Waterford Speedbowl returned to motorsports action on Wednesday evening with another Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday racing program. Scoring wins included Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott in the INEX Legend Cars, Jim Boyle of East Windsor in the Super X-Cars, Wayne Shifflett of Preston in the X-Car division and Ken Morin Jr. of Old Saybrook in the INEX Bandoleros.
Christopher’s win in the 25-lap INEX Legend Cars feature was key for more than one reason. His twenty-first victory of the year moved him within one victory of the division’s single-season record for wins, and it also unofficially wrapped up the division title in the track’s Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Series. The win was not official immediately following the race, pending review by the technical inspection staff and INEX officials. The record number of wins for the Legend Cars division is twenty two, held by Jason Palmer, who accomplished the feat in 2009. Christopher is in his second season in the division.
In Wednesday’s race, Christopher had to track down last year’s titlist, Joey Ternullo, doing so under a long green flag run. Ternullo held the top spot but appeared to be handling a tight handling car, enabling Christopher to dive underneath him on lap-11. Ternullo fought for two laps outside of Christopher before succumbing, tucking in behind. A final opportunity to unseat Christopher came with three laps remaining when a yellow flag came out. Christopher got a good restart to pull ahead but Ternullo stayed with him to the checkered flag, however was unable to stay alongside. Ternullo finished second and T.J. Thompson was third.
Boyle checkered the Super X-Car division for the first time in multiple seasons, picking up a victory in the non-stop 25-lap race. Boyle took the lead early, driving underneath Jon Porter in a battle among former division champions. Boyle took command on lap-5 and cruised from there. He outdistanced Bill Reiman, who finished second. Marc Shafer was third in a cleanly and quickly competed event.
Shifflett waltzed away from the competition after an opening lap caution flag in the 25-lap X-Car feature. He used a three wide maneuver inside leader Chris Lee and C.P. Burdick in turn three, racing into the lead on lap-5. Shifflett pulled away leaving the rest of the field to chase him. Jordan Hadley finished second and point leader Zac Thomas was third. Thomas was unofficially able to seal the division points title following post-race technical inspection.
Morin led from start to finish in the 20-lap INEX Bandolero feature, holding the top spot over one caution flag, which slowed the race on lap-7. He had point leader Anthony Marvin to his outside for the restart but was able to fight off Marvin’s bid to retain his spot at the front. Marvin chased Morin to the finish but could not counter, settling for second. Nickolas Hovey finished third.