THE BULLDOG SCORES THIRD SK MODIFIED® WIN; STRICKLAND NAILS FIRST TRUCK WIN
WATERFORD – Rob Janovic Jr. used his front row starting spot to take command of the SK Modifieds® when they roared to life. Adam Gada slipped into second and kept heavy pressure on Janovic, looking both inside and out. The two dueled it out with Timmy Jordan and Eric Berndt in their mirrors until lap 16 when Gada would end up in the front straight grass. Berndt powered by Janovic on the restart with Jordan hot on his tail. On the final restart of the race, Jordan tried hanging on the inside of Berndt with the two even making some light contact. The battle for third got hot with Todd Owen having to hold off Andrew Molleur and Jon Puleo. Molleur was all over the bumper with Puleo looking
to the inside as Troy Talman entered the fray. Berndt scored the win after creating a cushion between him and Jordan, and Owen would hang on for third.
Late Models went double features this week, making up for the rainout on August 3rd. Joey LeMay held the lead for a brief moment, but it didn’t take long for Brody Monahan to slip in the lead and run for cover. Jason Palmer slipped into second and on lap 6, a caution on the field gave Palmer a chance at Monahan. Monahan’s dominance on the race wouldn’t be denied however, as the two drivers ran off from Doug Curry who was now in third place. The top two drivers put over a straightaway lead on Curry who had his hands full with Ryan Morgan and Ray Christian III. Catastrophe with just 2 to go would put an end to Monahan’s race, as a power steering line let go 
putting him inside a cloud of smoke. Palmer went on to win while Jordan Hadley took down Curry, sneaking onto the podium.
Mike Benevides led the second Late Model feature to green, but after just a few laps Monahan was able to resume where he left off in the first feature by running off with a massive lead. Benevides would get picked off by Palmer, Morgan, then Christian and settle into place as the laps ticked down. A caution flew with just nine to go, changing the complexion of the race. While Monahan was still able to extend his lead to a large gap, Palmers car came to life and he started chomping away. On the final lap entering turn 3, contact between the two send Monahan around and parted the seas for Morgan to blast through and pick up the win.
The SK Lights were owned by Tyler Barry for the first five laps until contact with Evan Bourgeois sent both drivers to the rear. John O’Sullivan inherited the lead and was able to hold it down for only a couple laps when Nickolas Hovey
resumed his recent dominance on the division. At the halfway point, a caution would re-rack the field but that wouldn’t stop Hovey as he pulled away by a large margin once again. Behind him, O’Sullivan and a recovered Barry dueled it out for second. Contact between Zack Sangermano and Barry put Hovey up against Bourgeois for one final restart, but the story remained the same. Bourgeois and Sami Anderson had a brief battle for the runner up spot as Hovey went on to win his fourth of the season.
Shawn Gaedeke had to overcome some major part failures this season, and the team looked to have overcome them when the Street Stocks hit the track. Gaedeke held a massive lead over a hornet’s nest led by Joe Arena. That nest was getting picked apart by Al Stone 
III, PJ Evans, and Norm Root III. Stone was the first to break free, while Evans and Root were working on Arena. The caution flew after their battle giving Stone a shot at Gaedeke. Stone made quick work around the outside groove with Root following in his tire tracks. For the second week in a row, Root use the outside groove to slingshot by Stone and take the lead. A few more cautions prolonged the conclusion of the race, but it didn’t stop Root from earning his third win in a row.
It’s no secret that Brad Strickland has been showing massive improvements in speed the past few races. So when he launched off the start box putting a gap between Austin Long and himself, it was no surprise. Strickland and Long put a gap on the field as Charles Beal and Tyler Chapman were trying to maneuver in traffic around Jake Coutu and Randy
Burr. Long closed the gap Strickland created in some lapped traffic, until race ending contact between Beal and Chapmans’ battle for third bunched the field up with just three laps to go. Strickland and Long engaged in a side-by-side battle for one lap before Long got passed on to Coutu. Strickland was able to capture his first career Truck win while Long and Coutu came out second in third in a three-wide battle at the line.
Erica Canfield may have won the battle to the line but her father Charles was the man on top when the Mini Stocks kicked off their race. Charles extended his lead to a large margin while the rest of the pack sorted 
themselves out. John Bavolacco worked by Erica for second on lap 11, and in his mirror was David Dorr. Dorr had issues in qualifying, forcing him to start near the tail of the field. After a couple quick cautions that eliminated Charles’ lead, Dorr rocketed off the line leaving Charles and Bavolacco to sort out the podium among themselves. Dorr would go on to win his third race of the season.
Two races remain for Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday, the American Vintage Modifieds join the card this week. Then on Saturday it’s our annual Full Fendered Throwdown headlined by a $3,000 to win 100 Lap Late Model feature. Keep up with the us at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, or @SpeedbowlCT on Instagram and X.
Unofficial Results
SK Modifieds® (35 Laps): 1. 11CT-Eric Berndt[7]; 2. 47-Timmy Jordan[5]; 3. 81-Todd Owen[4]; 4. 35-Andrew Molleur[8]; 5. 7-Jonathan Puleo[6]; 6. 3-Troy Talman[10]; 7. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[2]; 8. 25-Anthony Flannery[9]; 9. 72-Adam Gada[3]; 10. 0-Dennis Gada[13]; 11. 77-Chase Cook[1]; 12. 15-Jeff Fialkovich[14]; 13. 66-Wendell Dailey[17]; 14. 81X-Joshua Zentek[15]; 15. 22RI-Carl Kivisto[16]; 16. 8CT-Ryan Morgan[11]; 17. 4-Jeff Malave[12]
Late Models (30 Laps): 1. 31CT-Ryan Morgan[11]; 2. 93CT-Ray Christian III[9]; 3. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[5]; 4. 37-Jordan Hadley[10]; 5. 50RI-Michael Benevides[3]; 6. 5RI-Rich Staskowski[7]; 7. 78-Emma Monahan[1]; 8. 96CT-Matt Young[15]; 9. 31-Brody Monahan[4]; 10. 17-Jason Palmer[6]; 11. (DNS) 0-Joey LeMay; 12. (DNS) 9-Keith Scalia; 13. (DNS) 12-Christopher Douton; 14. (DNS) 6-Cory DiMatteo; 15. (DNS) 19CT-Kyle Gero
Late Models (From 8/3) (30 Laps): 1. 17-Jason Palmer[5]; 2. 37-Jordan Hadley[10]; 3. 93CT-Ray Christian III[6]; 4. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[4]; 5. 0-Joey LeMay[1]; 6. 31CT-Ryan Morgan[13]; 7. 5RI-Rich Staskowski[11]; 8. 12-Christopher Douton[9]; 9. 78-Emma Monahan[8]; 10. 96CT-Matt Young[15]; 11. 50RI-Michael Benevides[2]; 12. 31-Brody Monahan[3]; 13. 6-Cory DiMatteo[14]; 14. 9-Keith Scalia[7]; 15. 19CT-Kyle Gero[12]; 16. (DNS) 10-Ryan Lineham; 17. (DNS) 64-Devin Deshaies; 18. (DNS) 19-Michael Bennett; 19. (DNS) 2-Derryck Anderson Jr
SK Lights (25 Laps): 1. 16-Nickolas Hovey[6]; 2. 78-Evan Bourgeois[5]; 3. 21-Sami Anderson[2]; 4. 19-John Brunelle[8]; 5. 07-Tyler Barry[1]; 6. 25-Jordan Churchill[10]; 7. 51-John O’Sullivan III[4]; 8. 98-Norm Sears[12]; 9. 76-Edward Gomarlo[7]; 10. 12X-Amanda Slater[9]; 11. 75-Jeff Heath[11]; 12. 47-Zachery Sangermano[3]
Street Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 80-Norm Root III[7]; 2. 12-Al Stone III[6]; 3. 67-Aaron Plemons[5]; 4. 13-Tony Macrino[12]; 5. 56-Ike Chima[10]; 6. 74-Joseph Arena[4]; 7. 81-PJ Evans[8]; 8. 3-Adam Coutu[9]; 9. 21-Tom Musante[11]; 10. 58-David Ciastko[1]; 11. 38-Jon Porter[3]; 12. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[13]; 13. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[2]; 14. (DNS) 30-Charles Beal
Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 84JR-Brad Strickland[2]; 2. 07-Austin Long[1]; 3. 33-Jake Coutu[4]; 4. 32-Randy Burr[3]; 5. 55-Shawn Monahan[8]; 6. 54-Cameron Varricchio[7]; 7. 77-Troy Prentice[9]; 8. 99-Milania Shilosky[14]; 9. 98-Shawn Passero[10]; 10. 12-Tyler Dickey[11]; 11. 7-Kassy Prentice[15]; 12. 25-David Venice[12]; 13. 30CT-Ryan Bannister[13]; 14. (DQ) 30-Charles Beal[5]; 15. (DQ) 81-Tyler Chapman[6]
Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 19-David Dorr[15]; 2. 25-Charles Canfield[4]; 3. 42-John Bavolacco[7]; 4. 83-Christopher Garside[5]; 5. 88-Bill Sylvia[6]; 6. 6-Nicholas Pappacoda[3]; 7. 50-David Lee[8]; 8. 24-Brad Caddick[1]; 9. 28-Erica Canfield[2]; 10. 81-Stacey Zentek[13]; 11. 46-John Curry Jr[10]; 12. 11-Jason Kokoszka[11]; 13. 22-Hailey Beal[12]; 14. 12-Ben Sullivan[14]; 15. 16-Tim Dorr[9]; 16. 00-Vin Esposito[17]; 17. 73-Eric Julian[16]
Photos by TK Race Photo
