WATERFORD – The SK Modifieds® took center stage as the fog rolled in with a 60-lap main event led to the green flag by Troy Talman, who was under heavy pressure by Todd Owen in the early stages. After a lap 6 caution, Tim Jordan was able to dive his way underneath Owen to lock down the second position. Talman cleared Jordan after a 3 lap drag race when another caution flew. This time, Jordan would not be denied. He easily cleared Talman with 46 laps left on the board, pulling Owen by with him. Eric Berndt threw his hat in the ring briefly giving Owen a run for his money, with a hungry Ryan Morgan in the catbird seat. Jordan ran the second half of the event with minimal pressure from the competition, while Morgan was able to clear the defending champion with about 20 to go. Jordan’s big win marks his 40th overall at the track, and 13th in the division.
Also securing a milestone event, Jason Palmer essentially dominated the Late Model event of the evening. Rich Staskowski, returning to his familiar number 5, set the pace early in the race while Charles Bailey III and Jason Palmer had a brief battle for the runner up spot. Palmer took full control of the outside groove and smoothly worked his way into the lead on lap 7 where he would remain for the entirety of the event. Doug Curry’s return to Late Model competition would end in a ball of fire as a parts failure sent him in contact with the wall with 7 laps on the board. He would exit the car and be okay. Ray Christian III who followed Palmer for the entire race would fall off the pace with 2 to go, relegating him to a 10th place finish. Palmer’s win puts him in sole position of fourth on the all time win list with 95 wins, moving him ahead of the legendary Bob Potter.
Jon Porter led the Street Stocks to green and immediately had a mirror full of Tony Macrino’s green Camaro. Macrino took command of the lead after 4 laps of intense racing, until lap 12 when the 13 car had a parts failure and was relegated to the infield. Defending champion Shawn Gaedeke inherited the lead and by the time the checkered flag flew, his commanding 3.5 second lead would go unchallenged. Nobody was able to take a shot at Gaedeke as they went green to checkered.
Making it 4 wins in a row, Brody Monahan’s ability to be smooth on track is really putting an exclamation point on the Trucks division this year. Ed Ryan Jr. rebounded to an early lead until lap 10 when Monahan performed a bottom-shot move to lock down the lead. Two cautions didn’t break his stride, but it did allow the returning Todd Taylor to fight his way into second place, while Ryan and two-time champion Ken Cassidy Jr. fought hard for third.
Veteran driver Nick Pappacoda and defending champion Charles Canfield led the Mini Stocks to green, with Pappacoda getting the advantage after an intense battle. Jared Roy worked his way through the field with Chris Garside hot on his tail, moving into the top spot just 8 laps into the race. Canfield went up in a fireball that immediately extinguished itself at the halfway point, then two laps later, Roy broke on a restart. John Bavolacco and Garside put on a show for the top spot, even after several more restarts for spins, but ultimately Garside parked his Mustang in victory lane for the third time this season.
Up next at the Speedbowl, Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday headlined by the HHT Awareness 35 for Super X-Cars, and the second visit by the American Vintage Modifieds. Then for Speedbowl Saturday Nights, we have the SK Modifieds®, Street Stocks, SK Lights, Mini Stocks, INEX Legend Cars, and a Compact Enduro. Keep up with the Speedbowl at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, or @SpeedbowlCT on Twitter and Instagram.
Results
SK Modifieds® (60 Laps): 1. 47-Timmy Jordan[4]; 2. 8CT-Ryan Morgan[7]; 3. 81-Todd Owen[3]; 4. 11CT-Eric Berndt[5]; 5. 2-Troy Talman[1]; 6. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[12]; 7. 18-Tyler Barry[10]; 8. 4-Jeff Malave[11]; 9. 25-Tom Fox[13]; 10. 9-Paul Buzel[2]; 11. 22RI-Carl Kivisto[14]; 12. 49-John Bercham[15]; 13. 09-Kyle James[6]; 14. 94-Cory DiMatteo[9]; 15. 11FL-Stephan Kopcik[8]
Late Models (30 Laps): 1. 17-Jason Palmer[4]; 2. 5RI-Rich Staskowski[1]; 3. 29MA-Joshua Hedges[3]; 4. 78CT-Walter Sutcliffe[9]; 5. 94CT-Charles Bailey III[2]; 6. 33-Jaret Curtis[7]; 7. 88-Chase Curtis[12]; 8. 2-Derryck Anderson Jr[8]; 9. 12CT-PJ Evans[6]; 10. 93CT-Ray Christian III[5]; 11. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[10]; 12. 78-Emma Monahan[11]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[5]; 2. 52-Al Stone III[6]; 3. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[4]; 4. 38-Jon Porter[1]; 5. 74-Joseph Arena[8]; 6. 28-Austin Flanagan[2]; 7. 13RI-Clay Petschke[7]; 8. 21-Tom Musante[9]; 9. 30-Jaysin Beal[10]; 10. 6-Scott Sousa[13]; 11. 56-Ike Chima[11]; 12. 13-Tony Macrino[3]; 13. (DNS) 14CT-Devin Tate
Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 31-Brody Monahan[4]; 2. 47-Todd Taylor[6]; 3. 12-Ed Ryan Jr[3]; 4. 11-Ken Cassidy Jr[5]; 5. 19CT-Kyle Gero[2]; 6. 94-Anthony Naglieri[1]; 7. 84JR-Brad Strickland[12]; 8. 30-Charles Beal[7]; 9. 52-Mercedes Caron[11]; 10. 33-Jake Coutu[9]; 11. 52CT-Sean Caron[10]; 12. 25-David Venice[13]; 13. 41-Toby Leonard[8]
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 83-Christopher Garside[7]; 2. 42-John Bavolacco[6]; 3. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[3]; 4. 20-Joe Bavolacco[8]; 5. 28-Erica Canfield[10]; 6. 88-Bill Sylvia[4]; 7. 73-Eric Julian[14]; 8. 81-Stacey Zentek[9]; 9. 12-Aiden Sullivan[11]; 10. 22CT-Brad Caddick[1]; 11. 1CT-Jared Roy[5]; 12. 25-Charles Canfield[2]; 13. 91-Christian Herman[13]; 14. (DNS) 19-David Dorr