Flannery Ends Palmer’s Legends Streak; Beal, Bowes, Christensen checker other WnWW divisions
Waterford, CT — Young Anthony Flannery derailed Jason Palmer’s red-hot ten race winning streak in Legends Car action in the Speedbowl’s Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday race program on July 8. Other winners from the night included Charles Beal in an entertaining Super X-Car battle, John Bowes in a wild X-Car event, and Dean Christensen in the X-Modifieds. Ryan Mackintosh won the Bandolero event, and Lisa Voglesong continued her winning ways in the Women on Wheels event.
A full field of Legends Cars were on hand for a stellar 20-lap event. Veterans Stan Carpenter and Ed Field brought the race down to green, with the pair running alongside each other before Field got crossed up down the backchute of lap 1. The melee collected several top runners including Ryan Morgan, George Whitney, Carl Blandina, and Palmer putting his winning streak in jeopardy. Only Morgan, from Mystic, was unable to resume.
[Waterford Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
A long run of green flag racing occurred once the race returned to action. East Hampton’s Flannery took over at the front with great racing action behind him. Field, Whitney, and Palmer were making their way back to the front from the rear, while the top-five was also putting on a show at the front. Teenager Giovanni Giarratana and Dennis Pantani made contact battling for second, sending Pantani around in turn three enabling Flannery to open up some breathing room in the lead. Racing continued until John Weaver and Mike Beebe got together in turn two on lap 14.
Following the restart Flannery was challenged by Roger Coss in the waning laps, with Whitney and Palmer also coming on strong. Whitney made a bid outside the leader in turn two on the last lap that Flannery defended. As the field came to the checkers Coss looked low with Whitney and Palmer tucked in closely behind, but Flannery came out on top. Giarratana ran up front all night and finished fifth.
The night’s racing program got underway with a large and rambunctious crowd of X-Cars assembled. The field had trouble getting things started, with early cautions in the event plaguing several top runners including points leader Patrick Williams, last X-Car event winner Pete Zaikarite, Rich Hurne, and polesitter Nathan Lloyd who made hard contact with the turn two wall on lap three. Dustin Gage and Randy Johnston put on a nice battle for the lead when action began to settle in, but things were slowed again when Williams was bounced into the frontstretch wall just before midway, ending his night.
Willington’s John Bowes moved in to challenge Gage and made an outside move into the lead exiting turn four as the field completed lap 14. Bowes took over, while Brad Voglesong, Pete Zaikarite, and Rich Hurne were all moving their way through the field. Contact towards the rear of the field sent the cars of David D’allesandro, David Amspacher, and Daniel Madore pile driving into the turn four tire barrier to bring out a red flag with just four laps remaining. All three drivers were ok, but the cars suffered extensive damage.
Bowes was declared the race winner at lap 16 when the event was red-checkered during the lengthy cleanup. Gage finished in second, Onie Pierce third, with Voglesong and Johnston rounding out the top-five finishers.
The Super X-Car race got underway with Robert Norman and R.J Cunningham pacing the field side-by-side in the early laps. Charles Beal was on the move early, pressing the leaders and looking three wide on the bottom to take the lead by lap three. Racing action could be found all the way around the three-eighths mile oval, with the top runners working their way through traffic intent on challenging Beal. When caution waved with just two laps remaining, James Consalvo, Steve LaRose, Shawn Perkins, and John Yagmin made up the top five behind Beal.
On the restart the action got intense, with the top-five taking their stab at Beal for the win. Beal prevailed and captured his third win of the season over Consalvo, LaRose, Yagmin, and Jon Porter.
Granby’s Dean Christensen took the lead early on in the X-Modified event, and would go on to hold off David Flammia Jr. who had closed to his bumper in the latter portion of the event. David O’Leary, Brenden Shea, and Jeff Amaral completed the top-five.
Ryan McIntosh won the 10-lap Bandolero event in his first Speedbowl appearance. For more information about the affordable, turn-key “spec” Bandolero racecar, please visit www.600racing.com.
The Vintage Midget Racing Club was also on hand and put on an exhibition event giving Speedbowl fans a look at the racing action the historic Speedbowl race surface hosted decades ago.
Action resumes at the ‘Bowl this Saturday for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature events for SK Modifieds (35-laps), Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (30-laps), Street Stocks (20-laps) and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (20-laps). The Legends Cars will also compete in a 20-lap event. Qualifying is set to begin at 5:00pm with the feature events to follow.
For more information, please visit www.speedbowl.com or contact the track office at 860.442.1585.
Speedbowl Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday 7/8 finishers, hometown:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Tony Flannery, E. Hampton; 2. Roger Coss, Lafayette, NJ; 3. George Whitney, Westbrook; 4. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 5. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 6. Kevin Nowak, Medford, NY; 7. Ed Field, Deep River; 8. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 9. Stan Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 10. Dana DiMatteo, Farmington; 11. Alessandro Vitelli, Woodbridge; 12. Christian Pedersen, New Canaan; 13. Richard White III, N. Stonington; 14. Carl Blandina, Milford; 15. William Munro, N. Branford; 16. Troy Talman, Oxford, MA; 17. Dave Garbo, Stonington; 18. Arthur Maurero, Baltic; 19. Tom Pinson, Colchester; 20. Mike Beebe, Old Saybrook; 21. John Weaver, Ashland, MA; 22. Dylan Liseo, E. Hartford; 23. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 24. Justin Rau, Farmington; 25. Peter Portante, Plainville; 26. Ryan Morgan, Mystic; DNS – John Visconti, Brooklyn, NY
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. John Bowes, Willington; 2. Dustin Gage, Madison; 3. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 4. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 5. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 6. Rich Hurne, Groton; 7. Gary Stone Jr., Northford; 8. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 9. Richard Gullage, Rockfall; 10. Wilson Tenrriero, Griswold; 11. Christopher Garside, Waterford; 12. James Tirrell, Stonington; 13. Danny Gervais, E. Hartford; 14. Len Platt, Lisbon; 15. Bill Giles, Stratford; 16. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 17. Jeffrey Lee, Norwich; 18. Paul Smith, Clinton; 19. Geoffrey Burdick, E. Lyme; 20. Nicole Harris, Groton; 21. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 22. Pete Zaikarite, E. Hartford; 23. David Amspacher, Groton; 24. David D’alessandro, Coventry; 25. Daniel Madore, Sterling; 26. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 27. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 28. Arthur Phillips, Norwich; 29. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 30. Scott Kittel, Westerly, RI; 31. Aaron Hillbush, Norwich; 32. Devin Widger, Plainville; 33. Nathan Lloyd, Mystic; 34. James Ruddock, Oakdale; 35. Rick Mollo, Ansonia; 36. Bruce Hall, Ledyard; DNS – Michele Cicio, Baltic
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Charles Beal, Ledyard; 2. James Consalvo, E. Hartford; 3. Steve LaRose, Griswold; 4. John Yagmin, Tolland; 5. Jon Porter, Canterbury; 6. Al Potter, Waterford; 7. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 8. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 9. Robert Norman, Clinton; 10. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI; 11. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 12. Mike Maskell III, Quaker Hill; 13. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 14. Bo Norman, Clinton; 15. Paul Sheldon, Guilford; 16. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 17. Tylor DiFrancesca, Lisbon; 18. R.J Cunningham, Clinton; 19. Wayne Abair, E. Hartford; 20. Rob Corey, S. Windsor; 21. Jim Lynch, Wood River Jct, RI; 22. Chris Bissell, Jewett City; 23. Bill Schmitt, Wyoming, RI; 24. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 25. Taylor-Marie Moran, Preston; 26. Michael Caprio, New Haven; 27. Ken Downing III, Branford; 28. Alex Canestrari, Ledyard
X-Modifieds (15-laps): 1. Dean Christensen, Granby; 2. David Flammia Jr., Waterbury; 3. David O’Leary, Putnam; 4. Brenden Shea, Mystic; 5. Jeff Amaral, Bristol, RI; 6. Rich Schlegel, Griswold; 7. ‘Bubby’ Brouwer, Waterford
Bandoleros (10-laps): 1. Ryan Mackintosh 2. Andy Carpenter; 3. Matt Carpenter; 4. Tyler Chalue; 5. Nick Matera; 6. Chris Lamartire
Women on Wheels – 4 cylinder (10-laps): 1. Lisa Voglesong, Middletown; 2. Nicole Harris, Groton; 3. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 4. Allison Maskell; 5. Catherine Smith, Fairfield; 6. Kim Parker, Manchester; 7. Michele Cicio, Baltic; 8. Melissa McAvoy, Norwich
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR