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08/23/13
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August
23, 2013 |
Sixty years ago in
1953, Red Foote made it three in a row at the New
London-Waterford Speedbowl as he won the 25 lap Sportsman winner on
Wednesday night. Don Collins broke the streak as he took the win on Saturday
night. Non-Ford winners were Frank Chapman and Bud Matter.
Fifty five years ago in 1958
Wild Bill Slater in the Connecticut Valley Rocket V-8 went two for two at
the New London-Waterford Speedbowl as he won 25 lap Modified features on
Wednesday and Saturday nights. Dick Beauregard and Ray Moran were the
non-Ford winners at the shoreline oval.
Fifty years ago in 1963, Area
Auto Racing News reported that Wally Dallenbach, driving the Dick Barney
No.14 had a ten race winning streak going at various New Jersey speedways.
Barney's cars are still in competition today. Dallenbach made it 11 in a row
as AARN reported that he won at the Vineland Speedway in the Garden State.
Other weekend winners were Eddie Flemke at Fort Dix, Gene Bergin at the New
London-Waterford Speedbowl, Kenny Shoemaker on the dirt at Stafford, Bob
Rossell at Old Bridge and Pete Frazee at Wall Stadium.
Forty five years ago, in 1968,
the Labor Day weekend started at Stafford on Friday night where Eddie Flemke
took the win over Bugsy Stevens, Fred DeSarro, Gene Bergin and Fred Harbach.
With the Fonda Speedway closed the Albany Saratoga Speedway ran on Saturday
night. Lou Lazzaro won the scheduled 50-lap event. Eddie Flemke finished
second with Pete Corey, Dave Kotary and Don MacTavish rounding out the top
five. At the Lancaster Speedway Bill Rafter won twin30 lap features. Don
Collins won a 75 lapper at Waterford and Freddie Schulz in the Dave
Welch/Greg Mills No.79 won at Norwood. Bugsy Stevens won at Thompson on
Sunday night and at the Utica-Rome Speedway, twin 200’s made up the New
Yorker 400. Lou Lazzaro won both ends of the 400. In the first 200, Eddie
Flemke finished second and was followed by Bernie Miller, Sonny Seamon and
Ron Narducci. Seamon finished second in the nightcap with Fred Harbach,
Narducci and Dick Fowler rounding out the top five. Fred DeSarro won the
Labor Day Bardhal 400 at Norwood.
Forty years ago in 1973, Richie
Evans started the long Labor Day weekend off with a win at Malta on Friday
night. Jerry Cook finished second with Bugsy Stevens, third. Saturday night
at Stafford, Brian Ross took the win over Bobby Santos and Leo Cleary.
Maynard Troyer had a good weekend as he won at Tioga on Saturday and the
Utica-Rome 400 on Sunday. Seabury Tripler was the Modified winner at
Waterford. Leo Cleary was declared the winner of the 200 at Stafford after a
scoring error was found. Bugsy Stevens was first thought to be the winner
but was given second spot. Eddie Flemke finished third with Denis Giroux,
fourth.
Thirty five years ago in 1978,
New Egypt started the weekend off on Wednesday with a 100 lapper which was
won by Richie Evans with Jerry Cook finishing second. Geoff Bodine finished
second with Fred Harbach, third. Geoff Bodine was a DNF with a blown engine.
At Stafford on Friday, Bodine beat out Ronnie Bouchard. Riverhead ran a 100
lapper, which saw Charlie Jarzombek take the win over Evans and Tom Baldwin.
Moose Hewitt won at Waterford and at Islip, Greg Sacks sat in victory lane.
Utica-Rome ran the New Yorker 400 on Sunday which saw Richie Evans and Jerry
Cook finish one-two and at Thompson, Geoff Bodine took the win over Joe
Howard and George Summers. Bodine, in the Armstrong No.1 made it three out
of four for the weekend as he won the Labor Day 200 at Stafford. Ronnie
Bouchard finished second with Jerry Cook, third. Other weekend winners were
Leo Cleary at Westboro, Punky Caron at Monadnock and Ronnie Bouchard at
Seekonk.
Thirty years ago in 1983, Kenny
Bouchard was the Friday night winner at Stafford. Corky Cookman finished
second with Reggie Ruggiero, third. Richie Evans and Doug Hewitt won twin
features at Spencer. Waterford ran a 100 lapper on Saturday with Bob Potter
taking the win. S.J. Evonsion won a 200 lapper at Riverside and Gary Iulg
won the 200 at Oswego. Evans and Ruggiero followed. Other weekend winners
were Johnny Tripp at Seekonk; Chris Young at Islip, Jack Ely at Thompson and
Brett Bodine won the 200 at Stafford. In Winston Cup action at Darlington,
Bobby Allison was the winner of the Southern 500.
Twenty five years ago in 1988,
Reggie Ruggiero got his eighth win at Monadnock on Friday. George Kent won
the Oswego 200 for the third time on Saturday. Jan Leaty finished second
with Jamie Tomaino, third. Dan Avery won at Riverside and Fred Harbach won
at Riverhead.
Twenty years ago in 1993,Thompson
ran a modified tour series on Wednesday. Jan Leaty, who was running third on
the final lap, ended up being the surprise winner. Ed Flemke Jr. was leading
going into the fourth turn. Satch Worley, who was running second, made a
move on the bottom side and as Flemke attempted to pinch Worley off, the two
made contact and spun. Mike Ewanitsko ended up second with Steve Park,
third. John Anderson won a rained shortened event at Stafford. Chris Kopec
beat out Dan Avery at Riverside and at Riverhead, Ewanitsko won a101 lapper.
Waterford rained out and at Oswego, Ricky Fuller won the 200.George Kent,
who hadn't driven in two years, finished second in the Art Barry No.21.Tom
Baldwin, Steve Park and Jamie Tomaino rounded out the top five. Mark Martin
made a clean sweep at Darlington winning both the Winston Cup Southern 500
and the companion Grand National events.
Fifteen years ago in 1998, Bo
Gunning won his sixth victory of the year at Stafford on Friday night. At
Waterford on Saturday, Jeff Pearl survived a delay to fix the fence that was
torn up. Dennis Gada finished second with Mike Christopher, third. Rick
Miller won at Riverside and Frank Vigliorolo won at Riverhead. The Modified
Tour Series was at Thompson on Sunday for the Shaw’s 250.Ricky Fuller took
the lead on lap 203 and was cruising to victory until he crashed with the
lapped car of Jake Marosz. Mike Stefanik assumed the lead and went on to
record his eleventh win of the season. Chris Kopec finished second and was
followed by Jamie Tomaino and Mike Ewanitsko. Tracy Gordon won a BGNN event
at Thunder Road and ageless veteran Bentley Warren won his sixth Super
Modified Classic at Oswego. I n Winston Cup action at Darlington, Jeff
Gordon took the win plus the million dollar No-Bull bonus. Dick Trickle beat
Dale Earnhardt Jr. by inches to win the Darlington GN event and on a sad
note, Adam Petty, who was racing on the ARCA circuit, had the misfortune of
having his crew chief killed when the car was dropped on him during a pit
stop.
Ten years ago in 2003, in
Thursday night Thunder action at Thompson, Kerry Malone took his second win
of the season in the Sunoco-SK Type Modifieds. Bob Santos III finished
second with Bert Marvin, third. In Pro Stock action, Chuck Docherty won the
held over PASS qualifier and Norm Wrenn won the regular event. Other winners
were Charles Bailey III in the Late Models, Larry Barnett in the Limited
Sportsman and Joe Godbout in the Mini-Stocks.
At the Stafford Speedway on Friday night, Frank Ruocco became a
first time winner as he took the lead on lap 21 in the held over 150 lapped
from July 11 and went on to take the victory over Chuck Docherty and Doug
Coby. In the regularly scheduled 35 lapper, Ronnie Silk took the win over
Willie Hardie and Doug Coby. Woody Pitkat was the late model winner.
The NASCAR Modified Tour Series was at the Waterford Speedbowl on
Saturday night for the Big Y World Class Market 150. Thirty-eight cars
attempted to qualify for the 30 starting spots. Eric Beers, in the Bear
Motorsports No.14 set fast time as he toured the 1/3-mile oval in 13.674
seconds. Second fastest was Chuck Hossfeld, in the Mystic River Marina
Dodge, followed by Todd Szegedy and Ted Christopher. The start draw was key
as Hossfeld picked the pole starting spot with Szegedy on the outside.
Another key factor was the qualifying draw. Charlie Pasteryak, who is
usually one of the top runners on the tour, was a dnq. As he paid the price
of being the first one to qualify. Among those who also did not qualify were
Ken Barry, David Berghman, Tom Cloce, Wade Cole and Jake Marosz. Chuck
Hossfeld led from pole to pole to take the win. Todd Szegedy, who started on
the outside pole finished second. On the start, Hosfeld jumped out in front.
Szegedy faded and Eric Beers moved into second. By the completion of lap two
Ted Christopher had moved into third spot as Szegedy continued to fade. The
first of eleven cautions occurred on lap 15 when Jim Broderick stopped
between turns one and two after developing a flat right front tire.
Broderick would re-join the field only to drop out on lap 35 with suspension
problems. The field went back to green on lap 20 but the action was short
lived as the caution flew again on lap 23 when Doug Coby spun between turns
one and two. The field went green on lap 30 with Christopher moving into
second behind Hossfeld. The caution flew again on lap 48 when Tom Baldwin
took a vicious hit when he contacted the wall in turn one. It took twelve
laps for the track crew to remove the badly damaged car and do a clean up
before the field went green again on lap 60. Meanwhile, Donnie Lia, who
started eighth, had moved into fourth spot. Szegedy moved by Christopher and
the race was on. Beers, who had been running in fifth spot, brought out the
caution on lap 62 when he spun after getting a flat and losing a spring.
After numerous stops, Beers’ car was repaired and he rejoined the field. The
field went back to green on lap 69 with Hossfeld leading followed by
Szegedy, Christopher and Lia. Christopher moved back into second on lap 70
and two laps later the field went under caution when Jerry Marquis spun
after being hit. Among those who were caught up in the ensuing wreck were
Tom Cravenho, Jim Long and Howie Brode who were done for the night. An
excessive amount of oil was spilled on the racing surface, which caused
officials to display the red flag while the mess was cleaned up. The field
went green on lap 89, single file with Hossfeld in command over Christopher,
Szegedy, Lia, Rick Fuller and Ed Flemke Jr. Four laps later the yellow was
displayed again as Kevin Goodale spun in turn four Back to racing on lap 97
only to go yellow again on lap 102 when Jamie Tomaino slowed on the front
stretch. The field went back to speed on lap 105 only to be slowed again for
a wreck in turn one. The action heated up when the field went green on lap
112 as Christopher began honking the chrome horn on Hossfeld’s bumper. One
lap later Christopher miss-calculated as he hit Hossfeld with his right
front tire and promptly popped his tire and came within inches of smashing
into the wall in turn four. Christopher was able to pit for a new tire and
re-joined the field when they went back to green on lap 117. Szegedy moved
into second spot and was followed by Lia, Rick Fuller, Ed Flemke Jr. and Bo
Gunning. The final caution of the night came on lap 121 when Bob Polverari
tangled with Ron Silk and Kevin Goodale in turn four. With 20 laps to go,
the green flew again. With ten to go Flemke began backing up as his
alternator had malfunctioned and was causing his motor to miss-fire. At the
finish it was Hossfeld followed by Szegedy, Lia, Fuller, Gunning, Tony
Hirschman, John Blewett III, Jimmy Kuhn, Doug Coby and Nevin George. Flemke
ended up 14th. For Hossfeld’s car owner, Bob Garbarino, the win was
especially sweet, as Waterford is where he got his start as a car owner in
the early 1960’s.
In regular Dodge Series racing action Jeff Pearl made a bold move
on a restart with 11 laps to go as he outdrove Ed Reed Jr. into turn one to
take the lead and eventual win. Dennis Gada, who was mired in heavy traffic
for most of the event, ended up third with Jeff Kraals, fourth.
Second-generation driver Keith Rocco, son of modified great Ronnie
Rocco won his first ever sportsman division event. Danny Field was the
Mini-Stock winner. Racing at Riverhead and Wall Township fell victim to
rain. The Busch North Series was at Thunder Road Speedway in Barre, Vermont.
Brian Hoar took the win over Andy Santerre, Dave Dion and Matt Kobyluck. In
Winston Cup action, Terry Labonte won the last Southern 500 that would be
run at Darlington Raceway. Kevin Harvick finished second.
Five years ago in 2008, the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour traveled to the Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports
Park for the Whelen 150. A strong field of 31 cars was on hand. Ted
Christopher, who qualified sixth fastest but drew the No. 1 starting spot in
the re-draw to sit on the front row, never trailed in the 157 lap race that
went to a green-white-checker finish following a late caution. The win was
his second of 2008 and the 29th of his career, which moved him out of a tie
with Mike Ewanitsko on the all-time list.
In the process Christopher became the first driver to lead a NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour race wire-to-wire since Todd Szegedy did it in the 2006
Fall Final at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.
Jimmy Blewett (No. 19 United Crane/Ling Trucking Chevrolet)
finished as the runner-up in the race and was followed closely to the line
by Ryan Preece (No. 3 Mizzy Const./Reynold's Auto Wrecking Chevrolet), Coors
Light Pole Award winner Eric Beers (No. 46 Reynold's Auto Wrecking/Sunoco
Chevrolet) and Ronnie Silk (No. 79 Hill Enterprises/Coors Light/Sunoco
Pontiac). Matt Hirschman, Erick Rudolph, Mike Stefanik, Kevin Goodale and
Glen Reen rounded out the top 10.
It was a costly night for Chuck Hossfeld who led the point
standings going into the event. After starting 13th Hossfeld went only 57
laps before being sidelined with a broken axle. Christopher now leads the
point standings by 64 points over Hossfeld. Matt Hirschman sits in third
spot with Mike Stefanik and Ronnie Silk rounding out the top five. Also on
the racing card at Mansfield was the NASCAR Camping World Series (formerly
Busch North Series). Brian Ickler took the win with Matt Kobyluck, second.
Keith Rocco made it two in a row in Thursday night Thunder Sunoco
Modified Racing at Thompson. Norm Wrenn in the Pro Stocks and Rick Gentes in
the Late Models each earned their first wins of the 2008 season. Larry
Barnett took top honors in the Limited Sportsman division while Glenn Boss
celebrated his birthday with a TIS Modified feature win. Mike Romano padded
his point lead with a Mini Stock triumph.
Rocco proved to be the class of the Sunoco Modified field once
again. Taking the lead early in the 30-lap main event, the Wallingford, CT,
driver never looked back en route to his third win of the season and second
in a row. The action was wild right from the drop of the green flag. Contact
between front row starters Dave Nordman and Tim Sullivan, opened the door
for Bobby Grigas, who made it three wide as they headed down for the initial
start. The caution flew immediately; however, when contact deeper in the
field sent cars scattering. On the ensuing restart, slipping and sliding at
the head of the field allowed Jimmy Blewett to cleanly take the lead with
Bobby Grigas moving into second and Todd Ceravolo in third. A spin by Rick
D’Abate brought out the caution once again. Blewett was up to the challenge
and continued to lead a battle for second between Rocco and Grigas. A pass
by Rocco was negated by a spin by Josh Sylvester. Kerry Malone was the man
on the move on the restart moving from the fifth position to third. Up
front, Blewett was having all he could do to keep Rocco in check. Grigas was
able to take back the third spot from Malone. Ceravolo, Woody Pitkat, and
Tommy Cravenho made up the lead pack. Grigas caught the duo of Blewett and
Rocco, making it a three-car battle for the top spot. At halfway, Rocco used
a slide move to take over the lead from Blewett. Once out front, Rocco
checked out. Blewett dropped off the pace a lap later. Grigas inherited the
second spot with Ceravolo running in third. Malone and Pitkat made up the
top five. Early leader Blewett spun exiting turn two to bring out the
caution. Back under green, it was all Rocco. Grigas took chase a distant
second and Ceravolo in third. Malone, Cravenho, and Pitkat were looking racy
for fourth. Rocco cruised unchallenged to the checkers. Grigas had a
season-high finish of second followed by Ceravolo. Malone and Cravenho
completed the top five.
The Stafford Motor Speedway was the scene of a classic Ruocco/Rocco battle
on Friday night. Ruocco, Frank that is, prevailed as he won his second SK
Modified feature of the year. Rocco, Keith that is, settled for second. Ted
Christopher recovered from an early tangle with Woody Pitkat to finish
third. Todd Owen and Jeff Malave rounded out the top five. The highlight of
the evening was the running of the 14th Annual New England Dodge Dealers
Late Model 100. Like he had done in a previous 100 lapper, seventeen year
old Dillon Moltz was the dominator. During the late going Moltz fought off
challenges from Michael Bennett and Ryan Posocco over several late restarts.
Mark Bakaj outlasted Joe Allegro, Jr. and Chris Matthews for his third win
of the season in the 20-lap SK Light feature, Carla Botticello scored her
first career victory in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Scott Roy
picked up victory number two of the 2008 season in the 15-lap DARE Stock
feature event.
At the Waterford Speedbowl, Shawn Monahan went pole to pole to win
the 35-lap SK Modified feature on Saturday evening at the Waterford
Speedbowl. Other feature winners were Bruce Thomas Jr. (Late Model), Brandon
Plemons (Sportsman), Ken Cassidy Jr. (Mini Stock), Michael Gervais Jr.
(Legends), and Scott Gregory (AllStar Race Trucks).
In an ultra-fast 35-lap SK Modified feature, it was hometown driver
Shawn Monahan grabbing his first feature of the season. Taking the lead
immediately from the pole position, he was tested only once during the
events singular restart occurring when multi-feature winner Keith Rocco spun
with 9-laps remaining. Handily resisting the challenges of Jeff Paul and
defending champion Rob Janovic Jr. in the closing laps, Monahan cruised-home
by a car-length over Paul, Janovic, Dennis Gada, and Matt Gallo.
It looked like Terry Eames (1080 Hartford Road LLC) and Jerry
Robinson who leases the Waterford Speedbowl were at it again. Eames claimed
that Robinson has failed to meet his obligations in making rent payments and
paying property taxes. Eames had filed a suit in New London Ct Civil Court,
which could have led to the eviction of Robinson from the shoreline oval.
The True Value Modified Series was at the Monadnock Speedway in
Winchester, NH last Saturday night. Twenty-Two Modifieds were on hand. Kirk
Alexander started sixth, took the lead on lap 10 and and never looked back.
With the exception of some heat applied by Dwight Jarvis in the closing laps
Alexander had an easy time of it at his home track. Jarvis settled for
second and was followed by Rob Goodenough, Mike Holdridge, Jack Bateman and
Chris Pasteryak.
Brad Keselowski passed Clint Bowyer with 24 laps to go Friday night
and pulled away for his second victory of the season in NASCAR's Nationwide
Series, capping a remarkable run from the 37th starting position at Bristol
Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Bowyer dominated the race after he slipped by
Dario Franchitti for the lead on lap 107, but appeared to wiggle exiting the
second turn on the 227th lap as Keselowski went past him.
Carl Edwards saw Kyle Busch lead 415 consecutive laps Saturday
night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, then used his bumper to nudge Busch
in the first turn on lap 470. That move caused Busch's car to wiggle just
enough so that Edwards could drive by for his second consecutive victory on
the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. After taking the checkered flag, Edwards was
making his cool-down lap around the track when Busch drove up and bumped his
car. Edwards clearly wasn't amused, and when he responded by driving the
nose of his car into the right side of Busch's, the fans cheered wildly.
Busch finished second, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin,
Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon.
Last year, 2012, The Whelen
Modified Tour Series visited the high banks of Bristol Tenn Motor Speedway
for the UNOH Perfect Storm 150. Ron Silk, driving for Eddie Partridge,
scored his second win of the season and first in the annual combination race
between the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified
Tour on the track known as "The World's Fastest Half Mile." It was also the
first victory for a driver running a NASCAR-approved SPEC motor on either
Modified tour. Todd Szegedy finished second, followed by Ryan Preece, Justin
Bonsignore and Ron Yuhas Jr.
George Brunnhoelzl III was the top finishing NASCAR Whelen Southern
Modified Tour driver in sixth. The tour's points leader is credited with a
win, his fourth straight and fifth overall.
The event provided a lot of excitement including Silk being spun by
Szegedy on the cool down lap after the checker. Szegedy, who had been the
leader on lap 126 attempted to block Silk who dove underneath at the same
time the caution was displayed for Ted Christopher who had spun. A replay
showed that Szegedy moved down to protect his spot when contact was made and
Szegedy spun, giving Silk the lead. Crew chief Phil Moran felt that Szegedy
should get his position back because he felt the caution was displayed for
Christopher but NASCAR disallowed his protest. Pitting for fresh tires,
Szegedy made a determined run to the front with 17 laps remaining and was
within striking distance in second spot when time ran out.
Forty Modifieds were on hand. There were eight caution periods for
54 laps as Mike Joy and Dick Berggren did an excellent job as they always do
in calling the race. The first caution which ultimately resulted in a red
flag occurred on lap 3 when Ryan Newman tapped Jon McKennedy and spun which
in turn collected 23 of the original 36 starters. The second and third
cautions were for southern competitor Gary Fountain who had a miss-handling
car which spun on laps 41 and 52. The fourth caution flew for Ted
Christopher who spun coming out of turn four with a flat tire which resulted
from contact with Ryan Preece. Christopher, driving the mighty No. 3 of the
Boehler family was struck by Kyle Ebersole. Christopher had been running
second. The fifth caution was a "Cost Saving" competition caution. The sixth
caution was for Ed Flemke who was helped into the wall on lap 103. Flemke
was 15th, one lap down at that point. The seventh caution was for Don Lia
who hit the front stretch wall. Lia was driving a Todd Szegedy back-up car
after he wrecked the Garbarino Mystic Missile during qualifying. There were
11 cars on the lead lap at the finish.
