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WATERFORD \u2014 James \u201cDiego\u201d Monahan is getting ready to move from the sidelines and back into an SK Modified.
\nMonahan says that he\u2019ll be driving the back-up car for Andrew Molleur in Saturday\u2019s twin 40-lap SK Modified features at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. It will be Monahan\u2019s first Speedbowl appearance at the season.
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely coming back,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cI don\u2019t know for how long. Maybe I will just be a field filler.\u201d
\nHis career record indicates otherwise. Monahan has racked up 19 wins at the Speedbowl, including 10 in the Modifieds. During he last several seasons, he has been a contender for the Speedbowl Modified championship.<\/p>\n
At the start of the 2018 season, however, Monahan has spent all his time working with his daughter, Emma, who is competing in thew Speedbowl\u2019s Bandolero division. Emma currently is the division\u2019s hottest driver with eight straight podium finishes, including three victories.
\nNow it\u2019s dad\u2019s turn to try and move into the spotlight, driving a Troyer car owned by Dave Jackson, the same car driven by Bo Gunning during his final Speedbowl seasons.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good car,\u201d Monahan says. \u201cIt has a new front clip and a freshened motor. I just got it tuned at Keith Rocco\u2019s shop. It\u2019s amazing \u2014 he used to be an adversary, and now he\u2019s helping me out.\u201d
\nMonahan says his primary goal is to get the car ready for Molleur, just in case he needs it. Molleur currently is fourth in the Speedbowl Modified point standings.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the deal I have with Dave Jackson,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cI\u2019m excited about this opportunity.\u201d
\nMonahan has yet to take that car out on the track for a practice session. He says, however, that it doesn\u2019t really matter \u2014 he has the Speedbowl experience to compensate for that.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve turned quite a few laps at the Speedbowl,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cIf the car is close, we should be good. I have a hard time believing that we won\u2019t be competitive.\u201d
\n\u201c\u201dPlus I love the Speedbowl,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cI\u2019m happy to support it.\u201d
\nDuring the past two seasons, however, the relationship between Monahan and the track was turning sour. He had vicious crashes during the end of the past two seasons to take him out of the point race.
\n\u201cThe last couple of seasons weren\u2019t friendly,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cBut I just told someone that there\u2019s nothing better than having Ted Christopher and Keith Rocco behind you for 15 laps and you\u2019re holding them off. It\u2019s a great feeling knowing you can run with the best. And that\u2019s what I have accomplished.
\n\u201cIf the car doesn\u2019t run good Saturday, I won\u2019t get in the way. I\u2019m not going to mess up the race for the guys going for the title.\u201d
\nMonahan, however, isn\u2019t counting out the possibility that the car might be able to get to the front.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not coming back to run in the back.\u201d Monahan said. \u201cMaybe I can give Kyle James and Todd Owen a run for their money. Or maybe it\u2019s not in the cards. We\u2019ll just have to wait and see.\u201d
\nMonahan, however, says he has an added incentive to be in victory lane one more time.
\n\u201cI want to celebrate in victory lane with my daughter,\u201d said Monahan, referring to his infant daughter Jacqueline,
\nThat would be the one of his 20 victory lane photos that would stand out the most.
\nSpeedbowl notes
\nNine-feature presentation
\nQualifying will get under way at 5:15 p.m. Saturday for one of the busiest race programs on the year, with features getting under way at approximately 6:30 p.m. On the card are two SK Modified features, two Sportsman features, the Late Models, the Legends, the Conn. Pro 4 Modifieds, the X-Cars and the Outlaw Street Stocks..
\nThe Outlaw Street Stock will consist of any car known as a Street Stock, regardless of what track it competes at on a regular basis. Cars from tracks such as Seekonk and Stafford, for example, are eligible.<\/p>\n
Autograph August
\nDuring the month of August, special autograph sessions for all of the Speedbowl Saturday night divisions will be held prior to feature racing. First up will be the SK Modifieds and Late Models on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Monster invasion
\nOne of the biggest nights of the Summer at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl will take place on Sunday Aug. 19 at 5 p.m. when the Monster Trucks invade the Bowl for the first and only time this season.
\nIn addition to the Monster Trucks, there will be Enduros, Quad Wars, Powerwheel and Big Wheel races, plus more events to be announced. The last time the Monster Trucks were in Waterford was 2015 and the show was a complete sellout.<\/p>\n
Points battles
\nKyle James will be entering Saturday\u2019s SK Modified doubleheader as the division\u2019s hottest driver. He has four wins and a six-point cushion over Todd Own in the standings. Rob Janovic is third, 12 points out. The tightest division is the Late Models. Ryan Morgan has a three-point lead over Jason Palmer, with Anthony Flannery 12 points out\u2026 Shawn Gaedeke comes into the Sportsman doubleheader with a 17 point lead over Jordan Hadley. Jon Porter is 22 points out. ,, Peter Bennett is the pacesetter in the Saturday Legends Division by 10 over Scott Limkemann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WATERFORD \u2014 James \u201cDiego\u201d Monahan is getting ready to move from the sidelines and back into an SK Modified. Monahan says that he\u2019ll be driving the back-up car for Andrew Molleur in Saturday\u2019s twin 40-lap SK Modified features at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. It will be Monahan\u2019s first Speedbowl appearance at the season.<\/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-23815","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\/23815","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=23815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23816,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23815\/revisions\/23816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}