Waterford Speedbowl Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesdays 6/27 Results
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl was back for Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday with a quick paced and action packed night of racing action. The Legends Cars resumed their red hot battle with Matt Pappa of Nassau, NY back in Victory Lane. Joey Ternullo of Middletown won the Bandolero feature, Dan Butler of Waterford took the win in the Super X-Car feature and Scott Limkemann of East Lyme took down another X-Car feature victory. Brad Voglesong of Middletown was the winner of the night’s Wacky Race.
A thrilling 20-lap Legends Cars feature was led in the early going by Dennis Pantani. As Pantani led the field off turn two with two laps completed he went round in front of the competition. Several drivers including Dana Dimatteo and Dave Garbo Jr. were forced to take evasive action down the back chute, arrowly missing becoming collected. Stephen Kopcik had nowhere to go and tagged Pantani’s car in the backstretch while the yellow flag waved.
The restart saw brothers Dana and Cory Dimatteo lead the field back to the green flag. Dana got the jump on his younger brother to lead into turn one. arbo wound his car up on the outside lane to reach Dana Dimatteo’s rear bumper by lap-3, bringing Pappa with him into the top three.
The pair wasted no time challenging for the race lead with both hungrily going after Dimatteo’s lead. Garbo dove to the leader’s outside in turn one on lap-4 with Pappa going low. The trio went three wide through turns one and two with both clearing Dimatteo and Garbo rocketing off turn two in the race lead over Pappa.
Pappa stalked Garbo looking for a lane to his inside. That opportunity came on lap-8 when Pappa drove to Garbo’s inside to momentarily take the lead. garbo used a nifty crossover move to get back to Pappa’s inside off turn four and drive back ahead to keep hold of his lead. Garbo led for three more laps until Pappa got to his inside again on lap-12. Garbo tried to set up Pappa for another move back underneath as he successfully had done prior, but Pappa defended the move the second time around.
Pappa could not pull out to any greater than a one car advantage over Garbo who never let up. Coming to the white flag as the two approached a lapped car, Garbo was able to close to Pappa’s rear bumper. The two made slight contact headed into turn one but Pappa looked the veteran in holding his car steady, then pull away off turn two. He won his fifth Wednesday event of the year by a one car length advantage ahead of Garbo in another entertaining race between the two. Dana Dimatteo held third over the duration of the race and Joey Mucciacciaro had a nice run to place fourth at the checkered flag. Cory Dimatteo was fifth.
Ternullo was untouchable in the 20-lap Bandolero feature. He rocketed out to the race lead over an intense battle for second position that endured most of the race. Defending champion Rachel Forte, Jacob Urch and Alan Eastman battled for the opening laps of the race while Ternullo took off ahead. Forte and Eastman tangled while battling, knocking Forte out of the race after she crashed into the turn two wall on lap-7.
That was the only caution flag of the event and after the restart, Ternullo picked up where he left off. He cruised to an easy victory. Ken Morin Jr. fought through traffic to finish in second at the checkered flag while Eastman placed third.
A good turnout of X-Cars graced the three eighths mile Speedbowl oval on Wednesday evening, sparking some trouble getting the race underway over the opening laps. Three caution periods slowed the event over their first three laps. Onie Pierce showed the way before he was actually collected during the fourth caution period of the race as the leader. Mike Trask had just raced to Pierce’s outside in a bid for the lead, when Kim Bickford was spun across the track in turn four ahead of the leaders. Pierce was unable to skirt through the danger, just barely clipping Bickford’s car and damaging his left front suspension.
Following the cleanup and restart, it was Limkemann who raced into the lead ahead of Trask. Pete Zaikarite and Glen Thomas Jr. were both hot on his tail to race into the top-three as the race moved past its halfway point. Limkemann was not able to pull out to much breathing room over his closest pursuers but was able to go on to the win, his fourth on the Wednesday season and second in a row. Thomas took second over Zaikarite at the finish.
Butler was back on top in the 20-lap Super X-Car race after destroying a car just a week ago. He led from the beginning during a cleanly run event that featured just one caution period for a spin in turn four on lap-10. Following the restart, Butler raced comfortably ahead of a battle for second position that was hot among several drivers.
Butler took down his third win of the Wednesday season, but first since May 16. The hard-nosed war for second position escalated into a three-wide battle coming to the checkered flag. Second position was taken by Peter Pollard ahead of Ed Ryan and Jon Porter over an exciting final two laps.
The X-Car division competed in the night’s Wacky Race, which was a Musical Car Race. The final round whittled the field down to the Wednesday night veteran Voglesong against youngster Jeffrey Lee. The pair put on an entertaining duel in attempt to reach the final cone first, with Voglesong narrowly edging Lee to the delight of the crowd.
Next Wednesday, July 4th the Speedbowl celebrates the nation’s birthday with an aerial fireworks display wrapping up the Wild ‘n Wacky action on the track. The popular addition to the schedule will still offer free youth grandstands admission for those age 14 and under, while adult admission is just $8. Acres of free parking and ample grandstands seating will provide for one of the region’s easiest and most enjoyable fireworks displays to view. More information including event details are available by visiting Speedbowl.com
Waterford Speedbowl Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday 6/27 Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Matt Pappa, Nassau, NY; 2. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 3. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 4. Joseph Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 5. Cory Dimatteo, Farmington; 6. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 7. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA; 8. Chris Young, Calverton, NY; 9. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 10. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 11. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 12. Nicholas Lascuola, Brockton, MA; 13. Timothy Heath, Lebanon; 14. Art Marrero, Baltic; 15. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 16. Stephen Kopcik, Newtown; 17. John O’Sullivan, Salem
Bandoleros (20-laps): 1. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 2. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 3. Alan Eastman Jr., Fishers Island, NY; 4. Jacob Urch, West Suffield; 5. Corey Comeroski, Lebanon; 6. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 7. Andrew Morin, Old Saybrook; 8. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 9. Derek Debbis, Oakdale
Super X-Cars (25-laps): 1. Dan Butler, Waterford; 2. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 3. Ed Ryan, Preston; 4. Jon Porter, Canterbury; 5. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 6. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 7. John Yagmin, Tolland; 8. Eric Finkbein, Colchester; 9. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI; 10. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 11. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 12. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 13. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 14. Ray Reed, Norwich; 15. Matt Carlson, Griswold; 16. Ralph Caddick, Hope Valley, RI; 17. Steve Bray, East Hartford; 18. Shawn Gaedeke, Southington; 19. Ken Downing III, Branford; 20. Daryl Stratford, Manchester
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 2. Glen Thomas Jr., Groton; 3. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 4. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 5. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 6. Christopher Thomas, East Hampton; 7. John Bowes, Willington; 8. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 9. Larry Loomis, Moosup; 10. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 11. Javier Rivera, Willimantic; 12. Christopher Lee, Uncasville; 13. Henry Lavallee, Uncasville; 14. Zach Ezzell, Plainfield; 15. Eddie Loomis, Plainfield; 16. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 17. Chuck McDonald, Groton; 18. Kristie Hamel, Jewett City; 19. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 20. Ernest Lavallee Jr., Putnam; 21. Shaun Parker, Taftville; 22. Craig Miner, Higganum; 23. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 24. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 25. Mitchell Bombard, Willimantic; 26. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 27. Ken Holbrook, Shannock, RI; DNS – Nate Bryington, Webster, MA
Wacky X-Car Musical Car Race: 1. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 2. Jeffrey Lee, Uncasville; 3. Josh Barrie, Voluntown; 4. Ernest Lavallee Jr., Putnam; 5. Kristie Hamel, Jewett City; 6. Chuck McDonald, Groton
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR