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WATERFORD – Rob Janovic Jr. led the SK Modifieds® to green to cap off the evening with outside pole-sitter Justin Gaydosh holding off a hornet’s nest over the first handful of laps. It was then, that Blast Off winner Eric Berndt would fall victim to a chain reaction eliminating him from the race. Gaydosh briefly took control of the race lead on the ensuing restart but had a fast Timmy Jordan in his mirror. Jordan used the bottom to shoot out in front putting Gaydosh back into the nest, where he eventually got involved in a minor incident before halfway. With Jordan out front, Andrew Molleur and Anthony Flannery had to methodically work their magic to move towards the front. Once there, they could only match the speeds Jordan was putting down. Jordans’ controlling win was his first since his return to competition after taking the latter half of 2023 off.
In only his second start of the season in a Late Model, Ryan Lineham was the man to beat all day. He won practice and qualifying in the Richard Sprague owned number 10, giving him a front row starting spot over Emma Monahan. Lineham used his track position to run for cover as Andrew Molleur and Jason Palmer put the heat on Monahan. Eventually they would work by the outside of Monahan and set their sights on the leader who was already a straightaway ahead by that time. Molleur was able to clear Palmer when Windham Maine’s Cole Robie started trying to work his way forward. A couple late race cautions, including one that took Robie out of competition, set the tone for the finish. Palmer got caught up in a restart melee with 3 laps to go sending him to the rear. Lineham could not be stopped however, and even though he spent some time in Victory Lane with his Open Street Stock, this was his first Late Model win since 2020.
Zack Sangermano launched off the front row as if he was shot out of a cannon, finding himself under attack immediately by Tyler Barry. The pair, along with John O’Sullivan III stepped away from the field early, each trying to peck their way forward in position. Sangermano, under heavy pressure from Barry for much of the event, didn’t falter even with a restart around the halfway point. He used the high groove to take the green over two more restarts, having a side-by-side drag race with Barry for several laps each time before eventually clearing Barry and controlling the race once more. After the final restart, O’Sullivan and Corey Caddick would take down Barry and put the pressure on Sangermano but ran out of laps before any moves could be made.
The Street Stocks were an elbows-up affair from the drop of the green flag. Ed Gertsch Jr and Jon Porter led the field to green with Gertsch getting the advantage. Porter, Tony Macrino, Chad Baxter, and Aaron Plemons would all mix it up in a three wide scenario shuffling up the running order with Plemons coming out ahead. Baxter’s car was on the move getting by Plemons and setting his sights on Gertsch. Baxter took full control of the race even with a hard charging Plemons in his tracks. Throughout the field, it seemed like every pack of cars were banging doors and playing bumper tag, but no incident occurred until 7 to go for a minor spin. On the final run with the top two all but settled, Gertsch had his hands full with defending champion Al Stone III and a fast Norm Root III who rebounded from heavy damage in qualifying. A three-wide move from Shawn Gaedeke allowed Gertsch to finish on the podium comfortably.
Outside pole sitter Jake Coutu kicked off the Truck feature with an impressive run, holding off former champion Ken Cassidy Jr. for the early stages of the 25 lap race. Coutu led the first 6 laps while last weeks winner Tyler Chapman and Cassidy were going at it for second. With Chapman and Cassidy in the first and second positions, and the handling fading away from Coutu, the caution flag would prove detrimental for Coutu. After a brief side-by-side run with Charles Beal, Coutu would come out on top with Andy Pellegrini in his rearview. Pellegrini would make the move for third, but heavy contact with the wall would put an end to Coutu’s race early. Chapman held control of the race until the end scoring back to back feature wins, with Cassidy, Beal, and Brad Strickland all fighting it out to complete the podium.
The Mini Stocks started and finished their 25 lap feature event with a bang. After a lap 1 pile up where all drivers pulled away, Bill Syliva took to the early lead. The field would sort themselves out behind him with Rick LaFlesh, a hard charging John Bavolacco, and last weeks winner David Lee in tow, before contact sent LaFlesh to the rear. With the field bunched up and a parts failure developing in Sylvia’s car, Bavolacco was able to take control with David Dorr hot on his heels. 2023 Champion Chris Garside methodically worked his way forward from his 9th place starting spot picking off cars under both green and yellow to put himself in position to track down Bavolacco. Once Garside picked off Dorr and reeled Bavolacco in, the two spent the final 5 laps side by side, finishing in a true photo finish giving the win to Garside by a hair.
After taking the name “Blast Off” literally the week prior, PJ Evans rocketed off from his pole starting spot in the INEX Legend Cars as if he was on a mission. Evans led for the first half of the race while Dylan Freeman and Riley Paul kept his hands full. As the laps clicked on, Jase Mongeon made his presence known picking off Paul first, then Freeman, before tracking down Evans. With 5 to go, Mongeon made his move clearing Evans almost effortlessly to score his first win of the season.
Next up, the 350 SMAC Super Modifieds kick their season off at the ‘Bowl alongside our SK Modifieds®, Late Models, SK Lights, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, and INEX Legend Cars. Keep up with the us at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, or @SpeedbowlCT on Instagram and X.
Results
SK Modifieds® (35 Laps): 1. 47-Timmy Jordan[6]; 2. 35-Andrew Molleur[5]; 3. 25-Anthony Flannery[4]; 4. 81-Todd Owen[10]; 5. 72-Adam Gada[3]; 6. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[1]; 7. 6-Joe Gada[9]; 8. 09-Brian Norman[11]; 9. 22RI-Carl Kivisto[13]; 10. 81X-Joshua Zentek[15]; 11. 7-Jonathan Puleo[7]; 12. 94-Justin Gaydosh[2]; 13. 11CT-Eric Berndt[8]; 14. 8CT-RJ Marcotte[14]; 15. (DNS) 21-Kyle James
Late Models (30 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Lineham[2]; 2. 35-Andrew Molleur[3]; 3. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[8]; 4. 50RI-Michael Benevides[7]; 5. 32-Paul Heard[10]; 6. 9-Keith Scalia[9]; 7. 17-Jason Palmer[5]; 8. 96CT-Matt Young[11]; 9. 78-Emma Monahan[1]; 10. 29-Cole Robie[4]; 11. 31CT-Joey LeMay[6]
SK Lights (25 Laps): 1. 47-Zack Sangermano[2]; 2. 51-John O’Sullivan III[6]; 3. 27-Corey Caddick[7]; 4. 78-Evan Bourgeois[5]; 5. 07-Tyler Barry[4]; 6. 32-Tom Abele Jr[8]; 7. 21-Sami Anderson[1]; 8. 14-Kali Trapp[10]; 9. 19-John Brunelle[11]; 10. 33-Hailey Desaulniers[9]; 11. 76-Edward Gomarlo[3]; 12. 12X-Amanda Slater[12]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 10-Chad Baxter[5]; 2. 67-Aaron Plemons[6]; 3. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[2]; 4. 80-Norm Root III[15]; 5. 12-Al Stone III[7]; 6. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[14]; 7. 30-Charles Beal[3]; 8. 39-Christopher Douton[11]; 9. 74-Joseph Arena[8]; 10. 13-Tony Macrino[4]; 11. 38-Jon Porter[1]; 12. 21-Tom Musante[12]; 13. 3-Adam Coutu[13]; 14. 56-Ike Chima[9]; 15. 58-David Ciastko[10]0
Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 81-Tyler Chapman[5]; 2. 11-Ken Cassidy Jr[4]; 3. 30-Charles Beal[3]; 4. 84JR-Brad Strickland[8]; 5. 77-Troy Prentice[7]; 6. 99-Milania Shilosky[9]; 7. 25-David Venice[11]; 8. 07-Austin Long[1]; 9. 7-Kassy Prentice[12]; 10. 30CT-Sam Mesick[10]; 11. 33-Jake Coutu[2]; 12. 6X-Andrew Pellegrini[6]; 13. 20-Joe Bavolacco[13]
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 83-Christopher Garside[9]; 2. 42-John Bavolacco[6]; 3. 19-David Dorr[7]; 4. 72-David Lee[8]; 5. 25-Charles Canfield[5]; 6. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[1]; 7. 28-Erica Canfield[3]; 8. 24-Brad Caddick[11]; 9. 88-Bill Sylvia[2]; 10. 9-Rick LaFlesh[4]; 11. 49-Christian Herman[17]; 12. 91-Raymond Herman Sr[16]; 13. 46-John Curry Jr[12]; 14. 81-Stacey Zentek[18]; 15. 12-Aiden Sullivan[14]; 16. 22-Hailey Beal[10]; 17. 16-Tim Dorr[15]; 18. 11-Jason Kokoszka[13]; 19. (DNS) 97-Dave Trudeau
INEX Legend Cars (25 Laps): 1. 19MA-Jase Mongeon[6]; 2. 12X-PJ Evans[1]; 3. 05-Dylan Freeman[2]; 4. 91-Riley Paul[3]; 5. 29-Cole Robie[5]; 6. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[8]; 7. 65-Wade Oemcke[4]; 8. 77-Dennis Pantani[10]; 9. 7X-Patrick Smith[7]; 10. 6-Joey Hall[12]; 11. 26-Sydney Cook[11]; 12. (DNS) 56-Richard Regan Jr
