{"id":23418,"date":"2018-06-14T07:22:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T11:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=23418"},"modified":"2018-06-13T21:23:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T01:23:28","slug":"bennett-off-to-a-sizzling-start-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2018\/06\/bennett-off-to-a-sizzling-start-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Bennett off to a sizzling start in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Bennett off to a sizzling start in 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

WATERFORD \u2014 Peter Bennett ended the 2017 riding a wave.
\nThis year it\u2019s turned into a tsunami.<\/p>\n

He already has two wins in the New London Waterford Speedbowl\u2019s Legends
\ncar competition \u2014 one on Saturday and one on Wednesday \u2014 and is leading
\nthe Saturday point standings by six points over Scott Limkemann. He is
\nsecond in the point chase on Wednesdays, seven points behind leader
\nMichael Blaskey.<\/p>\n

Bennett says it\u2019s just a matter of starting 2018 the way he ended his
\nrookie season in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended last year with eight straight Top 2 finishes between Waterford
\nand Bethel and I just tried to carry that momentum into this year,\u201d
\nBennett said. \u201cLast year I was trying to learn the ins and outs of the
\ncar and this year I feel more confident. And I\u2019m getting more help from
\npeople at the track.\u201d
\nBennett said in 2017 he had to overcome the intimidation factor.
\n\u201cIt was my first year, so I was intimidated by the other drivers, and I
\nwas intimidated by the asphalt,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI had run go-karts on
\ndirt and sometimes I caught myself dirt-tracking the car last year. But
\nthe more track time I got in a Legends car, I got a better handle on the
\ncar. It really boosted my confidence, Once I figured out what the car
\nneeded, I was able to put some good races together.\u201d
\nWhile he\u2019s been a Legends driver for less than two seasons, he has been
\na Legends fan for much longer than that.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve always dreamed of running at the Bowl since I was a little kid,\u201d
\nBennett said. \u201cI know that the SK Modifieds is the premiere division at
\nthe Speedbowl, but the Legends always has been my favorite. Racing a
\nLegend at the Bowl is a dream come true. I grew up going to Wild and
\nWacky Wednesday and watching guys like Jason Palmer and Anthony Flannery
\nand I pictured myself out there. I never forgot those emotions of how
\nmuch I wanted to be out there. Now I\u2019m living the dream.\u201d
\nAnd he\u2019s living that dream at full speed.
\n\u201cThe races that I came from the back to get to the front are the ones I
\nremember most,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cDoing that makes you feel good.\u201d
\nBennett, however, considers himself a points racer instead of going all
\nout for victories.
\n\u201cMy goal is to go for the championships on Wednesday and Saturday, but I
\nknow it\u2019s going to be difficult,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much good
\ncompetition. Kyle Rogers has won back-to-back Saturday titles and
\ndrivers like Mike Blaskey and John O\u2019Sullivan are tough to beat.
\n\u201cThe goal also is to have a nice clean season. I want to run everyone
\nhard and everyone clean. But I\u2019ve been fortunate when I have to come
\nfrom the back of the pack. It\u2019s not as daunting a task that it used to
\nbe.\u201d
\nBennett started his racing career in 2010 with the Nutmeg Kart Club at
\nthe Berlin Fair. He won a championship in 2016 and still is involved
\nwith the Nutmeg club as a flagger.
\nHe purchased a Legends car in 2017 and has been on the move at the
\nSpeedbowl ever since.
\nBennett\u2019s sponsorship includes Portofino\u2019s Restaurant in Berlin, Realtor
\nTom J. Perra, Wayne\u2019s Townline Service in Southington, Johnny Olson\u2019s
\nQuality Used Cars, Kingsley Plumbing and Heating and J&J Racing.
\nHis crew consists of his dad and his mom.
\n\u201cIt is a family operation,\u201d Bennett said.
\nA family that has been hanging out in the fast lane so far in 2018.
\nWild and Wacky Notes
\nWild & Wacky Wednesday resumes June 13. The Legends (25 laps), Super X
\nCars (25 laps), X Cars (25 laps), Bandoleros (20 laps) and a Big Wheel
\nrace will be on the card. The Wacky event is a water balloon \u201cBucket\u201d
\ntoss. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to get under way at 6:45 p.m.
\n\u2026The Super-X Car has been the most wide-open division with four winners
\nin four races. Ray Reed won the Opener, followed by Jason Larivee, Marc
\nShafer and Dave Yardley. In the point standings, Yardley leads by 11
\nover Shafer, who did not compete in last week\u2019s feature because of a
\nbroken drive shaft\u2026.The hottest driver at the Bowl may be Blaskey, who
\nhas two wins and two second places in four Legends races\u2026 The X-Car
\ndivision continues to be the most popular at the Speedbowl. A field of
\n23 drivers competed in last week\u2019s feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bennett off to a sizzling start in 2018 WATERFORD \u2014 Peter Bennett ended the 2017 riding a wave. This year it\u2019s turned into a tsunami. He already has two wins in the New London Waterford Speedbowl\u2019s Legends car competition \u2014 one on Saturday and one on Wednesday \u2014 and is leading the Saturday point standings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-waterford-speedbowl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23419,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23418\/revisions\/23419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}