Morgan Pulls Out Photo Finish in Late Model 50
WATERFORD — There are many words you can use to describe Ryan Morgan’s victory over Jason Palmer in Saturday’s Late Model 50 at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
He won by a breadcrumb. A teardrop. A freckle, A computer chip. A molecule.
Morgan, however, had his own way to describe it.
“It was a close one,” Morgan said after claiming the biggest payday of his racing career — $1,200 plus a $151 bonus from the Racing Guys. More accurately, he won by the microscopic margin of .003.
“If the race was two laps longer, I don’t know if I could have done it, but I kept him (Palmer) on the bottom because my car was better on the outside,” Morgan said. “And things worked out well.”
Ryan took the lead away from Paul Newcomb at the midway mark, but Palmer was able to make one frantic bid for the lead at the end of the race.
“I felt I beat him to the line,” Palmer said, “But transponders don’t lie.”
In the SK Modifieds, Eric Berndt won his first Speedbowl race since 2002 with a convincing victory in the 35-lap feature. Robert Bloxom survived to notch a win in the 20-lap SK Lite feature while Shawn Monahan became a six-time winner in the Sportsman division by dominating the 25—lap feature. Charles Canfield fought off Tommy Silva to win his second Mini Stock race of the season.
Conner Holderbach grabbed the 25-lap Legends feature, Ken Cassidy Jr. won the 25-lap Speedbowl truck race and David Petty was a winner in the Open Street Stock feature.
Berndt has not been a regular at the Speedbowl for 18 years, but had been driving a car owned by Billy “Bear” Callicchio for the past two weeks.
Berndt started the race on the outside pole. After Kyle James led the first handful of laps, Berndt took command. It was his 16th career win at the Speedbowl.
“It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve always loved this place,” Berndt said. “It was like old home week coming back here. We made the right adjustments after qualifying and the car was great.”
Tim Jordan moved into second and maintained his point lead.
“We had old tires tonight and Eric had me and Kyle covered,” Jordan said.
There were many crashes in the SK Lite feature, but Bloxom, who took the lead on the opening lap, was able to avoid them all. He pulled off his first SK Lite win in his career.
“It’s been three years for me in this division, so it’s been a long time,” Bloxom said. “It is hard to keep going when you’re not winning, but I never gave up.”
Monahan survived a threat from Al Stone III on a restart with six laps to go to collect his sixth win in eight Sportsman division starts.
“I don’t take this for granted,” Monahan said. “Al is always good on restarts and he almost got me. But I think I did a good job protecting my spot”.
Charles Canfield had an intense duel with Silva, but he made the most of the outside groove to win for the second time this year.
“I do like racing against Tommy — he’s a clean competitor,” Canfield said. “He never goes away. But I figured out something out tonight, and my car was a rocket.”
Cassidy broke a transmission in practice prior to the start of the Speedbowl Trucks race and borrowed one from Stone. He turned out to be a transmission magician as he dominated the truck feature.
“The crew busted their butt to get the truck ready, so I had to bust my butt to get to the front,” Cassidy said.
Tyler Chapman was second, but couldn’t hang with Cassidy.
Connor Holderbach got the best of Brandon Martinez on a restart to notch his second win in the Legends division.
“The car wasn’t that great on the restarts, but after two laps, it definitely came in,” Holderbach said.
Martinez held on for second and his sister, Shileigh Martinez, was third.
David Petty had a leaking axle during practice, but his car was flawless in the Open Street Stock feature.
“Once we got the car fixed, it was on rails,” Petty said.
Racing resumes on Oct. 17 with a special big money Legends car race.
50-lap Late Models: 1. Ryan Morgan, North Franklin; 2. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 3. Tyler Tomassi, West Greenwich RI; 4. Paul Newcomb, Plymouth, Mass.; 5. Glenn Boss, Danielson; 6. Jordan Hadley, Waterford; 7. Brad Caddick, Wyoming RI; 8. Tony Macrino, Waterford; 9. Mike Sweeney Jr.; Meriden; 10, Chase Curtis, Rutland, Mass.
35-lap SK Modifieds; 1. Eric Berndt, Cromwell; 2. Timmy Jordan, Plainfield; 3. Kyle James, Ashaway, RI; 4. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 5. Jonathan Puleo, Bt=ranford; 7. Joe Gada, Salem; 8. Matt Swanson, Acton, Mass.; 9, Rob Janovic Jr.; 10, Anthony Flannery, East Hampton.
25 SK Lights: 1. Robert Bloxom, Stratford; 2. Charlie McDougall, Naugatuck; 3. Corey Caddick, Richmond RI; 4. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 5. Ethan Durocher, Canterbury; 6. Victoria Bergenty, Plainville; 7. Anthony Marvin, Waterford; 8. Wayne Burroughs, Oakdale; 9. Matt McDougall, Manchester; 10. Jason Chapman, Ellington.
25-lap Mini Stocks: 1. Charles Canfield, East Haven; 2. Douglas Curry, Groton; 3. Tommy Silva, Groton; 4. Evan Bourgerois, East Haddam; 5. Dylan DeCoster, Waterford; 6. Eric Bourgerois, East Haddam; 6. Nick Pappacoda, North Branford; 8. Kevin Moore, Moosup’ 9. Raymond Herman, Groton; 10. Jared Roy, Sterling.
25-lap Sportsman: 1. Shawn Monahan, Waterford; 2. Al Stone, Durham; 3, Jason Chicolas, Sutton, Mass.; 4. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 5. Aaron Plemons, Uncasville; 6. Michael Malbaum, Moosup; 7. Ritt Shawn, Westerly RI; 8. Jon Porter, East Lyme; 9. Shawn Gaedeke, Montville; 10. Nickolas Hovey, Chaplin.
25-lap Open Street Stocks: 1. David Petty; 2. Chris Gomes; 3. Chad Baxter; 4. Corey Fanning; 5. Kyle Casper; 6. Chris Rioux; 7. Anthony Kohler; 8. Joe Arena; 9. Dave Yardley; 10. Albert Clements.
25-lap Legends: 1. Connor Holderbach, Wolcott; 2. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 3. Shileigh Martinez, North Kingston RI; 4. Corey Fanning, Mapleville RI; 5. Brandon Martinez, North Kingston RI; 6. Brandon Hammann, Smithfield RI; 7. Peter Bennett, Cromwell; 8. Zachary Martinez, North Kingston, RI; 9. Jacob Burns, Bristol RI; 10. Scott Limkeman, Lebanon.
25-lap Speedbowl Trucks: 1. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 2. Tyler Chapman, Mystic; 3. Jeff Karns, Waterford; 4. Rick Ashlaw, Manchester; 5. Kendall Metcalf, Waterford; 6. Carmen Varricchio, Berlin; 7. Lou Cicarelli, N/A.
Sources: Matt Buckler. New London-Waterford Speedbowl PR