Four champions crowned at Wild & Wacky Wednesday Banquet

WATERFORD — An overflow crowd saw Peter Bennett, Eddie Loomis, Dave Yardley and Maddie Harkin make New London-Waterford Speedbowl history Wednesday — they officially joined the list of track champions.

Bennett was crowned Legends champ, Loomis became the X-Car champion, Yardley was named the Super X-car champ and Harkin captured the championship in the Bandolero division. They received their championship accolades at the annual Wild & Wacky Wednesday banquet that took place before a large crowd Wednesday at the Speedbowl.

After race director Bill Roberts welcomed the attendees to the post-season party, the awards were handed out by track handicapper Julie Winsor.
Harkin became the track’s third female Bandolero champ, following in the tire tracks of Taylor Martin and Rachel Forte.
She led the division with four wins and racked up a 15-point margin over runner-up P.J. Evans.
In the individual achievement awards, Madelyn Hovey earned Rookie of the Year, Evans was Most Improved Driver, Sawyer Reiss won the Sportsman of the Year Award and the Jencik Family, which campaigns cars driven by Ari and Conor Jencik, was named Pit Crew of the Year.
Yardley finished in the Top 5 in all 15 races to edge defending champ Marc Shafer to win the Super X-Car title. Yardley also racked up four victories. Shafer also grabbed four wins as he fell 14 points short of his second straight title.
In the individual achievement awards, Mitch Bombard was named Rookie of the Year, Keith Brown was the Most Improved Driver, Jeremy Washburn received the Sportsman of the Year Award and Shafer, who helps many drivers at the track, collected Pit Crew of the Year honors.
Loomis had a dominating season in the X-Car division, with a division-leading four wins. He topped runner-up Bill Rheaume by 36 points.
In other awards, Josh Cicio received the Rookie of the Year Award, TJ Racicot was the Most Improved Driver, Chris Strickland earned Sportsman of the Year honors and Dylan DeCoster’s crew won Pit Crew of the Year.
Bennett, in only his second year in the Legends division, won the title by 25 points over John O’Sullivan, Bennett and O’Sullivan tied for most wins with five apiece.
In the individual achievement awards, Tyler Barry was Rookie of the Year, Dennis Pantani was Most Improved Driver, Mason Levesque was Sportsman of the Year ad the Jencik family and driver Devon Jencik racked up Pit Crew of the Year honors.
Track General Manager Mike Serluca also addressed the crowd, thanking the drivers for their support of the Speedbowl. The car count was up 10 percent over the previous season.
He also thanked former GM George Whitney for his dedication to the track.