Giarratana scores back-to-back win in Legends Cars action; Garside a first-time winner; Martin, Yagmin and Zaikarite others in Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday returned to action at Waterford Speedbowl Wednesday evening, completing a quickly paced five event program under warm and sunny skies. Giovanni Giarratana of Newington claimed his second consecutive Legends Cars feature victory. Thirteen-year old Taylor Martin of New Hampshire returned to the winner’s circle in the Bandolero feature, Tolland’s John Yagmin repeated his Super X-Car win from a week ago, and Waterford’s Chris Garside picked up a career-first win taking a competitive X-Car main event. Pete Zaikarite of Niantic won the night’s Wacky Race.
Angelo Belsito looked strong in the opening laps of the 20-lap Legends Cars feature. He drove the high lane out front while the field behind him diced for position over the first half of the race, which were completed without caution. During the racing action several competitors were looking to contend with Belsito for the checkered flag including Giarratana, Carl Blandina, Dana Dimatteo, Ed Field, Alessandro Vitelli, Jason Palmer and more. As the group of cars battled for position, Giarratana closed in on Belsito’s lead.
With Belsito racing the high line, Giarratana was able to pull underneath, and eventually ahead, of the leader as they raced to the halfway mark at lap-10. Behind the lead pair, the field had stacked up side-by-side three rows back with tight racing. As the pack thundered its way into turn one, slight contact among the group sent Vitelli spinning into the turn one wall. That brought out the event’s only caution.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
Giarratana mastered the restart. He was able to pull ahead of a battle for second that Blandina held over Dimatteo and Belsito. Dimatteo eventually made his way by for the spot and closed in on Giarratana’s rear bumper with the two-lap to go signal being displayed from the flagstand.
Although Dimatteo was there pressuring, he could not disrupt Giarratana who raced to the win, his second consecutive. Dimatteo settled for second while Belsito narrowly nipped a streaking Palmer for third at the checkered flag. Shaun Buffington rallied late to round out the top-five finishers.
Martin, the defending Bandolero division champion, cruised to the win in the 20-lap feature. She was never seriously threatened in the race. Martin endured one red flag period for a three-car accident off turn two in the early going, knocking out Jacob Urch, Robby Jones, and Jordan Churchill. Rachel Forte was also collected, but able to continue on. All drivers were ok following the wreck.
After the green flag was back in the air, Joey Ternullo moved to second place looking for his second consecutive victory. While he was able to stay with Martin, he did not put any moves on her to contend.
In Super X-Car action, Mike Maskell was the early leader of their 20-lap race. He led the early portion of the feature but Yagmin was too much to overcome late. Yagmin used the outside lane and came out on top of his second race of the year, scoring a back-to-back win.
Behind Yagmin a great battle for position was waged throughout the event. Several cars were challenging for the spot including Maskell, who was trying to hold off the advances of Frank Alessio, Peter Pollard, Ken Downing and others. Each snuck around Maskell, but did not have the chance to try and rattle Yagmin for the win. Behind Yagmin at the checkered flag, Alessio, Downing, Pollard and Maskell were next in line at the finish.
Garside took the win in the 20-lap X-Car feature, putting together a stellar performance for his first-ever checkered flag. He took the lead following a restart just before the halfway point before going on to a half-straightaway win.
Onie Pierce led the opening laps of the race, before pulling off the track and handing the lead to past division champion Patrick Williams. Williams led through two caution periods before yielding to Garside. Once in the lead, Garside had to navigate lapped traffic on his way to victory. An intense battle for second position persisted throughout the event before Randy Johnston emerged with the position at the finish. He narrowly held back point leader Pete Zaikarite, who finished third.
Zaikarite returned later in the evening to come out on top in the weekly Wacky race, a 5-lap Toll Booth race. The drivers were required to drop tokens into the collection bins upon each completed lap. Zaikarite not only crossed the stripe first, he was the most accurate and “deposited” the most tokens.
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR
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. The next event at the Speedbowl is Friday’s Show and Go at the ‘Bowl featuring 100 foot spectator drag racing and cruise show.
Saturday, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing returns to the shoreline oval for Scout Night. Six divisions will be in action including double features for the Street Stocks, making for a seven-event night. A pre-race pit party gets underway at approximately 6:15pm providing fans of all ages the opportunity to meet and greet their favorite Speedbowl drivers. Opening ceremonies and main events begin after the pit party, at approximately 7:00pm.
Waterford Speedbowl 6/8 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 2. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 3. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA; 4. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 5. Shaun Buffington, Plainfield; 6. Carl Blandina, Milford; 7. Joe Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 8. Ed Field, Deep River; 9. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 10. Chris Young, Calverton, NY; 11. Troy Talman, Oxford, MA; 12. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 13. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 14. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 15. Isaac Sherman, Albequerque, NM; 16. Tom Gray, Sprague; 17. Alessandro Vitelli, Woodbridge; DNS – Johnnie Gloor, Flanders, NY
Standings after five events: 1. Mucciacciaro, 220; 2. Dimatteo, 219; 3. Giarratana, 216; 4. Blandina, 190; 5. Garbo, 187; 6. Belsito, 186; 7. Field, 152; 8. Vitelli, 149; 9. Palmer, 134; 10. Pantani, 110
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 2. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 3. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 4. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 5. Corey Dimatteo, Farmington; 6. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 7. Rene Morgillo, Niantic; 8. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock; 9. Nicholas Jansson, Albequerque, NM; 10. Robby Jones, Waterbury; 11. Jacob Urch, West Suffield; 12. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 13. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook;
Standings after five events: 1. Ternullo, 235; 2. Forte, 225; 3. Churchill, 213; 4. Martin, 204; 5. Molleur, 192; 6. Urch, 188; 7. Dimatteo, 174; 8. Lamothe, 154; 9. Jones, 142; 10. Perry, 134
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. John Yagmin, Tolland; 2. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 3. Ken Downing III, Branford; 4. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 5. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 6. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 7. Shawn Perkins, Salem; 8. Ed Ryan, Preston; 9. John Brouwer Jr., Groton; 10. Robert Norman, Clinton; 11. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 12. R.J. Cunningham, Durham; 13. Shawn Butler, Jewett City; 14. Eric Finkbein, Columbia; 15. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI
Standings after five events: 1. Alessio, 235; 2. Maskell, 225; 3. Downing, 222; 4. Pollard, 212; 5. Ryan, 182; 6. Boyle, 170; 7. Moon, 168; 8. Yagmin, 165; 9. Butler, 152; 10. Bill Reiman, 138
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Chris Garside, Waterford; 2. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 3. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 4. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 5. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 6. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 7. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 8. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 9. Christopher Ivory, Oakdale; 10. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 11. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 12. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 13. David Amspacher, Uncasville; 14. Javier Rivera, Willimantic; 15. Todd Nadeau, Ledyard; 16. C.P. Burdick, Deep River; 17. Richard Mollo, Seymour; 18. Christopher Lee, Norwich; 19. Ron Dimauro, Plymouth; 20. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 21. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 22. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 23. Kristie Hamel, Jewett City; 24. Robert Butler, Norwich; 25. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 26. David Lloyd, Mystic; 27. Onie Pierce, Norwich
Standings after five events: 1. Zaikarite, 248; 2. Johnston, 226; 3. Garside, 208; 4. Voglesong, 200; 5. Williams, 180; 6. Trask, 162; 7. Glen Thomas Jr., 146; 8. (tie) Ivory, Limkemann, Stula 144
X-Cars Tollbooth Race top-five (5-laps): 1. Zaikarite; 2. Carlson; 3. Lee; 4. Hamel; 5. Bickford