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Photo by TK Race Photo
WATERFORD – Andrew Molleur is no stranger to Speedbowl victory lane, adding his fifth different division to his accomplishments last month by visiting with his Late Model twice. But for the first time in 2022 Molleur was able to hold off defending champion Todd Owen to score the win.
Molleur rocketed out to an early lead from his pole position starting spot, taking Owen with him as they cleared Anthony Flannery. The three drivers would run nose to tail with the battle for fourth being full of intensity between Rob Janovic Jr., Eric Berndt, and Tim Jordan. After 20 laps of comfort, Owen began knocking on the door of Molleur for the top spot. A few peeks to the bottom, a few runs up to the bumper, but Owen never had that extra bit of speed to begin a pass on Molleur in the caution free event.
“Obviously (Owen) had the better car (at the end) … We raced hard and it feels good to be back in victory lane with the SK Modifieds.” Said Molleur.
The great duel of 2021 in the Late Models was Jason Palmer versus Ray Christian III, and fans were treated to that instant classic again in 2022. Charles Bailey III got off to an early lead with Jordan Hadley on his outside, but third place Palmer was quick on the attack. Bailey led the first six laps trying to keep Palmer at bay, but eventually had to surrender. That opened the door for Christian to follow Palmer out in front of the field.
Christian tried to take the outside away from Palmer, but to no avail. Quickly changing strategies, Christian dove to the inside line at the halfway mark, but still nothing. Andrew Molleur sitting in third didn’t back down and made his best attempt on Christian, but also couldn’t make it stick. With ten laps on the board, it was Palmer and Christian once again for the top spot. As close as they were, Palmer led every lap since taking over the lead until the checkered flag flew.
One of the busiest and most successful drivers of the day was Isaiah Newcomb, competing in the Late Models, Legend Car 20/20/10 event, and the SK Lights. Newcomb started on the front row in the SK Lights, but the story wasn’t easy.
Johnny O’Sullivan got off to an early lead putting a huge gap on the field, as the pack sorted themselves out behind him. A restart on lap four allowed the winningest driver of the season Tom Abele Jr to move into the second position. After another restart, immediate contact between the front row sent drivers scrambling and relegated Abele to the pits.
A new front row emerged with Evan Bourgeois getting the advantage over Nickolas Hovey. Car problems with Bourgeois made him the recipient of the black flag, sending him to the pits as well. It was a 16 and 16 show when racing resumed, with Hovey leading the way over Ethan Durocher in an intense side by side battle for the lead. Newcomb in the catbird seat was able to wedge his way into second place with 10 laps to go, then dive underneath Hovey on the final lap to win his first SK Light race of the season.
Newcomb was also the winner of the second segment in the Legend Car 20/20/10, after starting near the back of the full field invert and getting into the lead at halfway. He was crowned overall winner on the night as well finishing 2nd in the other two segments.
Brody Monahan made quick work of the first Legend Car race, using the outside groove to rocket into the lead and go uncontested to win his 5th race of the season. Zachary Martinez won the 10 lap shootout after performing a major mechanical overhaul during the day.
Al Stone III got off to an early lead in the Street Stocks leaving his competition battling for the second spot. A lap 4 caution gave Aaron Plemons a clear path to make a bid for the top spot, immediately working his way underneath Stone. Stone hung on in the outside groove for a few laps, but once Plemons was clear he ran away to his own zip code. Two cautions just after halfway didn’t change Plemons fortune, as he went on to win his second race of the season.
The Mini Stocks are always putting on some great racing and doing it cleanly. Jesse Oloski and Charles Canfield got off to an early lead on the field, and quick. Canfield took over the top spot on lap 9 after a duel with Oloski, and you would’ve thought he had the race won at that moment. Caution for debris bunched up the field on lap 14, which set the stage for an exciting finish. Part timer Chris Garside only has one start this season, but you can count on him to be fast whenever he shows up. Starting in the back of the handicap, he worked his way into second place and hot on Canfield’s tail. Garside dove underneath Canfield on the final lap but came up just short, giving Canfield his second win of the year by 0.028 seconds.
Derek Armillotto won the third Compact Enduro of the Season.
The Speedbowl is back in action on Wednesday July 27th with double X-Car and Super X-Car features, and again next Saturday July 30th for a 6-division show featuring double Late Model feature events. Keep up with us at www.speedbowlct.com, on Facebook at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl, or on Twitter @SpeedbowlCT.
RESULTS
SK Modified® (35 Laps): 1. 35-Andrew Molleur[1]; 2. 81-Todd Owen[4]; 3. 25-Anthony Flannery[2]; 4. 11CT-Eric Berndt[5]; 5. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[6]; 6. 47-Timmy Jordan[3]; 7. 89-Bill Anderson[7]; 8. 6CT-Dana DiMatteo[8]; 9. 15-Jeff Fialkovich[9]; 10. 66-Wendell Dailey[10]
Late Model (30 Laps): 1. 17-Jason Palmer[3]; 2. 93CT-Raymond Christian[5]; 3. 35-Andrew Molleur[4]; 4. 37-Jordan Hadley[2]; 5. 17MA-Matthew Lowinski Loh[6]; 6. 94CT-Charles Bailey III[1]; 7. 5RI-Rich Staskowski[7]; 8. 50RI-Michael Benevides[8]; 9. 2CT-Douglas Curry[9]; 10. 2-Derryck Anderson Jr[10]; 11. 32-Jason Williams[12]; 12. (DNS) 22-Isaiah Newcomb
SK Lights (25 Laps): 1. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[1]; 2. 16-Nickolas Hovey[3]; 3. 51CT-Matt Brewer[8]; 4. 16CT-Ethan Durocher[9]; 5. 51-John O’Sullivan III[2]; 6. 47-Zack Sangermano[5]; 7. 42-Stephen Kelogiannis[11]; 8. 91CT-Aaron Plemons[10]; 9. 21-Sami Anderson[7]; 10. 78-Evan Bourgeois[4]; 11. 07-Tom Abele Jr[6]; 12. 5-Jordan Churchill[12]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 67-Aaron Plemons[4]; 2. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[3]; 3. 52-Al Stone III[1]; 4. 12-Brian Norman[2]; 5. 13-Tony Macrino[7]; 6. 22T-Timothy Poulin[5]; 7. 21-Tom Musante[6]; 8. 38-Jon Porter[8]
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 25-Charles Canfield[4]; 2. 83-Christopher Garside[5]; 3. 49-Jesse Oloski[2]; 4. 2-Sam Mesick[3]; 5. 9-Rick LaFlesh[6]; 6. 00-Wayne Taylor[9]; 7. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[8]; 8. 22CT-Tim Baker[1]; 9. 91-Raymond Herman Sr[7]; 10. 28-Erica Canfield[12]; 11. 81-Stacey Zentek[10]; 12. (DNS) 22-Hailey Beal
Legend Car 1 (20 Laps): 1. 31-Brody Monahan[4]; 2. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[5]; 3. 05-Dylan Freeman[2]; 4. 86-Scott Limkemann[1]; 5. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[10]; 6. 89-Dylan Cote[3]; 7. 77CT-Thomas Martucci Jr[7]; 8. 91-Riley Paul[8]; 9. 15-Scott Kinsman[9]; 10. 23-Jordan Rosado[11]; 11. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[13]; 12. 12-PJ Evans[6]; 13. 25-Bruce Finley[12]
Legend Car 2 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[7]; 2. 91-Riley Paul[1]; 3. 86-Scott Limkemann[5]; 4. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[11]; 5. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[4]; 6. 12-PJ Evans[12]; 7. 89-Dylan Cote[3]; 8. 05-Dylan Freeman[6]; 9. 77CT-Thomas Martucci Jr[2]; 10. 23-Jordan Rosado[10]; 11. 15-Scott Kinsman[9]; 12. 31-Brody Monahan[8]; 13. (DNS) 25-Bruce Finley
Legend Car Shootout (10 Laps): 1. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[2]; 2. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[3]; 3. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[4]; 4. 91-Riley Paul[6]; 5. 86-Scott Limkemann[1]; 6. 31-Brody Monahan[7]; 7. 89-Dylan Cote[9]; 8. 12-PJ Evans[10]; 9. 77CT-Thomas Martucci Jr[8]; 10. 05-Dylan Freeman[5]; 11. 15-Scott Kinsman[12]; 12. 23-Jordan Rosado[11]
Legend Car Overall: 1. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[11]; 2. 86-Scott Limkemann[7]; 3. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[1]; 4. 91-Riley Paul[12]; 5. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[8]; 6. 31-Brody Monahan[10]; 7. 89-Dylan Cote[2]; 8. 05-Dylan Freeman[5]; 9. 77CT-Thomas Martucci Jr[9]; 10. 12-PJ Evans[3]; 11. 15-Scott Kinsman[6]; 12. 23-Jordan Rosado[13]; 13. 25-Bruce Finley[4]
