Rocco Returns to Winner’s Circle; Hovey, Field, Coates and Sowa winners
Waterford, CT — Waterford Speedbowl hosted Laps for Lupus on Saturday, treating fans to a five-division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing program benefitting Lupus Foundation of America’s Connecticut Chapter. Keith Rocco of Wallingford took command early in the race then mastered several restarts to claim his sixth SK Modified® win of the year. Walt Hover Jr. of Chaplin dominated the Street Stock race to collect his first win of the season, extending his lead in the championship points. Danny Field of Deep River won his first Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock race of the year in dominating fashion, while Ledyard’s Allen Coates won the A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Truck race and etch his name further into the Speedbowl record books. Nicholas Sowa of Middletown won the Bandolero race. Over $10,000 was raised for the Lupus Foundation of America when the event had concluded.
Teammates Glenn Pressell III and Diego Monahan led a full field of ground pounding SK Modifieds® to green for a 35-lap main event. Pressell took command of the race with Shawn Solomito and Kyle James making up the top three positions behind. Solomito challenged Pressell with a bold move down the backstretch of lap two, but the two made contact that resulted with Pressell spinning in turn three ahead of a hard charging field. Several cars piled in behind with all but Jeff Pearl and Mark Bakaj able to drive away. Others ducked pit-side for service to their cars under the caution.
Solomito reclaimed the lead over James on the restart. That was short lived as Rocco powered under him in turn two to take over at the front. Rob Janovic Jr. followed suit into second and set chase on Rocco. Todd Ceravolo was on the move back in his familiar #16 car, first moving by Joe Gada then past Monahan to advance to third. The second caution waved when Gada fell off the pace and came to rest between turns three and four on lap eight.
Ceravolo was impressive on the restart, making his way past Janovic for second with Abele moving to third place. Ceravolo stayed with Rocco, sizing up the leader and testing his car in both the high and low lanes looking poised to make a move. Behind the top five runners, several cars battled hard for the top ten positions including James, Justin Gaydosh, Adam Gada, Ron Yuhas Jr. and Tyler Chadwick among others. Jeff Paul and Dennis Charette got together racing in that pack, spinning into turn one and bringing out the caution on lap 15.
Rocco restarted masterfully over the second half of the race, besting the competition over multiple caution flags including one when a tire went down on Ceravolo’s car sending him into the turn two barrier and another when Pressell became airborne over Gaydosh and crashed in wild fashion into the turn two wall.
Yuhas moved to second over the series of restarts and stay on Rocco’s tail. He shadowed Rocco for four laps before trying to pull outside Rocco’s right rear on numerous tries. A final caution waved for an incident that started between Chadwick and Gaydosh exiting turn two and collected Charette with six laps remaining.
Rocco jumped out front and cruised to the win, extending his points lead over Yuhas in the process. Yuhas was second with Janovic, Abele and Chadwick rounding out the top five finishers.
Greg Moran Jr. and Jack Aquilina led the Street Stock field to the green flag for their 25-lap feature. The pair spent two laps battling for the top spot before Moran claimed the lead. Action heated up behind Moran when Aquilina got out of shape off turn two, bunching up the field three wide into turn three. Defending champion Brandon Plemons got bounced into the wall and his machine slowed to draw the caution flag before the field completed lap three.
Moran pulled ahead over Chris Meyer on the restart, with Hovey diving under Meyer for the second spot by the time they reached the stripe the next lap. Behind that battle Steve Barrett, Norm Sears, Josh Galvin, Ed Puleo and Al Stone III were all racing tight for position. The intensity reached its peak with Sears car making contact with the wall between turns three and four on lap five necessitating caution again.
On the restart a mess exiting turn two occurred when Meyer broke traction and spun, causing a several car incident on the back stretch. Galvin and Kevin Talbot received the brunt of the damage in the incident with both cars headed to the pit area for repairs.
