Dimatteo brothers take Legends Cars and Bandolero feature wins; Maskell back in Victory Lane in extra-distance race while Voglesong takes X-Car win
Waterford, CT —Waterford Speedbowl dodged another curveball from Mother Nature Wednesday evening and completed another Wild ‘n Wacky race program, enduring a delay following a brief but heavy rain shower. The Dimatteo family of Farmington made Victory Lane a family affair with older brother Dana, age 16, capturing the night’s Legends Cars feature. Younger brother Corey, age 13, won the night’s Bandolero race.
In other action Mike Maskell of Quaker Hill was the winner in a special 30-lap Super X-Car feature and Brad Voglesong of Middletown was declared the winner in the night’s X-Car event. Due to the rain delay and conditions, the night’s Wacky Race was postponed.
A highly competitive Legends Cars feature saw no less than five drivers in contention for the 20-lap race victory. Youngster Troy Talman led the opening laps before giving way to veteran Tom Gray on lap-3. Gray was under fire from several competitors over the majority of the event.
Behind Gray, David Garbo Jr. and Angelo Belsito moved into the top three before the race was five laps old. That changed on lap-5 when the pair came together, sending Garbo spinning in turn three. Others including Carl Blandina were collected and the caution flag was out.
On the restart Gray resumed his lead with Ed Field moving up to second. Giovanni Giarratana was seeking his third straight victory on Wednesday nights, testing the outside groove racing up alongside Field for second.
Jason Palmer held the low lane and was able to fight past Giarratana, who slipped back in the upper groove. The racing was hard out front among the leaders as the race reached halfway.
Once in third position, Palmer wasted no time jumping outside Field to challenge for the second. He cleared Field by lap-13 and stayed in the outside lane posing a serious threat to Gray’s lead. Palmer, a former division champion, raced the outside line like a veteran, able to stay glued to Gray’s outside for four laps.
Gray and Palmer touched on the backstretch while they worked lap-15, setting off a chain reaction wreck among the lead group. Palmer’s car got turned sideways across the track at the end of the chute. Several other frontrunners made contact including Shaun Buffington, who’s car climbed airborne over Giarratana’s. Caution came back out on the speedway and the entire running order was shuffled for the ensuing restart.
Field was scored the new leader, with Angelo Belsito alongside in second leading the field back to the green flag. Field got a good restart to take the lead when racing resumed. Dimatteo avoided the previous wreck and was among the leaders on the restart. He moved to second position by Belsito and immediately went to work on pressuring the leader. Field fended off a move out of turn four on lap-16, but Dimatteo was able to master the same maneuver two laps later in the same turn. Field pushed high out of turn four, and Dimatteo seized the chance to take the lead.
Dimatteo was underneath Field as they hit the start-finish line on lap 18, then went on to the win. Nick Ladyga ran strong in the final laps to claim second, with Field finishing third. Point leader Joey Mucciacciaro finished fourth ahead of Belsito.
The 20-lap Bandolero feature saw a great battle for the top spot for the duration of the race. Corey Dimatteo was able to keep Jordan Churchill at bay over the entire distance, then held off a hard-charging Taylor Martin on the final lap to take the feature win.
Dimatteo and Churchill moved out front from the drop of the green flag while third position back was a hot spot for action over much of the event. Jordan Lamothe held the position over the first seven-laps but spun exiting turn two. The field avoided the spinning Lamothe and everyone was able to keep forward motion. Martin actually backed out anticipating a caution flag that did not come, costing her several lengths to the leaders as she momentarily dropped out of the top-five.
The two leaders were able to pull out to a large lead after Lamothe’s spin, however Martin stormed back through the pack during the middle of the race to emerge in third position. She tracked down the front two and was able to race to Churchill’s inside down the back chute of the final lap. Dimatteo took the win over Martin who tailed him to the checkered flag, while Churchill was third.
Maskell was out front for an extended green flag run of racing during the 30-lap, extra-length Super X-Car feature. After an opening-lap caution flag, the first 25-laps of the race were run without interruption.
Maskell raced his way through the top-five early on to become the event leader during the stretch.
Maskell was several car lengths ahead of a battle for second position that raged on between Ken Downing, point leader Frank Alessio, and John Yagmin, winner of the previous two events. Alessio came out on top in the battle for the second position by lap-23, looking to track down Maskell as the laps ticked off the scoreboard.
Caution on lap-25 gave Alessio the chance to pull alongside Maskell for the restart, but Maskell was too much getting a great restart and holding on for the win. Alessio settled for second position, with Yagmin claiming third.
Voglesong raced hard early in the 20-lap X-Car feature, navigating a competitive field of four-cylinders to be among the top three in the first half of the race. Three caution flags slowed the pace before the rain came.
After track drying efforts, nearly one hour later the race resumed. Dan D’addario eventually powered past Voglesong with six laps remaining, going on to take the checkered flag first. However, during post-race inspection, D’addario was disqualified, giving the win to Voglesong.
Behind Voglesong in the official finish were point leader Pete Zaikarite and Scott Limkemann.
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 6/15 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 2. Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 3. Ed Field, Deep River; 4. Joe Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 5. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA; 6. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 7. Troy Talman, Oxford, MA; 8. Tom Gray, Sprague; 9. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 10. David Caissie, Marlboro, MA; 11. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 12. Richard White, North Stonington; 13. Kyle Hardwick, Chaplin; 14. Arthur Maurero, Baltic; 15. Shuan Buffington, Plainfield; 16. Nicholas Lascuola, Brockton, MA; 17. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 18. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 19. Carl Blandina, Milford; 20. Calvin Therrien, Vernon; 21. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH
Standings after six events: 1. Dimatteo, 274; 2. Mucciacciaro, 264; 3. Giarratana, 250; 4. Belsito, 228; 5. Garbo, 205; 6. Blandina, 204; 7. Field, 198; 8. Palmer, 174; 9. Ladyga, 154; 10. Alessandro Vitelli, 149
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Corey Dimatteo, Farmington; 2. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 3. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 4. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 5. Jacob Urch, West Suffield; 6. Robby Jones, Waterbury; 7. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 8. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock; 9. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 10. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 11. Rene Morgillo, Niantic; 12. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 13. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook
Standings after six events: 1. Ternullo, 279; 2. (tie) Churchill, Forte, 259; 4. Martin, 252; 5. (tie) Molleur, Urch, 230; 7. Dimatteo, 229; 8. Lamothe, 190; 9. Jones, 182; 10. Perry, 166
Super X-Cars (30-laps): 1. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 2. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 3. John Yagmin, Tolland; 4. Ken Downing III, Branford; 5. Shawn Perkins, Salem; 6. Ed Ryan, Preston; 7. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 8. Robert Norman, Clinton; 9. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 10. John Brouwer Jr., Groton; 11. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 12. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 13. Shawn Butler, Jewett City; 14. John Robidoux, Fall River, MA; 15.Eric Finkbein, Columbia; 16. John Bennett, Ledyard; 17. R.J. Cunningham, Durham
Standings after six events: 1. Alessio, 283; 2. Maskell, 280; 3. Downing, 266; 4. Pollard, 250; 5. Ryan, 222; 6. Yagmin, 211; 7. Moon, 202; 8. Boyle, 198; 9. Butler, 178; 10. Norman, 164
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 2. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 3. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 4. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 5. Chris Garside, Waterford; 6. Christopher Ivory, Oakdale; 7. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 8. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 9. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 10. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 11. John Bowes, Willington; 12. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 13. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 14. Javier Rivera, Willimantic; 15. Todd Nadeau, Ledyard; 16. David Amspacher, Uncasville; 17. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 18. C.P. Burdick, Deep River; 19. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 20. Richard Mollo, Seymour; 21. Christopher Lee, Uncasville; 22. Robert Butler, Norwich; 23. Kristie Hamel, Jewett City; 24. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 25. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 26. David Lloyd, Mystic; 27. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; DQ – Dan D’addario, Columbia
Standings after six events: 1. Zaikarite, 342; 2. Johnston, 318; 3. Garside, 305; 4. Voglesong, 285; 5. Williams, 254; 6. Trask, 232; 7. Limkemann, 228; 8. Ivory, 218; 9. Stula, 214; 10. Amspacher, 188
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR