Tim Jordan Shows Muscle in SK Modified® Throwdown; Andrew Molleur on Top in Late Model Photo Finish
WATERFORD – Paul Buzel launched at the drop of the green strong, leading the SK Modified® event for over 10 laps uncontested. Tim Jordan broke from his 6th place starting spot and light contact between the leaders opened the door for Jordan and Eric Berndt to put on a show. With Jordan controlling the preferred groove, Berndt did not let up on his attacks connecting nerf bars on several occasions. The two veterans kept their cars pointed in the right direction setting the pace, all while Anthony Flannery was dicing his way through the field from the last place starting spot. A pile up with 7 to go opened the door for Flannery to dive into 2nd over Berndt, neither driver could take down Jordan for the top spot.
The Late Models once again proved that quality will prevail over quantity. On paper you would never know, but the on-track action left fans on the edge of their seats. Defending champion Ray Christian III led 28 of the 30 laps from the outside groove, coming up short just once while dueling with Andrew Molleur. The two ran side by side for a majority of the event, even with the one caution to break up the event. Molleur, who’s running a part-time campaign this year gave it everything he had on the final lap, winning by 0.073 seconds.
At the start of the Street Stocks, Jon Porter set the pace until Aaron Plemons worked his way by with just 7 laps in the books. As soon as he got the lead the yellow flag would fly bringing Al Stone III into 2nd after the restart. Plemons was in his own zip code while the rest of the field fought tooth and nail for every position. A yellow flag with 4 laps to go changed the course of the event as Plemons was fighting a tire going flat giving Stone the opportunity to score his first win on the season.
Allen Coates Jr came out of the gate strong in the Trucks, leading some laps in his young career. Multi-time winner Ed Ryan Jr didn’t give him the opportunity to soak it all in as he would pull Brody Monahan by Coates on lap 6. Just a few laps after the lead change, hard contact between Coates and Tyler Chapman would end Chapmans day. Monahan, now restarting on the front row, got the advantage over Ryan and ran away from the field. While he was making it look easy, Ryan and Kyle Gero were locked in an intense battle for second place. A late race caution didn’t hurt Monahan as he picked up where he left off, winning his first Truck race of his career.
The story in the Mini Stocks went from one extreme to another at the blink of an eye. Rookie Tim Dorr was leading long time competitor Brad Caddick for the first 8 laps of the event, when the two got together hard in the back stretch wall collecting defending champion Charles Canfield. All drivers walked away and when racing resumed, Rick LaFlesh who was running third at the time took over the top spot. Chris Garside put the pressure on LaFlesh and took over the lead, bringing Blast Off winner John Bavolacco with him. Garside couldn’t relax with Bavolacco hot on his tail and the two would make contact on the final corner, but Garside held on to win his first of the season.
Glen Marion Jr. won the first of three Compact Enduro events scheduled this season.
350 SMAC Super Modifieds kick off their 2023 campaign at the Speedbowl on May 20th. They headline the night that also features SK Modifieds®, Street Stocks, SK Lights, Mini Stocks, and INEX Legend Cars. For complete details, visit www.speedbowlct.com, keep up with us on Facebook at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl, or on Instagram and Twitter @SpeedbowlCT.
Results
SK Modifieds® (35 Laps): 1. 47-Timmy Jordan[6]; 2. 25-Anthony Flannery[16]; 3. 11CT-Eric Berndt[5]; 4. 81-Todd Owen[15]; 5. 7-Jonathan Puleo[8]; 6. 72-Adam Gada[3]; 7. 9-Paul Buzel[2]; 8. 1NE-Dennis Charette[9]; 9. 4-Jeff Malave[1]; 10. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[10]; 11. 2-Troy Talman[14]; 12. 49-John Bercham[13]; 13. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[4]; 14. 6-Joe Gada[7]; 15. 94-Bill Anderson[12]; 16. 22RI-Carl Kivisto[11]
Late Models (30 Laps): 1. 35-Andrew Molleur[4]; 2. 93CT-Ray Christian III[3]; 3. 17-Jason Palmer[6]; 4. 31CT-Jordan Hadley[5]; 5. 50RI-Michael Benevides[7]; 6. 0-Joey LeMay[1]; 7. 94CT-Charles Bailey III[2]; 8. 67-John C Silva III[8]; 9. 78-Emma Monahan[9]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 52-Al Stone III[7]; 2. 13-Tony Macrino[8]; 3. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[4]; 4. 67-Aaron Plemons[6]; 5. 1-Nate Taylor[5]; 6. 16MA-Zach Meade[12]; 7. 30-Jaysin Beal[3]; 8. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[15]; 9. 13RI-Clay Petschke[11]; 10. 56-Ike Chima[13]; 11. 12-Brian Norman[10]; 12. 38-Jon Porter[1]; 13. 6-Scott Sousa[17]; 14. 22T-Timothy Poulin[2]; 15. 21-Tom Musante[14]; 16. 28-Austin Flanagan[9]; 17. 2-Douglas Curry[16]
Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 31-Brody Monahan[6]; 2. 12-Ed Ryan Jr[4]; 3. 19CT-Kyle Gero[5]; 4. 32-Randy Burr[13]; 5. 94-Anthony Naglieri[3]; 6. 52CT-Sean Caron[12]; 7. 90-Allen Coates Jr[2]; 8. 30-Charles Beal[1]; 9. 84JR-Brad Strickland[10]; 10. 98-Shawn Passero[8]; 11. 52-Mercedes Caron[9]; 12. 81-Tyler Chapman[7]; 13. (DNS) 41-Toby Leonard; 14. (DNS) 16X-Zach Meade; 15. (DNS) 6X-Andrew Pellegrini
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 83-Christopher Garside[8]; 2. 42-John Bavolacco[10]; 3. 9-Rick LaFlesh[2]; 4. 88-Bill Sylvia[7]; 5. 19-David Dorr[11]; 6. 82-Kevin Moore[16]; 7. 1CT-Jared Roy[6]; 8. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[4]; 9. 22CT-Brad Caddick[3]; 10. 72-David Lee[9]; 11. 28-Erica Canfield[12]; 12. 81-Stacey Zentek[14]; 13. 31-Tommy Silva[17]; 14. 12-Aiden Sullivan[15]; 15. 16-Tim Dorr[1]; 16. 25-Charles Canfield[5]; 17. 91-Raymond Herman Sr[13]
Compact Enduro (Top 3) (50 Laps): 1. 67CT-Glen Marion Jr[8]; 2. 17L-Larry Darling[14]; 3. 6-Joshua Martin[11]
(Images by TK Race Photo)
7750 -SK Modified winner Tim Jordan
8096 – Photo finish in Late Models with Andrew Molleur ahead of Ray Christian
8171 – Tim Jordan outside of Eric Berndt during the peak of the battle
8242 – Tim Jordan leads Eric Berndt, Anthony Flannery, Jon Puleo on final restart