Hovey got the best of Moran on the restart, moving around his outside into the race lead. Stone moved by Moran to second, Puleo advanced to third and Moran dropped to fourth ahead of Barrett. With ten laps remaining they continued as the top five, with Puleo looking for a way by Stone for second. Puleo went outside for the position, leaving Hovey alone up front to pull ahead by a straight away advantage.
Galvin stormed back through the field after his lap five incident, moving by Barrett for fifth on lap 19. Ahead of Galvin, smoke from Moran’s machine increased and eventually forced him to pull out of line and retire from his fourth place position with just two laps remaining moving Galvin to fourth.
Puleo was able to pull even with Stone over the final two circuits. The pair battled hard for the spot over the closing laps with no shortage of door-to-door Street Stock style racing on display. Hovey was untouchable at the front, winning his first event of the year. Stone held off Puleo for second, while Galvin and Meyer rounded out the top five.
Christina Kellerman led the opening laps of the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock race before contact from second place Ben Bargnesi crossed her on lap three. After gathering her car back, Kellerman had dropped back to fifth. She spun from that position on lap six to bring out the first caution flag of the race.
Two more laps were completed on the restart before Sean Caron spun off the front stretch, however Chris Williams had edged his way past Bargnesi to be the new leader for the following restart. He remained at the front with Louis Bellisle III and Field moving in behind when Caron brought out caution again on lap 11.
Williams had his hands full when the action resumed. He held off both Bellisle and Field before another a final caution slowed the pace. Field took over from there, restarting outside Williams and pulling even, then edging ahead for good on lap 12. Field distanced himself from the competition as the race finished under green and won his fourth event of the year. Bellisle ended up second, Ken Cassidy Jr. was third with John Kelly scoring fourth and Ian Brew fifth.
Bill Leonard was the early leader of the green-to-checkered 25-lap A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Truck race. Howard Payne moved by the inside of Leonard through turns three and four on lap 4. Leonard tried a cross-over move in an attempt to duplicate the move in turn one. He was unable to make that stick and fell back to the clutches of Keith Rocco and Coates who were in third and fourth positions. Rocco and Coates both moved by the inside of Leonard as his truck faded back in the outside groove with five laps complete. Coates jumped under Rocco immediately, challenging him for the second spot and taking the position on lap six.
Rocco suddenly dropped off the pace on lap nine, retiring his machine to the infield with trouble under the hood. Coates reached Payne’s back bumper on lap 10. He pulled outside Payne for the lead, spending two laps side-by-side before pulling out to a three length lead. Coates went on to his 76th career Speedbowl victory, moving him into fourth all-time at the track. He surpassed popular competitor Charlie Webster who now is fifth all-time in Speedbowl wins.
The Bandoleros put on a caution free 15-lap exhibition race to start the night. The field exchanged the lead multiple times in the opening laps. Five laps in, things settled in with Sowa at the front of the field with Taylor Martin and Corey Dimatteo in tow. Further back Kenneth Morin Jr. was looking around the outside of Jordan Churchill for the fourth position, battling for several laps with Churchill hanging on to the spot. With two laps remaining it was a two car race between Sowa and Martin. Martin stayed glued to Sowa but could not pull out of line to make a move, giving the win to Sowa.
Saturday 6/19 Results and standings:
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modifieds® (35 laps): 1. Keith Rocco, Wallingford; 2. Ron Yuhas Jr., Groton; 3. Rob Janovic Jr., Waterford; 4. Tom Abele Jr., Norwich; 5. Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard; 6. Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill; 7. Shawn Solomito, Islip, NY; 8. Joe Perry, Ashaway, RI; 9. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., Milford; 10. Pete Pavone, Southbury; 11. Mike Sweeney, Meriden; 12. Jeffrey Paul, Ledyard; 13. Justin Gaydosh, Newtown; 14. Dennis Charette, Southington; 15. Glenn Pressell III, Gales Ferry; 16. Todd Ceravolo, Gales Ferry; 17. Adam Gada, Bozrah; 18. Jeffrey Gallup, Agawam, MA; 19. Kyle James, Ashaway, RI; 20. Joe Gada, Salem; 21. Mark Bakaj, Lebanon; 22. Jeff Pearl, Salem; 23. Jimmy Smith, Woodstock
Standings after ten events (top-ten): 1. Rocco, 480; 2. Yuhas, 457; 3. Janovic, 390; 4. Chadwick, 368; 5. Paul, 359; 6. Charette, 336; 7. Monahan, 322; 8. Pearl, 310; 9. Abele, 288; 10. Bakaj, 283
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Street Stocks (25 laps): 1. Walt Hovey Jr, Chaplin; Al Stone III, New Haven; 3. Ed Puleo, Branford; 4. Josh Galvin, Franklin; 5. Christopher Meyer, N. Franklin; 6. Steve Barrett, Preston; 7. Ronnie Oldham Jr., Westbrook; 8. Nate Appell, Westbrook; 9. Chris Kvaka, Stratford; 10. Scott Young, Willimantic; 11. Kevin Talbot, Moosup; 12. Paul Gaedeke, Southington; 13. Gregory Moran Jr., Preston; 14. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 15. Norm Sears, Andover; 16. Jack Aquilina, Oakdale (DQ), Shawn Monahan, Waterford (DNS)
Standings after ten events (top-ten): 1. Hovey, 465; 2. (tie) Stone, Puleo, 412; 4. Oldham, 405; 5. Barrett, 404; 6. Galvin, 402; 7. Plemons, 386; 8. Sears, 365; 9. Meyer, 353; 10. (tie) Aquilina, Appell, 284
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks (25 laps): 1. Danny Field, Deep River; 2. Louie Bellisle III, Griswold; 3. Kenneth Cassidy Jr, Lisbon; 4. John Kelly, New London; 5. Ian Brew, Wood River Jct; 6. Brandon Plemons, Uncasville; 7. Greg Moran Sr., Preston; 8. Chuck Rogers, Quaker Hill; 9. Jeffrey Cembruch, Wallingford; 10. Ray Christian III, Noank; 11. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 12. Nick Pappacoda, North Branford; 13. Ben Bargnesi, Norwich; 14. Ryan Cipows, Seymour; 15. Sean Caron, East Hampton; 16. Steve Violette, Canterbury; 17. Christina Kellerman, Stratford; 18. Phil Evans, Uncasville; DQ – Chris Williams, Waterford
Standings after ten events (top-ten): 1. D. Field, 464; 2. Cassidy, 455; 3. Caron, 416; 4. Bellisle, 337; 5. Williams, 335; 6. Brew, 331; 7. Violette, 326; 8. Canfield, 322; 9. Moran, 318; 10. Pappacoda, 252
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Trucks (25 laps): 1. Allen Coates, Ledyard; 2. Howard Payne, Shelton; 3. Corey Coates, Ledyard; 4. Bill Leonard, Wood River Junction, RI; 5. John Warren, Chicopee, MA; 6. Harold Burdick, Dayville; 7. James Wray, Mystic; 8. Phil Evans, Uncasville; 9. Jonathon Zoller, Ayer, MA; 10. Keith Rocco, Wallingford
Standings after six events (top-ten): 1. A. Coates, 305; 2. Payne, 281; 3. Leonard, 240; 4. C. Coates, 208; 5. Warren, 158; 6. Rocco, 156; 7. Chris Correll, 146; 8. Greg Butler Jr., 126; 9. Burdick, 116; 10. Wray, 110
Bandolero (15-laps): 1. Nicholas Sowa, Middletown; 2. Taylor Martin, Windham, NH; 3. Corey Dimatteo, Woodstock; 4. Jordan Churchill, Lisbon; 5. Kenneth Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 6. Daniel Stolte, Northbridge, MA; 7. Jordan Lamothe, Woodstock
Sources: Waterford Speedbowl PR