pearl finished third followed by Keith Rocco, and Joe Curioso III. It was Jordan’s third victory of the season. Rocco was later disqualified in a post-race mechanical inspection moving Curioso to fourth, and elevating Jeff Smith to a top-5.
Beating the legendary Phil Rondeau made Jordan’s victory even sweeter.
“Phil has some serious motor in that car, and every time I thought I had him I’d see a maroon fender sneaking-up on my side,” stated the victor. “It’s really great to have him back. Of course, beating Bruce Thomas Jr. is never easy either. We just had a great car tonight, as we’ve been working on it a lot lately and it paid-off.”
Leading the charge in the 15-lap Sportsman event, it was Joe Nogiec followed closely by John Puglisi. Championship leader Al Stone III grabbed the top-spot during the latter stages, narrowly defeating a hard-charging Walt Hovey Jr. Nogiec, Puglisi, and Jack Aquilina completed the top-5.
“Darn, I though I was going to get beat by my own teammate Ed Lamb,” stated Stone with a chuckle in his voice. “We’re going to have to find a way to slow him down a bit. Seriously though, we weren’t that good tonight, I was expecting a decent finish, but not a win. I knew Hovey was coming, and he’s fast. I just played the game once out in front, and it worked in our favor. In this division, you appreciate every win because it’s so competitive.”
In the second of twin-15-lappers for the Mini Stocks, it was Glenn Colvin prevailing in a close-one over Randy Churchill. Several restarts worked Colvin hard for the triumph, Churchill making-up several car-lengths during the waning circuits. Phil Evans, Ken Cassidy Jr., and Danny Field rounded-out the top-5.
“Getting to the front early was my main concern, as there were some slower cars up-there,” said Colvin. “With 2-laps to go, I looked back there and saw Churchill closing, and it was like “here we go.” That late in the race you run a more protective-line, and try not to give-up anything. Randy punted-me once, but he had some help from the guy behind him, I think. Luckily, I was able to hold him-off, but it was really close.”
Taking the point within a handful of laps, 2008 Wednesday Legends champion Jay Palmer won the 20-lap feature, but not before holding-off the determined trio of Michael Gervais Jr., Max Zachem, and Shaun Buffington during a restart with only 2-laps remaining. Completing the top-5 in the caution-plagued affair was Thomas Gray.
“We just tried to run clean and fast tonight as we’re after a championship,” stated the winner from victory lane. “The green-white-checker finish made it exciting those last few laps. Hopefully, this will put us back where we belong in the points after a couple of tough weeks.”
Patrick D`Addario Sr. handily moved past recently-crowned X-Car champion “Bad Brad” Voglesong within 6-circuits, winning the 20-lap X-Car main event by a wide margin over Patrick Williams and Voglesong. Completing the top-5 was John Bowes and Danny Gervais.
D`Addario was quick to acknowledge the people that contribute to his racing endeavors.” First, I have to thank my family, as they’re behind me all-the-way on this,” he said. “Also, without the sponsors, it’d not be possible. We appreciate being here in-front of a Saturday night crowd. Hopefully, we can do it again really soon.”
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SK MODIFIED # 1 (25); 1. Jeff Pearl, 2. Rin Yuhas Jr,, 3. Doug Coby, 4. Jeff Paul, 5. Rob Janovic Jr., 6. Tyler Chadwick, 7. Matt Gallo, 8. Diego Monahan, 9. Wade Mattesen, 10. Mike Sweeney, 11. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., 12. Ed Reed Jr., 13. Dan LaJeunesse, 14. Glenn Pressel III. 15. Pete Pavone Jr., 16. Rich Hammann, 17. Wayne Arute, 18. Shawn Monahan, 19. Keith Rocco, 20. Dennis Gada, 21. Don Fowler, 22. Justin Gaydosh, 23. Paul French, 24. Steve Zukowski, 25. Wendell Dailey.
SK MODIFIED # 2 (25); 1. Matt Gallo, 2. Rob Janovic Jr., 3. Tyler Chadwick, 4. Danny LaJeunesse, 5. Doug Coby, 6. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., 7. Pete Pavone Jr., 8. Keith Rocco, 9. Glenn Pressel III, 10. Dennis Gada, 11. Mike Sweeney, 12. Jeff Paul, 13. Diego Monahan, 14. Rich Hammann, 15. Jeff Pearl, 16. Wade Mattesen, 17. Wayne Arute, 18. Ron Yuhas Jr., 19. Ed Reed Jr., 20. Justin Gaydosh, 21. Paul French, 22. Don Fowler, 23. Shawn Monahan.
LATE MODEL # 2 (25); 1. Tim Jordan, 2, Bruce Thomas Jr., 3. Jeff Pearl, 4. Joe Curioso III, 5. Jeff Smith, 6. Vin Esposito, 7. Phil Rondeau, 8. Rich Staskowski, 9. Rich Duranti, 10. Ed Reed Jr., 11. Dave Zemke, 12. Dan Holben, 13. Robery Leblanc Jr., 14. Larry Goss, 15. Dennis Stampfl, 16. Brian Andronaco, 17. Mark Hudson, 18. Keith Rocco (disqualified).
SPORTSMAN # 2 (15); 1. Al Stone III, 2. Walt Hovey Jr., 3. Joe Nogiec, 4. John Puglisi, 5. Jack Aquilina, 6. Sean Curtis, 7. Brandon Plemons, 8. Josh Galvin, 9. Mark Cooper, 10. Nate Appell, 11. Chuck Rogers, 12. Kevin Gamborcorta, 13. Chris Meyer, 14. Ronnie Oldham Jr., 15. Ed Lamb Jr., 16. Randall Waterman, 17. Zachary Fisher, 18, Jon Porter.
MINI STOCK # 2 (15); 1. Glen Colvin, 2. Randy Churchill Jr., 3. Phil Evans, 4. Ken Cassidy Jr., 5. Danny Field, 6. Jeff Mehlenbacher, 7. Kyle James, 8. Ian Brew, 9. Mark Panaroni. 10. Nick Papacoda, 11. Charles Canfield, 12. Lou Bellisle III, 13. Marl Caise, 14. Christina Cunliffe, 15. Ryan Cipows, 16. Ben Bargnesi, 17. Ray Christian III, 18. Jack Aquilina, 19. Sean Caron, 20. Jeff “Soup” Civardi.
LEGENDS (20); 1. Jason Palmer, 2. Maicheal Gervais Jr., 3. Max Zachem, 4. Shaun Buffington, 5. Tom Gray, 6. Justin Rau, 7. Dan Bisignano, 8. Ed Field, 9. Adam Gada, 10. David Stanton, 11. Scott Tapley, 12. Glen Thomas Jr., 13. Dan McGouren, 14. Kyle Rogers, 15. Carl Blandina, 16. Carl Bohn, 17. Joe Gada, 18. Pete Portante, 19. Ryan Morgan, 20. Joe Cipriano.
X-CAR (20); 1. Patrick D`Addario Sr., 2. Patrick Williams, 3. Brad Voglesong, 4. John Bowes, 5. Danny Gervais, 6. Len Platt, 7. Dave D`Allasandro, 8. Keith Michaud, 9. Michele Cicio, 10. Heather Small, 11. Art Phillips, 12. Josh Barrie, 13. Kim Bickford, 14. Shawn Salimeno, 15. James Ruddock, 16. Wayne Shifflett.
CURRENT POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10):
(SK MODIFIED): Dennis Gada (846), Rob Janovic Jr. (840), Keith Rocco (824), Jeff Paul (792), Tyler Chadwick (776), Ron Yuhas Jr. (768), Jeff Pearl (734), Doug Coby (680), Mike Sweeney (450), Frank Mucciacciaro Jr. (438).
(LATE MODEL): Bruce Thomas Jr, (850), Tim Jordan (792), Vin Esposito (728), Ed Reed Jr. (642), Rich Staskowski (588), Larry Goss (544), Ron Yuhas Jr. (534), Joe Curioso III (512), Robert LeBlanc Jr. (506), Jeff Smith (490).
(SPORTSMAN): Al Stone III (906), Walt Hovey Jr. (842), Ron Oldham Jr. (820), Mark Cooper (728), Jack Aquilina (700), Josh Galvin (684), John Puglisi (674), “Grandpa Jim” Procaccini (626), Brandon Plemons (624), Chucky Rogers (580).
(MINI STOCK): Ken Cassidy Jr. (872), Randy Churchilll Jr. (846), Lou Bellisle (800), Mark Panaroni (670), Ray Christian III (664), Jack Aquilina (648), Ben Bargnesi (642), Kyle James (624), Phil Evans (622), Ian Brew (574).
(SAT. LEGENDS): Michael Gervais Jr. (446), Shaun Buffington (446), Jason Palmer (434), Adam Gada (382), Ryan Morgan (330), Mark Esposito (296), Max Zachem (270), Art Moran Jr. (268), Carl Blandina (244), Tom Gray (226).
Sources: Dave Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR