06/30/10 - Speedbowl.com 300 event notes

Saturday night July 3rd marks the 13th annual running of the mid-season Speedbowl.com 300 event, a holiday weekend tradition at the track. In total, six divisions will see action and 300 laps of feature racing will be recorded by night’s end.

Extra-distance feature races for the Speedbowl’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions highlight the racing. A 100-lap SK Modified© race takes center stage plus 50-lappers for the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, Street Stocks and Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks. The Legends Cars and A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Trucks will race in 25-lap events. Time trials will set the lineup for each feature event, the only time all season many divisions will go against the clock to qualify.

An extra-distance win in the 100-lap SK Modified© race instantly becomes bragging rights all summer. Keith Rocco looks to maintain his lead in the championship point standings over defending division champion Ron Yuhas Jr. Additional event notes:

* Over the prior 12 years, the 100-lap SK Modified© race has seen nine different drivers reach victory lane.

* Last year Keith Rocco dominated the race, taking the lead on lap 23 and never looking back in a quickly paced main event. He looks to become only the second driver to win back-to-back races in the division’s biggest race of the summer. Ted Christopher won the race in 2003 and 2004.

* No event race winner has ever gone on to win the SK Modified© track title in the same season.

* Five previous winners active in the division are likely event entries: Keith Rocco (2009), Jeff Paul (2008), Jeff Pearl (2007), Ron Yuhas Jr. (2005, 2002), Ted Christopher (2004, 2003, 1998)

* Yuhas joins Christopher as the only driver to own repeat wins in the race

* The SK Modified© track record lap of 14.061 seconds was recorded by Kenny Horton during qualifying for the event in 2007. Last year Keith Rocco set fast time (14.422 seconds)

In the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, current competitors Bruce Thomas Jr. and Dennis Botticello have taken the last three checkered flags in the event, with Thomas seeking his third straight win in the event. Thomas, also the three-time defending division champion, is looking for a turnaround to the 2010 season. He currently sits seventh in the standings after crashing out of two events and having to turn over his ride to a relief driver after illness sidelined him last week. Botticello is searching for his first win of the year while current division point leader Tim Jordan seeks his first win in the mid-season race. The Late Models race 50-laps.

* Bruce Thomas Jr. holds the division’s qualifying lap record, a 15.202 second lap during a May 2009 event. The event lap record also belongs to Thomas, a 15.268 lap in 2008. Last year Ernie Bertrand was awarded the top lap, a 15.514 second lap

* No driver holds more than two wins in the event – Phil Rondeau, Allen Coates, Corey Hutchings, and Thomas – some of the division’s most successful drivers of the past two decades - own two event wins apiece

The Street Stock 50-lap races over the event history have been outstanding. The past nine events have sent nine different drivers to the winner’s circle, but not without fighting their way to the front to do so. This year appears headed to be no exception, as the division’s 25-lap races have been ultra-competitive with eight winners through the first 11 races. Current division point leader Walt Hovey Jr. was the event winner last year and recently won his first race of this season on June 19th.

* Ronnie Oldham Jr. has the Street Stock qualifying lap record, a 17.324 second lap recorded in this event last year. Oldham has the last two pole awards in the division, and event.

Danny Field has become the all-time win leader in the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stock division. He also has claimed the most division titles. He’s out to a slim points lead over Ken Cassidy Jr., himself a two-time champion in the division. Together, the pair have won the bulk of the extra-distance races in the division since 2005. Cassidy is the division’s extra-distance king, claiming seven checkered flags over the past five seasons.

* Field and Cassidy have combined to win the last three 50-lap races at the event, with Field seeking his third straight win in the race.

* A 17.417 second lap is the track record for the Norwich Bulletin Mini Stocks, set in 2006 by Joe Godbout III at this event.

This marks the first time in the 13-year history of the event that the A.B. CDL Driver Training Center Trucks and Legends Cars will compete.

* The Trucks have time trialed just once, during May 2009, with Howard Payne owning the fastest single-lap qualifying effort at 16.494 seconds. Jason Palmer is the Legends Cars time trial record-holder, a 16.820 lap during a national qualifier at the track in 2008.

* With five wins in the Trucks this year Coates has recorded 76 career wins, moving him to 4th on the Speedbowl’s all-time win list, climbing past Speedbowl Modified great Charlie Webster.

Time trials get underway at 5:00pm with main events and opening ceremonies at 7:00pm. Admission is $25 for adults, just $5 for youth age 6 through 14 and free for all kids under age 6.

For more details and a schedule of events, please visit Speedbowl.com.

Waterford Speedbowl