Wild N Wacky Wednesday 7/10 Results
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl returned with another night of Wild ‘n Wacky racing on Wednesday evening beating out the thunderstorms across the state. A good crowd turned out to watch as Nicholas Sowa of Middletown won an entertaining INEX Legend Cars race, his third of the year. Chris Thomas of Waterford won his first X-Car feature of the season while Matt Carlson of Griswold won the Super X-Car event. The INEX Bandolero division competed in twin 20-lap features with Corey Comeroski of Lebanon scoring his second win of the year and Jonathan Puleo of Branford picking up his first win ever at the Speedbowl in the nightcap. Chuck McDonald of Groton mastered another Wacky Race, besting the X-Cars in a Toll Booth race.
Sowa claimed his third INEX Legend Cars race of the Wednesday season beating out a competitive field of cars, including a last lap effort by a hard charging Giovanni Giarratana. The action got started when the green flag came as the field jockeyed for position down the front chute to turn one. Michael Christopher Jr. battled to the lead over John O’Sullivan Jr. to lap-1 of the 25-lapper. He showed the way until the first caution which came after a wild incident. Stephen Kopcik did a complete 360 spin out of turn four battling for a position among the top-five. Everyone missed Kopcik although some had to jump hard on the binders. Kopcik continued on as did the rest of the pack, however further behind at the tail of the field Peter Cirilli was stranded in the middle of the track between turns three and four.
Christopher got a great restart to get away from his challengers. O’Sullivan went around in turn two before the field came back around, however was able to refire and pull in to the infield retiring from the event. Jordan Churchill received damage in the incident and also pulled of the racing surface as the field stayed under green.
Sowa was up to third behind Christopher and Daniel Stolte, but wasn’t content there. He pressured Stolte until he got around him and by lap-8 was already hot on Christopher’s tail. Sowa was inside of Christopher for the top spot on lap-9, powering ahead out of turn two. The final caution flag wiped out Sowa’s lead on lap-12 when Sean Fitzmaurice spun.
Sowa pulled out over Christopher on the restart, leaving him to battle with Stolte who dove inside for second. By lap-14 Stolte was in the spot and trying to keep Sowa in his sights. Sowa pulled out to a three car length lead. Christopher was settled in third as a great battle for fourth had Michael Blaskey, Dana Dimatteo, Giarratana, Brendon Bock and Jason Palmer all racing side-by-side trying to move forward.
Blaskey got inside of Christopher to open the door for third, with Dimatteo briefly looking three wide before tucking back in line. Blaskey, Dimatteo, Giarratana and Bock all got by Christopher as the laps continued to wind down. Sowa held a comfortable lead over Stolte but it was Giarratana who came on strong late.
Giarratana used the outside lane to get by Dimatteo and Blaskey before getting around Stolte coming to the white flag. With just one lap remaining, Giarratana turned the fastest lap of the race trying to run down Sowa. He reached the leaders bumper off turn four but ran out of time and had to settle for second. Stolte finished a solid performance in third with Dimatteo fourth and Bock fifth.
The 25-lap X-Car feature was a dandy between Chris Thomas and Zach Thomas at the front of the field. The race was slow to begin as defending champion Scott Limkemann brushed the wall in the back chute on lap-1, causing enough damage to necessitate the caution flag as he limped to safety. Jordan Hadley took the lead from Jeff Dombrowski when racing finally got going, with Dombrowski taking back over and pulling out to a comfortable lead by lap-5. He pulled away as several cars battled for the top-five sorting out the running order.
Nate Bryington broke free to take second with Zach Thomas in pursuit. Thomas took second and quickly tracked down Dombrowski, taking the lead on lap-10. Chris Thomas was not far behind, taking a spot from Bryington and moving in behind Zach Thomas. Dombrowski spun in turn four on lap-11 to cause the next yellow flag situation.
Zach Thomas continued to lead after the restart through a lap-16 caution with Chris Thomas stalking his every move. On the lap-16 restart Chris Thomas pulled ahead in the outside lane to lead lap-17. Brad Voglesong looked strong racing for third with Melissa Clavette as the Thomas boys showed the way. Voglesong tried to take second from Zach Thomas in the closing laps to no avail. Chris Thomas finished off a narrow victory, with Zach Thomas nipping Voglesong at the line for second. Clavette was fourth and John Bowes completed the top-five.
Carlson came out on top of a duel with Frank Alessio to win the 25-lap Super X-Car race. The first lap was not complete as the caution flew with R.J. Cunningham out front. He led through lap-5 when Carlson barreled out front in the outside lane. Once in the lead, Carlson drove away from a big battle for second position that involved several cars. He went unchallenged out front until a caution flag on lap-14 erased his advantage when Jon Porter crashed into the turn one wall.
Carlson had Alessio on his outside for the restart, actually losing the lead to Alessio briefly on lap-15. Carlon rallied however, driving past Alessio back into the lead. He survived a final caution period on lap-20 and held back Alessio on the restart to drive to his second win of the season. Alessio finished in second with Eric Finkbein Sr. awarded third.
The INEX Bandoleros competed in twin 20-lap features on the night, with Comeroski and Puleo sharing the spotlight. Comeroski’s win came more easily as he drove away from Jacob Perry. One caution flag slowed the pace in the first event. As Comeroski took his second career victory, Perry was second and A.J. Eastman was third. In the second event, Puleo led the duration in the caution-free race. He first held back Ken Morin Jr. before Anthony Marvin moved into second position with a quick race car. From lap-13 through the checkered flag Marvin looked for a way around, to no avail. Puleo picked up his first-ever Speedbowl win over Marvin, with Ken Morin Jr. third. Puleo and Marvin are both second generation drivers, their fathers Ed Puleo and Bert Marvin are multiple time winners at the track in Saturday night NASCAR action.
This Saturday night the Speedbowl takes a break from its NASCAR action. Instead, the track will see racing action with the Belltown Tire Service Center Little Guys 200. The event will put some of the track’s support divisions into the spotlight as the Street Stock and Mini Stock divisions will compete in 50-lap open competition races paying each winner $1,000.00. The INEX Legend Cars and X-Cars will also compete in 50-lap races paying each winner $500.00. Belltown Tire Service Center will host a Pit Crew Challenge and fan giveaway, providing $500.00 prizes to each. Grandstands open at 5:00pm Friday with main events set to begin at 7:00pm. More information is available by visiting Speedbowl.com.
Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday 7/10 Results:
INEX Legend Cars (25-laps): 1. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 2. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 3. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 4. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 5. Brendon Bock, Franklin Square, NY; 6. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 7. Michael Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 8. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 9. Stephen Kopcik, Newtown; 10. Carl Blandina, Milford; 11. Michael Blaskey, Bethany; 12. David Johnson, Arlington, MA; 13. Colin Haley, Ashford; 14. Art Marrero, Baltic; 15. David Lespinasse, Milford; 16. Joe Ferrigno, East Hartford; 17. Sean Fitzmaurice, Woodstock; 18. Darrel Taggart, Colchester; 19. John O’Sullivan Jr., Salem; 20. T.J. Thompson, Lisbon; 21. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 22. Peter Cirilli, Farmington
INEX Bandoleros #1 (20-laps): 1. Corey Comeroski, Lebanon; 2. Jacob Perry, Pawcatuck; 3. A.J. Eastman, Fishers Island, NY; 4. Anthony Marvin, Colchester; 5. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 6. Jonathon Puleo, Branford; 7. Andrew Morin, Old Saybrook
INEX Bandoleros #2 (20-laps): 1. Puleo; 2. Marvin; 3. K. Morin Jr.; 4. Eastman; 5. Comeroski; 6. Perry; 7. A. Morin
X-Cars (25-laps): 1. Chris Thomas, Waterford; 2. Zach Thomas, New London; 3. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 4. Melissa Clavette, Bozrah; 5. John Bowes, Willington; 6. Larry Loomis Jr., Moosup; 7. Mitch Bombard, Willimantic; 8. Jeff Dombrowski, Oakdale; 9. Jordan Hadley, Quaker Hill; 10. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 11. Pete Zaikarite, Niantic; 12. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 13. Mark Tourville, Groton; 14. Matt Westover, Gales Ferry; 15. Eddie Loomis, Plainfield; 16. Zach Ezzell, Plainfield; 17. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 18. Matt Ryan, Groton; 19. Elizabeth Gaston, Vernon; 20. Craig Tavernier, Moosup; 21. Chris Lee, Uncasville; 22. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 23. Nate Bryington, Webster, MA; 24. Bruce Clark, Greenfield, MA; 25. David Gargaro Jr., Cranston; 26. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme
Super X-Cars (25-laps): 1. Matt Carlson, Griswold; 2. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 3. Eric Finkbein Sr., Columbia; 4. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 5. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 6. Ed Ryan, Preston; 7. Ken Downing III, Branford; 8. Bill Reiman, Southington; 9. Ray Reed, Norwich; 10. Robert Goulet, Southington; 11. John Yagmin, Tolland; 12. Marc Shafer, Groton; 13. R.J. Cunningham, Clinton; 14. Todd Taylor, Waterford; 15. James Maher, Shelton; 16. John Kazersky, Niantic; 17. Jon Porter, Canterbury; DQ – Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI
Wacky X-Car Tollbooth Race (top-five): 1. Chuck McDonald, Groton; 2. Chris Lee, Uncasville; 3. Mitch Bombard, Willimantic; 4. Chris Thomas, Waterford; 5. Brad Voglesong, Middletown
Sources: Brian Darling/Waterford Speedbowl PR