Flannery goes back to back with Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Win; Martin, D’addario, Downing and Civardi others to reach Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — The Waterford Speedbowl dodged the early raindrops Wednesday evening to put on a fast paced and highly entertaining night of racing. Anthony Flannery of East Hampton continued his winning ways early this season in the Legends Cars race. Taylor Martin of Maine won the Bandolero race with Columbia native Dan D’addario championing the X- Car event. Ken Downing III of Branford dominated the Super X-Car feature race and Kathy Civardi of Noank won the Women on Wheels race.
Flannery won his second straight 20-lap Legends Cars event, besting a field of drivers hungry to keep him from the repeat victory. Ed Field was the early race leader, pacing the field through three early caution periods over the first third of the race.
Once the competition settled in with green flag racing, the action among the top six was entertaining. Field held the top spot over Flannery and winner of 22 events a year ago Jason Palmer. While those three occupied the top spots Dana Dimatteo, Giovanni Giarratana and Carl Blandina were close behind all waiting for the chance to move up.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
Flannery was the first to pull out of line to make a move. He pulled low off turn four, looking inside Field off turn four to challenge for the lead. As the two reached turn one on lap nine, Flannery was the new race leader. Palmer and Dimatteo followed Flannery past Field, caught in the outside lane, to make up the new top three at lap 10 .
The leaders remained unchanged until Dimatteo looked inside Palmer on lap 15. He made the move stick and took over the runner-up position. Blandina slipped past Palmer a lap later to occupy third. The race stayed green and the top three crossed the stripe in that order. Giarratana took fourth from Palmer at the close of the event, with Palmer rounding out the top five finishers.
Rachel Forte took the lead on lap one of the 20-lap Bandolero race before Chris Lomartire moved underneath her to become the new leader on lap two. Martin was on the move from the green flag, moving past Forte to claim second position in the first five laps.
By halfway Martin reached the back bumper of Lomartire. She moved inside down the backstretch to become the third leader of the race on lap 11. Lomartire remained in the leader’s tire tracks over the next several laps. As the pair reached lapped traffic off turn four coming to lap 17, they split a lapped car with Martin going high and Lomartire shooting down low.
Lomartire used the move to momentarily take over the race lead in exciting fashion, but Martin shot back underneath him two turns later to reclaim the lead going down the back chute. Martin led through the white flag and held off one more challenge late. Exiting turn two of the final lap, the leaders encountered another lapped car. Martin went low and cleared the car to go on to her first win of the young season. Lomartire was second with last week’s winner Kaz Grala in third.
The 20-lap Super X-Car race was a great one from the drop of the green flag through to the checkered flag. While Downing took over the lead and checked out on the competition on lap one, he left behind a fierce battle for position throughout the rest of the field. Several two and three wide battles in exciting nose to tail fashion highlighted the caution free race.
Tylor DiFrancesca held second position throughout the early going. He had the competition draped all over him for the spot. Shawn Perkins, Mike Maskell, Taylor-Marie Moran, John Yagmin and Rob Corey were all looking for racing room any way they could get it. Perkins was the first to clear DiFrancesca and moved to second position on lap seven.
By halfway Moran was making her presence felt, climbing outside the competition to claw her way by into the third position behind Downing and Perkins. Both had moved out to a commanding distance. Last week’s winner Michael Caprio picked his way through the field to emerge in fourth, and defending champion John Yagmin was in fifth as the laps continued to tick away.
Caprio and Moran made contact with Moran temporarily losing traction. Caprio moved by into third, Yagmin fourth and Moran rebounding for fifth. Up front Downing was uncatchable. He went on to the win over Perkins, Caprio, Yagmin, and Moran.
D’addario took the lead in the 20-lap X-Car event with a daring three wide move off turn four as the field completed lap four. He moved inside race leader Bruce Hall as Randy Johnston went outside Hall. As the field reached turn one D’addario had the preferred groove under Johnston and took over sole possession of the lead as the field raced off turn two down the back stretch. He stretched his lead over the field as the laps counted down.
