Christian sweeps Late Model doubleheader

WATERFORD — It was one day before his 31st birthday, but Ray Christian III started the celebration early. He opened the night at the New London Waterford Speedbowl with a 30-lap Late Model win, and ended the program with another 30-lap Late Model victory. As an added bonus, he moved into the division point lead by two points over Jason Palmer, who was plagued all night by a damaged race car.

Christian’s back-to-back success stories were two of the highlights on a busy night at the New London Waterford Speedbowl.

Other highlights were defending SK Modified champ Tim Jordan grabbing his first 2021 win, Jim Boyle winning the most prestigious Speedbowl Truck race of the year, a 50-lapper, Al Stone taking down his 57th career win in the Street Stocks, John O’Sullivan winning for the fifth time this season in the Legend cars and Randy Cabral taking down a win in the Pro 4 Modifieds. Long-time Speedbowl veteran Ed Field won the Limited division portion of the race.

That created a battle for the lead between Christian and Jordan Hadley, which was eventually owned by Christian.

“We finally got the bugs out of this car, but even when we were struggling, I thought we had a good car,” Christian said.

He is starting to prove it, and proved it again in the second race when he roared by Palmer on the 13th lap and dominated the rest of the way.

Christian, who spent the past few years racing in regional series, enjoys being back on his home turf.

“This is an awesome place to race and this is my home,” Christian said. “It always has been and it always will be.”

Palmer had his car fixed for the second race and galloped into the lead, but he couldn’t keep Christian behind him.

“This was all we had,” Palmer said. “We had snapped an axle in the first race and it was unbelievable that we fixed it. We got to the front,  and I gave it 150 percent. But I just couldn’t hang on.”

Christian has won the last three Late Model races.

Mike Christopher was the dominant factor in the 35-lap SK Modified feature for the first 11 laps. When his engine called it quits, however, Christopher took his car off the track, opening the door to the lead for Jordan.

It wasn’t a picnic for Jordan — Cory DiMatteo, who started sixth, whirl-winded his way through the field and pulled to within 0.2 of the lead. Jordan, however, was able to hold him off.

“This is a brand new race car,” Jordan said. “We tried a lot of different stuff tonight and we got to the front. We found some consistency.”

DiMatteo had to settle for this third straight second-place finish.

“It took me a while to get through the field,” DiMatteo said, “I dropped back as far as 10th. I think if there was a late yellow flag, we might have been able to put on a good show for the fans.”

Stone and Shawn Gaedeke put on a good show for the fans in the Street Stocks when a caution flag came out on lap 23, forcing a green-white-checker between the two drivers.

Stone, re-starting on the outside, was able to whiplash his way into the lead en route to his first win of the year.

“Sometimes at this place, you would rather be lucky than good,” Stone said. “We have been really working hard on this car the last two weeks. We normally don’t have to wait this long for our first win of the year, but we’ll take it.”

Gaedeke’s second-place run was his best of the year.

“This was good old Street Stock racing,” Gaedeke said. “It could end up in sparks at every minute. I’m happy with second.”

Boyle led for the first one-third of the long-distance truck feature, but gave up the lead to Tyler Chapman on lap 19.

Boyle finished second on the track, but when Chapman was disqualified for illegal fuel, Boyle was declared the winner, with Randy Burr finishing second.

“We were getting loose, loose,” Boyle said. “If that didn’t happen, I think we would have been right there at the end.”

Even with a loose truck, he held for the second, which turned out to be the difference.

O’Sullivan’s day started on an evil note when he suffered mechanical damage to his car in practice. His car came out of sick bay just as fast as it always is, surviving a three-way battle with Jordan Churchill and rookie PJ Evans.

O’Sullivan won by 0.3.

“This was a blast,” O’Sullivan said. “I was just happy to be out there. The crew spent two hours in the heat to get my car ready. I owe this win to them.”

O’Sullivan has won five of the seven Legends races.

Cabral needed a mid-race caution flag to sizzle ahead of Ed Field, whose car got tight for the second half of the race.

“I didn’t even think I was going to be racing today,” Cabral said. “I’m glad I made it.”

Racing continues on Wednesday with the 350 Small Block Super Modified and the NEMA Midgets as the main attractions, joining the X-Cars, Super X-Cars, Legends and Bandoleros. Race time is 7 p.m.

30-lap Late Model Feature 1: Ray Christian, Uncasville; 2. Jordan Hadley, Waterford; 3. Chse Curtis, Rutland, Mass.; 4. Jaret Curtis, Rutland, Mass.; 5. Charles Bailey III, Lisbon; 6. RJ Marcotte, Milleville, Mass.; 7. Richard Staskowski, Hope RI; 8. Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill; 9. Keith Scalia, North Branford; 10. Tony Macrino, Waterford.

30-lap Late Model No. 2: 1 Ray Christian III, Uncasville; 2. Jordan Hadley, Waterford; 3. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 4. RJ Marcotte, Millville, Mass.; 5. Jaret Curtis, Rutland, Mass.; 6. Chase Curtis, Rutland, Mass.; 7. Isaiah Newcomb Plymouth, Mass.; 8. Richard Staskowski, Hope Valley RI; 9. Keith Scalia, North Branford; 10. Jason Williams, Lisbon.

35-lap SK Modifieds: 1. Timmy Jordan, Plainfield; 2. Cory DiMatteo, Farmington; 3. Todd Owen, Somers; 4. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 5. Rob Janovic Jr., Waterford; 6. Joe Gada, Uncasville; 7. Anthony Bello, Newtown; 8. Anthony Flannery, East Hampton; 9. Tony Membrino, Waterford; 10. Paul Buzel, Trumbull.

25-lap Street Stocks: 1. Al Stone, Durham; 2. Shawn Gaedeke, Chesterfield; 2. Jason Chicolas, Sutton Mass.; 4. Doug Curry, Groton; 5. Ryan Waterman, Danielson; 6. Chris Meyer, North Franklin; 7. Jon Porter, East Lyme; 8. Chris Doughton, Niantic; 9. Aaron Plemons, Uncasville; 10. Ed Novak, Lebanon

50-lap Speedbowl Trucks: 1. Jim Boyle, Dayville; 2. Randy Burr, Middleboro; 3. Joshua Stringer; Dayville; 4. Todd Taylor, Stonington; 5. Ken Cassidy, Lisbon; 6. Chris Taylor, East Lyme; 7. Rick Ashlaw, Manchester; 8. Jeff Karns, Quaker Hill; 9. Cameron Varricchio, Berlin; 10. Andrew Pelligrini, North Grosvenordale.

20-lap Legends: 1.  John O’Sullivan, Salem; 2. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 3. PJ Evans, Uncasville; 4. Scott Limkemann, Lebanon; 5. Ed Ryan Jr., Preston; 6. Brody Monahan, Waterford; 7. Scott Kinsman, Berlin.