McKennedy Leads Wings and Wheels Winners at New London-Waterford
WATERFORD – Jon McKennedy held off Richard Savary to win the 100-lap Valenti Modified Racing feature in the main event of Saturday’s Wings & Wheels program at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series was part of seven feature card at the track Saturday. Tyler Chadwick topped the field in the 35-lap SK Modified feature. Cory DiMatteo was the winner of the SK Light Modified feature. John Zych Jr. won the 25-lap NEMA Midget feature. PJ Stergios was the winner in the NEMA Lite feature. Geoffrey Sutton won the 25-lap ATQMRA Three-Quarter Midget feature.
It was the third career Valenti Modified Racing Series victory at the Speedbowl for McKennedy, of Chelmsford, Mass. who also had wins in 2010 and 2012 at the track.
Richard Savary of Canton, Mass. was second and Woody Pitkat of Stafford third.
McKennedy rallied after being involved in a lap 32 crash that collected nearly half of the field.
Savary went to the lead by Pitkat on lap 70 restart with McKennedy following him to second. Three laps later McKennedy went to the outside to take over the lead for good.
Chadwick, of Ledyard, picked up his second victory of the season in the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature.
Ted Christopher of Plainville was second and Diego Monahan of Quaker Hill third.
Bo Gunning took the field to the green from the pole with Chadwick to his outside and the pair put on a show over the opening segment of the race.
With 29 laps left Chadwick edged Gunning out for the lead at the line, but the pair remained side-by-side in the lead battle.
With 26 laps left Gunning briefly cleared Chadwick out front, but Chadwick fought back to the outside with 25 laps left.
Gunning cleared Chadwick again with 24 laps remaining, but Chadwick got back to his outside once again a lap later.
With 20 laps left Gunning was able to get Chadwick to tuck in behind in second. A lap later slight contact between the two sent Gunning sliding sideways in turn two to bring out a caution and put Chadwick in the lead.
On the ensuing restart, it was Joey Gada getting by Adam Gada for second place with Christopher following to third place and Monahan to fourth.
Caution flew again with 12 laps remaining and on the restart, it was Christopher moving to second place past Joey Gada, with Monahan moving to third.
But Chadwick was up to the task of keeping Christopher at bay over the final 10 laps. Christopher took one bumping shot at Chadwick on the final lap, but Chadwick held his line.
DiMatteo, of Farmington, scored his first career victory in the 25-lap SK Light Modified feature.
Brett Gonyaw of Vernon was second and Corey Barry of Plainfield third.
Gonyaw held the lead right from the start with DiMatteo tucking in behind in second.
From there, their pair went 15-laps that way.
With 10 laps left DiMatteo was able to make the move past Gonyaw for the top spot and from there, he checked out from the field.
35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified: 1. Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard; 2. Ted Christopher, Plainville; 3. Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill; 4. Joey Gada, Salem; 5. Dennis Perry, Pawcatuck; 6. Kyle James, Ashaway, R.I.; 7. Keith Rocco, Wallingford; 8. Rob Janovic Jr., Waterford; 9. Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 10. Tom Abele Jr., Norwich.
25-lap SK Light Modified: 1. Corey DiMatteo, Farmington; 2. Brett Gonyaw, Vernon; 3. Corey Barry, Plainfield; 4. Bill McNeil, Old Lyme; 5. Cal Therrien, Vernon; 6. Tony Membrino Jr., Berlin; 7. John O’Sullivan, Salem; 8. Victoria Bergenty, Plainville; 9. Nick Riso, Wallingford; 10. Alan Gombos Jr., Naugatuck.
100-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series: 1. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass.; 2. Richard Savary, Canton, Mass.; 3. Woody Pitkat, Stafford; 4. Mike Willis Jr., Grantham, N.H.; 5. Dave Etheridge, Portland; 6. Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon; 7. Donnie Lashua, Canaan, N.H.; 8. Geoff Gernhard, Bozrah; 9. Brandon Dion, Taunton, Mass.; 10. Keith Rocco, Wallingford.
50-lap ISMA SuperModified: 1. Mike McVetta, Wellington, Ohio; 2. Mike Ordway Jr., Windham, Me.; 3. Dan Bowes, Byfield, Mass.; 4. Mike Lichty, Innerkip, Ont.; 5. Ben Seitz, Bourne, Mass.; 6. Trent Stephens, Ravenna, Ohio; 7. Eddie Witkum, Westford, Mass; 8. Timmy Jedrezjek, Independence, Ohio; 9. Mark Sammut, London, Ont.; 10. Dave Shullick Jr., North Ridgeville, Ohio.
25-lap NEMA Midget: 1. John Zych Jr., 2. Randy Cabral, Plymouth, Mass.; 3. Seth Carlson, Brimfield, Mass.; 4. Avery Stoehr, Lakeville, Mass.; 5. Paul Scally, Raynham, Mass.; 6. Bethany Stoehr, Bridgewater, Mass.; 7. Doug Coby, Milford; 8. Jim SantaMaria, Burlington; 9. Kevin Park, Foxboro, Mass.; 10. Dan Cugini, Marshfield, Mass.
25-lap NEMA Lite: 1. PJ Stergios, Candia, N.H.; 2. Jim Chambers, Atkinson, N.H.; 3. Randy Cabral, Plymouth, Mass.; 4. Anthony Payne, Fairlawn, N.J.; 5. Dan Cugini, Marshfield, Mass.; 6. RJ Tufano, N/A; 7. Ben Miktarian, Northborough, Mass.; 8. Jeremy Decourcy, Rochester, N.H.; 9. Alan Chambers, Atkinson, N.H.; 10. Jim Cataldo, Sterling, Mass.
25-lap ATQMRA: 1. Geoffrey Sutton; 2. Matt Janish; 3. Joey Bailey; 4. Nick Ladyga; 5. Ryan Tidman; 6. Anthony Payne; 7. Jeff Kot; 8. Matt Roselli; 9. Tony DiMattia; 10. Mark Yoder.
Sources: Olivia Bouchard/New London-Waterford Speedbowl PR