Flannery takes fifth straight Legends Cars Victory; Martin, Yagmin, Williams and Brouwer also Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday winners
Waterford, CT — The Waterford Speedbowl again beat out Mother Nature this Wednesday evening with a five-division Wild ‘n Wacky racing program. Anthony Flannery of East Hampton won his fifth straight Legends Cars victory at the track and has claimed all three Wednesday events held this season. Taylor Martin of New Hampshire won her second straight Bandolero race. Defending champions John Yagmin of Tolland and Patrick Williams of Middletown won the Super X-Car and X-Car events respectively, while it was Waterford native Richard ‘Bubby’ Brouwer winning the X-Modified race.
The 20-lap Legends Cars event started with trouble on the opening lap among the leaders. Down the backstretch after taking the green flag, Carl Blandina dropped off the pace from the third position. The field stacked up behind him, collecting third place points contender Giovanni Giarratana.
Flannery took charge when the race restarted. He used the outside lane to power through the top four and take over the lead from Ed Field on lap three. Field settled into second position, with Jason Palmer in third and Dana Dimatteo in fourth. The top four runners opened up some distance from the competition as the race remained under green through halfway at lap 10. Field began to close back in on Flannery’s bumper looking strong. Caution waved when Peter Portante spun between turns one and two on lap 13.
[Photo Gallery} by Nicholas Teto
Over the final seven laps Flannery withstood restart challenges from both Field and Palmer. He cruised to the win, his third straight Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday event win and fifth consecutive overall victory in the division at the track. Flannery is fifteen years old. Dimatteo moved by both Field and Palmer to finish second, Field was third and Angelo Belsito was fourth. Palmer rounded out the top five.
Martin took the lead in the early laps of the 20-lap Bandolero race, distancing herself from the field to take her second consecutive win in the class. She won the green-to-checkered race easily over Chris Lomartire and Nick Sowa Martin, from New Hampshire, is a twelve year old Windham Middle School student.
Yagmin was the third lead in the Super X-Car race. He took over on lap six from R.J. Cunningham. Behind Yagmin, Charles Beal and Mike Maskell were both on the move, advancing into the second and third positions. Michael Caprio was also moving up quickly when he got bounced into the turn four wall, but continued on without interruption to the race.
Up front Beal closed in to Yagmin’s rear bumper by halfway in the 20-lap race. Beal’s car looked to have the better handling while Yagmin still held the lead position. Beal pressured the leader, looking low under Yagmin at any opportunity possible. Lapped traffic played a role in an exciting final two laps. Beal twice looked low only to have the door slammed by Yagmin in traffic. Through the final two turns, Beal made one last move. The pair made contact and broke sideways, but Yagmin held on for an edge of your seat win. Beal spun out of contention in turn four and placed 11th in the running order. Rob Corey cleared all the action to finish in second spot, while Shawn Perkins and Maskell finished third and fourth, crossing the line out of shape and spinning to the infield. Frank Alessio finished in fifth.
A rough and tumble X-Car race started with four-wide action headed into turn one. That resulted in a multi-car incident in turn two that collected Dan Madore, Todd Nadeau, Mike Marvin and others. Another multi-car accident on the restart attempt kept the action slowed.
When racing finally got underway Chris Garside was the early race leader. Williams carved through the top five using the outside groove, challenging and passing by Garside on lap seven. Williams held the lead through lap 12 when Garside spun in turn one after falling back in the running order. Last week’s race winner Dan D’addario had moved into second position for the restart to challenge Williams.
Williams took back over in the lead but had trouble shaking the young D’addario over the closing laps. While D’addario was able to shadow the leader’s every move, he was unable to muster a serious challenge. Williams won with D’addario on his bumper in second, Michael Trask third, Devin Widger fourth and Randy Johnston in fifth.
Brouwer took over on lap one of the 15-lap X-Modified event and withstood three restarts to go on to race win. He beat out Paul French by five car lengths. Rob Gallaer was third in his first race of the season.
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 5/19 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Tony Flannery, East Hampton; 2. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 3. Edward Field, Deep River; 4. Angelo Belsito, Auburn; 5. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 6. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 7. Carlo Blandina, Milford; 8. Richard White III, North Stonington; 9. Dave Garbo JR, Stonington; 10. Troy Talman, Oxford; 11. Joey Campbell, Berlin; 12. Joey Mucciaeciaro, Wolcott; 13. Jake Spillers, Ashburnham; 14. Tom Pinson, Colchester; 15. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington
Point Standings after three events: 1. Flannery, 165; 2. Dimatteo, 142; 3. Blandina, 128; 4. Field, 126; 5. Pantani, 120; 6. Giarratana, 114; 7. White, 104; 8. Spillers, 94; 9. (tie) Mucciacciaro, Campbell, 86
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Taylor Martin, Windham; 2. Chris Lomartire, Millbury; 3. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 4. Kenneth Morin JR, Old Saybrook; 5. Tyler Chalue, Dudley; 6. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 7. Garrett Denton, Hope Valley; 8. Chace Wood, Danielson; 9. Rachel Forte, Douglas; 10. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock; 11. Nicholas Matera, Warwick
Point Standings after three events: 1. Martin, 158; 2. Lomartire, 142; 3. Chalue, 124; 4. Forte, 122; 5. Morin, 104; 6. Kaz Grala, 101; 7. Sowa, 86; 8. Carpenter, 80; 9. Dimatteo, 70; 10. Stolte, 68
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 2. Dan D’Addario, Columbia; 3. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 4. Devin Widger, Plainville; 5. Randy Johnston, Westerly; 6. Wayne Shiflett, Preston; 7. Glen Thomas Jr., Groton; 8. Jeremy Violette, Canterbury; 9. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 10. Bruce Hall, Ledyard; 11. Christopher Garside, Waterford; 12. Kim Bickford, Jewett City; 13. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 14. Jeffrey Lee, Uncasville; 15. Neal Phillips, North Grosvendordale; 16. Michele Cicio, Baltic; 17. David Lloyd, Mystic; 18. Daniel Madore, Sterling; 19. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 20. Arthur Phillips, Norwich; 21. Todd Nadeau, North Franklin; 22. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; 23. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 24. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme
Point Standings after three events: 1. D. D’addario, 149; 2. Widger, 147; 3. Williams, 141; 4. Johnston, 124; 5. Voglesong, 122; 6. Shifflett, 116; 7. Violette, 104; 8. Hall, 98; 9. Trask, 92; 10. Thomas, 84
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. John Yagmin, Tolland; 2. Rob Corey, South Windsor; 3. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 4. Mike Maskell II, Quaker Hill; 5. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 6. Michael Caprio, New Haven; 7. Ken Downing III, Branford; 8. Taylor Marie-Moran, Preston; 9. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 10. Dan Moon, Exeter; 11. Charles Beal, Ledyard; 12. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 13. Richard Avino, North Haven; 14. Kevin Moon, Exeter; 15. James Consalvo, East Harford; 16. Duke Place, Charleston; 17. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge; 18. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 19. Tyler DiFrancesca, Lisbon; 20. Shawn Butler, Jewett City; 21. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 22. Joe Jacobs, East Hartford
Point Standings after three events: 1. Yagmin, 145; 2. Corey, 138; 3. Caprio, 133; 2. (tie) Corey, Yagmin. 90; 4. Beal, 88; 5. Perkins, 74; 6. Moran, 70; 7. Downing, 69; 8. (tie) Place, Boisvert, Consalvo, 68
X Modifieds (15-laps): 1. Richard Brouwer, Waterford; 2. Paul French, Andover; 3. Rob Gallaer, Sherman; 4. Brenden Shea, Mystic; 5. Rich Schlegel, Griswold; 6. Rick Ceravolo, Groton; 7. Corey Larson, Bolton; 8. Brian Dimartino, Cromwell
Point Standings after two events: 1. French, 103; 2. Brouwer, 101; 3. Ceravolo, 88; 4. Shea, 86; 5. Schlegel, 80; 6. Larson, 78; 7. Gallaer, 46; 8. Steve Skenyon, 44; 9. Dimartino, 36
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR