Thomas Checkers Late Models; Coates, Stone, Evans, and Palmer Also Find Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — Bruce Thomas Jr. returned to Victory Lane in May 2nd action from Waterford Speedbowl, finishing the latter portion of the 30-lap Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature in strong fashion. Other winners from the night included Allen Coates in the NEATV Truck Series, Al Stone III in the Street Stocks, Phil Evans in the Mini Stocks, and Jason Palmer repeating in the Legends Cars feature.
Getting the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature underway proved difficult at first, but once the field settled in Thomas asserted himself to his second victory of the young season. On the initial attempt at green, Vin Esposito took a shot into the turn three wall ending his evening prematurely. On the second attempt to start the event, the field would complete a lap before a hard wreck occurred in the front of the field. Coming through turn two, contact sent Brian Andronaco Jr. and Tim Jordan head-on into the wall exiting the turn bringing out the red flag. Both drivers were ok. Robert LeBlanc and Mark Hudson were also collected in the incident.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
The field settled in for extended green flag racing once action resumed, with Ernie Bertrand assuming control. Bertrand paced the field as Larry Goss moved to second, while Bruce Thomas Jr. and Marc Curtis made forward progress to join the pursuit of Bertrand. Goss worked his way inside Bertrand as the race approached halfway, but Bertrand hung tough in the outside lane and the duo ran several laps of side-by-side action battling for the lead. Curtis would tuck in behind Goss, while Thomas looked outside behind Bertrand as the green flag remained out. The top four would battle tightly for two circuits until Goss lost some momentum in turn four, enabling Bertrand to regain sole control of the lead and Thomas to move to second with 12 laps remaining. On the next circuit, Curtis and Goss made contact for third, sending Goss around in turn 3 collecting Jeff Smith to bring out the events third caution flag. All three would resume from the rear.
Thomas drag raced Bertrand even into turn one on the restart, edging ahead with 11 laps to go in the outside groove. “Ernie ran a good race. I saw he was a little tight in the center so I gave him room. He gave me room – that was good racing.” The event ran green through the end with Thomas taking down his 39th career Waterford victory over Bertrand, Curtis, Rich Staskowski, and Jim Rosenfield completing the top-five. Thomas spent a good portion of the race in the ‘Bowl’s outside lane, crediting his team’s decision to put on four new tires this week after opting not to use any new tires a week ago.
The Street Stocks came out for their 20-lap main event with John Puglisi taking the lead from his pole starting spot. Steve Barrett settled into second while the field behind the lead duo intensely battled for position. Puglisi dropped off the pace on lap 5, retiring from the event and handing the lead to Barrett. Stone began to make his presence felt, coming from his sixth starting spot to pressure Barrett by halfway under green flag conditions. Ed Puleo had moved into third with his strongest run of the early season, while Walt Hovey and last week’s winner Ronnie Oldham Jr. battled behind inside the top-five. The field began to tighten up behind Barrett as the laps continued to tick away.
Stone’s opportunity came with 6 laps to go, making an inside move on Barrett and completing the pass for the lead with just 5 laps to go. Puleo would make his way inside Barrett, but would not have time to pressure Stone in an entertaining green-to-checkered race. Walt Hovey rebounded from earlier contact with the aarmco barrier to finish third, Oldham fourth, and Barrett slipped back to fifth after leading several laps in just his third Street Stock start. Barrett is a graduate of the Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday program.
The NEATV Truck Series 25-lap feature saw Howard Payne on the pole after setting fast time in qualifying. Payne jumped to the lead, while Coates was moving forward during green flag racing conditions. Coates, with several laps around the ‘Bowl’s two racing grooves, made a bid inside Payne to take the lead at halfway. Payne remained in second, while Scott Gregory and former Speedbowl regular Greg Butler were running third and fourth. Coates would go on to his 66th career Speedbowl win by five lengths over Payne in the green to checkered event. Coates ranks sixth in all-time wins at the historic Speedbowl in its 59 year history.
Evans picked up his 23rd career division win in the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks 20-lapper, tying him for second place in the division’s all-time win list. Greg “The Magic Man” Moran Sr. was the early leader, coming from his outside pole starting position. Moran would lead with Ian Brew in second applying early pressure. Trouble struck on lap six when last week’s winner Chris Williams and Bill Leonard got together in turns 3 and 4 necessitating the event’s first caution. Moran continued to lead on the restart until caution waved again at the halfway point when Bill Leonard spun off turn 4 coming to rest on the apron at the start-finish line. On the restart the action heated up at the front, as Evans began to make his presence felt on the outside groove. Evans worked around Moran and into the lead when caution waved again with 7 laps to go for a 2 car spin into turn one. The restart again got interesting, with Louis Bellisle III jumping to the inside of Moran for second, while Evans got away into the lead and went on to victory. Moran would hold off Bellisle for second, and Danny Field worked his way through the field to finish fourth. Kyle James rounded out the top-five.
Palmer went on to his third win in four Legends Cars events this season, winning a spirited duel with Shaun Buffington. Last year’s Wednesday and Saturday Legends champions would battle from the start and the better part of the 20-lap nail biter, with Buffington taking the early lead and Palmer looking outside at every opportunity possible. Keith Rocco, two-for-two in 35-lap SK Modified® races this season, found a ride in a Legends Car for the event and would settle into third in his first outing in the division.
Palmer continued to dog Buffington on the high side and apply heavy pressure. He used a well-timed crossover maneuver out of turn four to take the lead on lap 11. Buffington looked to apply the same move headed into turn one, however contact was made and the cars became hooked together, drifting up the track. Caution waved to reset the field with Palmer leading the last scored green flag lap. On the restart Palmer jumped to the lead and stretched out over Buffington while Rocco looked to become a factor. A multiple-car accident on the front stretch brought out the red flag. It began when Adam Gada and Ryan Morgan got tangled together, sending cars spinning trying to dodge the melee. David Stanton made hard contact with the Gada machine that had come back down the track. When the race returned green Buffington would try everything he had, but it was not enough and Palmer went on to the win. Mark Bakaj finished in third, young Tony Flannery had a strong run for fourth, and Max Zachem ended up fifth. Rocco slipped to sixth in the closing laps.
The Speedbowl returns to action next with the start of Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesdays on May 6, while on Saturday May 9 the True Value Modified Series comes to town with an action-packed 100-lap feature event and their popular heat races. They will be joined by a full card of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action headlined by the SK Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks. For more information, visit www.speedbowl.com or contact the track offices at 860.442.1585
Speedbowl 5/2 finishers, hometown:
Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (30-laps): 1. Bruce Thomas Jr., Groton; 2. Ernie Bertrand, North Branford; 3. Marc Curtis, Worcester, Mass.; 4. Rich Staskowski, Hope Valley, R.I.; 5. Jim Rosenfield, Middleboro, Mass.; 6. Mark Hudson, Norton, Mass.; 7. Jeff Smith, Old Lyme; 8. Larry Goss, North Windham; 9. Brian Andronaco Jr., Wilton; 10. Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 11. Robert Leblanc Jr., Norwalk; 12. Vin Esposito, Seymour
Time Trial Results (top three): 1. Bruce Thomas Jr., 15.202; 2. Tim Jordan, 15.452; 3. Larry Goss, 15.652
NEATV Truck Series (25-laps): 1. Allen Coates, Ledyard; 2. Howard Payne, Shelton; 3. Scott Gregory, Westbrook; 4. Greg Butler, E. Hampton; 5. Mike Anzalone, Griswold; 6. Jonathon Zoller, Ayer, MA; 7. Daniel Butler, E. Hampton
Time Trial Results (top three): 1. Howard Payne, 16.494; 2. Allen Coates, 16.576; 3. Greg Butler, 16.687
Street Stocks (20-laps): 1. Al Stone III, New Haven; 2. Ed Puleo, Branford; 3. Walt Hovey Jr., Chaplin; 4. Ron Oldham Jr., Old Saybrook; 5. Steve Barrett, Preston; 6. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 7. Jonathan Avery, Waterford; 8. Chuck Rogers, Waterford; 9. Jack Aquilina, Oakdale; 10. Ted Dupre, Westbrook; 11. Edward Lamb Jr., New Haven; 12. Josh Galvin, Uncasville; 13. Greg Moran Jr., Preston; 14. Nate Appell, Westbrook; 15. Jim Procaccini, Trumbull; 16. Chris Meyer, N. Franklin; 17. Kevin Talbot, Moosup; 18. Kevin Gambacorta, Ellington; 19. John Puglisi, Orange; 20. Mark Cooper, Northford
Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (20-laps): 1. Phil Evans, Groton; 2. Greg Moran Sr., Preston; 3. Lou Bellisle III, Lisbon; 4. Danny Field, Deep River; 5. Kyle James, Ashaway, R.I.; 6. Ian Brew, Wood River Junction, R.I.; 7. Randy Churchill Jr., Norwich; 8. Chris Williams, Niantic; 9. Chris Correll, Old Lyme; 10. Mark Panaroni, Ivoryton; 11. Jeff Mehlenbacher, Groton; 12. Nick Pappacoda, N. Branford; 13. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 14. Sean Caron, Hartford; 15. Ken Lyke III, Orange; 16. Dave Sylvia, Groton; 17. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 18. Ray Christian III, Preston; 19. Dale Sherman, Charlestown, RI; 20. Bill Leonard, Hope Valley, RI; DNS – Tommy Silva, Waterford
Legends-Saturday (20-laps): 1. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 2. Shaun Buffington, Plainfield; 3. Mark Bakaj, Lebanon; 4. Tony Flannery, East Hampton; 5. Max Zachem, Preston; 6. Keith Rocco, Wallingford; 7. Justin Rau, Farmington; 8. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 9. Paul Kusheba IV, Monroe; 10. Ed Field, Deep River; 11. Art Moran Jr., Preston; 12. William Munro, N. Branford; 13. Dana DeMateo, Farmington; 14. Dylan Liseo, E. Hartford; 15. Carl Blandina, Milford; 16. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 17. Carl Bohn, Waterford; 18. Ryan Morgan, Mystic; 19. Adam Gada, Bozrah; 20. David Stanton, New Britain; 21. Joey Cipriano, Waterbury; DNS – Troy Talman, Oxford; Peter Cirilli, Farmington; Chistian Pedersen
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR