Rocco back in winner’s circle; Thomas, Puleo, Evans others to record NWAAS victories; Dimatteo and Martin INEX winners
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl completed a briskly paced six-division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race program Saturday evening, marking the shoreline oval’s return to Saturday night racing for the 61st consecutive season. Keith Rocco of Wallingford picked up his second consecutive checkered flag in SK Modified® action to start the year, beginning 2011 in the same manner as his national championship season one year ago. Groton’s Bruce Thomas Jr. was the winner in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race, while Ed Puleo of Branford and Phil Evans of Uncasville wound up the victors in the Street Stock and Mini Stock events, respectively. In INEX racing, sixteen year old Dana Dimatteo of Farmington won the Legends Cars feature event and fourteen year old Taylor Martin of New Hampshire took the Bandolero feature win.
Speedbowl open-wheel veterans Tucker Reynolds Jr. and Ron Yuhas Jr. led the SK Modified® field to the green flag for a fast paced and exciting 35-lap feature event. The action started out intense from the drop of the green as Yuhas had trouble coming up through the gearbox, giving Reynolds the brief early lead. Yuhas rallied back strong in the outside lane, looking for racing room alongside the leader. Yuhas, the 2009 track champion pulled even with, then ahead of Reynolds just two-laps into the race to take over command. Jeff Pearl moved to Reynolds’ bumper in third.
As Yuhas put distance between himself and the pair battling for second, the early mover was Rocco. He rocketed his way through the pack making some daring moves in the process. The defending champion moved outside Joey Gada for fifth position, securing the spot as the field worked lap-6. Two laps later Rocco used the same groove around Glenn Pressell to take over fourth.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
As Rocco worked the field, trouble behind that group sent Tyler Chadwick’s machine out of the pack, climbing the backstretch wall. He rode the wall the length of the backchute before coming back down on all four wheels, coming to rest in turn 3 to slow the field. Justin Gaydosh, Jeff Gallup and Joe Perry were also collected but continued on while Chadwick was towed from the track.
The fracas proved to be the only caution of the event and when racing went back under green, the action was fast and furious. Yuhas jumped out front over Reynolds who missed a shift on the restart, allowing Pearl and Rocco by in the process. Rocco wasted no time on Pearl, using a cross-over move out of turn two to take second position down the backstretch as they raced back to complete lap-9. Yuhas and Rocco moved out to lead the rest of the competition in what shaped up as a two-car run for the checkered flag.
Rocco caught and sized up Yuhas, then made his move to the inside, inching his way alongside the leader as the race reached halfway. The top spot was Rocco’s by lap-19 and Yuhas tucked in behind the new leader.
The race stayed incident-free and Rocco was able to race his way to the checkered flag. Yuhas stayed in striking distance but could not come up with a serious bid to challenge. Pearl ran clean to finish third well behind the top two, with Nichole Morgillo fourth and Reynolds hanging on to fifth position ahead Rob Janovic, the latter the fastest car on the track at the end.
Anthony Flannery used the pole starting position to take the early lead of the 30-lap Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model race. Thomas quickly moved into second position behind Flannery and was starting to apply pressure for the lead when Rocco and Vin Esposito made slight contact entering turn one just outside the top-ten. Rocco made hard contact with the retaining wall and was eliminated from the event. The caution flag was displayed, slowing the field on lap-6.
Thomas was strong in the outside lane on the restart, driving away from Flannery after one lap to move out front on lap-7. Flannery settled behind Thomas and ahead of Rich Staskowski in third.
Thomas had pulled out to a several car length advantage by the time the race reached halfway on lap-15. Behind him, Brian Andronaco and Jeff Smith joined Staskowski in pursuit of a podium finish. Smith ducked under Andronaco for fourth position on lap-20, racing hard for the spot and finally edging ahead of Andronaco by lap-25. The youngster then turned up the heat on Staskowksi for third. Out front, Thomas remained untouchable.
Thomas cruised to his first win on the season without further interruption. Flannery ran well to take second place in just his second start in the division. Smith jumped to the outside lane to beat out Staskowski for third position on the final lap, completing an impressive showing. Staskowski and Andronaco rounded out the top-five finishers.
Steve Barrett led the first two laps in the Street Stock 25-lapper before the only caution flag of the race waved for Scott Cook who spun down the backchute of lap-2. Puleo took over the lead on the restart, with Brandon Plemons and defending division champion Al Stone finding their way by Barrett to make up the top three positions as the race reached lap-10. Stone ducked underneath Plemons down the backstretch as the field worked lap-12, taking over the position and looking to reel in the advantage Puleo had built up out front. The race continued under green as drivers battled for position throughout the top-ten. Chris Meyer, Barrett and last week’s winner Josh Galvin were among just some of those looking to move up in the running order under constant fire.
The caution flag Stone needed would not come, and Puleo hung on to take his first victory on the young season. Stone was in hot pursuit, however ran out of time and settled for the runner-up finish. Plemons narrowly hung on to third place over a hard-charging Meyer at the checkered flag.
The 25-lap Mini Stock feature got underway with Chris Williams as the early leader in what proved to be a rough and tumble event. Caution would wave with 9-laps complete when Ben Bargnesi and Glenn Colvin came together entering turn 1, ending Bargnesi’s night.
Defending champion Ken Cassidy Jr.’s night ended on the restart, as mechanical failure sidelined him for the second consecutive week after he restarted the race in second position. Bill Leonard was on the move through the middle portion of the race, coming through the top-five to contend for his second straight win in the division. As Leonard was chasing down Williams, his break came by way of the caution flag on lap-23 when Jeff Cembruch spun, collecting Charles Canfield while the two battled in the top-five.
That incident set up the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, with Williams and Leonard battling side-by-side for the restart. The two spent one lap glued alongside one another, and as they raced through turns one and two for the final lap, contact between them sent Leonard into the turn two wall drawing a caution flag. Williams was sent to the rear of the field for his involvement, giving the lead to Evans.
Evans was able to withstand one final restart with Colvin to take his first win of the year. Ian Brew, Nick Pappacoda and Christina Kellerman were second through fourth, while Williams was able to rally to claim fifth position.
David Garbo Jr. was the early leader in the 20-lap Legends Cars feature, but Shaun Buffington moved to his inside through turns one and two to take over the top spot on lap-2. Dimatteo immediately moved by Garbo and into second position just before the caution flag waved on lap-5.
Dimatteo moved out front on lap-7 after three caution periods, then held on over Buffington and a host of competitors jockeying for position behind the top two throughout multiple restart attempts. The final one pitted Dimatteo against Buffington a final time, with Paul Kusheba and Giovanni Giarratana moving into the picture once racing resumed.
Dimatteo won the race going on relatively unchallenged over the remaining laps. Giarratana was impressive over those final laps to claim second. Kusheba was third, with Alessandro Vitelli and Buffington completing the top five at the checkered flag.
Martin took the lead on lap-2 of the Bandolero feature, cruising to her second consecutive win in the Saturday Showdown Series for the division. Martin, the defending division champion, survived a green-white-checkered finish to the 20-lap feature to come out on top over a tight battle for second between Corey Dimatteo and Robby Jones. Jones scored the runner-up finish with a pass out of the final turn.
The Speedbowl returns with another six division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing event next Saturday, April 16. Qualifying action is slated for 5:30pm with feature events commencing at 7:00pm. The Super X-Cars and X-Cars join the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modifieds, Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks in a tune-up to their Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday season.
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR