Flannery continues mastery of Legends Cars; Martin, Caprio, Marvin and Gallaer others to reach Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — A beautiful summer evening graced fans in attendance for Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday at the Speedbowl. Anthony Flannery of East Hampton continued his season long dominance of the Legends Cars racing, winning his 12th consecutive race in the division. Taylor Martin of New Hampshire returned to Victory Lane in the Bandolero’s, Mike Marvin of Colchester was the surprise winner in an exciting X-Car feature and Michael Caprio of New Haven was awarded the Super X-Car win. Rob Gallaer of Sherman wired the X-Modified race.
Nick Ladyga led the Legends Cars field to green for a 20-lap race but Dave Garbo Jr. was able to move out front on lap one with an inside pass down the back chute. Ladyga settled in second over veterans Carl Blandina, George Whitney and Dennis Pantani in the early laps. On lap five contact among the top five runners sent Pantani spinning ahead of the pack. The field scattered but was able to continue on caution free. That jostled the running order and moved Flannery into third position with Jason Palmer, making a rare Legends Cars start in 2010, up to fourth position and Whitney back to fifth.
Flannery took second position from Ladyga entering turn one of lap eight and ran down Garbo who was still in command out front. Flannery began to turn up the heat on Garbo when caution waved on lap 10.
Flannery, Palmer, and Dana Dimatteo all found their way by Garbo on the restart. The top three raced in tight quarters over the next two laps. Palmer looked outside Flannery but Flannery had the handling through the middle of the corners to hold him off. Palmer then switched his strategy and pressured Flannery on the low side. Dimatteo was in third awaiting opportunity if the top two faltered. Caution with three laps remaining set up a finish between Flannery and Palmer, the dominant drivers in the division over the past two seasons, and Dimatteo, a driver improving each passing race.
Flannery got a great restart as did Dimatteo. Palmer dropped back to third momentarily, then executed a great cross-over move exiting turn four to reclaim second from with two circuits remaining. That brief interruption enabled Flannery to move out to a lead Palmer couldn’t recover. Flannery recorded his 12th consecutive win over Palmer. Dimatteo ran a great race to finish third. Garbo and Ladyga also ran strong to finish fourth and fifth respectively.
Martin took the lead on lap one and survived multiple caution flags in the 20-lap Bandolero race to take her fifth win of the season. After early troubles getting the race going, Martin took over the lead on lap one after starting the race in third. Chace Wood ran in the top three for the entire event for his best showing of the season. He was in third when Tyler Chalue, running second behind Martin, dropped off the pace and ultimately out of contention. Wood advanced to second position but a hard-charging Ken Morin Jr. was on the move over the second half of the race. He used both the high and low grooves to advance through the field and eventually overtook Wood for second with just two laps remaining. Martin was comfortably out front, and went on to the win over Morin. Wood finished third.
Jon Porter led lap one of a great 20-lap Super X-Car race. The first caution flew on lap nine when John Yagmin brought out the caution flag on lap nine when he failed to heed the black consultation flag.
Porter resumed the lead when racing returned to green, but heavy hitters surrounded him on every corner. Downing, Charles Beal, Michael Caprio and Rob Corey all moved in, racing in tight formation around the Speedbowl behind the leader. Downing made an outside move on Porter, spending two laps alongside battling for the race lead before he was able to take command on lap 13.
Behind Downing, the action for second was entertaining. Beal stalked Porter for the spot over the next three laps with Caprio and Corey in place to improve their position at the drop of a hat. Beal finally wedged his way under Porter. Caprio peeked at a three wide maneuver exiting turn four on lap 15. One lap later, Beal took second spot from Porter who fell back to be challenged by Caprio and Corey. Contact sent Porter spinning to the infield, bringing out caution on lap 16.
Downing got the jump on the final restart. Caprio found room under Beal, looking to take over second in what turned out to be a very lucrative battle for position. Their battle allowed Downing to race comfortably in the lead to cross the stripe appearing to win his second race of the season. Caprio wrestled second from Beal at the checkered, with Corey fourth and Dan Moon rounding out the top five finishers. Following post race inspection, Downing’s car was disqualified moving Caprio to the win.
Marvin was the leader from the early going in a thrilling 20-lap X-Car race. Rich Hurne chased Marvin for the top spot through the first half of the race, which remained caution free. The pair opened up a half straightaway lead while heated battles from third position back were on-going. Brad Voglesong, Glen Thomas Jr., Dan D’addario, and Patrick Williams were locked in a torrid battle for the spot. Voglesong took the spot temporarily, but Thomas made his way by the inside with D’addario following suit, dropping Voglesong to fifth.
As the race just moved past halfway the lead pair of Marvin and Hurne encountered lapped traffic. With the intensity picking up at the front, the action was finally slowed for C.P. Burdick who drew the first caution flag of the race on lap 11.
Several top runners were in contention on the restart. Thomas took over second position from Hurne, then challenged the outside of Marvin following a lap 12 restart. D’addario and Hurne were locked in a battle for third behind the leaders. Marvin slipped in turn four on lap 13, giving Thomas the opportunity to pull ahead into the race lead.
Out front Thomas appeared to be in control. As he made his way through turns three and four for the final lap, heartbreak set in on the leader when a flat right front tire sent his machine up the track. Marvin and D’addario were able to slip under Thomas in a wild finish. Marvin raced to the checkered flag for the win. D’addario was second with Thomas able to hold on and keep his car out of trouble to take third. Patrick Williams and Hurne rounded out the top five.
Gallaer led from the green flag in the 15-lap X-Modified event, receiving pressure from Rick Ceravolo in the opening laps. Brenden Shea of Mystic took a hard trip into the retaining wall exiting turn four to bring out the red flag on lap three.
Gallaer withstood one more caution on route to his first victory of the season, distancing himself from second place finisher Paul French. Ceravolo was third.
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 6/30 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Anthony Flannery, East Hampton; 2. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 3. Dana DiMatteo, Farmington; 4. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 5. Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 6. Joey Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 7. Christian Pedersen, New Canaan; 8. Troy Talman, Oxford; 9. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 10. Edward Field, Deep River; 11. Carlo Blandina, Milford; 12. Michael Blaskey, Bethany; 13. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 14. Peter Portante, Plainville; 15. Jake Spillers, Ashburnham, MA; 16. Arthur Marrero, Baltic; 17. Tom Pinson, Colchester; 18. Matthew Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 19. Scott Haag, Chester; 20. George Whitney, Westbrook; 21. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington
Point Standings after eight events: 1. Flannery, 440; 2. Dimatteo, 342; 3. Field, 338; 4. Blandina, 304; 5. Giarratana, 286; 6. Pantani, 250; 7. Mucciacciaro, 244; 8. Garbo, 242; 9. Spillers, 220; 10. White, 212
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 2. Kenneth Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 3. Chace Wood, Danielson; 4. Kaz Grala, Westborough, MA; 5. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 6. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 7. Garrett Denton, Hope Valley, RI; 8. Nicholas Matera, Warwick, RI; 9. Tyler Chalue, Dudley, MA; 10. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 11. Andrew Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 12. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 13. Corey DiMatteo, Farmington
Point Standings after eight events: 1. Martin, 408; 2. Grala, 318; 3. Chalue, 315; 4. Morin, 262; 5. Ternullo, 261; 6. (tie) Denton, Rachel Forte, 256; 8. Carpenter, 250; 9. Dimatteo, 230; 10. Sowa, 228
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 2. Dan D’Addario, Columbia; 3. Glen Thomas Jr., Groton; 4. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 5. Rich Hurne, Groton; 6. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 7. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 8. Jeremy Violette, Canterbury; 9. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 10. Daniel Madore, Sterling; 11. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 12. Tyler Pagnotta, Preston; 13. Bruce Hall, Ledyard; 14. Christopher Garside, Waterford; 15. Bill Giles, Stratford; 16. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 17. Christopher Ivory, Oakdale, 18. Arthur Phillips, Norwich; 19. David Lloyd, Mystic; 20. Robert Butler, Plainfield; 21. Jeffrey Lee, Uncasville; 22. C.P. Burdick, East Lyme; 23. Geoffrey Burdick, East Lyme; DNS – Kim Bickford, Jewett City; DQ – Devin Widger, Plainville
Point Standings after eight events: 1. D’addario, 327; 2. (tie) Widger, Thomas, 322; 4. Voglesong, 317; 5. Johnston, 304; 6. Shifflett, 286; 7. Trask, 282; 8. Violette, 280; 9. Madore, 242; 10. Hall, 230
X-Modifieds (15-laps): 1. Rob Gallaer, Sherman; 2. Paul French, Andover; 3. Rick Ceravolo, Groton; 4. Kevin Bassett, Attleboro, MA; 5. Bubby Brouwer, Waterford; 6. Corey Larson, Bolton; 7. Brenden Shea, Mystic; DNS – Richard Schlegel, Griswold
Point Standings after six events: 1. Brouwer, 259; 2. French, 241; 3. Ceravolo, 233; 4. Shea, 216; 5. Schlegel, 198; 6. Gallaer, 180; 7. Steve Skenyon, 84; 8. Corey Larson, 78; 9. Brian Dimartino, 36.
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR