ACT Tour Nutmeg State 100 delayed by rain; Palmer, Field, and Stone winners
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl completed three feature events before the rain came, halting the remainder of June 13’s race program just 28 laps into the Nutmeg State 100 lap ACT Late Model Tour event. Berlin’s Jason Palmer won his ninth consecutive Legends Car event, New Haven’s Al Stone III checkered the Street Stock feature and Danny Field of Deep River was the winner of the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock race. The scheduled 35-lap SK Modified feature event and remainder of the Nutmeg State 100 were postponed.
The completion of the ACT Tour race will be next Saturday, June 20. Event tickets from June 13 will be honored as rain checks for June 20 or any remaining 2009 event of equal or lesser value. The qualified 35-lap SK Modified race will be made up at a future date to be announced.
In racing action, the 20-lap Legends Car race featured great racing from the start. The lead pack of cars including Ryan Morgan, Tony Flannery, Joey Cipriano and Jason Palmer battled side-by-side two and three wide in the early going. The field sorted themselves out under green flag racing and at halfway Morgan led Palmer, Cipriano, Flannery, and Allesandra Vitelli. Palmer ran down Morgan and began to look outside the teenager from Mystic. Morgan, the only other competitor to win in the division this year besides Palmer, held ground on the bottom as Palmer raced high. The pair together until Morgan suddenly dropped off the pace and retired to the infield. Palmer went on to win his ninth consecutive event in the division in a quickly completed feature event. Cipriano finished second, Flannery third, Paul Kusheba fourth with veteran Ed Field rounding out the top-five.
Old Lyme’s Chris Correll took the lead on lap one of the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock feature, while Danny Field, Louis Bellisle and Kyle James raced through the pack in pursuit of Correll. Field was the first to make a statement, advancing past Ian Brew and then past Nick Pappacoda to move into second. Bellisle would try to duplicate the moves, but contact with Brew sent both cars spinning into turn three to bring out the first caution of the race on lap nine. Field powered past Correll in the outside lane on the restart and stretched out his lead over the remaining laps to go on to the 20-lap win, his second victory of the season and 20th career win in the division. Correll finished in second, James third, last week’s winner Greg Moran was fourth and Sean Caron ran a strong race for fifth. Field is the only competitor to finish each of this season’s competitive Mini Stock events this year in the top-five and continues to stretch his point lead.
The ultra-competitive Street Stock division hit the three-eighths mile oval next, with Oakdale native Jack Aquilina out to the early lead. Walt Hovey moved to second and ran down Aquilina, challenging him down low on lap six, and completing the move a lap later to move to the front. Caution waved on lap eight for Jim Proccacini who was stranded off the track in turn four after making contact with Chris Meyer. On the restart Hovey was challenged by Stone who, like both Palmer and Field, utilized the outside lane to work around Hovey and into the lead at the 20-lap event’s halfway point. That proved to be the winning move as the event stayed caution free, with Stone picking up his third win of the season. Hovey finished second, last week’s winner Ed Puleo was third, Ronnie Oldham fourth and Ed Lamb ran well to finish in fifth.
The Nutmeg State 100 got underway shortly before 8:00pm with New Hampshire’s Brad Leighton taking the lead from his outside pole starting spot. The race ran caution free through lap 28 when the cars of Howard Payne and Joey Doiron came together in turn one.The restart found trouble for Speedbowl SK Modified competitor Ron Yuhas Jr., as he took a hard trip into the turn 3 wall requiring a lengthy cleanup. While under caution, the raindrops began to fall and the race was red flagged.
Saturday, June 20 will be headlined by the completion of the remaining 72-laps of the Nutmeg State 100. In addition, it is Norwich Night at the Speedbowl with any resident of the city of Norwich receiving just $3.50 admission, with proof of residency. Regular distance NASCAR Whelen All-American Series features for the SK Modifieds, Street Stocks, and Mini Stocks are on tap. The Legends Cars also join the action. The Speedbowl Late Model division, originally scheduled, will now have the night off. For more information on these and all upcoming events, visit www.speedbowl.com or contact the track office at 860.442.1585.
Speedbowl 6/13 finishers, hometown:
Street Stocks (20-laps): 1. Al Stone III, New Haven; 2. Walt Hovey Jr., Chaplin; 3. Ed Puleo, Branford; 4. Ronnie Oldham Jr., Old Saybrook; 5. Ed Lamb, New Haven; 6. Jack Aquilina, Oakdale; 7. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 8. Jim Proccacini, Trumbull; 9. Steve Barrett, Preston; 10. Norm Root Jr., Old Saybrook; 11. Chris Meyer, N. Franklin; 12. Greg Moran Jr., Preston; 13. Kevin Burr, Waterford; 14. Nate Appell, Old Saybrook; 15. Kevin Talbot, Moosup; 16. Ted Dupre, Westbrook; 17. Mark Cooper, Northford; 18. Josh Galvin, Uncasville
Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (20-laps): 1. Danny Field, Deep River; 2. Chris Correll, Old Lyme; 3. Kyle James, Ashaway, RI; 4. Greg Moran Sr., Preston; 5. Sean Caron, Hartford; 6. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 7. Nick Pappacoda, N. Branford; 8. Ken Lyke III, Orange; 9. Jeff Mehlenbacher, Groton; 10. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 11. Louis Bellisle III, Lisbon; 12. Ian Brew, Wood River Jct., RI; 13. Christina Cunliffe, Stratford; 14. Dale Sherman, Charlestown, RI; 15. Ryan Cipows, Seymour; DNS – Mark Caise, Gales Ferry; DNS – Mark Panaroni, Ivoryton; DNS – Chris Williams, Niantic; DNS – Bill Leonard
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 2. Joey Cipriano, Waterbury; 3. Tony Flannery, E. Hampton; 4. Paul Kusheba IV, Monroe; 5. Ed Field, Deep River; 6. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 7. Adam Gada, Bozrah; 8. William Munro, N. Branford; 9. Ricky White III, N. Stonington; 10. Dana DiMatteo, Farmington; 11. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 12. Carl Bohn, Waterford; 13. Alessandra Vitelli, Woodbridge; 14. Steven Belsito, Auburn, MA; 15. Peter Cirilli, Farmington;16. Ryan Morgan, Mystic
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR