OWEN BACK ON TOP IN MODIFIEDS; LAST LAP PASS NETS STONE BIG STREET STOCK WIN

WATERFORD – A lap 1 checkup shook the SK Modified® field up a bit, but when they went back green it was the Todd Owen show. Owen led Anthony Flannery and RJ Marcotte for the early stages and even a couple restarts when Jon Puleo inserted himself into the conversation around the halfway point. Owen aced the restarts to put himself safely out front and Puleo would fight tooth and nail to keep ahead of Flannery, with no success. The final 12 lap run had Flannery all over the back bumper of Owen, but Flannery wasn’t strong enough to make the pass. Owen finally found the winners circle after breaking into the podium for the first time the week prior.

The Late Models kicked off with a brief battle between Doug Curry and Ryan Lineham, but that battle would come to a head on lap 4 when nearly the entire field was collected in a pile up on the front straight. Curry would safely avoid calamity but as much couldn’t be said about the rest. All but Brody Monahan would return to the grid when the field took the green. Curry ran away from the field with Jason Palmer in tow. Derek Gluchacki had the long run car and was able to reel in Palmer during the 30 lap event. Gluchacki cleared Palmer after an intense battle but without a caution, Curry’s lead couldn’t be erased. After winning in the Mini Stocks and Street Stocks, Curry was able to add his name to the Late Model record books.

Sami Anderson and Tyler Barry led the SK Lights to the green, but that would only last until turn 2 when contact among the front runners shook up the field. When racing resumed after a lengthy cleanup, Johnny O’Sullivan and Tyler Barry would be the stars of the show. Nickolas Hovey, who had to start deep due to his part time schedule, made quick work of the field methodically picking his way through the pack. Only 6 laps in, Hovey makes quick work of O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan would try to cross Hovey over but couldn’t complete the move and Hovey would go on to win by a comfortable margin in only his second start of the season.

A dust up on lap one would relegate the front row of Tony Macrino and Shawn Gaedeke to the rear in the 50 lap Street Stock main event. Moose Douton would take to the lead when the race resumed but a flat tire took him out of commission quickly, allowing Ed Gertsch Jr. to take point. That also didn’t last however, as Al Stone III just as quickly would see himself leading the race with Chad Baxter and Gertsch in his trail. The race would get turned on its’ head on lap 37 when car 37 spun out. External damage on Stone’s car would force him pitside giving the lead to Baxter. Stone quickly rebounded from this venture into the pits, finding himself in third place when a restart took place with 15 to go. With 12 to go, Stone and his number 12 machine moved into second place behind Baxter. As the laps clicked down, Stone inched his way closer until 3 to go when the side by side battle would commence. On the final lap, Stone was able to complete the pass on Baxter and score his second win of the season.

As was the case for much of the night, a massive lap 1 wreck shook up the starting lineup for the Trucks as Milania Shilosky would shorten her truck in the exit of turn 2. When racing resumed, Brad Stickland took to the early lead but after one lap it was Charles Beal and Jake Coutu fighting for the top spot. Beal broke free underneath Coutu allowing him to regain the lead as the race rolled on. Tyler Chapman worked his way in the runner up position just 10 laps in.  Contact between Beal and Coutu sent both into the turn 1 wall sending Beal to the pits and Coutu to the sidelines. With Chapman safely out in front to coast to his fourth win of the season, Beal would rally back with a hurt race car to third as Randy Burr quietly made his 2024 debut with a runner up finish.

The Mini Stocks once again stole the show with a dramatic finish. The clean and green race shown Bill Syliva taking off in control of the race. David Dorr quickly found his way in the second place position, following the tire tracks of Sylvia. As the laps clicked down, Dorr would engage in a side by side battle with 8 laps to go where he would quickly take Sylvia down and score his first win of the season.

Jase Mongeon was a man on a mission in the Legend Cars, rocketing off from his sixth place starting spot to lock himself into a battle with Riley Paul and Dylan Freeman for the top spot. Mongeon would take on a huge lead on the field leaving the rest of the pack to sort it out. Paul would sit comfortably in second while PJ Evans and Freeman fought for the final podium position. Eventually Kyle Caissie would insert himself to the equation taking down the pack to land in third. Mongeon’s win tally increases to 3 after the conclusion of the event.

Next up at the Speedbowl, we honor our Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday Legends of the Bowl when the American Vintage Modifieds come back to town. Then on Saturday, the 350 SMAC Super Modifieds make up their rain out and it’s our National Qualifier for the INEX Legend Cars. 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): . 81-Todd Owen[3]; 2. 25-Anthony Flannery[7]; 3. 7-Jonathan Puleo[9]; 4. 35-Andrew Molleur[4]; 5. 21-Kyle James[8]; 6. 51-Rob Janovic Jr[10]; 7. 47-Timmy Jordan[6]; 8. 11CT-Eric Berndt[5]; 9. 72-Adam Gada[2]; 10. 09-Brian Norman[16]; 11. 0-Dennis Gada[15]; 12. 15-Jeff Fialkovich[11]; 13. 94-Justin Gaydosh[12]; 14. 66-Wendell Dailey[14]; 15. 99-Mike Beebe Jr[18]; 16. 8CT-RJ Marcotte[1]; 17. 22RI-Carl Kivisto[13]; 18. 81X-Joshua Zentek[17]

Late Models (30 Laps): 1. 2DJ-Douglas Curry[1]; 2. 03-Derek Gluchacki[3]; 3. 17-Jason Palmer[5]; 4. 10-Ryan Lineham[2]; 5. 50RI-Michael Benevides[6]; 6. 78-Emma Monahan[7]; 7. 31-Brody Monahan[4]

SK Lights (25 Laps): 1. 16-Nickolas Hovey[8]; 2. 51-John O’Sullivan III[4]; 3. 07-Tyler Barry[2]; 4. 47-Zachery Sangermano[5]; 5. 76-Edward Gomarlo[9]; 6. 21-Sami Anderson[1]; 7. 33-Hailey Desaulniers[13]; 8. 44CT-Bob Charland[7]; 9. 19-John Brunelle[10]; 10. 52-Anthony Forino[12]; 11. 14-Kali Trapp[11]; 12. 12X-Amanda Slater[14]; 13. 78-Evan Bourgeois[3]; 14. 91-Jake Hines[6]

Street Stocks (50 Laps): 1. 12-Al Stone III[5]; 2. 10-Chad Baxter[7]; 3. 80-Norm Root III[6]; 4. 67-Aaron Plemons[8]; 5. 9-Shawn Gaedeke[2]; 6. 13-Tony Macrino[1]; 7. 38-Jon Porter[10]; 8. 56-Ike Chima[13]; 9. 58-David Ciastko[12]; 10. 83-Ed Gertsch Jr[4]; 11. 51-Tyler Trott[14]; 12. 37-Corey Coates[9]; 13. 56CT-Sean Riley[15]; 14. 74-Joseph Arena[11]; 15. 39-Christopher Douton[3]; 16. (DNS) 30-Charles Beal

Trucks (25 Laps): 1. 81-Tyler Chapman[7]; 2. 32-Randy Burr[12]; 3. 30-Charles Beal[6]; 4. 84JR-Brad Strickland[1]; 5. 77-Troy Prentice[9]; 6. 98-Shawn Passero[11]; 7. 7-Kassy Prentice[13]; 8. 25-David Venice[14]; 9. 33-Jake Coutu[5]; 10. 07-Austin Long[2]; 11. 99-Milania Shilosky[3]; 12. 12-Ed Ryan Jr[4]; 13. 1-Duane Noll[8]; 14. 54-Cameron Varricchio[10]

Mini Stocks (25 Laps): 1. 19-David Dorr[4]; 2. 88-Bill Sylvia[3]; 3. 83-Christopher Garside[8]; 4. 25-Charles Canfield[6]; 5. 42-John Bavolacco[7]; 6. 28-Erica Canfield[2]; 7. 11-Jason Kokoszka[1]; 8. 24-Brad Caddick[15]; 9. 50-David Lee[5]; 10. 22-Hailey Beal[9]; 11. 46-John Curry Jr[12]; 12. 81-Stacey Zentek[11]; 13. 12-Aiden Sullivan[13]; 14. 49-Christian Herman[16]; 15. (DNS) 16-Tim Dorr; 16. (DNS) 54-Dylan Cabral

Legend Cars (25 Laps): 1. 19MA-Jase Mongeon[6]; 2. 91-Riley Paul[3]; 3. 34-Kyle Caissie[8]; 4. 12X-PJ Evans[7]; 5. 14Z-Zachary Martinez[5]; 6. 05-Dylan Freeman[2]; 7. 65-Wade Oemcke[4]; 8. 08-Brandon Martinez[11]; 9. 7X-Patrick Smith[1]; 10. 26-Sydney Cook[12]; 11. 12-Leilani Daniels[10]; 12. 77-Dennis Pantani[9]; 13. 15WY-Adam Forster[13]

(Photos by TK Race Photos)