Compelling Storylines Dominate Speedbowl Saturday Nights
WATERFORD – Back-to-back SK Modified® champion Todd Owen has had a hard time being the dominant force he has been in the past two seasons, but that all changed this week. Troy Talman once again showed short-run speed, but it didn’t take long for Owen to power by using a restart to his advantage. With Owen in his own zip code, the battle for the rest of the positions commenced. Talman and Paul Buzel rounded out the podium until point leader Tim Jordan, Anthony Flannery, and Andrew Molleur muscled their way forward from deep in the field. Molleur would be the first to break free and challenge for second. Jordan and Flannery both showed speed and were dueling for the top spots, both eventually working by Talman. Owen’s consistency is keeping him within striking distance to the point lead, and his first win of the season helped close the gap.
After some tumultuous heat races earlier in the night, you would be hard-pressed to imagine how the Street Stock feature went. After the caution-free event the week before, only two cautions slowed the event this time around. Jaysin Beal took control of the race right off the bat in the Bo Norman-owned number twelve, and never looked back. Al Stone III, who was involved in a heat race incident, drove his injured piece up to second in front of last week’s winner Shawn Gaedeke. Ed Gertsch Jr. passed Gaedeke for third around halfway, setting the stage for a green-white-checker finish. The two-lap shootout didn’t deter Beal, even with those heavy hitters in his rearview mirror. Beal would win his first Speedbowl victory, making him the first 4th Generation Winner in track history, following Charles Beal, Ed Yarrington Jr, and Sr.
Johnny O’Sullivan took the SK Light field to green and had his hands full for most of the event, surviving many restarts utilizing the outside groove. His rearview mirror was full of Tyler Chapman who would prove to be his nemesis over the last few restarts. Chapman would continuously get the jump but incidents further back in the field kept giving the lead back to O’Sullivan. Eventually, Chapman cleared for the lead, but his race wasn’t over there. Evan Bourgeois charged through the field behind Chapman, and after a restart with 7 to go, Bourgeois would put an exclamation point on the charge to win his first race of the season, making him the fourth different winner in as many races.
Fourth-generation driver and third-generation winner David Dorr didn’t have much to worry about, as he led some of his first laps in the Mini Stocks during his young career. Dorr won his first heat race earlier in the day giving him the pole in the feature, where he dominated the event. Nick Pappacoda seemed to have second place on his own then John Bavolacco pulled Chris Garside by Pappacoda to climb into the podium. A yellow with 9 to go didn’t break Dorr’s focus as Bavolacco and Garside battled for the runner-up spot, giving Dorr some breathing room to score his first-ever win.
Trading positions was the name of the game in the INEX Legend Cars. Riley Paul set the pace early with Nick Bulkeley lurking in second. While they were clicking laps off the board, Isaiah Newcomb and Dylan Cote were working their way forward. Bulkeley made a move on Paul but couldn’t complete the pass, opening the door for Newcomb to make his move into 2nd. With the Trucks off this week, Brody Monahan brought his Legend Car out to play, following Newcomb through the field. Around halfway, Newcomb and Monahan completed the pass on Paul. A yellow with 3 to go gave Monahan the opportunity to keep his weekly win streak alive, but Newcomb was able to persevere and take the win.
Eric Williams Jr. survived a chaotic Compact Enduro to close out the night, winning his first race on the day he got his driver’s license.
Next up, Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday on July 5th, co-headlined by a 35-lap Super X-Car race to raise awareness to cure HHT, and a 50 Lap Shootout for X-Cars presented by The Guardians of the Purple Heart. Then on July 8th, Speedbowl Saturday Nights featuring the SK Modifieds®, Late Models, Street Stocks, SK Lights, and Trucks. 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.
Unofficial Results
SK Modifieds® (35 Laps): 1. 81-Todd Owen[3]; 2. 35-Andrew Molleur[7]; 3. 25-Anthony Flannery[5]; 4. 47-Timmy Jordan[8]; 5. 7-Jonathan Puleo[6]; 6. 2-Troy Talman[2]; 7. 11CT-Eric Berndt[4]; 8. 09-Kyle James[9]; 9. 9-Paul Buzel[1]; 10. 15-Jeff Fialkovich[11]; 11. 10-Joseph Ternullo[10]; 12. (DQ) 94-Bill Anderson[12]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 12-Jaysin Beal[2]; 2. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[6]; 3. 52-Al Stone III[5]; 4. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[7]; 5. 38-Jon Porter[3]; 6. 67-Brandon Plemons[8]; 7. 28-Austin Flanagan[4]; 8. 14CT-Devin Tate[11]; 9. 13RI-Clay Petschke[10]; 10. 56CT-Sean Riley[9]; 11. 21-Tom Musante[1]; 12. 22T-Timothy Poulin[12]; 13. 6-Scott Sousa[14]; 14. 30-Charles Beal[13]; 15. (DNS) 56-Ike Chima
SK Lights (25 Laps): 1. 78-Evan Bourgeois[9]; 2. 41CT-Tyler Chapman[5]; 3. 51-John O’Sullivan III[1]; 4. 47-Zachery Sangermano[6]; 5. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[4]; 6. 16-Nickolas Hovey[10]; 7. 91-Jake Hines[8]; 8. 21-Sami Anderson[7]; 9. 16CT-Ethan Durocher[2]; 10. 36RI-Michael Cooper[12]; 11. 52-Anthony Forino[14]; 12. X6-Bob King[11]; 13. 44-Alan Tirrell[13]; 14. 07-Tom Abele Jr[3]
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 19-David Dorr[1]; 2. 42-John Bavolacco[5]; 3. 1CT-Jared Roy[4]; 4. 83-Christopher Garside[6]; 5. 25-Charles Canfield[8]; 6. 88-Bill Sylvia[2]; 7. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[3]; 8. 81-Stacey Zentek[7]; 9. 11-Jason Kokoszka[11]; 10. 28-Erica Canfield[10]; 11. 12-Aiden Sullivan[9]; 12. (DNS) 20-Joe Bavolacco
INEX Legend Cars (25 Laps): 1. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[7]; 2. 31-Brody Monahan[6]; 3. 89-Dylan Cote[5]; 4. 91-Riley Paul[1]; 5. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[3]; 6. 05-Dylan Freeman[4]; 7. 77-Dennis Pantani[2]; 8. 76-Edward Gomarlo[9]; 9. 86-Scott Limkemann[11]; 10. 7X-Patrick Smith[8]; 11. 15-Scott Kinsman[10]; 12. 26-Sydney Cook[12]; 13. (DNS) 2-Jordan Rosado
Compact Enduro (50 Laps): 1. 42X-Eric Williams Jr[8]; 2. 43-Kyle Fontaine[10]; 3. 11-Kyle Johnson[28]; 4. 72-Brian Winters[15]; 5. 28-Reginald Valley[9]; 6. 86-Kyle Corey[33]; 7. 5-Joshua Prevost[27]; 8. 3-Dave MacIntosh[7]; 9. 46-John Curry Jr[22]; 10. 50-Derek Armillotto[34]; 11. 727-Mark Bastien[20]; 12. 27-Doug Thurston[17]; 13. 88-Jesse Whitney[24]; 14. 52X-Charlie Caron[21]; 15. 223-Kristaps Berzins[13]; 16. 65CT-Matt Wood[23]; 17. 31-Josh Piper[30]; 18. 46X-Christopher Gill[1]; 19. 71-Justyn Prevost[2]; 20. 12-Robert Jones[12]; 21. 28X-Dino Broccoli[32]; 22. 14-Patrick Mickens Jr[19]; 23. 03-Daniel Morris[3]; 24. 67CT-Glen Marion Jr[4]; 25. 97-Andrew Culley[18]; 26. 00X-Terry Bombard[6]; 27. 6-Ryan Fernald[25]; 28. 113-Bill Davis[29]; 29. 42-Justin Whitney[31]; 30. 01-Andrew Cooper[5]; 31. 87-Brad Voglesong[26]; 32. 43X-William Lauber[11]; 33. 18-Ethan Russell[16]; 34. (DNS) 17-Adam Schenking
Sources: Mitch Bombard/New London-Waterford Speedbowl PR
(Images by TK Race Photo)
Todd Owen in Victory Lane
Todd Owen takes the lead against Troy Talman on the final restart
Charles Beal watches son Jaysin Beal win Street Stocks
David Dorr crosses stripe for first mini stock win