Flannery wins seventh straight in Legends Cars action; Sowa, Beal, Widger and Ceravolo also reach Speedbowl Victory Lane
Waterford, CT — Ideal weather conditions prevailed for a night of Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday racing at Waterford Speedbowl. East Hampton teenager Anthony Flannery won his seventh consecutive Legends Cars race. Nick Sowa of Middletown and Rick Ceravolo of Groton were first time winners, checkering the Bandolero and X-Modified races respectively. Charles Beal won the Super X-Car event and Devin Widger returned to Victory Lane in the X-Car race.
Veteran racer Carl Blandina was the early leader in the Legends Cars feature race. He led a tight pack of cars through the first five laps when Flannery emerged to make an outside maneuver through turns three and four to take the lead. While Flannery was out front the action behind was intense as Ed Field, Giovanni Giarratana, Alessandro Vitelli and Dana Dimatteo jockeyed for position lap after lap in the 20-lapper.
The race stayed clean and green despite the great action. Giarratana and Vitelli briefly touched in turn two battling for third in the late stages of the event, with both drivers keeping their machines pointed in the right direction. The contacted allowed Field to dart by them both to take over the spot with three laps to go.
Flannery went on to the win by three car lengths over Blandina at the checkered flag. Field finished third with Giarratana taking the fourth spot over Vitelli.
A wild 20-lap Bandolero race started with Tyler Chalue emerging at the head of the field after a three wide battle for the lead on lap one. Sowa moved by Chalue for the lead through four caution periods over the first half of the race, including a red flag situation when Andrew Carpenter’s car spun and became airborne. He crashed into the third turn wall while battling for a top five spot in the race. Carpenter was ok following the accident.
Chris Lomartire moved to second when racing resumed and began to look for a way by Sowa, who continued to lead as the race progressed past halfway. Sowa was able to hold off the charges of Lomartire until five laps remained. Lomartire made room inside the leader in turn three, bringing Joey Ternullo with him to the second position. Those moves were both short lived however, as Sowa reciprocated the move a lap later to take back over. Taylor Martin was in the mix as well and a three wide battle for the second position resulted. Martin, Lomartire and Ternullo all tangled in turn three a lap later, collecting Ken Morin Jr. in the process. The caution came out with just four laps to go, shuffling the running order for the final restart.
Sowa bested Chalue on the final restart, and hung on to take his first career victory in the division. Chalue was second, while Martin rebounded for third after charging back through the field.
Jeremy Violette took over the lead on lap two of the 20-lap X Car event and raced out to a sizeable advantage behind a hungry pack of competitors. Caution waved on lap four for a spin by Todd Nadeau. Randy Johnston, Glen Thomas Jr., Widger and Dan D’addario raced through the field to make up the top six behind Violette and Wayne Shifflett who ran at out front. The racing stayed under green flag conditions, setting up an exciting final three laps among the top six.
Violette continued to lead through lapped traffic. Widger made progress on the outside groove, moving all the way to second position. He looked both high and low on Violette for the race lead, ultimately setting him up for a strong move to the outside in turn three. Widger pulled even and raced to the white flag as the new leader. That late charge netted Widger an impressive victory, his second of the year. Violette was second with a strong race. D’addario claimed third over Thomas and Shifflett and maintained his points lead.
Full-sized, full contact racing was on display in the 20-lap Super X-Car event. The opening laps were paced by Dan Moon over a boisterous pack of racers behind. James Consalvo took over to lead lap five, bringing Mike Maskell and Mike Caprio into the top three positions. The top three raced tight, with Consalvo getting crossed up headed into turn one of lap eight, dropping he and Caprio back several positions. Maskell and Charles Beal cleared the mayhem to take over the top two spots when caution waved on lap eight for a car stalled on the apron of turn one.
Beal moved out to a several car length lead when the racing returned to green. He led over Jon Porter and John Yagmin who moved their way by Maskell into second and third. Ken Downing III also moved by Maskell as handling trouble set in on that machine as the race closed to the final five laps. With four laps remaining Yagmin slipped under Porter for second. A spin by Mark Boisvert with three laps to go set up a final restart.
Beal mastered that final obstacle to win by three lengths over Yagmin. Yagmin was disqualified from the position following post-race technical inspection moving Porter to the spot. Downing ended up third over Caprio and Shawn Perkins.
Ceravolo cruised to his first career win in the 15-lap X-Modified race. He withheld a late charge from Bubby Brouwer following a restart with three laps remaining. Paul French finished third.
Waterford Speedbowl 6/2 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Results:
Legends Cars (20-laps): 1. Anthony Flannery, East Hampton; 2. Carl Blandina, Milford; 3. Ed Field, Deep River; 4. Giovanni Giarratana, Newington; 5. Alessandro Vitelli, Woodbridge; 6. Dana Dimatteo, Farmington; 7. Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 8. Dave Garbo Jr., Stonington; 9. Ricky White III, North Stonington; 10. Peter Cirilli, Farmington; 11. Jake Spillers, Ashburnham, MA; 12. Joey Mucciacciaro, Wolcott; 13. Tom Pinson, Colchester; 14. Matthew Carpenter, Auburn, MA
Point Standings after five events: 1. Flannery, 275; 2. Field, 216; 3. Dimatteo, 206; 4. Giarratana, 204; 5. Blandina, 192; 6. White, 176; 7. Pantani, 162; 8. Spillers, 158; 9. Garbo, 148; 10. Mucciacciaro, 146 112
Bandolero’s (20-laps): 1. Nick Sowa, Middletown; 2. Tyler Chalue, Dudley, MA; 3. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 4. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 5. Garrett Denton, Hope Valley, RI; 6. Rachel Forte, Douglas, MA; 7. Corey Dimatteo, Farmington; 8. Nick Matera, Warwick, RI; 9. Chris Lomartire, Millbury, MA; 10. Joey Ternullo, Middletown; 11. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 12. Andrew Carpenter, Auburn, MA; 13. Chace Wood, Danielson; 14. Kaz Grala, Westborough, MA
Point Standings after five events: 1. Martin, 252; 2. Lomartire, 220; 3. Chalue, 212; 4. Forte, 190; 5. Sowa, 187; 6. Grala, 180; 7. Morin, 170; 8. Denton, 146; 9. (tie) Carpenter, Ternullo, 140
X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Devin Widger, Plainville; 2. Jeremy Violette, Canterbury; 3. Dan D’addario, Columbia; 4. Glen Thomas Jr., Groton; 5. Wayne Shifflett, Preston; 6. Rich Hurne, Groton; 7. Randy Johnston, Westerly, RI; 8. Michael Marvin, Colchester; 9. Mike Trask, Plainfield; 10. Dan Madore, Sterling; 11. Onie Pierce, Norwich; 12. Brad Voglesong, Middletown; 13. Bruce Hall, Ledyard; 14. Jeremy Bourbeau, Taftville; 15. Jeffrey Lee, Uncasville; 16. Bill Giles, Stratford; 17. Arthur Phillips, Norwich; 18. Kim Bickford, Griswold; 19. Michele Cicio, Baltic; 20. David Lloyd, Mystic; 21. Todd Nadeau, North Franklin; 22. Shawn Stula, Colchester; 23. Joe Mollo, Ansonia; 24. Patrick Williams, Middletown; 25. Scott Limkemann, East Lyme; 26. Chris Garside, Waterford; 27. Robert Butler, Plainfield
Point Standings after five events: 1. D. D’addario, 243; 2. Widger, 230; 3. Johnston, 202; 4. Shifflett, 188; 5. Thomas, 183; 6. Voglesong, 182; 7. Violette, 164; 8. Trask, 160; 9. Williams, 153; 10. Hall, 150 116
Super X-Cars (20-laps): 1. Charles Beal, Ledyard; 2. John Yagmin, Tolland; 3. Jon Porter, Canterbury; 4. Ken Downing III, Branford; 5. Michael Caprio, New Haven; 6. Shawn Perkins, Groton; 7. Mike Maskell, Quaker Hill; 8. Steve LaRose, Griswold; 9. Duke Place, Charlestown, RI; 10. Mark Boisvert, Uxbridge, MA; 11. Richard Avino, North Haven; 12. Rob Corey, South Windsor; 13. Peter Pollard, Old Lyme; 14. Dan Moon, Exeter, RI; 15. Jim Boyle, East Windsor; 16. Taylor-Marie Moran, Preston; 17. James Consalvo, East Hartford; 18. Frank Alessio, Colchester; 19. Joe Jacobs, East Hartford; 20. Shawn Butler, Jewett City; 21. Kevin Moon, Exeter, RI; 22. Paul Sheldon, Guilford
Point Standings after five events: 1. Corey, 228; 2. Caprio, 191; 3. (tie) Maskell, Yagmin, 182; 5. Beal, 175; 6. Alessio, 174; 7. Downing, 173; 8. Perkins, 162; 9. Boisvert, 160; 10. Moran, 158
X-Modifieds (15-laps): 1. Rick Ceravolo, Groton; 2. Bubby Brouwer, Waterford; 3. Paul French, Andover; 4. Rob Gallaer, Sherman; 5. Brenden Shea, Mystic; 6. Rich Schlegel, Griswold
Point Standings after three events: 1. (tie) French, Brouwer, 149; 3. Ceravolo, 143; 4. Shea, 128; 5. Schlegel, 120; 6. Gallaer, 90; 7. Corey Larson, 78; 8. Steve Skenyon, 44; 9 Brian Dimartino, 36