Waterford Speedbowl 6/9 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Results
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl was finally back in action after two straight weeks of rain-outs, putting on a five-division program which included NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing plus the season opening event for the International Supermodified Association. The ISMA event was rescheduled from May 26 after rain postponed the event on its original date. Picking up NASCAR Whelen All-American Series victories on the night included Jeff Pearl of Salem in a thrilling SK Modified® feature and Dillon Moltz of Waterford in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, his third of the year. Corey Hutchings of Salem won for the second time of the year in the Street Stocks and Ken Cassidy Jr. of Lisbon came on strong late to win his eighth Mini Stock feature of 2012. Lou Cicconi of Aston, PA dominated the 50-lap ISMA race to score the win.
Diego Monahan led the SK Modified® field from the drop of the green flag in their 35-lap feature. Joe Perry raced to second while Pearl moved up to third in the opening laps. Monahan opened up a several car length lead over Perry, who received pressure from Pearl. Rob Janovic Jr. was up to fourth and glued himself to Pearl’s rear bumper as they both eyed the second position held by Perry.
Pearl finally wedged his way underneath Perry to take second on lap-10, just before the first caution was thrown when Nichole Morgillo and Joe Gada got together at the back half of the top-ten. Morgillo’s car made contact with the outside wall in turn three and came to rest, ending her evening.
Monahan was back out front by the time the field reached turn one on the restart, leading Pearl and Janovic. Monahan’s season of misfortune continued when on lap-14, he pulled low off turn two with smoke pouring from under the hood of his machine. Pearl inherited the lead, but had company in the way of Janovic all over his rear bumper. Keith Rocco had made his way into the top three and was running down the top two when Perry looped his car in turn four on lap-19 to return the race to caution for a second time.
Pearl jumped back to the race lead with Rocco in his tracks, powering past Janovic into second. Only one more lap was complete before cousins Joe and Adam Gada spun in tandem off turn four with 20 laps completed for the final caution period.
Pearl got a solid restart over Rocco when the green flag went back over the field. Janovic was able to take back second to the inside of Rocco, resuming an escalating battle for the lead with Pearl. Tyler Chadwick was trying to make some noise from fourth position, finding room outside Rocco in attempt to challenge him for third as the leaders ran to lap-25.
As the remaining laps counted off the scoreboard, Janovic was turning up his pressure on Pearl. Rocco held back Chadwick and the top four ran nose-to-tail without much breathing room. Janovic valiantly tried to get to Pearl’s inside, with the pair even making slight contact multiple times in the final five laps. Out of turn four on the final lap, Janovic made a last ditch effort to get underneath Pearl coming to the checkered flag. His last ditch effort fell short and Pearl recorded his first win of the year and 37th of his career. Janovic settled for second ahead of Rocco, Chadwick and Kyle James.
There was no shortage of drama at the conclusion of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature. Their 30-lap feature had Rich Staskowski showing the way after taking over the lead from Brian Andronaco Jr. following a lap-3 restart. Staskowski led through two restarts that brought the race to lap-6, when Keith Rocco was behind Staskowski in second. The two came together off turn two sending Staskowski spinning and bringing out a caution. Rocco was penalized to the rear of the field under caution, turning the lead over to Bruce Thomas Jr.
Thomas led the race over the middle portion of the race which settled in for multiple green flag laps. Moltz and Jason Palmer had a good battle for second position going, eventually taken by Moltz. Androanco spun with less than five laps to go to set up a wild conclusion.
Thomas led the next restart but Moltz refused to back down. He got to Thomas’ inside on lap-28 in what was shaping up as a two car tussle for the win. Coming to the white flag the pair made contact off turn four. Moltz got off into the dirt on the apron of the frontstretch while Thomas saved his car from trouble. Andronaco was spun across the back chute forcing a final caution and green-white-checkered finish. Thomas had trouble on the restart, dropping back as Moltz powered ahead. Moltz went on to the victory after getting away from Thomas, who suffered from something going away on his car at the conclusion. Rocco rebounded back to second, with Palmer finishing third.
Hutchings was dominant over much of the 25-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Street Stock feature. The first 16 laps ran without caution and saw Hutchings build up a commanding lead over the rest of the pack which was locked in battle for position. Once the first caution waved and the pack bunched up, Hutchings had to survive four restarts before marching to his second victory on the year. He held back Josh Galvin and Joe Arena over the closing laps.
The 25-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Mini Stock feature was far from boring. Jeffrey Lee led the first five laps before he gave way to fifteen year old Joseph Fogarasi. Fogarasi led until Charles Canfield took the lead on the inside lane on lap-10. The first caution finally came out on lap-11 when Sean Caron, Christina Kellerman and Bill Leonard were crossed up in turn three.
Canfield led after the restart but had competition stacking up behind him. Over the final laps Garrett Denton chased down Canfield, making an aggressive move under the leader through turns three and four on lap-27 to pull alongside. The two made contact exiting the corner with both recovering. Going into turn one the next lap more contact saw Canfield spinning. Everyone was able to miss him but the caution flag was out.
Denton beat Ray Christian on the restart but had Cassidy on his rear bumper. Cassidy also got by Christian’s inside as they raced back to the white flag. Once clear of Christian, Cassidy dove to the outside of Denton in turns one and two of the final lap. He pulled even through turns three and four and the two drag raced to the checkered flag off the final turn. Cassidy nipped Denton at the line by .02 seconds, or just the nose of his car. The win was Cassidy’s eighth on the year in nine events.
In the visiting ISMA Supermodified race, Cicconi set a blistering pace. After a lap-1 caution flag, the field rattled off another 40 laps before caution waved again. Cicconi placed most of the field a lap down as he put down fast times lap after lap. Rob Summers did a great job working up to second position by the time the caution waved. Unfortunately for Summers, multiple lapped cars stood between he and Cicconi for the restart.
Summers was the victim of the next caution as contact as he tried to race his way into contention saw him shoot into the wall between turns one and two. Cicconi went unchallenged to the win.
Next Saturday night the Speedbowl returns to action with a six division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing program which includes a visit by the New England Race Trucks. In just two weeks on Saturday June 23, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns for a much anticipated event at the shoreline oval. The Mr. Rooter 161 will take center stage, in a tribute event to the great Richie Evans.
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR