Last Lap Pass for Martinez Proves Fruitful; Starkweather and Rheaume Score First Wins
WATERFORD – The weather was hot, and the action on track was hotter for this weeks Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday program. Zachary Martinez made a daring move to win his second Legend Car race of the season. Trenton Starkweather and Bill Rheaume earned their first wins in the Bandoleros and Super X-Cars, and Christian Herman won the X-Car race in his first start this season.
Trenton Starkweather got out to an early lead in the 20 lap INEX Bandolero race from his pole position, but he was immediately under some intense pressure from Rodney Dowless. On lap 3 Dowless made an outside pass for the lead, but almost immediately surrendered it and fell back to third on the field. Bradley Strickland came from his last place starting position to take over the second spot during the exchange. Around halfway, Dowless was able to work his way back into second and the pair pulled away. Starkweather set the pace to lead the remaining laps with Dowless hot on his tail, resulting in Starkweather’s first career win.
Last weeks winner Isaiah Newcomb and Saturday night shoe Brody Monahan put on a show at the front of the field for the first 7 circuits of the INEX Legend Car race. An incident collecting the 14 of Zachary Martinez and the 13 of Jacob Burns setting up the field for a restart. PJ Evans took advantage and dove into 2nd place and even made a bid for the top spot, but Newcomb managed to clear Evans quickly to hang on to his lead. Trouble with 4 to go threw a wrench in the way the race finished, as a parts failure removed 3 cars from competition including Evans. On the final restart, Newcomb was able to clear Monahan, and Martinez who came from the rear took over the second spot. Martinez then made a strong bottom shot move on Newcomb to take the white flag, and the last lap drag race gave Martinez his second win of the season.
The X-Car race was full of twists and turns, making everyone think, what’s next? CP Burdick got off to an early lead with a pack of cars led by Timothy Burgess hot on his tail. On lap 3, Burdick suddenly pulled off the track surrendering his lead to Burgess. Christian Herman came from the back of the handicapped positions and charged into the lead on lap 6, but then Burgess also pulled off giving the second position to Wade Robbins. 3-time winner Pete Zaikarite took Corey Caddick by Robbins for 2nd and 3rd. A few more laps clicked by and Caddick was able to clear Zaikarite for 2nd, but still had a long way to go to catch Herman. That’s when the tides turned for everyone. Trouble with 3 laps to go put the field in a red flag situation when Wade Robbins made heavy contact with the front stretch wall. Herman got the jump on the restart when entering turn one, a melee broke out spacing out the back half of the field. Herman would score his first win in his first start since returning to competition, and Caddick would beat Zaikarite by a nose for 2nd place.
Bill Rheaume shown speed all day long in the Super X-Car division, and he made quick work of his 5th place starting position. Bud Kuehne got out to an early lead, but once Bill Reiman and Rheaume were done sorting out traffic, they were quick to reel him in. Reiman cleared Kuehne with an outside pass early taking Rheaume with him. Rheaume was able to get a nose underneath Reiman, but the caution flag flew for the only time on lap 8. On the following restart, Rheaume got the jump from the outside line to clear Reiman and never look back, leading the rest of the race by a comfortable margin to win his first race in the division.
The Speedbowl is back in action on Saturday July 23rd for a 7 division show featuring INEX Legend Cars 20/20/10, and again next Wednesday July 27th with double features for X-Cars and Super X-Cars. Keep up with us at www.speedbowlct.com, on Facebook at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl, or on Twitter @SpeedbowlCT.
RESULTS
INEX Bandolero (20 Laps): 1. 9-Trenton Starkweather[1]; 2. 24-Rodney Dowless[3]; 3. 84JR-Brad Strickland[5]; 4. 99-Milania Shilosky[2]; 5. 10-Allyha Desomma[4]
INEX Legend Car (25 Laps): 1. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[3]; 2. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[2]; 3. 13-Jacob Burns[6]; 4. 31-Brody Monahan[1]; 5. 99RI-Richard Helger Jr[5]; 6. 12-PJ Evans[4]; 7. 77-Dennis Pantani[8]; 8. 91-Riley Paul[7]
X-Car (25 Laps): 1. 9-Christian Herman[12]; 2. 27-Corey Caddick[7]; 3. 07-Pete Zaikarite Jr[9]; 4. 01CT-Chuck McDonald[6]; 5. 19-Dylan Cabral[8]; 6. 12-Bruce Sperry[13]; 7. 26-Steven Talaba[2]; 8. 18-Jeremy Palmer[5]; 9. 42-Chris Palamar[11]; 10. 67-Wade Robbins[4]; 11. 23-Brandon Lindahl[15]; 12. 45CT-Josh Piper[14]; 13. 31-Matthew Tumolo[16]; 14. 11-Tim Burgess[3]; 15. 13-Matt Martel[18]; 16. 1-CP Burdick[1]; 17. 56-Keith McDonald[19]; 18. 93-Richard Nye[10]; 19. (DNS) 7-Mike Trask
Super X-Car (25 Laps): 1. 43-William Rheaume[5]; 2. 25-William Reiman[3]; 3. 76-Dave Yardley[7]; 4. 14-Devin Tate[11]; 5. 24-Sean Skinner[6]; 6. 38-Donald “Bud” Kuehne[2]; 7. 88-Ben Castro[13]; 8. 10-Mitch Bombard[12]; 9. 2-Caitlyn Desomma[1]; 10. 82-John Nash[8]; 11. 41-Toby Leonard[4]; 12. 12-David Ciastko[10]; 13. 30-Pipper Beal[9]
(Photo by PRVL Creative Media)
