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WATERFORD – Tyler Barry was a strong force for the 50 lap SK Lights from the drop of the green flag, with Eddie Gomarlo and Zack Sangermano fighting it out for second. Nickolas Hovey picked off these drivers with ease on his charge to the front. Also working his way through the field, Evan Bourgeois was making use of the bottom groove to advance position, finding himself in second by lap 18 when a caution racked the field giving him a quick shot at the lead. Bourgeois sent his car into turn 1 making contact with Hovey, who was able to hang on as he settled into third. As Hovey was trying to find his way back to the lead, Jake Hines threw his hat in the ring giving him a run for his money in second. Hovey was able to clear after a lengthy battle and start his pursuit. Another caution afforded Hovey the opportunity to swipe back the top spot, until a failed crossover by Bourgeois sent them both to the rear with just ten laps on the board. Barry and Gomarlo were now in control of the field with John O’Sullivan hot on their tail, but Gomarlo gave it everything he had to win his second race of the season.
Last week’s Late Model winner Doug Curry gave Ryan Lineham a quick battle for the lead but wasn’t able to hang in there as defending champion Jason Palmer was quickly on the move. Palmer passed Curry fairly early and engaged in a side-by-side battle with Lineham for much of the race, not being able to clear him. This duel lasted until 6 to go when Lineham took a spin in the corner, ending their battle. Palmer would now engage with Curry for a bid with the lead, but Brody Monahan and a returning Ray Christian III were working hard for the win. Curry would find himself in the middle of a three wide battle on a three-to-go restart when Monahan looked low, allowing Palmer the chance to break free with only Christian to worry about. Time ran out in the three-lap shootout and Palmer was able to glide to the win.
Both Street Stock features of the day clicked off smoothly. In the weekly race, Aaron Plemons got the jump off polesitter Shawn Gaedeke, with Norm Root III all over his bumper. Al Stone III and Ed Gertsch Jr. were the next two by Gaedeke, with their work cut out for them if they wanted a crack at the top spot. As the laps clicked down, Gertsch was able to eliminate the large gap Stone had built up to land on the podium, but up front Root made the outside work around Plemons taking his second win of the season. In the Open Street Stocks, nobody had anything for Ryan Lineham. Lineham would get the jump off Chris Buffone and never look back. Stone chipped his way past Jon Porter and Buffone Early to settle into a distant second place, and Gertch managed another third place finish on the day.
The Mini Stocks kicked off the day with a solid showing. John Bavolacco and Bill Syliva were the first two to break away from the field with David Dorr also on the move, taking down Sylvia and reeling in Bavolacco. Chris Garside had to come from deep in the field also, finding himself up to third by just short of halfway with Sylvia falling back. Dorr made one attempt at Bavolacco with 8 to go but couldn’t get the job done at that moment. The first caution flew with three to go setting up the dramatic finish. Bavolacco would get the jump on the first attempt to finish the race, but Bill Sylvia would get pointed in the wrong direction and be faced with some mechanical issues. Then, Bavolacco would nail the restart again with Dorr slipping back and getting swallowed by the field. Mechanical problems hit Bavolacco and while he was slipping backwards, Dorr was able to dice his way into the top spot and steal away the win.
When the second feature even racked up for the Mini Stocks, Dorr turned into a smoke show before the drop of the green. Brad Caddick with Sylvia to his outside led the field to green, but Sylvia and Bavolacco were able to once again, run off to a large lead. After a side-by-side battle, Bavolacco was able to slash his way through lapped traffic giving him sole possession of the lead by lap 6. Trouble halfway would once again have Bavolacco experiencing mechanical issues as he slid back into the field, setting up a side-by-side battle with Sylvia and Garside, and Rick LaFlesh in their mirrors. Contact in the battle resulted in Garside cutting a right front tire, sending him to the infield prematurely. Sylvia captured his first win of the season while Bavolacco was able to rebound for second.
The 40 lap INEX National Qualifier for the Legend Cars started out with Riley Paul and Dylan Freeman setting the pace until Zack Martinez tried to make a dive inside but found himself in the middle of a three wide move from Jase Mongeon. The two with PJ Evans took off from the field, with a fierce battle commencing between Martinez and Mongeon crossing eachother over lap after lap. A restart on lap 12 didn’t affect the story too much, with the same three cars pulling away from the pack and going after each other for the lead until 9 laps to go. Mongeon aced the restart, but Martinez and Evans were able to reel him back in. With Martinez in the lead, contact between him and Mongeon brought the yellow out for a final two lap dash. Evans crossed Martinez over to take over the race lead, and race win.
Patrick Smith and Freeman kicked off the second Legend Car race, with a hornet’s nest behind them. It didn’t take long for Paul, Martinez, Evans, and Mongeon to take them down and battle it out for the lead once again. Paul and Freeman had a brief battle for fourth which Freeman was able to edge ahead of. At the front, the three drivers were playing bumper tag, and swapping positions nearly lap after lap. This all culminated when a three-wide move for the lead sent Martinez in a slide, that he was able to save and keep racing. A three to go caution set up another Mongeon versus Evans battle, this time on the final lap, Evans would end up spun. On the next restart, Martinez and Freeman dueled it out but contact on the last lap again would bring out the caution. That’s when the rains came, forcing the race to end with Freeman scoring his first career win.
Next at the ‘Bowl is a huge two-day race weekend beginning with the Belltown Motors/Fowlers Auto Wrecking 100 for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. They’ll join our lineup that includes SK Modifieds®, Late Models, Trucks, Mini Stocks, and Legend Cars. Then on day two, Wild ‘n Wacky Sunday Special featuring all four of our Wednesday divisions and the Compact Enduros. Keep up with the us at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, or @SpeedbowlCT on Instagram and X.
Unofficial Results
SK Lights (50 Laps): 1. 76-Edward Gomarlo[2]; 2. 07-Tyler Barry[1]; 3. 51-John O’Sullivan III[3]; 4. 21-Sami Anderson[5]; 5. 78-Evan Bourgeois[7]; 6. 21X-Bill Anderson[12]; 7. 16-Nickolas Hovey[6]; 8. 47-Zachery Sangermano[4]; 9. 12X-Amanda Slater[9]; 10. 14-Kali Trapp[11]; 11. 19-John Brunelle[10]; 12. 70-Wade Gagner[15]; 13. 91-Jake Hines[8]; 14. 52-Anthony Forino[14]; 15. 28-Eddie Schutze[13]
Late Models (From 6/22) (30 Laps): 1. 17-Jason Palmer[3]; 2. 93CT-Ray Christian III[10]; 3. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[2]; 4. 31-Brody Monahan[8]; 5. 64-Devin Deshaies[13]; 6. 2-Derryck Anderson Jr[11]; 7. 50RI-Michael Benevides[12]; 8. 0-Joey LeMay[5]; 9. 10-Ryan Lineham[1]; 10. 19-Michael Bennett[4]; 11. 96CT-Matt Young[6]; 12. 78-Emma Monahan[7]; 13. 9-Keith Scalia[9]
Late Models (Rain)
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 80-Norm Root III[5]; 2. 67-Aaron Plemons[3]; 3. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[6]; 4. 12-Al Stone III[4]; 5. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[1]; 6. 56-Ike Chima[8]; 7. 38-Jon Porter[7]; 8. 13-Tony Macrino[10]; 9. 58-David Ciastko[9]; 10. (DNS) 10-Chad Baxter
Open Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 19-Ryan Lineham[3]; 2. 52-Al Stone III[6]; 3. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[10]; 4. 77-Andrew Gillis[8]; 5. 67-Aaron Plemons[11]; 6. 80-Norman Root Jr[9]; 7. 38-Jon Porter[4]; 8. 36-Corey Hutchings[7]; 9. 2-Christopher Buffone[2]; 10. 49-John Bercham[5]; 11. (DNS) 10-Chad Baxter
Mini Stocks (From 6/22) (25 Laps): 1. 19-David Dorr[7]; 2. 83-Christopher Garside[14]; 3. 38CT-Sam Mesick[10]; 4. 50-David Lee[4]; 5. 25-Charles Canfield[6]; 6. 9-Rick LaFlesh[15]; 7. 28-Erica Canfield[2]; 8. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[9]; 9. 24-Brad Caddick[1]; 10. 16-Tim Dorr[17]; 11. 42-John Bavolacco[5]; 12. 46-John Curry Jr[11]; 13. 81-Stacey Zentek[8]; 14. 23-Matt Pinson[19]; 15. 11-Jason Kokoszka[18]; 16. 88-Bill Sylvia[3]; 17. 73-Eric Julian[16]; 18. 22-Hailey Beal[12]; 19. (DNS) 30-Charles Beal
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 88-Bill Sylvia[2]; 2. 42-John Bavolacco[4]; 3. 9-Rick LaFlesh[13]; 4. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[12]; 5. 28-Erica Canfield[3]; 6. 73-Eric Julian[16]; 7. 24-Brad Caddick[1]; 8. 46-John Curry Jr[9]; 9. 25-Charles Canfield[5]; 10. 81-Stacey Zentek[10]; 11. 22-Hailey Beal[18]; 12. 19-David Dorr[8]; 13. 83-Christopher Garside[7]; 14. 23-Matt Pinson[14]; 15. 38CT-Sam Mesick[17]; 16. 11-Jason Kokoszka[11]; 17. 50-David Lee[6]; 18. 16-Tim Dorr[15]; 19. (DNS) 30-Charles Beal
INEX Nat’l Qualifier Legend Cars (40 Laps): 1. 12X-PJ Evans[6]; 2. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[4]; 3. 19MA-Jase Mongeon[5]; 4. 05-Dylan Freeman[1]; 5. 7X-Patrick Smith[7]; 6. 91-Riley Paul[2]; 7. 77-Dennis Pantani[11]; 8. 19-Ryan Pomposelli[10]; 9. 15-Scott Kinsman[12]; 10. 65-Wade Oemcke[3]; 11. 12-Leilani Daniels[9]; 12. 26-Sydney Cook[8]
Legend Cars (25 Laps): 1. 05-Dylan Freeman[2]; 2. 91-Riley Paul[4]; 3. 19MA-Jase Mongeon[5]; 4. 7X-Patrick Smith[1]; 5. 12-Leilani Daniels[9]; 6. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[7]; 7. 65-Wade Oemcke[3]; 8. 19-Ryan Pomposelli[10]; 9. 15-Scott Kinsman[11]; 10. 12X-PJ Evans[6]; 11. 26-Sydney Cook[12]; 12. (DNS) 77-Dennis Pantani
Photos by TK Race Photo.
