BACK TO BACK WINS FOR HOVEY, CANFIELD; CAPRIO REMAINS UNDEFEATED IN CROWN VICS
WATERFORD – Fresh off a rebuild from a massive crash last time out, Adam Gada started out strong. After winning his heat race, he took off from the pole defending an early attack from Nickolas Hovey. This gave him a little bit of breathing room as Hovey had to deal with the competitors in his mirror. All it took was a restart to give Hovey the opportunity to power by Gada to take the lead, leaving him to deal with Timmy Jordan in the battle for second. Hovey built up a safe lead that was eliminated with a 5 to go caution. He wouldn’t be denied even with Jordan slotting into second during the last run, leaving the track a back-to-back winner in his rookie season.
The New London-Waterford Speedbowl delivered thrilling action this week, featuring dominant performances across multiple divisions. In the SK Modified competition, Adam Gada secured a win after battling closely with Nickolas Hovey, who also demonstrated strong pace throughout the event. This success highlights the competitive nature of the modified racing scene at the track.
The Late Models feature saw Brody Monahan take the checkered flag, while in the Trucks division, Jake Coutu managed to claim victory. The Mini Stocks were equally exciting, with Charles Canfield taking the top spot, showcasing strong results from the drivers competing on the track.
The Crown Vics competition continued its trend of dominance, with Jake Caprio remaining undefeated as he battled through the field. This week’s event reinforced his status as a force in the series, continuing a pattern of success that has captivated the fans.
Disaster in the front of the field on lap 1 of the Late Models sidelined Aaron Plemons and Shawn Gaedeke immediately. This left Jordan Hadley and Ray Christian at the point, but only for another lap when contact between the two send both to the rear. Diego Monahan and Jason Palmer now took point with Monahan working hard to keep Palmer at bay. They stayed side-by-side for much of the race as Christian rallied forward and a visiting Jeff Belyea waited patiently behind. That patience wore off just after halfway when Christian dove underneath the low groove running Palmer, and picked off the high groove running Monahan shortly after. He ran off to safely win race number two of the season.
After a couple rough and tumble SK Light races, the drivers put on a green to checker affair. Sami Anderson started off strong after some bad luck races pulling away from Evan Bourgeois and Kevin Cormier. Her large lead was slowly getting whittled away as the laps clicked down with Bourgeois and Cormier running nose to tail. Lapped traffic came into play in the closing stages but Anderson was able to both maneuver that and hold off Bourgeois to pick up the win.
The SK Modified(R) race kicked off with Keith Rocco shooting out the gate over Adam Gada. Gada couldn’t hang on after a lap 5 incident setting up Rocco against Anthony Flannery on the front row. A wreck on the restart took Blast Off winner Timmy Jordan and rookie Nickolas Hovey out of the way. Flannery chased Rocco for a majority of the race, keeping the action within a car length as Rob Janovic Jr and Todd Owen fought for third. Flannery kept the chrome horn on Rocco giving him shot after shot, and all looked bleak until just two to go. Janovic was able to reel in the duo with their late race antics but that was when Flannery made the race winning move to the inside. He had got passed Rocco and Janovic was able to hold him to the outside to finish runner up.
Ryan Charland led the first couple laps of the SK Light race until an incident occurred sending the whole field in every direction to try and avoid mayhem. Bob Charland would take the lead over holding off Ian Nunes. Lap seven saw some more devastation taking Kevin Cormier out of contention along with Leo Nunes and Blast Off winner Kevin Davis. Charland kept control of the race over Robert Bloxsom III and rookie Vinny Rappoccio. Disaster for Will Anderson and Ian Nunes with 10 to go allowed Bloxsom the opportunity to take over the lead from Charland. Rappoccio was able to move into second with 6 to go as the rest of the race was run without incident giving Bloxsom his first win with the Marvin Racing team in just 2 starts.
Fans and drivers gathered on a rainy cool morning to kick off The Speedbowl’s 75th season of racing.
It’s been awhile since Mikey Flynn took laps around the Speedbowl but you would never know it as he started off strong in the 75 lap SK Modified(R) main event. He got the jump over 2025 SK Light champion Nickolas Hovey and all-time win leader Keith Rocco. There was one caution to slow the event on lap 6 that Flynn was able to hang on to the lead for at first. Rocco and Todd Owen were able to work by Hovey on their path to the front. Timmy Jordan started to enter the picture just short of half way coming from his mid-pack starting position to move into second by lap 23. Rocco started to fade and Owen moved into the third spot, and by lap 33 Jordan had complete control of the race. The rest of the laps would be run caution free and Jordan would start the season off with the big win. Testing was the key thing said Jordan of his run.