While D’addario cruised to his first win of the year, the pack behind was battling hard to position themselves for a podium finish. Glen Thomas Jr. moved through the pack to reach the top three just after halfway with last week’s winner Devin Widger hot on his tail. Thomas got by Johnston for second with six laps remaining. Widger followed suit a lap later to move up to third. Widger then slipped underneath Thomas for second the next lap but could not catch D’addario over the remaining laps.
D’addario survived a total of two caution flags and went on to the win over Widger, Thomas and Johnston. Patrick Williams rounded out the top five.
For more information about Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday and the calendar of events, please visit www.speedbowl.com or contact track offices at 860.442.1585.
Waterford Speedbowl 5/12 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Tony Flannery, East Hampton; 2. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 3. Carl Blandina, Milford; 4. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 5. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 6. Ed Field, Deep River; 7. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 8. Ricky White III, North Stonington; 9. Jake Spillers, Ashburnham, MA; 10. Troy Talman, Oxford; 11. Joey Mucciacciaro, Waterbury; 12. Stan Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 13. Joey Campbell, Berlin; 14. Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 15. William Munro, North Branford
Point Standings after 2 events: 1. Flannery, 110; 2. Dimatteo, 94; 3. Giarratana, 92; 4. Blandina, 90; 5. (tie) Field, Pantani, 80; 7. (tie) Spillers, White, 68; 9. Mucciacciaro, 58; 10. Campbell, 56
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Taylor Martin, Windham, ME; 2. Chris Lomartire, Millbury, MA; 3. Kaz Grala, Westborough, MA; 4. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 5. Andrew Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 6. Tyler Chalue, Dudley, MA; 7. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 8. Kenneth Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 9. Corey Dimatteo, Farmington; 10. Nicholas Matera, Warwick, RI; 11. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 12. Garrett Denton, Hope Valley, RI
Point Standings after 2 events: 1. Martin, 103; 2. Grala, 101; 3. Lomartire, 94; 4. Forte, 88; 5. Chalue, 82; 6. Carpenter, 80; 7. Dimatteo, 70; 8. Stolte, 68; 9. Churchill, 64; 10. Morin, 60
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 2. Devin Widger, Plainville; 3. Glen Thomas Jr., Groton; 4. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 5. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 6. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 7. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 8. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 9. Bruce Hall, Ledyard; 10. Steve Violette, Canterbury; 11. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 12. Jeffrey Lee, Uncasville; 13. Kim Bickford, Jewett City; 14. Michele Cicio, Baltic; 15. David Lloyd, Mystic; 16. Todd Nadeau, North Franklin; 17. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; 18. Daniel Madore, Sterling; 19. Rick Mollo, Ansonia; 20. Mike Trask, Plainfield; DNS – Chris Garside, Waterford; Arthur Phillips, Norwich
Point Standings after 2 events: 1. Widger, 103; 2. D. D’addario, 101; 3. Voglesong, 88; 4. Williams, 86; 5. Johnston, 82; 6. Shifflett, 76; 7. Hall, 66; 8. Limkemann, 60; 9. Madore, 58; 10. Lee, 56
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Ken Downing III, Branford; 2. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 3. John Yagmin, Tolland; 4. Rob Corey, Windsor; 5. Taylor-Marie Moran, Preston; 6. Charles Beal, Ledyard; 7. Michael Caprio, New Haven; 8. Mike Maskell III, Quaker Hill; 9. Tylor DiFrancesca, Lisbon; 10. Duke Place, Charlestown, RI; 11. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 12. James Consalvo, East Hartford; 13. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 14. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 15. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI; 16. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 17. Joe Jacobs, East Hartford; 18. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 19. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 20. Shawn Butler, Jewett City
Point Standings after 2 events: 1. Caprio, 93; 2. (tie) Corey, Yagmin. 90; 4. Beal, 88; 5. Perkins, 74; 6. Moran, 70; 7. Downing, 69; 8. (tie) Place, Boisvert, Consalvo, 68
Women on Wheels (10-laps): 1. Kathy Civardi, Noank; 2. Kim Bickford, Jewett City; 3. Lisa Voglesong, Middletown; 4. Allison Maskell, Oakdale; 5. Cara Coffey, Norwich; 6. Michele Cicio, Baltic; 7. Nicole Harris, Uncasville
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR