(Waterford, CT) \u2013 Retired race driver Jerry Marquis of Broad Brook, Connecticut., dusted off his racing helmet Saturday night and won the 100-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature at Waterford, (CT) Speedbowl. The win came on a night when the track presented the fourth annual \u201cWings & Wheels\u201d program
\nin front of a large crowd of open-wheel race fans.
\n
\nMarquis becomes the fourth consecutive first time winner and the 10th different winner this season. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly here to help these guys out,\u201d said Marquis who ended a successful 34 year career in 2007. \u201cBrian (Crowley) called and asked if I would consider it and here I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marquis was tabbed to drive for regular driver Rowan Pennink and car owner Gary Casella as Pennink was committed to race in New Hampshire. Marquis agreed to practice the car at Stafford, (CT) on Friday and be ready on Saturday at Waterford if needed.<\/p>\n
With qualifying completed and Pennink enroute from Loudon, NH., Marquis was slated to start on the pole for the VMRS race.<\/p>\n
When the field of 21 cars rolled from the paddock area, Marquis
\ntook his position in the front row to a rousing ovation.<\/p>\n
At the drop of the green flag, Marquis was the driver to beat and no one could top the Roscoe Racing #25. The 56-year Marquis wired the field but received pressure throughout the race. <\/p>\n
Local favorite Rob Janovic Jr, of Waterford, from the drop of the green flag, chased Marquis until Les Hinckley III, of Windsor Locks, CT., slipped by on lap 40. For the next 60 laps Hinckley chased
\nMarquis and ran him hard on restarts but this was not the night for the current point-leader. Marquis prevailed for the full 100-laps.<\/p>\n
Keith Rocco, of Wallingford, CT., started 21st and finished a solid third. following his win the night before at Stafford Springs, CT.<\/p>\n
Pasteryak finished fourth with Max Zachem of Preston, CT., rounding out the top five.<\/p>\n
Mike Holdridge, Louie Mechalides, Dave Etheridge, Tim Jordan, and Josh Sylvester finished sixth through tenth.<\/p>\n
17 of the 21 cars that started the race finished the event, 16 on the lead
\nlap. <\/p>\n
Four caution flags slowed the race. It took 40 minutes 15 seconds to complete the 100-laps<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the winning car was damaged in a crash Friday night at Stafford. The crew worked all night stopping three hours for sleep before heading to Waterford from Saugus, MA. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part of this is a good guy won, we (the crew) pulled it off, and I\u2019d like to think it was good for the series,\u201d said car owner Gary Casella. That\u2019s what really makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Race Summary
\nAugust 13,2011, 2011
\nWaterford Speedbowl (CT)
\nDistance: 100 laps
\nTime of Race: 40:15:294
\nBest Lap Time: 14.061 (Pasteryak)
\nBest Speed: 96.010 Pasteryak
\nMargin of Victory: 1.432
\nLead Changes: 0
\nLap Leaders: Marquis (1-100)
\nCautions: Laps; 6, 8, 8, 54, 62
\nUnofficial Finish – (1) Marquis (2) Hinckley (3) Rocco
\n(4) Pasteryak (5) Zachem (6) Hold ridge (7) Mechalides
\n(8) Etheridge (9) Jordan (10) Sylvester (11) Janovic
\n(12) Malave (13) Solomito (14) Wrenn (15) Owen
\n(16) Doucette (17) McClay (18) Charette (19) Barrett
\n(20) Bateman (21) Goodenough<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Waterford, CT) \u2013 Retired race driver Jerry Marquis of Broad Brook, Connecticut., dusted off his racing helmet Saturday night and won the 100-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature at Waterford, (CT) Speedbowl. The win came on a night when the track presented the fourth annual \u201cWings & Wheels\u201d program in front of a large crowd […]<\/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":[196,4163,126,4140],"tags":[188,15801],"class_list":["post-6773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-modified","category-new-england","category-waterford","tag-modifieds","tag-waterford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}