Waterford Wild and Wacky Wednesday 5/19/2021 Results
WATERFORD — Defending champion Sam Mesick spent all 25 laps of Wednesday’s X-Car feature at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl hounding and surrounding Christian Herman’s back bumper.
Herman, however, was the only person at the Speedbowl who didn’t know it.
“I never looked back,” Herman said. “I just kept my line and I hoped to keep him behind me.”
The strategy worked. Herman led all 25 laps to post an X-Car win on opening night for the Wild and Wacky Wednesday program at the Speedbowl.
Other winners were Bill Reiman in the Super X-Cars, Jacob Burns in the Legends feature and Darren Krantz in the Bandoleros.
Herman faced the toughest battle. Mesick came close to Herman several times, but didn’t have enough power to get by.
“I’m going to have to do some work on this car,” Mesick said. “We just didn’t have enough.”
One of the surprises of the night was turned in by Kaylee Symonds of Andover, who moved into third place late in the race and held on for her first-ever podium finish.
“This is an incredible surprise,” Symonds said. “I have to give the credit to my dad —he works his butt off on this car.”
Reiman, meanwhile was hanging out in second place for the first 19 laps of the 25-lap Super X Car feature.
On a restart with six laps to go, Reiman galloped past leader Ed Ryan Jr. on the outside and held on for the victory.
“This definitely was one of the Top 5 wins of my career,” Reiman said. “On the restarts, I just kept digging and digging, and it paid off.”
Dominic Abbatiello finished second and Dave Yardley was third, but both drivers were disqualified because of post-race inspection. That lifted Ryan to second and William Rheaume to third.
Burns was running third in the Legends race when leader Devin Deshaies and second-place driver Zachary Martinez got together in the second turn. Burns avoided the wreck, took the lead, and led the final nine laps to secure the win.
“I saw Devin get loose, so I just stayed low and missed the wreck,” Burns said. “I was nervous at the end because Jordan Churchill was behind me and he has a fast car. But I held him off.”
Churchill stayed in second and Paul Newcomb was third.
Darren Krantz led from start to finish to win in the Bandolero feature, Milania Shilosky finished second.
Racing resumes at the Speedbowl Saturday with a seven-division show starting with qualifying at 3 p.m. The SK Modifieds, Lite Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Speedbowl Trucks, and Legends will be in action.
20-lap Bandoleros: 1. Darren Krantz Jr., Huntington NY; 2, Milania Shilosky, Colchester; 3. Joel Newcomb, Plymouth, Mass.; 4. Richard Helger Jr., Tiverton RI; 5. Ethan Dion, Oakdale; 6. Allyha Desomma, Richmond RI; 7. Brad Strickland, Uncasville; 8. Aiden Sullivan, East Hampton; 9. Michael Lefort, West Warwick RI; 10. Trenton Starkweather, Chaplin.
25-lap X-Cars. 1. Christian Herman, North Branford; 2 .Sam Mesick, East Lyme; 3. Kaylee Symonds, Andover; 4. CP Burdick, Deep River; 5. Dylan Decoster, Waterford; 6. Chuck McDonald, Groton; 7. Samuel Lee, Wyoming RI; 8. William Lauber, West Haven; 9. Victoria Finkbein, Manchester; 10. Christopher Lee, Oakdale.
25-lap Super-X Cars: 1. Bill Reiman, Southington; 2. 2. Ed Ryan Jr., Preston; 3. William Rheaume, North Franklin; 4. Mitch Bombard, Willimantic; 5. Sean Skinner, Oakdale; 6. Will Rheaume, North Franklin; 7. Bill Porter, Canterbury; 8. Marc Shafer, Groton.9. Jeremy Washburn, Waterford; 10. Ray Phillips, Canterbury.
25-lap Legend Cars: 1. Jacob Burns, Bristol; 2. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 3. Paul Newcomb, Plymouth, Mass; 4. Brandon Remson, Norwalk; 5. Brody Monahan, Waterford; 6. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 8. Joel Newcomb, Plymouth, Mass.; 8. Devin Deshaies, Oakland RI; 9. Zachary Martinez, North Kingston RI; 10. John Hilliker, Fairfield.
Sources: Matt Buckler/New London-Waterford Speedbowl PR
This corrected version reflects the two disqualifications that were made in the Super-X car vision.