Monahan Battles Back After Last Weeks Wreck

WATERFORD — It took only one week for Diego Monahan of Waterford to go from the scrap heap to Cloud 9. That’s what made the second win of the season so special for Monahan, who was able to dominate the 35-lap SK Modified feature here Saturday at the New London Waterford Speedbowl.

One week ago Monahan’s regular car was destroyed when he went airborne and ran into the turn 3 wall. He was able to borrow an SK Modified from his brother Shawn, however, and did not miss a beat in the feature.

“I honestly considered not coming back,” Monahan said. “My car was damaged pretty badly and I didn’t want to fix it with money I don’t have.But them my brother called me and said I could use his car. All I said was ‘when can I pick it up?”‘

It didn’t take him long to pick up the lead for the feature as he blurred to the front past Bo Gunning. Then he survived a close battle with Rob Janovic Jr. before dominating the second half of the race.

“I was complaining that my car was tight,” Monahan said. “And they told me to hang in there, it would get better. And it did. The key move was getting by Bo Gunning. He gave me a tough battle in the heat race, but I was able to get past him in the feature.”

“Diego’s car got better, and mine got worse,” Janovic said. “The right car won tonight.”

Dennis Perry finished third and moved into the point lead when point leader Keith Rocco was involved in a mid-race wreck and finished 16th. Perry leads Rocco by two points and Joey Gada by 5.

Other winners Saturday included Jacob Perry in the Mini Stocks, Ed Gertsch Jr. in the Limited Sportsman, Tony Membrino Jr. in the Magnus Racing Products SK Lights, Peter Martin in the Super X Cars, Kyle Gero in the X Cars and Norm Wrenn III in the Pro 4 Modifieds.

In the 25-lap Mini Stock event, Jacob Perry survived a side-by-side duel with David Trudeau for eight laps on his way to his second win of the season. He took the lead on lap 15 and then held off point leader Wayne Burroughs by a sturdy margin down the stretch.

It was another side-by-side showdown in the 25-lap Limited Sportsman feature. Gertsch went nose-to-nose with Al Stone for seven laps before pulling away. Chris Meyer made a late rush to finish second and Stone was third.

Tony Membrino Jr. took the lead early, and then held off Corey Berry and Brett Gonyea every step of the way to win the 25-lap SK Light feature.

“Those two guys both had better cars than I didn,” Membrino said. “I just got lucky.”

Martin was the dominating factor as he posted his first win of the season in the Super X cars.

Christopher Thomas was on his way to a convincing win in the 25-lap X car when he ran over some debris with three laps to go. Thomas lost the lead to Gero, who won for the fifth time this year.

It appeared Wrenn had a second place car in the 25-lap Pro 4 Modified feature when mechanical difficulty sidelined leader Brett Merservy with five laps to go. Wrenn capitalized to take the win. Mark Charette roared by Allen Reiser with five laps to go to win the Pro 4 Light portion of the race.