Gaydosh and Rocco take SK Mod twins to lead the way to Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — Justin Gaydosh and Keith Rocco split the twin 25-lap SK Modified races which headlined the Waterford Speedbowl’s Thunder on the Sound event. Other 25-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series wins went to Bruce Thomas Jr. in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, Al Stone in the Street Stocks while Louis Bellisle III was a popular winner in the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock event. Jason Palmer, Allen Coates, Rob Corey and Onie Pierce also found themselves in Speedbowl Victory Lane on the night taking 25-lap wins of their own.
The event sponsor, Connecticut National Guard, helped put Thunder in the sky with a flyover and landing of a Bell Huey UH-1 aircraft before the start of the first SK Modified race. The ground pounders then thundered out for the first of two 25 lap events with Wendell Dailey of Gales Ferry moving out to the lead from his pole starting spot. Caution waved on lap two when bumper tag in the top five resonated through the field out of the second turn, resulting in Frank Mucciacciaro Jr. of Milford making contact with the wall.
Justin Gaydosh of Newtown sailed past Dailey on the outside when racing resumed to take over the lead. Joe Perry from Ashaway, RI moved in to challenge Dailey for second with the field stacked two by two behind. Perry took over the spot on lap seven in the upper groove with Dennis Charette from Southington using the same lane to take third from Dailey a lap later.
Further back the action intensified and Tyler Chadwick of Ledyard spun in turn three collecting Glenn Pressel of Gales Ferry, Tom Abele Jr. of Norwich and newcomer Frank Hirt from Danbury. Charette moved to second on the restart and closed in on the leader’s rear bumper. Heavy hitters Dennis Gada of Salem, Ron Yuhas Jr. of Groton and Keith Rocco of Wallingford had all navigated their way in to the top five by lap 11.
Charette began to turn up the heat on Gaydosh at the point on lap 15. He looked high and low while Yuhas closed in from third place and Rocco moved past Gada for the fourth position. Charette had to contend with Yuhas before long and lessened his pressure on Gaydosh. Yuhas looked all over the rear bumper of Charette, but was also dealing with pressure from Rocco for third.
The chess match at the front continued uninterrupted for several more laps. Rocco pulled outside Yuhas with just three laps to go, edging ahead of him at the stripe when the field took the two to go signal from the flag stand. While Yuhas and Rocco battled side by side for third, Charette continued to size up Gaydosh to the white flag. He looked outside Gaydosh’s right rear as the leaders entered turn one of the final lap while Yuhas filled the hole under Charette. Rocco was still tucked outside in fourth.
The top four raced to the checker under a blanket in an exciting Speedbowl finish. Gaydosh held on to the win by a half-car over Charette to his outside as both drivers turned in their best efforts of the year. Yuhas was able score third at the stripe, pulling even with Rocco in the points standings headed into the second race of the night. Gada finished fifth.
With his win Gaydosh earned a guaranteed starting birth in the annual North-South Shootout taking place November 5th – 7th at Concord Motorsports Park in North Carolina.
SK Modified #2 race got underway with Abele squirting out to the lead over Dennis Gada and Pearl in the early laps. Chadwick’s tough night continued when he came to a stop in turn one to bring out yellow. Pearl moved to second on the restart and Charette continued his team’s best efforts of the season taking over third from Gada. Paul followed the hole under Gada to move into fourth, and then got inside Charette for the third spot just a lap later. Paul and Charette actually hopped wheels off turn four after some hard racing, giving Paul the spot while the field behind raced on without missing a beat.
On lap nine Joe Gada spun off turn four to bring out the second caution flag. Pearl took a stab outside Abele on the restart, but couldn’t muster enough momentum to take over before Gaydosh spun between turns three and four on lap 11.
Abele got out front again over Pearl, while Rocco was moving up battling outside Paul for third. Rocco got the spot on lap 14. Paul made contact with the rear of Rocco in turn four racing to lap 15, setting off a chain reaction further back that left Corey Hutchings of Salem in the frontstretch wall and Josh Sylvester of Colchester literally going up and over the Hutchings machine with extensive damage done to both. Pressel and Dailey were also involved.
The restart was more of the same at the front, with Abele out front and Rocco slipping inside Pearl to move to second. Rocco didn’t waste any time in challenging Abele, making a diving maneuver into turn one to overtake command of the race as the field started lap 19. Pearl filled the gap down the back chute to take second and Yuhas moved to third as the new top three. Allen Coates was having an impressive run in the Paul #81 pressuring for the top five when father and son Dennis and Joe Gada both spun in turn two with five laps remaining.
Rocco got a great restart at the front over Pearl, enabling Paul to pull even and challenge for the second position through turns one and two. Paul eventually cleared Pearl and the field singled out up front. The race continued green to the checkered flag and Rocco won by two car lengths over Paul. Pearl was third, Yuhas fourth and Abele rounded out the top five. With the win, Rocco takes a six-point lead over Yuhas following the double events.
The Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models had Bruce Thomas Jr. of Groton taking the lead from Jeff Smith of Old Lyme on lap three with an impressive move to the outside. Behind them, Dennis Botticello of Suffield and Tim Jordan of Plainfield raced in third and fourth. Jordan used the outside to claim third, then wasted no time in disposing of Smith the same way to take second on lap six.
Up front Thomas had opened up some distance over Jordan by the time he raced his way to second. Dennis Botticello moved to third when the first caution waved on lap 18 when the Cohanzie safety team was called to action for an emergency situation in the grandstands bringing out a lengthy delay.
When racing resumed Botticello moved to second, but Thomas could not be challenged. He captured his 10th win of the season in the 25-lap event and padded his points lead. Botticello was second, Jordan third, Larry Goss of North Windham fourth and Smith ended up fifth.
Jason Palmer of Berlin won his 20th Legends Car race of the season, the first driver to accomplish that feat since Don Collins did it in 1960. Palmer continues to chase Collins’ record of 23 wins in a single season, achieved during that ’60 season.
Palmer found himself in the top-five as early as lap one of the 25-lapper, riding in fifth place. By lap eight he was in third, looking to pressure second place runner Ryan Morgan of Mystic. Palmer moved outside Morgan to move to second on lap 12. Up front, Tony Flannery of East Hampton used his front row starting spot to hold the lead since lap one.
The first caution waved on lap 14 when Justin Holmes spun in turn two. Palmer was lined up outside Flannery for the restart, and the pair spent two laps racing for the lead before Palmer edged ahead. He went on to win over Flannery, Morgan, Christian Pedersen of New Canaan and Alessandro Vitelli of Woodbridge.
The Street Stock 25-lapper was another dogfight amongst the best of one of the ‘Bowl’s toughest divisions. Ed Puleo of Branford moved to the race lead on lap three, and would hold the spot for several circuits. Multiple event winner this season Al Stone III from New Haven closed in and was on the leader’s bumper at halfway. Brandon Plemons of Uncasville and Walt Hovey Jr. of Chaplin moved in from third and fourth.
Stone was turning up the heat on Puleo at lap 14, trying everything to get his car beneath the #55 of Puleo. He made his move waiting for Puleo to slip and pulled alongside. Their battle allowed Plemons and Hovey to close in tight behind waiting for opportunity. Josh Galvin from Uncasville was closing in looking to join the frey from fifth. Stone finally cleared Puleo with six to go, meanwhile Hovey worked past Plemons for third.
The event’s only caution waved when Moosup’s Kevin Talbot came to rest off turn four with four laps remaining. Stone had a strong restart and went unchallenged to the win. Hovey moved past Puleo for second, and Galvin narrowly beat Plemons to the stripe by inches for fourth.
Ian Brew was the race leader early in the going of the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock race. Brew however spun off turn two on lap 12 following a restart while in the lead. Points leader Danny Field had moved to second and inherited the lead when Brew met his misfortune.
Field, Lou Bellisle of Lisbon and Kyle James of Ashaway, RI ran together for the lead when racing resumed. Bellisle nosed ahead outside Field, and the Deep River driver tried to recover when he lost traction under Bellisle and spun exiting turn four in front of the pack. Cars scattered and some minor contact was made among several cars including Field, drawing caution.
Bellisle ran comfortably out front over the final 11 circuits of the 25-lap race to win his first of the season over James. Bill Leonard claimed his second podium finish of the night for third. Ken Cassidy Jr. of Lisbon and Mark Panaroni of Ivoryton completed the top five. James was able to gain on Field in the points race, closing within 10 points.
Allen Coates of Ledyard took the lead from his teammate Scott Gregory of Westbrook on lap six of the NEATV Truck Series 25-lap race. After starting further back in the field, Coates moved up along with Bill Leonard, winner the last time the trucks raced on Wednesday. Leonard, from Rhode Island, powered outside and by Greg Butler Jr. of East Hampton for third on lap 11.
The leaders distanced themselves from the competition but the first caution waved on lap 21, placing the field back together. Coates moved back out front and went on to win over Andy Lindeman of New Jersey who also came from the rear of the field in his first Speedbowl appearance of the year. He moved past Leonard to place second, Leonard was third, John St. Germain of New York was fourth and Butler was fifth. The win was Coates’ 70th career at the ‘Bowl, tying him for fifth all-time in the record books.
Onie Pierce or Norwich was able to check out from the field behind him in a cleanly run and fast paced X-Car 25-lap race. Pierce moved out to some breathing room while Brad Voglesong of Middletown moved into second place by halfway.
The field continued under green to the checkered flag. Voglesong was able to close to Pierce’s bumper as they raced to the white flag, but Pierce held him off to take his first win of the season over Voglesong. John Bowes of Willington was third, Dan D’addario of Columbia was fourth and Rich Hurne of Groton finished fifth.
Bowes and Voglesong’s top three finishes enabled them both to close to within 22 points of leader Patrick Williams of Middletown with one points event remaining. Williams was tenth.
Rob Corey of South Windsor utilized an unfamiliar car to win the Super X-Car race. The car he raced was a past championship mount for George Correia after Corey encountered trouble with his car in Wednesday’s event. He moved past early leader John Porter of Canterbury on lap 10 of the 25-lap race.
The race at the front was smooth until second place runner Frank Alessio of Colchester lost control out of turn four and punished the frontstretch wall on lap 21. Following the restart, the race to the checkered was all Corey. Mike Caprio methodically moved his way to place in second at the stripe. Points leader John Yagmin of Tolland was third, Porter wound up slipping to fourth, and Groton’s Shawn Perkins was fifth.
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR