Keith Rocco wins SK feature on Whelen Night; Thomas checkers barnburner in Late Models
Waterford, CT — The racing action at Waterford Speedbowl was fast and furious for July 11’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing event. Keith Rocco and Danny Field picked up their fourth wins of the season, extending their points lead in the SK Modifieds and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock divisions respectively. Bruce Thomas Jr. and Tim Jordan put on a classic duel in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature with Thomas prevailing at the last moment. Brandon Plemons picked up his first Street Stock win of the year and Jason Palmer returned to Legends Car victory lane after his ten race win streak was interrupted this past Wednesday.
Frank Mucciacciaro and Corey Hutchings led the SK Modified field to green on Whelen Night, with Milford’s Mucciacciaro taking the lead in a superb 35-lap event. Ledyard’s Tyler Chadwick moved into second and immediately began to size up the leader, looking for a way by. Chadwick eventually chose the high line and moved alongside on lap five. The pair ran side by side when Mucciacciaro suddenly lost traction in the low groove in turn four spinning to the apron of the track to bring out the first and only caution on lap seven.
Hutchings lined up outside Chadwick for the restart with Tom Abele Jr. third, Rob Janovic fourth, and Rocco in fifth. Chadwick mastered the return to green taking over into turn one, but Abele quickly challenged from third with a great run on the low side of Chadwick off turn four. Abele, of Norwich, took command on lap ten with Chadwick tucking in line behind on his bumper. The field behind was racing hard for position with Rocco advancing to third, Dennis Charette into fourth, and Dennis Gada emerging in fifth.
Chadwick patiently looked for opportunity on Abele and found that opportunity making a darting low move into turn three to pull alongside and challenge the leader. Chadwick regained the lead just before halfway, with Rocco following in the inside line past Abele. The Wallingford native began to pressure Chadwick for the lead shortly after. The youngster from Ledyard defended Rocco’s high and low moves as the race moved past halfway. Meanwhile, Ron Yuhas Jr. was moving through the field and into fifth.
Rocco, the national NWAAS points leader, made another outside move and pulled even with Chadwick. The pair raced side by side for two laps before nearly running out of racing room off turn four, making contact. Chadwick bobbled but made a nice save, however dropped positions as the field raced into turn one. Abele retook second, with Gada and Yuhas trucking by Chadwick for third and fourth.
Over the remaining laps Rocco began to stretch his lead, while Gada peeked outside Abele for several laps looking for the momentum to pull alongside for second. Yuhas flirted with moving under Gada for third as he tried Abele. The intense action all the way around the track ended with Rocco going unchallenged to the checkered flag. Abele held for second, Gada third, and Yuhas fourth as the trio crossed the stripe under a blanket. Janovic finished in fifth close behind. Every competitor was running on the lead lap at the end of the quickly raced and hard fought event.
Teenager Jeff Smith was the early leader in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model 30-lap feature event. Smith, from Old Lyme, was challenged from the drop of the green by Seymour’s Vin Esposito. Bruce Thomas Jr. and Tim Jordan were asserting themselves and slicing their way into contention early. Smith settled in at the front while Thomas challenged the outside of Esposito, securing the second position on lap six. Jordan, of Plainfield, followed suit one lap later to move to third.
Meanwhile, Groton resident Thomas tracked down and used the outside lane again to move along side and power past Smith for the race lead by the time the field completed lap 10. Jordan shadowed Thomas’ move and found himself in second just laps later. Smith remained third, Esposito fourth, and Rich Staskowski was in fifth when the event’s first and only caution waved on lap 16 for a spin at the start finish line by Wilton’s Brian Andronaco.
On the restart, Jordan lined up outside Thomas intent on challenging the multi-time winner this season. The pair went on to put on a classic Speedbowl two-groove tussle for the win. They raced even for the remaining 14 circuits, literally swapping the lead for six consecutive laps edging ahead of one another as the laps continued to click away. Both drivers battled cleanly, but as the pair continued their dogfight for the lead Smith closed back in with just two laps remaining. When the leaders took the white flag, Jordan had again edged ahead by the slimmest of margins. Thomas recovered in turns three and four, and rounding turn four with the checkered flag in sight Jordan broke loose, clipping Thomas in the process. The contact caused both cars to lose momentum and Smith made it a three car photo-finish. Thomas prevailed over Jordan and Smith in a great event.
Bozrah’s Adam Gada took the lead on lap one of the 20-laps Legends Car event, holding the lead through the first three laps until Paul Kusheba took over on lap four. Anthony Flannery, fresh off stopping Jason Palmer’s ten-race win streak on Wednesday, Palmer, and Joey Cipriano all were making noise early moving in to challenge the leaders. Palmer reached Kusheba first, moving to the outside of the race leader to take over command of the race on lap eight. Caution waved at halfway, when several cars came together off turn two. All were able to drive off under their own power.
The restart pitted Palmer and Kusheba on the front row, with Cipriano, Flannery, and Mark Esposito making up the top five when racing resumed. Kusheba faltered on the restart and as the field exited turn four to complete lap 11, Flannery got out of shape collecting Gada among others. Gada made hard contact with the front stretch wall before coming to rest in turn one. One the ensuing restart Cipriano challenged Palmer in the high groove, but Palmer settled back in to sole possession of the lead by lap 13. Palmer, of Berlin, went on to the win over Cipriano, Ryan Morgan, Kusheba, and Esposito.
Saturday July 18, the Legends Cars will compete in a special 50-lap event, with the winner earning a guaranteed starting spot in October 8-10’s Raceceiver Legends Nationals at Lanier National Speedway in Georgia. The event is the main attraction of the exciting Legends Car season at the ‘Bowl.
The Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks got underway with Wood River Junction, RI native Ian Brew taking the event lead in their 20-lapper from the start. North Branford’s Nick Pappacoda settled into second, looking strong in his best run of the 2009 season. Danny Field came on strong to take third as racing continued under green with Louis Bellisle, Kyle James, Ken Cassidy Jr., Chris Williams, and Sean Caron all racing in tight quarters.
Back up front the gap closed on the leaders. Pappacoda took a peek beneath Brew for the race lead, enabling Field to find room to the outside to challenge for second as the race reached halfway. Field spent three laps outside Pappacoda who hung tough down low, while Brew got a breather as the pair battled behind. Field finally cleared for second position on lap 14 and set chase on Brew. James had secured fourth over Bellisle when Williams and Greg Moran Sr. made contact exiting turn two, with Moran drawing the event’s first caution on lap 15.
Field, of Deep River, raced outside Brew when the race resumed, taking over the lead on lap 16 with James in tow behind. James moved past Brew for second as the field reached two laps to go. He reached Field’s bumper on the final lap, but Field withstood the pressure to secure third win in four weeks, and fourth overall this season.
Brandon Plemons jumped out to a comfortable lead early in the 20-lap Street Stock race. Defending division champion Al Stone III moved into second, Ronnie Oldham Jr. third, while Josh Galvin and Walt Hovey raced hard for fourth. The event was slowed when Jack Aquilina made contact with the turn two wall just before halfway.
Uncasville’s Plemons kept command of his lead on the restart, but Stone pulled a cross-over move out of his bag of tricks to get under Plemons exiting turn four as the field received the halfway marker. Plemons hung tough in the outside while Hovey, Galvin, and Oldham raced hard behind inside the top five. Plemons eventually fended off Stone in the outside groove, retaking the lead by his lonesome on lap 13. Galvin was also trying to use the outside lane to make progress, and as the field exited turn two on lap 15 Hovey, Galvin and Stone were three wide for second. Hovey got the spot, Stone backed out and tucked in behind in fourth.
Plemons was able to pull away slightly over the final laps to take his first win of the 2009 season after running strong in several events. Hovey claimed second, Galvin third, while Oldham took fourth from Stone in the closing laps. The Street Stocks closed out the race program with another entertaining and quick event. The entire race program was completed by 8:30pm
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will be off next Saturday, July 18 making way for the Speedbowl’s extremely popular Wild ‘n Wacky race program to make their first Saturday night appearance. The ‘Bowl will also host ‘Laps for Lupus’ on July 18, benefitting Lupus Foundation of America’s Connecticut Chapter. A special track walk and night of fundraising activities is planned.
The track walk gets underway at 3:00pm, with check-in and 2:00pm. Racing gets underway at 6:15pm for qualifying for the Legends Car 50-lap National Qualifier main event. Feature events begin at 7:00pm with the X-Cars, Super X-Cars, X-Modifieds, Bandolero’s, and Legends Cars.
For more information and details on this and all upcoming events, please visit www.speedbowl.com or contact the track office at 860.442.1585.
Official Speedbowl 7/11 finishers, hometown:
Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (20-laps): 1. Dan Field, Deep River; 2. Kyle James, Ashaway, RI; 3. Ian Brew, Wood River Jct, RI; 4. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 5. Nick Pappacoda, N. Branford; 6. Louis Bellisle III, Lisbon; 7. Sean Caron, Hartford; 8. Chris Correll, Old Lyme; 9. Greg Moran Sr., Preston; 10. Ray Christian III, Norwich; 11. Chris Williams, Niantic; 12. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 13. Jeff Mehlenbacher, Groton; 14. Christina Cunliffe, Stratford; 15. Ryan Cipows, Seymour; 16. Alan Hall Jr., North Haven; 17. Dale Sherman, Charlestown, RI
Street Stocks (20-laps): 1. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 2. Walt Hovey Jr., Chaplin; 3. Josh Galvin, Uncasville; 4. Ronnie Oldham Jr., Old Saybrook; 5. Al Stone III, New Haven; 6. Steve Barrett, Preston; 7. Jim Procaccini, Trumbull; 8. Ted Dupre, Westbrook; 9. Greg Moran Jr., Preston; 10. Kevin Talbot, Moosup; 11. Kevin Burr, Waterford; 12. Chris Meyer, N. Franklin; 13. Jesse Smith, Moodus; 14. Jack Aquilina, Oakdale; 15. Phil Evans, Uncasville; 16. Ed Puleo, Branford
Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (30-laps): 1. Bruce Thomas Jr., Groton; 2. Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 3. Jeff Smith, Old Lyme; 4. Richard Staskowski, Hope Valley, RI; 5. Vin Esposito, Seymour; 6. Dennis Botticello, Suffield; 7. Mark Hudson, Norton, MA; 8. Tony Macrino, Waterford; 9. Larry Goss, N. Windham; 10. Ernie Bertrand, N. Branford; 11. Robert Leblanc Jr., Norwalk; 12. Brian Andronaco Jr., Wilton
SK Modifieds (35-laps): 1. Keith Rocco, Wallingford; 2. Tom Abele Jr., Norwich; 3. Dennis Gada, Salem; 4. Ron Yuhas Jr., Groton; 5. Rob Janovic Jr., Waterford; 6. Jeffrey Paul, Groton; 7. Jeff Pearl, Salem; 8. Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard; 9. Dennis Charette, Southington; 10. Corey Hutchings, Salem; 11. Justin Gaydosh, Newtown; 12. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., Milford; 13. Joe Perry, Ashaway, RI; 14. Wendell Dailey, Gales Ferry; 15. Joe Gada, Salem
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 2. Joey Cipriano, Waterbury; 3. Ryan Morgan, Mystic; 4. Paul Kusheba IV, Monroe; 5. Mark Esposito, Easton; 6. Christian Pedersen, New Canaan; 7. Ed Field, Deep River; 8. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 9. Dana DiMatteo, Farmington; 10. Max Zachem, Preston; 11. David Stanton, New Britain; 12. William Munro, N. Branford; 13. Richard White III, N. Stonington; 14. Carl Bohn, Waterford; 15. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 16. Carl Blandina, Milford; 17. Dave Garbo, Stonington; 18. Adam Gada, Bozrah; 19. Tony Flannery, E. Hampton; 20. Michael Blaskey, Bethany; 21. Alessandro Vitelli, Woodbridge; 22. Mark Bakaj, Lebanon; DNS – Peter Cirilli
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