Pappa, Martin, Porter and Bourbeau in Winner’s Circle
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl was in action for the final Wild ‘n Wacky event of the season Wednesday evening, crowning the mid-week series’ final two champions. Special 25-lap features capped off the year for each weekly division. Matthew Pappa of Nassau, NY came out on top of an exciting battle to win the Legends Cars. Jon Porter of Canterbury won the Super X-Car race, Jeremy Bourbeau of Taftville took his first ever checkered flag in the X-Cars, while Taylor Martin of Windham, NH took home top honors in the Bandoleros. Rounding out the night’s winners in novelty races were Louis Bellisle of Lisbon in the X-Car Mechanic’s race, Dan Yagmin of Tolland won the Super X-Cars Mechanic’s race and it was Speedbowl Flagmen James Warner winning the special Speedbowl Officials race.
The 25-lap Legends Cars race was a spirited battle for the checkered flag among two young and upcoming drivers. Dave Garbo Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green flag from his starting position outside the front row. While Garbo moved out to the early lead, Pappa was moving through the field. He advanced to second position after a restart on lap-5, with Joey Mucciaccaro and Angelo Belsito taking the third and fourth positions.
Pappa and Garbo dueled over a run of green flag racing that brought the field to lap-12. Pappa chased Garbo over the span but could not find the momentum to make a serious attempt to challenge for the lead. The second caution period waved for a spin in turn four to bring the field back behind Garbo on lap-12.
Following the restart, Pappa began to hound Garbo out front. Pappa looked for racing room to Garbo’s inside, finally finding that on lap-15 with an inside move. He made the pass stick, however Garbo reclaimed the lead by duplicating the move a lap later. Garbo raced to Pappa’s inside down the front chute to take back over with 16-laps complete. Before Pappa could counter, caution waved on a lap later as two cars got together on the front chute to cool the red-hot battle out front.
Following the lap-17 restart, Garbo got the jump to turn one to take the lead. Pappa was not finished however, regrouping behind Garbo to once again make an inside bid for the top spot. He found room on lap-20, finally seizing command from Garbo on lap-21. The final four laps saw Garbo chasing Pappa trying to put together one more maneuver. Garbo could not find an answer and Pappa took down the win, his second at the track this season. Garbo finished second with Belsito claiming third. Nicholas Lascuola finished in fourth, with Ed Field claiming fifth at the checkered flag.
The 25-Bandolero lap Bandolero feature had Cory Dimatteo out front at the beginning. Just one caution flag would come out over the course of the extra-distance event. Before long, Joey Ternullo rocketed his way through the field from his shotgun starting position into the race lead. With Ternullo out front, Taylor Martin raced her way to second position with intentions of tracking down Ternullo. Behind Martin, Jacob Urch held third position while Jordan Churchill was solidly holding fourth. A great battle for fifth took place over the later stages of the race between Derek Debbis, Alan Eastman, track champion Rachel Forte and Jordan Lamothe. After some tight racing and shuffling among the drivers, it was Eastman who took the position in his best performance of the season.
Back up front Martin, the former track champion, had gained little on Ternullo. She chased him all the way to the checkered flag, however after technical inspection revealed problems with Ternullo’s restrictor plate, Martin was awarded the victory. Urch, Churchill, Eastman and Debbis finished second through fifth.
The 25-lap Super X-Car race took the green flag with points contender Frank Alessio on the pole position by virtue of his misfortune over prior weeks. Mike Maskell, the championship points leader headed into the race, started deep in the pack. The first 11 laps were run under the green flag with Alessio leading comfortably. Behind the leader, Maskell steadily picked off cars to move into the top-five.
A three-car battle for second position between Bo Norman, Jon Porter and Ken Downing III was underway when out of turn two with 11-laps complete, Norman got crossed up from second. Porter dove underneath with the cars coming together. Downing tried the outside of both when the cars drifted up sending Downing hard into the backstretch wall to bring out the race’s only caution period. Norman also made hard contact with the wall while Porter continued on.
The restart pitted Porter against Alessio. Maskell was bumped up to third position after the incident. Alessio took the lead when racing resumed but Porter moved outside two laps later to pose a serious threat to Alessio. Porter spent four laps outside the leader before finally edging ahead into the lead on lap-17. Maskell sat back in third, appearing safe in his championship hunt.
The final laps were clicked off without further delay. Porter went on to a two-car length lead over Alessio, while Maskell crossed the finish line third. Ed Ryan finished in fourth and John Yagmin was fifth. Results are unofficial pending technical inspection, also delaying final championship standings.
In the 25-lap season finale for the X-Cars, a three-car battle for the championship was the highlight of the event. All three title contenders found trouble in the opening laps in a race that was slowed by four caution periods. When the green flag waved to start the race, the field made it to turn two before Brad Voglesong, third in the standings headed into the event, dropped to the tail of the field after finding the infield on the opening lap. On lap-3 the first caution period waved. While under caution another championship hopeful, Pete Zaikarite, went to the pits to change a flat right front tire.
Zaikarite was still in the pits when the green flag waved, however lady luck was on his side as Chris Ivory and Onie Pierce got sideways, spinning in turn three on the restart to keep the race under the yellow flag. Several cars made contact in the melee including the points leader headed into the event, Randy Johnston.
Zaikarite made it back out without losing a lap and when the race restarted, Johnston drastically slowed off the pace as a victim of a flat right rear tire. Johnston would not benefit from a caution period before he went down laps to the leader, eventually retiring to the infield and eliminating his title aspirations in heartbreaking fashion.
A long run of green flag racing endured with Bourbeau occupying the lead. He built up a large cushion over Scott Limkemann as the race moved past halfway and the leaders navigated lapped traffic. Dan D’addario rose up to third place while Voglesong and Zaikarite were on a march through the pack. As those two raced for a title, Bourbeau was looking for a career first victory. Bourbeau’s lead was erased with just six laps remaining for a caution when Rick Mollo spun exiting turn four.
Bourbeau had to fight off a brief rally by Limkemann in the outside lane after the restart before he pulled away to complete his victory. Limkemann would hold for an impressive second while Michael Marvin came on strong to finish third. Dan D’addario and Voglesong rounded out the top-five. Zaikarite finished right behind in sixth, to unofficially wrap up the championship pending technical inspection.
The Speedbowl also staged three popular novelty races on the night. Both the X-Car and Super X-Car divisions hosted a mechanic’s race, allowing crew members a chance to strut their stuff behind the wheel. Louis Bellisle of Lisbon and Dan Yagmin of Tolland won the 12-lap races, respectively. In the nightcap, a 15-lap Speedbowl Officials race saw Flagman James Warner turn in his flags for a firesuit to hold back the charges of Tom Fox, Chris Williams and Mark Caise over the final laps to claim bragging race of a race that went down to the wire.
Waterford Speedbowl 9/21 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Unofficial Results:
Legends Cars (25-laps): 1. Matt Pappa, Nassau, NY; 2. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 3. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA; 4. Nicholas Lascuola, Brockton, MA; 5. Ed Field, Deep River; 6. Cory Dimatteo, Farmington; 7. Matthew Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 8. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 9. Richard White, North Stonington; 10. Tim Heath, Lebanon; 11. Bob Weymouth,
Topsham, ME; 12. Danny Field, Deep River; 13. Stan Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 14. David Johnson, Arlingham, MA; 15. Joey Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 16. Arthur Marerro, Baltic; 17. Carl Blandina, Milford; 18. Steven Ross, Stanfield, NC
Bandoleros (20-laps): 1. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 2. Jacob Urch, Suffield; 3. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 4. Alan Eastman, Fishers Island, NY; 5. Derek Debbis, Oakdale; 6. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 7. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock; 8. Cory Dimatteo, Farmington; 9. Corey Comeroski, Lebanon; 10. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 11. Rene Morgillo, Niantic; DQ –
Joey Ternullo, Middletown
Super X-Cars (25-laps): 1. Jon Porter, Canterbury; 2. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 3. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 4. Ed Ryan, Preston; 5. John Yagmin, Tolland; 6. Jim Boyle, Windsor; 7. Bill Reiman, Southington; 8. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 9. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 10. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI; 11. Shawn Butler, Jewett City; 12. Bo Norman, Clinton; 13. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 14. Robert Norman, Clinton; 15. Jimmy Griswold, Wallingford; 16. Ken Downing III, Branford; DNS – R.J. Cunningham, Durham; DNS – Sean Lisle, Clinton; DNS – Eric Finkbein, Colchester
X-Cars (25-laps): 1. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; 2. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 3. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 4. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 5. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 6. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 7. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 8. Larry Loomis, Plainfield; 9. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 10. John Bowes, Willington; 11. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 12. Javier Rivera, Willimantic; 13. Robert Carlson, Rockfall; 14. Richard Mollo, Seymour; 15. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 16. Ron Dimauro, Plymouth; 17. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 18. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 19. Chuck McDonald, Groton; 20. Kristie Hamel, Jewett City; 21. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 22. Christoper Lee, Uncasville; 23. Danny Gervais, East Hartford; 24. Chris Garside, Waterford; 25. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 26. Christopher Ivory, Oakdale; DNS – Scott Bellisle, Griswold
Super X-Car Mechanics Race Winner (12-laps): 1. Dan Yagmin, Tolland
X-Car Mechanics Race Winner(12-laps): 1. Louis Bellisle, Lisbon
Officials Race (15-laps): 1. James Warner
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR