Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday 5/22 Results
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl beat Mother Nature and a thickening mist and dampness to record another round of its Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday racing series. Scoring victories on the program included Giovanni Giarratana of Newington in the Legend Cars feature, Randy Johnston of Westerly, RI in the X-Car race and Jon Porter of Canterbury in the Super X-Car event. Pawcatuck’s Jacob Perry bested the field in the Bandolero division and Peter Pollard mastered the Wacky Race on the night.
Giarrantana was opportunistic in the 20-lap Legend Cars race. He made his way through the field from the 14th starting position while first year drivers T.J. Thompson and Michael Christopher Jr. battled out front. Thompson took the race lead on lap-1 while Christopher rocketed into second position. Thompson led Christopher by one car length before the second generation driver found room to his inside down the front chute on lap-8. Christopher drove past Thompson through turns one and two and was the new leader on lap-9.
Giarratana, meanwhile, steadily rose through the pack. He was among the top-ten by lap-4 and up to sixth position when the field completed lap-9. Before the next circuit was complete, the first caution flag waved when Angelo Belsito caught the backstretch wall and slowed to a stop in turn three with damage to the right front of his machine.
The restart pitted Christopher against veteran racer Carl Blandina. Christopher got a great jump to resume his lead but hot on his tail were Nicholas Sowa and Giarratana. Only one more lap was completed when first-year driver Josh Zentek spun between turns three and four to return the race to caution on lap-10.
The next restart was key as Giarratana was outside of Christopher on the front row. He was up to the task, challenging Christopher from the drop of the green flag. He raced into the lead and trucked out ahead of Christopher as Sowa pressed for second. Sowa moved inside and took the spot on lap-12 in advance of the final caution flag on lap-14 as Jordan Churchill spun in turn two.
Giarratana got away from Sowa on the restart, steadily opening up his lead to several car lengths through the checkered flag. Sowa held down second while Christopher had a strong showing to place third.
Johnston came out on top in a thrilling 20-lap X-Car feature over a large field of cars. He was the third leader of the race, taking over from Scott Limkemann. The race saw Onie Pierce out to the early advantage as most of the field battled two and three wide before Jeff Dombrowski spun out of mid-pack and came to rest against the turn three wall to draw the yellow flag on lap-2.
The field couldn’t get sorted out following the restart as a three-car accident happened shortly after racing resumed involving Melissa Clavette, Wayne Shifflett and Aaron Piper-Sypher. Limkemann lept into the lead following the next restart, taking over command on lap-3. He bolstered his lead while behind him, Johnston positioned himself second ahead of a battle for third between Mitch Bombard and Michael Marvin.
Johnston closed in and stalked Limkemann just after they raced past halfway on lap-10. Limkemann held the top groove, keeping his momentum by running the high line. Johnston tucked low and pulled underneath in a battle for the lead. The two waged a memorable side-by-side duel as Bombard and Marvin inched in to make it a four-car battle up front.
Limkemann held on to the lead with Johnston to his inside through lap-15 before Johnston was finally able to get his nose ahead to be scored as the leader on lap-16. Although Johnston held the lead he was not able to shake Limkemann from his outside. Bombard momentarily took a peek at a three-wide move headed into turn one on lap-17 before thinking better and ducking back in line behind the top two.
Johnston was able to finally clear Limkemann the next lap to gain some breathing room. He had to successfully clear lapped traffic over the remaining circuits before claiming the narrow victory. Bombard was able to get past Limkemann’s inside in the final two laps to take second, with Limkemann hanging on to third.
Perry led the duration of the caution-free 20-lap INEX Bandolero feature. He sprinted out to a several car length lead ahead of a tight battle for second position. Once A.J. Eastman took that spot, the second through fourth place cars lined up to cut into Perry’s lead. They reached his rear bumper with two laps remaining however Perry was able to prevail for his first win of the season.
The 20-lap Super X-Car race was dominated by Porter once he made his way to the front. He took command in the outside lane on lap-5, getting around early leader Jim Boyle. Porter’s big lead was erased by a lap-17 caution flag when Ken Downing III spun in turn three. Porter got away from Eric Finkbein Jr. on the restart to cruise to his second Wednesday win in three weeks. Finkbein finished second while last week’s winner Mike Maskell placed third.
Waterford Speedbowl Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday 5/22 Results:
Legend Cars (20-laps): 1. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 2. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 3. Michael Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 4. T.J. Thompson, Lisbon; 5. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 6. Carl Blandina, Milford; 7. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 8. Stephen Kopcik, Newtown; 9. Joe Ferrigno, East Hartford; 10. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 11. Mike Beebe Sr., Old Saybrook; 12. Colin Haley, Ashford; 13. John O’Sullivan Jr., Salem; 14. Joshua Zentek, East Haven; 15. David Lespinasse, Milford; 16. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 17. Angelo Belsito, Auburn, MA
Bandoleros (20-laps): 1. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 2. Alan Eastman, Fishers Island, NY; 3. Corey Comeroski, Lebanon; 4. Anthony Marvin, Colchester; 5. Jonathon Puleo, Branford;
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Jon Porter, Canterbury; 2. Eric Finkbein Jr., East Hartford; 3. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 4. Eric Finkbein Sr., Columbia; 5. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 6. Matt Carlson; 7. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 8. Bill Reiman, Southington; 9. Ken Downing III, Branford; 10. Ray Reed, Norwich; 11. Dave Yardley, Clinton; 12. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 13. Justin Cook, Clinton; 14. Dan Butler, Waterford; 15. John Yagmin, Tolland; 16. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 17. Marc Shafer, Groton; 18. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 2. Mitchell Bombard, Willimantic; 3. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 4. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 5. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 6. Zach Thomas, New London; 7. Chris Thomas, Waterford; 8. John Bowes, Willington; 9. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 10. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 11. Larry Loomis Jr., Plainfield; 12. Craig Miner, Higganum; 13. Nate Bryington, Webster, MA; 14. Christopher Lee, Uncasville; 15. Chuck McDonald, Groton; 16. Frank Shepard, Bozrah; 17. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 18. C.P. Burdick, Deep River; 19. David D’Alessandro, N/A; 20. David Gargaro Jr., Cranston, RI; 21. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 22. Billy Porter, Thompson; 23. Mark Tourville; 24. Matthew Ryan, N/A; 25. Garrett Kuhn, Waterford; 26. Aaron Sypher-Piper, Clinton; 27. Jordan Hadley, Quaker Hill; 28. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 29. Jeff Dombrowski, Oakdale; 30. James Bixby, Montville
Wacky Super X-Car Flag Pole Race (top-five): 1. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 2. Victoria Finkbein, East Hartford; 3. Eric Finkbein Jr., East Hartford; 4. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 5. Jon Porter, Canterbury
Sources: Brian Darling/Waterford Speedbowl PR