McKennedy Christens New Car with Victory at Waterford
Waterford, CT—Defending series champion, Jon McKennedy of East Chelmsford, MA., scored his second win of the season Saturday night, September 4, at the Waterford CT. Speedbowl, winning the 100-lap Modified Racing Series feature event sponsored by BobValentiAutomall.com.
McKennedy’s ninth with the New England based racing series came behind the wheel of a brand new RaceWorks chassis race car completed late Friday night.
“I need to give a special thanks to Eddie Flemke Jr and Reggie Ruggerio. They worked pretty hard to get this chassis done for me, I want to thank my crew, it’s been a long week, 15-16 hours in the garage everyday. We finished it up last night but it all paid off. To come here and win at a track we struggled at, it feels good. Hats off to the crew. The car was good, I drove it like I stole it,” said the 2009 champion.
McKennedy started outside front row in a 25-car field and chased pole sitter, Geoff Gernhard, Salem, CT., for the first 32 laps. McKennedy passed the race leader on lap 33 and led the remaining 67 laps winning by a comfortable margin.
Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT., returning from a mid-summer wrist injury finished second followed by August Waterford winner Steve Masse, Bellingham, MA., Gernhard, and Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT., in the top five. Rookie Max Zachem, Preston, CT., Jacob Dore, Sanford, ME., Rob Goodenough, Swanzey, NH., Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley PA., and Norm Wrenn, Nashua, NH., rounded out the top 10.
McKennedy’s win moved him into an 11 point lead for the series championship over Jarvis with Les Hinckley III, Winsdor Locks, CT., falling to third place in the standings, 38 points back. McKennedy moved into a 9 point lead over car owner Gary Casella in the owners point standings.
27 race teams entered the Waterford event with 14 cars finishing on the lead lap. The race was slowed by six caution flags and took 56 minutes 23 seconds to complete.
The series will debut at the Stafford Springs Motor Speedway, Stafford, CT. next Friday night, September 10.
Date: September 4, 2010
Event: Thunder on the Sound (#16 of 20)
Venue: Waterford Speedbowl– Waterford, CT
Distance: 100 Laps
Time of Race: 56:08
Margin of Victory: 1.475
Best Lap Time: 14.163, 95.319 MPH by Dwight Jarvis
Lap Leaders: Geoff Gernhard (1-32), Jon McKennedy (33-100)
Cautions: 6 (0, 29, 32, 35, 40, 43)
Unofficial Order of Finish:
Finish, Start, Driver, Hometown, Laps
1, 2, Jon McKennedy, E. Chelmsford, MA, 100, Running
2, 3, Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT, 100, Running
3, 14, Steve Masse, Bellingham, MA, 100, Running
4, 1, Geoff Gernhard, Salem, CT, 100, Running
5, 19, Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT, 100, Running
6, 6, Max Zachem, Preston, CT, 100, Running
7, 12, Jacob Dore, Sanford, ME, 100, Running
8, 8, Rob Goodenough, Swanzey, NH, 100, Running
9, 24, Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, PA, 100, Running
10, 11, Norm Wrenn, Nashua, NH, 100, Running
11, 10, Ted Christopher, Plainville, CT, 100, Running
12, 9, Jack Bateman, Canaan, NH, 100, Running
13, 21, Louie Mechalides, Tyngsboro, MA, 100, Running
14, 23, Jeff Pearl, Salem, CT, 100, Running
15, 13, Joe Doucette, Framingham, MA, 99, Running
16, 16, Keith Rocco, Wallingford, CT, 99, Running
17, 17, Todd Annarummo, Swansea, MA, 96, Running
18, 5, Dave Ethridge, Portland, CT, 48, Mechanical
19, 4, Les Hinckley III, Windsor Locks, CT, 43, Accident
20, 7, Ken Barry, Preston, CT, 43, Accident
21, 20, Jeff Malave, Manchester, CT, 43, Accident
22, 15, Joey Jarvis, Ascutney, VT, 35, Accident
23, 18, Doug Coby, Milford, CT, 0, Accident
24, 25, Don Fowler, Clinton, CT, 0, Accident
25, 22, John Cleary, Madison, CT, 0, Accident
DNQ: Eddy Spiers and Bryon Chew