{"id":23658,"date":"2018-07-12T07:58:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T11:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=23658"},"modified":"2018-07-12T07:58:35","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T11:58:35","slug":"gargaro-jr-racks-up-extra-distance-x-car-win-at-waterford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2018\/07\/gargaro-jr-racks-up-extra-distance-x-car-win-at-waterford\/","title":{"rendered":"Gargaro Jr. racks up extra-distance X-Car win at Waterford"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gargaro Jr. racks up extra-distance X-Car win
\nBennett, Shafer squeeze out photo finish victories
\nMonahan captures impressive Bandolero win<\/strong><\/p>\n

WATERFORD \u2014 Dave Gargaro hasn\u2019t raced regularly at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in more than a year.
\nThe two-time X-car champion, however, hasn\u2019t forgotten the fast way around the track.<\/p>\n

Gargaro took the lead from T.J. Racicot on lap No. 18 and still had enough voltage left to survive a two-lap, green-white-checker showdown with Racicot and Eddie Loomis. He held on for a win in the 35-lap X-Car Extra Distance Showdown Wednesday as part of the Speedbowl\u2019s Wild & Wacky presentation.<\/p>\n

In other action, Marc Shafer won a nail-biter over Dave Yardley and Ed Ryan Jr. in the 25-lap Super X-Car feature and Peter Bennett blurred past Colin Haley on the final lap to pull out a slender win in the 25-lap Legend feature. Emma Monahan led from start to finish to win her second Bandolero feature of the season.
\nGargaro\u2019s win, however, didn\u2019t come easily. He started 12th in the 24-car field and took his time getting to the front, waiting until lap No. 18 to springboard past leader T.J. Racicot.
\n\u201cThe goal was to be patient, get out in front and avoid the wrecks,\u201d Gargaro said. \u201cAnd we had an excellent race.\u201d
\nGargaro had the night\u2019s fastest lap times as he was able to scald his way to the front.
\n\u201cThe car handled so good tonight,\u201d Gargaro said. \u201cMy dad and I made some adjustments on it in midweek to get it to where it was tonight.\u201d
\nGargaro needed two laps of firepower at the end when a caution came out on lap 33. He was able to get the jump on the restart on both Loomis and Racicot to pull away over the final two laps and get the win. Gargaro was the X-Car champ in 2015 and 2016.
\nOne of the most impressive runs of the night was from Loomis. He was involved in a fourth-lap skirmish and had to make a pit stop for repairs. After re-starting from the rear of the field, Loomis rallied to finish second. He also was able take a three-point lead over Corey Caddick for the division\u2019s point lead.
\nThe joy ride turned into a pressure cooker late in the Legends race for Bennett, the point leader, who rallied for his third win of the year.
\n\u201cI was just cruising out there and then I saw Colin Haley creeping up on me during that long green flag run,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cHe\u2019s been fast the last couple of weeks and I give him credit for that.\u201d
\nHe was fast enough to take the lead over Bennett with three laps to go. Bennett, however, was able to rumble by Haley for good coming out of turn 4 on the final lap.
\n\u201cI tried to keep Colin on the outside so he couldn\u2019t cross me over,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cBut the finish was a little closer than I like.\u201d
\nHaley said there was a reason he wound up being on the wrong side of the photo finish.
\n\u201cPeter had a faster car than I did coming off the corner,\u201d Haley said. \u201cBut I drove the wheels off my car.\u201d
\nJohn O\u2019Sullivan finished third.
\nShafer grabbed the lead on the ninth lap of the Super X car feature but needed an energy burst on the final lap to hold off both Yardley and Ryan.
\nYardley actually caromed off the turn 4 wall in an all-out assault to catch Shafer but wound up just short.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a blast running with Yardley,\u201d Shafer said. \u201cI know he\u2019ll run me clean and I\u2019ll run him clean, but we don\u2019t mind leaning on each other.\u201d
\nYardley, however, also leaned on the wall.
\n\u201cI had a good run, and if I didn\u2019t come off loose, I think it would have been fun drag racing to the center,\u201d Yardley said. \u201cBut it is what it is.\u201d
\nYardley\u2019s lead over Shafer was chopped to four points.
\nMonahan spent the entire 20 laps increasing her lead over second-place driver Nicholas Hovey as she led from start to finish.
\n\u201cThis was crazy,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cI got to give credit to my father for working on this car all week.\u201d
\nRacing resumes Wednesday July 18. The X-Cars, Super X-Cars, Legends and Bandoleros will be joined by the Vintage Midget Racers.<\/p>\n

20-lap Bandoleros: 1. Emma Monahan, Waterford; 2. Nicholas Hovey, Chaplin; 3. Maddie Harkin, Portsmouth, RI; 4. Tyler Alkas, Kensington; 5. Evan Marchand, Somerset, Mass.; 6. PJ Evans, Uncasville; 7. Nick Archierre, Danbury; 8. Brody Monahan, Waterford; 9. Sawyer Reiss, Guilford; 10. Anthony Bevilacqua, Newington.
\n25-lap Legends: 1. Peter Bennett, Cromwell; 2. Colin Haley, Ashford; 3. John O\u2019Sullivan, Salem; 4. Dennis Pantani, Branford; 5. Mason Levesque, Dighton, Mass.; 6. Tyler Palmer, Watertown; 7. David Lespinasse, Milford; 8. Brian Zimowski, Enfield; 9. Tyler Barry, Griswold; 10. Anthony Bello, Newtown.
\n35-lap X-Car: 1. Dave Gargaro Jr., Cranston RI; 2. Eddie Looms, Plainfield; 3. TJ Racicot, Quaker Hill; 4. Will Rheaume, North Franklin; 5. Josh Ciccio, Seymour; 6. Raymond Herman Sr., Groton; 7. Harry Rheaume, Oakdale; 8. Corey Caddick, Richmond RI; 9. Eric Finkbein Sr., Columbia; 10. Christopher Lee, Oakdale.
\n25-lap Super X-Cars: 1. Marc Shafer, Groton; 2. Dave Yardley, Kensington; 3. Ed Ryan Jr., Preston; 4. Don Berge, Uncasville; 5. Bill Reiman, Southington; 6. Mitch Bombard, Willimantic; 7. Peter Martin, Plainville; 8. DennyLee Hoffman, Westbrook; 9. Keith Brown, Griswold; 10. Ray Phillips, Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gargaro Jr. racks up extra-distance X-Car win Bennett, Shafer squeeze out photo finish victories Monahan captures impressive Bandolero win WATERFORD \u2014 Dave Gargaro hasn\u2019t raced regularly at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in more than a year. The two-time X-car champion, however, hasn\u2019t forgotten the fast way around the track. Gargaro took the lead from T.J. […]<\/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-23658","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\/23658","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=23658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23659,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23658\/revisions\/23659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}