Rain Was The Big Winner Saturday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rain plays havoc with Speedbowl schedule
WATERFORD — The glass was half full — and half empty — at the New London Waterford Speedbowl Saturday.
Four of the eight scheduled feature races took place before rain hit the Southeastern Connecticut area. That meant victories for John O’Sullivan in the Legends feature, Ken Cassidy Jr. in the Speedbowl Trucks, Tommy Silva in the Mini Stocks, shortened to 14 laps because of rain, and Buddy Sload, a runaway winner in the ATQMRA 25-lap feature.
When a second batch of rain invaded the Speedbowl, however, the remainder of the race program was postponed. The 30-lap Late Model feature, the 25-lap Street Stock race, the 25-lapper for the Lite Modifieds and the 35-lapper for the SK Modifieds will be made up on dates to be announced.
Brody Monahan led for the first 13 laps of the 20-lap legends race, but O’Sullivan went from third to first after the caution to wrestle the lead away from Monahan. Jason Palmer, making his first Legends appearance of the year, also was a factor, hanging around in second place for most of the race.
O’Sullivan made a strong move coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap to secure the win. Palmer was second and Monahan third,
O’Sullivan was able to hike his point lead to 21 points over Scott Limkemann.
Ken Cassidy made his move early in the truck feature and no one challenged him for the final 20 laps of the 25-lap race. Duane Noll came the closest as he tried to squeeze his truck underneath Cassidy’s, but he came up short.
The charger of the race was Connor Souza, who started 10th and wheeled and dealed his way through the field to finish third.
It was the second win of the season for Cassidy, who has 72 career Speedbowl wins, good for eighth on the all-time list. Cassidy was able to take the point lead from Jim Boyle, who didn’t start the race because of mechanical problems.
Silva overwhelmed two-time champion Charles Canfield on a restart on his way to his third win of the season. The race was red-checkered with 11 laps to go because of rain.
“I don’t think it would have made a difference,” Silva said. “I had such an outstanding car tonight.
Canfield was second and Chris Garside was third, Silva was able to open up an 8-point lead over Garside in the standings.
The most explosive performance night came from Sload, who blew away the field at the start of the 25-lap ATQMRA feature, By the time he blurred to the second turn, he already had a 1 second lead.
:When you’re racing against competition like this, you have to get going as soon as you can,” Sload said. “I’m tired. This was a long race.”
But as successful one for Sload. Joey Bailey was second and held on to his point lead while Ryan Tidwell was third. Sload has won three of the five ATQMRA events this season.
Racing continues at the Speedbowl Wednesday with a program consisting of the X-Cars, the Super X-Cars, the Legends and the Bandoleros.
20-lap Legends: 1, John O’Sullivan, Salem; 2. Jason Palmer, Berlin; 3. Brody Monahan, Waterford; 4. Scott Limkemann Lebanon; 5. Nikolas Frechette, West Warwick RI; 6. Scott Kinsman, Lebanon.
25-lap Speedbowl Trucks: 1. Ken Cassidy Jr., Lisbon; 2. Duane Noll, Monroe; 3. Connor Souza, Riverside RI; 4. Joshua Stringer, Dayville; 5. Todd Taylor, Stonington; 6. Andrew Pellegrini, North Grosvenordale; 7. Rick Ashlaw, Manchester; 8. Emma Monahan, Waterford; 9. Chris Taylor, East Lyme; 10. Andrew Morin, Old Saybrook.
25-lap Mini Stocks: 1. Tommy Silva, Groton; 2. Charles Canfield, East Haven; 3. Chris Garside, Groton; 4. Jared Roy, Sterling; 5. Kevin Moore, Moosup; 6. JT Suprenant, Central Village; 7, Larry Loomis, Moosup; 8. Joe Bavolacco, Stratford; 9. Haley Beal, Ledyard; 10. Nick Pappacoda, Branford.
25-lap ATQMRA: 1. Buddy Sload; 2. Joey Bailey; 3. Ryan Tidman; 4. Jeff Kot; 5. Brianna Page; 6. Kyle Taraska; 7. Ken Moody Jr.; 8. Jake Trainer; 9. Steve Craig.
