By Lou Modestino
Waterford Speedbowl has announced a schedule change for its Wednesday, July 3 Wild ‘n Wacky racing program. The original schedule for the event included a fireworks display to conclude the night’s activities. The fireworks have been moved to the
July 31 Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday program due to circumstances out of track
management’s control.
“We regret to inform fans of this news” offered Speedbowl owner and promoter Terry Eames. “We received word that we are unable to have fireworks for our July 3 program. However, we are committed to providing our Wednesday fans with a fireworks show. We’ve announced July 31 as the new date for the show.”
A persistent drizzle and a forecast for heavy rains forced Thompson Speedway management to cancel the race program for Thursday, June 27. Racing will return to the historic 5/8ths mile oval on Thursday, July 11.
Thursday, July 4th through Sunday, July 7th, the Speedway will host the New England Summer Nationals. This will be the first year that the Summer Nationals have been held at the Thompson Speedway and is expected to attract thousands of fans who have attended the event for many years at its former home in Worcester, MA.
Thompson’s Thursday Night Thompson Thunder (TNTT) series will pick up on July 11 will a full lineup of racing programs for the remainder of the summer months. Included will be the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Bud 150, the Valenti Modified Racing Series.
Stafford Speedway returned to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing action with a special bonus race featuring Stafford Speedway’s CARQUEST Champions For Charities Drivers. Some 13 current and former open wheel champions together raised over $46,000 for their various charities and took part in a 15-lap race on the Stafford Mini-Mile using Senior Outlaw Wild Thing Karts. Taking down weekly feature wins on the night were Ryan Preece in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Tom Fearn in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Ronnie Williams in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Austin Bessette in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Kris Fluckiger in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature. Richie Pallai, Jr. was the winner of the 15-lap CARQUEST Champions For Charities race. Pallai was racing to raise funds for the Catherine Hubbard Animal Sanctuary.
Ryan Preece is officially on a roll. The young driver scored his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win of the season Saturday night in the Hoosier Tire 200 at Riverhead Raceway.
The 21-year-old from Berlin, Conn., began the race on the front row and was able to overtake pole winner Ron Silk on Lap 44. Things took a turn for the worse for Preece, Silk and other race leaders, however, when Preece had a tire go down on Lap 95 that collected the frontrunners. But for the second time in three weeks, Preece was able to charge through the field to victory.
In the later stages of the event, Ted Christopher looked to have a trip to Victory Lane well in hand, but a caution brought Preece alongside for a restart on Lap 195. On that restart, Christopher was turned coming out of Turn 4 into the infield and Preece was found himself back at the front once again, where he was able to hold on through a green-white-checkered finish for his eighth career triumph.
Eric Goodale crossed the finish line second with John Beatty Jr. third. Shawn Solomito and Mike Stefanik rounded out the top five finishers in the first of two events on the 2013 schedule at the Long Island bullring.
Woody Pitkat, Ken Heagy, Frank Vigliarolo Jr., Bryon Chew and Ed Flemke Jr. completed the top 10.
With the win, Preece became the first Whelen Modified Tour driver to win three races in a row since Christopher did it spanning the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He’s the first driver to pull the feat off in the same season since Donny Lia did it in 2007.
“This is a career high for me and it definitely seems like I’ve been having a heck of a month, but I know it can change as quick as it can come, so I’m just riding the wave and having a lot of fun,” Preece said. “Hopefully we can keep winning races.”
Saturday also marked the second consecutive Whelen Modified Tour victory for Preece at Riverhead. He also won in the tour’s lone trip to the track last season. It’s Preece’s third career victory overall at Riverhead.
Despite having significant sheet metal damage following the Lap 95 accident, Preece credited an adjustment his crew chief Stan Szaban made when they came to pit to change the flat tire as a key to his comeback.
“He loosened me up a little bit and we could really make the outside work,” Preece said. “I had a ton of fun here at Riverhead. I really like quarter miles – I don’t really like coming from the back – but it seems to be a habit lately.”
Preece wound up with a race-high 64 laps led. He’s won all three Whelen Modified Tour races since he was named to the NASCAR Next driver roster in early June.
The Riverhead native Goodale’s runner-up effort was the best result of his 64 career Whelen Modified Tour starts. Weekly Riverhead competitors Beatty and Solomito had their best tour finishes as well in third and fourth, respectively. In fact, it was the first tour start for Beatty, who led 42 laps.
“He [Preece] was pretty good,” Goodale said. “I just couldn’t get any help down there on the bottom, I needed to be running by myself down there to have anything for him.”
Earlier in the evening Silk captured his eighth career Coors Light Pole Award and went on to lead the first 43 laps in the event. Reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby had less luck in pole qualifying, however, as the throttle stuck on his No. 52 and he hit the wall at speed in Turn 1 following his second lap. Coby was not able to start the race and was scored in last place.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will race next in the Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 13.
NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR-Hoosier Tire 200
Unofficial Results
Saturday
At Riverhead Raceway
Riverhead, N.Y.
Lap length: 0.25 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 207 laps, 36.494 mph.
2. (4) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 207.
3. (5) John Beatty, Jr., Merrick, N.Y., Chevrolet, 207.
4. (8) Shawn Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 207.
5. (21) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 207.
6. (19) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Pontiac, 207.
7. (26) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 207.
8. (16) Frank Vigliarolo, Jr., Mt. Sinai, N.Y., Chevrolet, 207.
9. (18) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, NY, Chevrolet, 207.
10. (22) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 207.
11. (13) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 207.
12. (6) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 206.
13. (24) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 206.
14. (25) Cole Powell, Mt Brydges, Ont., Canada, Chevrolet, 206.
15. (3) Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Dodge, 205.
16. (15) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 205.
17. (27) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 205.
18. (11) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 200.
19. (14) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 181, accident.
20. (1) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 179.
21. (23) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 117.
22. (28) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 112, accident.
23. (9) Timmy Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 97, overheating.
24. (10) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 93, suspension.
25. (17) David Brigati, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 52, throttle.
26. (20) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 49, mechanical.
27. (12) David Roys, Coram, N.Y., Chevrolet, 29, accident.
28. (7) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Che
vrolet, 0, dns.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 25 minutes 5 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.736 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R.Silk (75.694 mph, 11.89 seconds)
Caution Flags: 10 for 92 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Silk 1-43; R. Preece 44-93; J. Beatty,Jr. 94-135; T. Christopher 136-193; R. Preece 194-207.
Standings: 1. R. Preece, 225; 2. R. Pennink, 193; 3. M. Stefanik, 190; 4. J. Bonsignore, 175; 5. D. Coby, 172; 6. R. Silk, 171; 7. D. Lia, 165; 8. T. Christopher, 158; 9. E. Goodale, 156; 10. B. Santos, 152.
A week after a disappointing near miss, John Zych Jr. left no doubt Saturday night with a dominating victory in the Northeastern Midget Association’s 30-lap feature at Stafford Motor Speedway’s Carquest Super Saturday. Zych is NEMA’s first-double winner of the year.
Grabbing the lead from Ian Cumens, the only other leader, on a restart with 10 laps left, Zych (Zych 9) went on to a 3.3 second victory. Cumens (Seymour 29s) held on for second ahead of Randy Cabral (Bertrand 47), Greg Stoehr (Stoehr 26b) and Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire 45).
The weekend before, Zych lost a wide lead with four laps left in a confrontation with a lapped car at Monadnock. “That didn’t sit well all week,” he said. “I guess that provided some motivation.” The track, however, was the real motivation: “I’ve always wanted to run well here.”
Coming from second, Zych made a couple of challenges for the lead before the first yellow showed. After a red flag (oil on the track), he beat Cumens into one and had a three car advantage exiting two.
Yellow flew again a lap later and this time Cumens was ready, getting the lead back. “I was a little surprised. It actually shocked me,” said Zych. “At that point I was a little more motivated.” He got the lead back with an inside move (“I was pretty confident down there”) in one and proceeded to run away.
The quickest laps for both Zych (17.3119) and Cumens (17.521) came on the 29th circuit. “I was taking cross weight out as we went,” explained Zych. Speeds were faster in the closing laps.
Starting second Cumens took the immediate lead. Zych was third by lap four and six laps later went under Anthony Marvuglio in two to claim second.
Cabral, who had a streak of podium finishes snapped at nine at Monadnock, started a new one but not before a spirited battle with Russ Stoehr. It ended with Cabral grabbing third with 12 laps remaining. Greg Stoehr caught and
took fourth from brother Russ on the 23rd circuit.
NEMA’s next stop is Friday night, July 12 at Lee USA Speedway.
NEMA NUGGETS – A broken caliper was actually discovered when Cabral was heading out for the feature…Cumens and Russ Stoehr were the heat winners, Cumens just nipping Phil Dimario in the Cantor 7ny car, the latter posting a 17.524 lap…Joey Mucciacciaro, in the Bertrand 74, faced mechanical problems throughout the day and evening.
RESULTS: 1. John Zych Jr., 2. Ian Cumens, 3. Randy Cabral, 4. Greg Stoehr, 5. Russ Stoehr, 6. Seth Carlson, 7. Todd Bertrand, 8. Joey Payne, 9. Anthony Marvuglio, 10. Paul Scally, 11. Phil Dimario, 12. Jim Chambers, 13. Joey Mucciacciaro, DNS-Doug Cleveland, Bethany Stoehr.
Avery Stoehr made an inside bid on lap 12 that fell short. A lap and a half later, out of four, he went to the outside passing Paul Bigelow and taking a lead he never relinquished en route to victory in the 20-lap Northeastern Midget Association Lites feature at Stafford Motor Speedway’s Carquest Super Saturday.
“I tried low and it wasn’t good,” understated Stoehr, who recently celebrated his 17th birthday. “I went to the outside and it seemed to stick.” Pointing out “the car was just getting better and better,” Stoehr had a 0.58 second advantage on Bigelow at the end of the caution-free event.
Behind Bigelow (Bigelow 31) was Brandon Igo (Igo 45), Danny Cugini (51) and Kenny Johnson (46). Carl Medieros (Medieros 50) was sixth. Johnson owned the fastest lap (19.408) which came on the 14th circuit.
Starting second, Bigelow had a sizable lead when Stoehr, who started sixth, moved into second. “I noticed Paul was having trouble getting through the turns and my car was getting better,” said Stoehr.
“It is something to win at a track of this length and reputation,” continued Stoehr, who averaged 90.655 mph. Third last year at Oswego, he was “happy” to learn the Lites were part of Super Saturday
Stoehr did face a challenge on the white-flag lap, running into lapped traffic in turn two. Moving to the outside, he “thought I lost it,” before recovering and collecting his third career Lites win.
The Lites join the NEMA regulars Friday night, July 12 at Lee USA Speedway.
RESULTS: 1. Avery Stoehr, 2. Paul Bigelow, 3. Brandon Igo, 4. Danny Cugini, 5. Kenny Johnson, 6. Carl Medieros, 7. D.J. Moniz, 8. Andy Barrows, 9.P.J. Stergios, 10. Randy Cabral, 11. Logan Rayvals, 12. Dana Shaw, 13. Megen Cugini, 14. Kevin Park, 15. Kelly Ferrell, 16. Richie Morrocco, 17. Scott Bigelow, 18. Joey Payne, DNS-Steve Powers.
Waterford Speedbowl was back with a quick paced six-division racing program Saturday evening. Scoring NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series victories included Keith Rocco of Meriden, who notched his fifth win of the year in the SK Modifieds®.
Waterford’s Dillon Moltz won for the second time this season in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Models, Brandon Plemons of Uncasville took the checkered flag in the Street Stocks and Bill Leonard of Charlestown, RI won for the second straight week in the Mini Stocks. In INEX racing,
Giovanni Giarratana of Newington won the night’s Legend Cars feature. The Super X-Cars competed in a Saturday Showdown Series event won by Preston’s Ed Ryan.
Saturday night, June 29th, was the 10th annual CARQUEST Super Saturday program at Stafford Motor Speedway. Mike Lichty won the 50-lap ISMA Supermodified feature, John Zych, Jr. won the 30-lap NEMA Midget feature event, Avery Stoehr won the 20-lap NEMA Lite feature, and Dan Meservey, Jr. won the 25-lap Pro-4 Modified feature event.
At Seekonk Speedway Ryan Vanasse picked up his first win of the 2013 season, shaking off a rough start. Kevin Folan brought the field down to the green, but the A&A Auto Parts Chevy quickly jumped out front and showed that he had the car to beat. Folan hung onto second until Ken Spencer moved past, and fell to fourth as Fred Astle got by. Astle worked his way quickly by Spencer and tried to hunt down Vanasse. Bobby Pelland III was fifth at the halfway point.
As the leaders hit the three-quarter mark, Vanasse and Astle were in lapped traffic, and on lap 34, Astle made contact with the lapped car of Elmer Wing, cutting down his right front tire, bringing out the caution. Spencer had one shot to make it into the lead, and Ken put Janine’s Machine through its paces on the outside for the final six laps, edging out Vanasse on lap 35. But that was all he could muster, as Vanasse took back Darling over and picked up his first win of the season, getting to celebrate with the RI Shriners clowns. Spencer, Folan, Dick Houlihan and Dave Darling rounded out the top five.
1) Ryan Vanasse 2) Ken Spencer 3) Kevin Folan 4) Dick Houlihan 5) Tom Scully Jr 6) Dave Darling 7) Fred Astle Jr 8) Bobby Pelland III 9) Kevin Casper 10) Mike Brightman 11) Bob Hussey 12) Dave Silvia 13) Tom Scully Sr 14) Darryl Stampfl 15) Cory Cleary 16) Dick Benoit 17) Billy Joerres 18) Mike Mitchell 19) Elmer Wing III 20) Kyle Casper
Bobby Pelland III has been fast, but unlucky so far in 2013. His luck may have just changed when he picked up the 30 lap LM win on Saturday. Pelland started outside Ron Barboza, and quickly moved past on the green to take the lead, Barboza held on for several laps before opening day winner Jeramee Lillie moved into second. Current point leader Bill Bernard was right behind, taking third just a couple of laps later.
As the field crossed at the halfway point, Bernard moved past Lille, and the Cardiac Kid started to hunt down Pelland who had an eight car length advantage. Pelland was not going to be caught, as he held on for the RI Shriners victory. Bernard was second, with Gerry DeGasparre, Lille and Dave Hutchins Jr third through fifth.
1) Bobby Pelland III 2) Bill Bernard 3) Gerry DeGasparre Jr 4) Jeramee Lille 5) Dave Hutchins Jr 6) Ron Barboza Jr 7) Ryan Lineham 8) Dylan Estrella 9) Joe Kohler 10) Tyler Thompson 11) Mike Marfeo
John Paiva picked up his third win if the season in the second leg of the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series. Lenny Guy was the driver who led the first couple of laps before Rob Murphy picked up the top of the standings. Murphy seemed to be in control until a lap 13 caution came out. On the restart, Rick Martin took over, and set the pace.
On a lap 19 caution, the whole complexion of the race changed. While under caution, Rob Murphy’s Chevy broke, taking him out of contention. While Martin and now Paiva came down for the green, the start was waved off, and Martin penalized for an improper restart. This handed the lead to Paiva with Barry Shaw lined up next to him.
Martin was eliminated on a lap 21 incident, when Anna Gregoire spun, and Martin made contact trying to avoid her. Over the final several laps, Paiva and Shaw raced wheel to wheel, swapping the lead back and forth several times, with Shaw officially leading three laps in that exchange. As the laps wound down, Scott Dion, who was involved in an
opening lap incident, moved past Shaw, and wrestled second away. Shaw finished third, with Murphy coming back for fourth and Brandon Dion fifth.
1) John Paiva 2) Scott Dion 3) Barry Shaw 4) Rob Murphy 5) Brandon Dion 6) Lenny Guy 7) Darryl Church 8) John Letourneau 9) Nick Uhrig 10) Mike Duarte 11) Frank Duquette 12) Dane Saritelli 13) Anna Gregoire 14) Bill Schoeler 15) Chase Belcher 16) Joey Wakefield 17) Jim Hawkins 18) Rick Martin 19) Bob Rainville 20) Billy Clarke
Bob Bettencourt shook off the disappointment of two weeks ago, and redeemed himself and his team in picking up the 25 lap RI Shriners Street Stock main event. Jimmy Belmont jumped into the early lead, only to be overtaken on the second lap by Bettencourt. Craig Pianka moved into second for a few laps before Scott Bruneau took over the runner up position. At the halfway point, John Hanafin moved into third, with Pianka and Paul Lallier rounding out the top five.
The top five ran that way through a lap 20 restart. As the field crossed for lap 21, Bruneau got a little loose off the fourth corner. While he held on, Charlie Baldwin, who was up to fourth on the restart, backed off a little, only to be hit by a spinning Pianka, which sent Baldwin on two wheels as he rode the front stretch wall.
Hanafin moved into second after the restart, but could not close in on the former champion, and had to settle for the second week in a row. Bruneau, Charles Beal and Rey Lovelace rounded out the top five. Scott Serydynski was the Simpson’s Auto Care Lucky Draw winner of $100.
1) Bobby Bettencourt Jr 2) John Hanafin 3) Scott Bruneau 4) Charles Beal 5) Rey Lovelace 6) Scott Serydynski 7) Crystal Serydynski 8) Gerard Berthelette 9) Craig Pianka 10) Austin Blais 11) Paul Lallier 12) Joe Melberg 13) Jeff Ellis 14) Jimmy Belmont 15) Charlie Baldwin 16) Chris DeMoura 17) Randy Moretti 18) Robert Gay 19) Tim Eaton 20) Darryl Perry 21) Ray Negley.