RGeeProductions
08-24-2014, 10:08 AM
Waterford Speedbowl returned to NASCAR
Whelen All-American Series racing on Saturday with a six-division program.
Keith Rocco of Berlin led the way, doubling up in winning both the SK
Modified® and Valenti Auto Mall Late Model features to earn his 100th
career victory at the track. Al Stone III of Durham was the winner of a
thrilling Street Stock race, Garrett Denton of Hope Valley, RI won his
fourth Mini Stock feature and Randy Churchill of Oakdale won for the
second consecutive outing for the SK Light Modifieds. Mike Christopher
Jr. of Wolcott won for the twentieth time of the year in INEX Legend Cars.
Rocco recorded the 100th victory after his win in the night’s
extra-distance Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature, his second win of the
night. He joins Phil Rondeau and Don Collins as the only drivers to ever
reach the century mark in career wins in the track’s 64-year history.
Rondeau is the all-time wins leader at the Speedbowl with 106 victories.
Rocco’s first win came on August 30, 2003 in the Street Stock division.
Rocco’s night began with his tenth win of the year in the SK Modified®
ranks, coming after some late race heroics in the division’s 35-lap
feature. Rocco started the race twelfth, moving up while Ed Puleo led. A
lengthy green flag run saw Tyler Chadwick get by Rob Janovic Jr. for
second, clearing him for the spot on lap-15. Rocco made his way into the
picture by lap-20, completing and outside pass on Janovic for third.
While Chadwick looked for a way to unseat Puleo, Rocco struck. He made a
diving move underneath Chadwick to the third turn on lap-25, taking
second. Puleo was able to hold back Rocco’s charges for six laps before
he was victim of a well-executed crossover maneuver on lap-31. Rocco went
from the top of the track down to the bottom lane in turn four to get
underneath Puleo as they raced to first turn. Rocco completed the move,
led lap-32, then survived three green-white-checkered flag restarts for
late race incidents behind him. Tim Jordan was able to race his way to a
runner-up finish late in the going. Puleo wrecked hard out of the final
corner coming to the finish line, enabling Chadwick to take third.
Rocco won his tenth Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature of the year to
match his SK Modified® total. He checkered the 50-lap feature, powering
to the lead following a lap-19 restart. Bruce Thomas Jr. had led from the
opening green flag until the first caution while Rocco worked his way to
second. Rocco used the outside lane to get around Thomas to lead lap-20
and mastered a final restart which came on lap-24. Thomas wound up second
after holding back Jason Palmer’s bid for the position. Palmer was third.
Stone muscled to victory out of the final corner in a thrilling 25-lap
Street Stock race. He exhibited patience behind a heated battle for the
lead that broke out between Joe Arena and Monte Gibbs. Each were looking
for their first victory of the year, trading the top spot several times
through lap-22. Gibbs got out of shape on lap-23, enabling Stone to take
away second spot. Just after that, a yellow flag enabled Stone to restart
outside of Arena on the front row. The pair ran side-by-side over the
final two lap sprint. Arena led the white flag lap by a nose, but Stone
stayed even and powered ahead out of the final corner to win by inches.
Arena was second but refused technical inspection, surrendering the
position to Josh Galvin, who rebounded from an opening lap spin. Phil
Evans was credited with third.
Churchill visited Victory Lane for the second consecutive time in the SK
Light Modified division. He started the race in sixth and used an opening
six lap run to bring himself up to second position when a yellow flag was
shown to the field. He passed Crystal Serydynski on the outside following
the restart to take over, leading from lap-7 the rest of the way in the
25-lapper. A final caution flag with two laps remaining gave Glenn
Griswold a shot at the win, and he nearly capitalized. He raced Churchill
even to the white flag, but Churchill prevailed out of the final corner to
record his fourth victory on the season. Griswold took second and Corey
Barry, the point leader, finished third.
Denton’s Mini Stock win marked the fourth of the season, aiding his
championship aspirations. Denton currently leads the division standings.
He dueled with Charles Canfield for twelve laps, locked in an entertaining
battle. They raced cleanly side-by-side from lap-6 through lap-18 with
Denton holding a slight edge. Denton finally got away from Canfield
following a lap-18 restart, the final of the race. Canfield finished
second and Brandon Plemons was third.
Christopher rolled to his eighth victory in the track’s Saturday series
for the INEX Legend Cars division. The night’s 20-lap feature was slowed
by two minor spins, but Christopher received a stiff challenge from Joey
Ternullo, who shadowed him for much of the race. Ternullo’s best chance
was as the pair raced to the white flag after Christopher’s car wiggled in
turn four. Ternullo took a look to his inside to turn one, but
Christopher drove away off the second corner and went on to the checkered
flag. Ternullo was second and Tim DePizzol rebounded from a hard crash
last Saturday to place third.
The SK Modified® division is vaulted into the spotlight next Saturday with
the running of the 18th annual Budweiser Modified Nationals. The 150-lap
thriller pays the winner $5,000. A strong field of cars is expected. The
seven division program gets underway at a special time, with qualifying
races beginning at 5:00pm and main events at 6:30pm.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modifieds® (35-laps): 1. Keith
Rocco, Berlin; 2. Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 3. Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard;
4. Paul Kusheba IV, Monroe; 5. Ed Puleo, Branford; 6. Craig Lutz, Miller
Place, NY; 7. Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill; 8. Brent Sweet, Monroe; 9.
Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., Milford; 10. John Montesanto, North Branford;
11. Joe Gada, Salem; 12. Wendell Dailey, Gales Ferry; 13. Rob Janovic
Jr., Waterford; 14. Jeff Gallup, Agawam, MA; 15. Ted Christopher,
Plainville; 16. Tommy Vigh Jr., Ottisville, NY; 17. Tom Pinson,
Colchester; 18. Dominic Cupuano Jr., East Haven; 19. James Devitt, Dover
Plains, NY; 20. Nick Salva, Prospect
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (50-laps):
1. Keith Rocco, Berlin; 2. Bruce Thomas Jr., Groton; 3. Jason Palmer,
Berlin; 4. Vin Esposito, Seymour; 5. Anthony Ryan Jr., Danbury; 6. Mike
Sweeney Jr., Meriden; 7. Rich Staskowski, Hope Valley, RI; 8. Joe Gada,
Salem; 9. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 10. Art Moran III, Preston; 11.
Derryck Anderson Jr., Warwick, RI; 12. Rich Duranti, Quaker Hill; 13.
Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 14. Kyle Baker, Unionville
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Street Stocks (25-laps): 1. Al Stone
III, Durham; 2. Josh Galvin, Franklin; 3. Phil Evans, Uncasville; 4.
Ryan Waterman, Danielson; 5. Monte Gibbs, Higganum; 6. Norm Root Jr.,
Old Saybrook; 7. Dwayne Dorr, Ledyard; 8. Kyle Casagrande, Stafford; 9.
Nate Appell, Westbrook; 10. Brandon Fisher, Plainfield; 11. Lloyd
Anderson Jr., Wauregan; 12. Greg Moran Jr., Preston; 13. Steve Cole,
Brooklyn; 14. Kaitlyn Brice, Manchester; 15. Darrell Carlson, Chester;
16. Ed Gertsch Jr., East Haven; 17. Jake Bercham, West Greenwich, RI;
18. Bill Dunn, Prospect; DNS – Gary Stone Jr., Killingworth; DQ – Bill
McNeil, Preston; DQ – Joe Arena, Bristol
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Mini Stocks (25-laps): 1. Garrett
Denton, Hope Valley, RI; 2. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 3. Brandon
Plemons, Uncasville; 4. Dave Trudeau, Mansfield; 5. Pete Zaikarite,
Niantic; 6. Joe Liskiewicz, Preston; 7. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 8. Mark
Panaroni, Ivoryton; 9. Doug Curry, Groton; 10. Nick Pappacoda, North
Branford; 11. Dale Sherman, Charlestown, RI; 12. Ian Brew, Wood River
Junction, RI; 13. Wayne Burroughs Jr., Oakdale; 14. Ray Christian III,
Groton; DNS – Chris Ivory, Oakdale
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Light Modifieds (25-laps): 1. Randy
Churchill Jr., Oakdale; 2. Glenn Griswold, Vernon; 3. Corey Barry,
Plainfield; 4. Paul Buzel, Trumbull; 5. Rick Williams, Haddam; 6. Larry
Goss, North Windham; 7. Jeff Fialkovich, Shelton; 8. Crystal Serydynski,
Johnston, RI; 9. Alan Tirrell, North Stonington; 10. Victoria Bergenty,
Plainville; 11. Alan Benincaso, Westport; 12. Calvin Therrien, Vernon
INEX Legend Cars (20-laps): 1. Mike Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 2. Joey
Ternullo, Middletown; 3. Tim DePizzol, North Franklin; 4. Ryan Lutz,
Miller Place, NY; 5. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 6. Caterina LaBella,
Brian Darling
Whelen All-American Series racing on Saturday with a six-division program.
Keith Rocco of Berlin led the way, doubling up in winning both the SK
Modified® and Valenti Auto Mall Late Model features to earn his 100th
career victory at the track. Al Stone III of Durham was the winner of a
thrilling Street Stock race, Garrett Denton of Hope Valley, RI won his
fourth Mini Stock feature and Randy Churchill of Oakdale won for the
second consecutive outing for the SK Light Modifieds. Mike Christopher
Jr. of Wolcott won for the twentieth time of the year in INEX Legend Cars.
Rocco recorded the 100th victory after his win in the night’s
extra-distance Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature, his second win of the
night. He joins Phil Rondeau and Don Collins as the only drivers to ever
reach the century mark in career wins in the track’s 64-year history.
Rondeau is the all-time wins leader at the Speedbowl with 106 victories.
Rocco’s first win came on August 30, 2003 in the Street Stock division.
Rocco’s night began with his tenth win of the year in the SK Modified®
ranks, coming after some late race heroics in the division’s 35-lap
feature. Rocco started the race twelfth, moving up while Ed Puleo led. A
lengthy green flag run saw Tyler Chadwick get by Rob Janovic Jr. for
second, clearing him for the spot on lap-15. Rocco made his way into the
picture by lap-20, completing and outside pass on Janovic for third.
While Chadwick looked for a way to unseat Puleo, Rocco struck. He made a
diving move underneath Chadwick to the third turn on lap-25, taking
second. Puleo was able to hold back Rocco’s charges for six laps before
he was victim of a well-executed crossover maneuver on lap-31. Rocco went
from the top of the track down to the bottom lane in turn four to get
underneath Puleo as they raced to first turn. Rocco completed the move,
led lap-32, then survived three green-white-checkered flag restarts for
late race incidents behind him. Tim Jordan was able to race his way to a
runner-up finish late in the going. Puleo wrecked hard out of the final
corner coming to the finish line, enabling Chadwick to take third.
Rocco won his tenth Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature of the year to
match his SK Modified® total. He checkered the 50-lap feature, powering
to the lead following a lap-19 restart. Bruce Thomas Jr. had led from the
opening green flag until the first caution while Rocco worked his way to
second. Rocco used the outside lane to get around Thomas to lead lap-20
and mastered a final restart which came on lap-24. Thomas wound up second
after holding back Jason Palmer’s bid for the position. Palmer was third.
Stone muscled to victory out of the final corner in a thrilling 25-lap
Street Stock race. He exhibited patience behind a heated battle for the
lead that broke out between Joe Arena and Monte Gibbs. Each were looking
for their first victory of the year, trading the top spot several times
through lap-22. Gibbs got out of shape on lap-23, enabling Stone to take
away second spot. Just after that, a yellow flag enabled Stone to restart
outside of Arena on the front row. The pair ran side-by-side over the
final two lap sprint. Arena led the white flag lap by a nose, but Stone
stayed even and powered ahead out of the final corner to win by inches.
Arena was second but refused technical inspection, surrendering the
position to Josh Galvin, who rebounded from an opening lap spin. Phil
Evans was credited with third.
Churchill visited Victory Lane for the second consecutive time in the SK
Light Modified division. He started the race in sixth and used an opening
six lap run to bring himself up to second position when a yellow flag was
shown to the field. He passed Crystal Serydynski on the outside following
the restart to take over, leading from lap-7 the rest of the way in the
25-lapper. A final caution flag with two laps remaining gave Glenn
Griswold a shot at the win, and he nearly capitalized. He raced Churchill
even to the white flag, but Churchill prevailed out of the final corner to
record his fourth victory on the season. Griswold took second and Corey
Barry, the point leader, finished third.
Denton’s Mini Stock win marked the fourth of the season, aiding his
championship aspirations. Denton currently leads the division standings.
He dueled with Charles Canfield for twelve laps, locked in an entertaining
battle. They raced cleanly side-by-side from lap-6 through lap-18 with
Denton holding a slight edge. Denton finally got away from Canfield
following a lap-18 restart, the final of the race. Canfield finished
second and Brandon Plemons was third.
Christopher rolled to his eighth victory in the track’s Saturday series
for the INEX Legend Cars division. The night’s 20-lap feature was slowed
by two minor spins, but Christopher received a stiff challenge from Joey
Ternullo, who shadowed him for much of the race. Ternullo’s best chance
was as the pair raced to the white flag after Christopher’s car wiggled in
turn four. Ternullo took a look to his inside to turn one, but
Christopher drove away off the second corner and went on to the checkered
flag. Ternullo was second and Tim DePizzol rebounded from a hard crash
last Saturday to place third.
The SK Modified® division is vaulted into the spotlight next Saturday with
the running of the 18th annual Budweiser Modified Nationals. The 150-lap
thriller pays the winner $5,000. A strong field of cars is expected. The
seven division program gets underway at a special time, with qualifying
races beginning at 5:00pm and main events at 6:30pm.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modifieds® (35-laps): 1. Keith
Rocco, Berlin; 2. Tim Jordan, Plainfield; 3. Tyler Chadwick, Ledyard;
4. Paul Kusheba IV, Monroe; 5. Ed Puleo, Branford; 6. Craig Lutz, Miller
Place, NY; 7. Diego Monahan, Quaker Hill; 8. Brent Sweet, Monroe; 9.
Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., Milford; 10. John Montesanto, North Branford;
11. Joe Gada, Salem; 12. Wendell Dailey, Gales Ferry; 13. Rob Janovic
Jr., Waterford; 14. Jeff Gallup, Agawam, MA; 15. Ted Christopher,
Plainville; 16. Tommy Vigh Jr., Ottisville, NY; 17. Tom Pinson,
Colchester; 18. Dominic Cupuano Jr., East Haven; 19. James Devitt, Dover
Plains, NY; 20. Nick Salva, Prospect
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Valenti Auto Mall Late Models (50-laps):
1. Keith Rocco, Berlin; 2. Bruce Thomas Jr., Groton; 3. Jason Palmer,
Berlin; 4. Vin Esposito, Seymour; 5. Anthony Ryan Jr., Danbury; 6. Mike
Sweeney Jr., Meriden; 7. Rich Staskowski, Hope Valley, RI; 8. Joe Gada,
Salem; 9. Ken Morin Jr., Old Saybrook; 10. Art Moran III, Preston; 11.
Derryck Anderson Jr., Warwick, RI; 12. Rich Duranti, Quaker Hill; 13.
Nick Ladyga, Voluntown; 14. Kyle Baker, Unionville
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Street Stocks (25-laps): 1. Al Stone
III, Durham; 2. Josh Galvin, Franklin; 3. Phil Evans, Uncasville; 4.
Ryan Waterman, Danielson; 5. Monte Gibbs, Higganum; 6. Norm Root Jr.,
Old Saybrook; 7. Dwayne Dorr, Ledyard; 8. Kyle Casagrande, Stafford; 9.
Nate Appell, Westbrook; 10. Brandon Fisher, Plainfield; 11. Lloyd
Anderson Jr., Wauregan; 12. Greg Moran Jr., Preston; 13. Steve Cole,
Brooklyn; 14. Kaitlyn Brice, Manchester; 15. Darrell Carlson, Chester;
16. Ed Gertsch Jr., East Haven; 17. Jake Bercham, West Greenwich, RI;
18. Bill Dunn, Prospect; DNS – Gary Stone Jr., Killingworth; DQ – Bill
McNeil, Preston; DQ – Joe Arena, Bristol
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Mini Stocks (25-laps): 1. Garrett
Denton, Hope Valley, RI; 2. Charles Canfield, New Haven; 3. Brandon
Plemons, Uncasville; 4. Dave Trudeau, Mansfield; 5. Pete Zaikarite,
Niantic; 6. Joe Liskiewicz, Preston; 7. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 8. Mark
Panaroni, Ivoryton; 9. Doug Curry, Groton; 10. Nick Pappacoda, North
Branford; 11. Dale Sherman, Charlestown, RI; 12. Ian Brew, Wood River
Junction, RI; 13. Wayne Burroughs Jr., Oakdale; 14. Ray Christian III,
Groton; DNS – Chris Ivory, Oakdale
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Light Modifieds (25-laps): 1. Randy
Churchill Jr., Oakdale; 2. Glenn Griswold, Vernon; 3. Corey Barry,
Plainfield; 4. Paul Buzel, Trumbull; 5. Rick Williams, Haddam; 6. Larry
Goss, North Windham; 7. Jeff Fialkovich, Shelton; 8. Crystal Serydynski,
Johnston, RI; 9. Alan Tirrell, North Stonington; 10. Victoria Bergenty,
Plainville; 11. Alan Benincaso, Westport; 12. Calvin Therrien, Vernon
INEX Legend Cars (20-laps): 1. Mike Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 2. Joey
Ternullo, Middletown; 3. Tim DePizzol, North Franklin; 4. Ryan Lutz,
Miller Place, NY; 5. Kyle Rogers, Waterbury; 6. Caterina LaBella,
Brian Darling