Macrino Dominates Street Stock Gauntlet, Ryan Jr. Hangs on for Truck Photo Finish
There was no shortage of action on day two of The Finale, that hosted three regional Midget Car races and three weekly Speedbowl divisions. Tight point battles and high car counts kept the on track fireworks at a premium.
A controlled chaos kicked off the Street Stock event, that immediately shuffled around the top 10. Tony Macrino maneuvered with precision from his 3rd place starting spot into the lead on lap 2 and quite literally never looked back as he led every lap to take home his second win of the season. That lead kept him out of trouble as chaos ensued behind the green 13.
Behind him the battle for the championship was heating up with Shawn Gaedeke operating in the top 5. Several cautions throughout the race kept setting up close quarter racing throughout the field. Noman moved up into second place and started reeling in Macrino with about 10 to go, but the 12 car was on the receiving end of some bad luck and went around making his run for the championship even more challenging. He would restart from the back several times, but with 3 to go couldn’t make up the positions needed. Meanwhile up front, Gaedeke was holding his own, and even after some last lap shuffling, he managed to secure his second Street Stock Championship at the Speedbowl.
The Trucks put on a great show with pole sitter Bert Ouellette setting the pace in a backup truck, after an incident elsewhere the week before in his primary 151. Ed Ryan Jr. challenged for the lead on lap 8 was able to clear Ouellette and start to pull away from the field. In his mirror however was Kyle Gero. Last time out the duo put on a battle and this time out was no different. Gero was able to get a nose underneath Ryan with 3 laps to go which resulted in yet another photo finish, giving Ryan the win.
The points battle came down between Emma Monahan and Tyler Chapman for the Trucks crown. Both drivers ran a clean and clear race, and while Chapman beat Monahan on track, the two position gap between drivers wasn’t enough to change the story. Emma would grab the Championship and celebrate in Victory Lane with Cousin Brody Monahan at the end of the night.
Brody came into the evening with the INEX Legend Car championship already clinched. Donning some new colors, he was a threat to win the race early. Wade Oemcke set the pace at first but the pair would battle fiercely until a caution with 10 to go flipped the script. Isaiah Newcomb made a bold 3 wide move to shoot into the lead , Oemcke lost control of his car which resulted in a melee in the corner with 5 to go. Now with a new front row, Newcomb and Monahan would put on the show. On the third restart to try and finish he race, Monahan finally got back out in front. However another bold bottom shot move from Newcomb gave him the advantage with 3 to go and the Wednesday champion scored the win, beating out the Saturday champion.
A minor flip kicked off the American Three-Quarter Midget Racing Association’s 25 lap event, but when it went green Matt Janisch dominated the event by a huge margin to win.
Mike Horn won the Shane Hammond Memorial Northeastern Midget Association main event, and Jake Trainor won the NEMA Lite feature event.
Day three of The Finale takes place on Sunday October 16th with a 60 lap SK Modified Main event, the 2nd Annual Don Caddick Memorial 50 Lap Late Models, SK Lights, Mini Stocks, and an Open Street Stock race. To keep up with the Speedbowl, visit us online at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, on Facebook as The New London-Waterford Speedbowl, or Twitter @SpeedbowlCT.
Results
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 13-Tony Macrino[3]; 2. 52-Al Stone III[5]; 3. 81-Ed Gertsch Jr[9]; 4. 7CT-Travis Jurcik[12]; 5. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[4]; 6. 74-Joseph Arena[8]; 7. 38-Jon Porter[21]; 8. 14-Steve Barrett[10]; 9. 11-Corey Fanning[11]; 10. 12-Brian Norman[6]; 11. 22-Austin Erickson[24]; 12. 83-RJ Surdell[19]; 13. 21-Tom Musante[16]; 14. 54-Michael DiFranco[23]; 15. 8-Brannon Gerard[22]; 16. 07-Josh Gerard[15]; 17. 22T-Timothy Poulin[17]; 18. 1-Nate Taylor[2]; 19. 14X-Brandon Carroll[20]; 20. 67-Aaron Plemons[13]; 21. 6X-Andrew Pellegrini[7]; 22. 85-Cam Balman[18]; 23. 30-Charles Beal[14]; 24. (DQ) 16MA-Zach Meade[1]
Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 12-Ed Ryan Jr[5]; 2. 19CT-Kyle Gero[6]; 3. 151-Albert Ouellette[1]; 4. 81-Tyler Chapman[3]; 5. 54-Cameron Varricchio[7]; 6. 78-Emma Monahan[4]; 7. 32-Randy Burr[9]; 8. 52CT-Sean Caron[8]; 9. 31-Brody Monahan[10]; 10. 81CT-Toby Leonard[12]; 11. 85-Kenny Woodward[14]; 12. 52-Mercedes Caron[11]; 13. 13-Richard Albernaz[13]; 14. 6X-Andrew Pellegrini[2]
Legend Cars (25 Laps): 1. 22-Isaiah Newcomb[7]; 2. 31-Brody Monahan[5]; 3. 91-Riley Paul[12]; 4. 9-Chase VanHouten[8]; 5. 4-Brenden LaBelle[9]; 6. 99RI-Richard Helger Jr[11]; 7. 42-Mason Tessier[10]; 8. 77-Dennis Pantani[16]; 9. 7X-Patrick Smith[18]; 10. 3V-Michael Van Houten Jr[17]; 11. 15-Scott Kinsman[15]; 12. 26-Sydney Cook[20]; 13. 27-Corey Caddick[19]; 14. 34-Kyle Caissie[6]; 15. 89-Dylan Cote[4]; 16. 86-Scott Limkemann[1]; 17. 65-Wade Oemcke[3]; 18. 91X-Ethan Avellar[14]; 19. 7RI-Brendon Hammann[13]; 20. 05-Dylan Freeman[2]
Photo by TK Race Photo