In some not so good news it had been learned that the University of
Northwestern Ohio would be dropping its sponsorship of the Whelen Modified
Touring Series at Bristol. Dr. Jeffrey Jarvis, the president of the
University of Northwestern Ohio, says the partnership with BMS continues to
be extremely beneficial for the university. "Everyone at the University of
Northwestern Ohio is very excited about extending our partnership with
Bristol Motor Speedway to the Camping World Truck Series," he said "We've
been sponsoring the Modified event since 2009 and the opportunities it has
given our students, staff and facility since we started have been
immeasurable. Steve Farmer, Vice President of Business Development at UNOH,
feels moving to the Camping World Truck Series makes perfect sense. "With
the success we've had sponsoring the Modified race, it just makes more sense
for us to be associated with the Truck Series because it is a higher profile
event," he said. "It'll be more exposure for the University of Northwestern
Ohio and our students and our programs." UNOH is on board as sponsor of the
Truck Series race through 2016. This will be the final year of its
sponsorship of the Modified event."
The Valenti Modified Racing Series visited the Monadnock Speedway
in Winchester, NH on Saturday night with 31 cars strong. Dwight Jarvis who
has been running a limited schedule, took the win over Rowan Pennink, Tommy
Barrett, Kirk Alexander, Jon McKennedy. Numerous cautions slowed the event.
Jarvis assumed the lead on lap 80 when front-runner Todd Patnode blew a
left-front tire.
Thursday night Thunder at Thompson saw Todd Ceravolo shake his role
as runner-up as he out ran Ryan Preece for the win in the Sunoco Modified
division. Thursday Night Thompson Thunder also hosted a special 50-lap Super
Late Model race with Derek Ramstrom dominating the action by leading every
lap on the way to the checkered flag. Other NASCAR Whelen All-American
Series winners included Tommy O’Sullivan, Jesse Gleason, Brian Tagg, Cam
McDermott, and Eric Bourgeois.
Ceravolo used restarts to his advantage to take the win in the
30-lap Sunoco Modified feature, and ended a four-race win streak by Ryan
Preece. Ceravolo held off a determined Preece on a lap 23 restart to take
the lead for the third and final time of the night. Kerry Malone jumped to
the early lead, but it was all Preece on the second circuit after he dropped
to the bottom and drove to the front coming out of turn two. Ceravolo drove
by for second before caution slowed the pace at lap four. In a surprise
move, Ceravolo soared by Preece for the lead when the race resumed. Woody
Pitkat followed his line for the second position with Preece all over his
bumper in third. On lap six, Preece challenged Pitkat in a side-by-side
battle. Pitkat had the advantage on the line, but the battle continued until
Preece took over the spot in turns three and four of lap eight. Caution
tightened the field back up again, and Ceravolo commanded the field once
again when racing resumed. Preece rode Ceravolo’s bumper and the duo pulled
away from the rest of the field by a full second. By lap 16, Ceravolo had
put a little breathing room between himself and Preece, but on lap 19, he
drove too high in turn two and allowed Preece to close the distance back up.
Caution at lap 23 tightened the field up for a restart that saw Ceravolo
choose the outside lane. Ceravolo held off Preece and resumed his position
as leader. Preece, Pitkat, and Dennis Perry rounded out the top-four.
Ceravolo was dominant out front, and took the checkers unchallenged.
At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night Keith Rocco, still
on the injured list, returned to victory lane as he won the SK Modified 40
lap feature. Also scoring wins were Corey Hutchings in the Late Model
feature, Dylan Kopec and Frank Cardile in the twin 15-lap SK Light features,
Cory Casagrande in the 20-lap Ltd. Late Model feature, and Stephanie Berardi
and Monte Gibbs in the Double Duty DARE Stock features.
In the SK Modified feature Woody Pitkat finished second with Ted
Christopher, third. Todd Owen and Danny Cates rounded out the top 5.
In Saturday night action at the Waterford Speedbowl Jeff Pearl passed early
leader Joe Perry on lap 3 and cruised to his second win of 2012. Pearl
stayed out in front of Rob Janovic in a green-white-checkered finish.
Janovic finished second, followed by Tyler Chadwick, Jeff Rocco and Todd
Ceravolo.
Other winners included Rich Staskowski of Hope Valley, RI who was
back in the victory lane in the night’s extra distance Bob Valenti Auto Mall
Late Model race. Former division champion Brandon Plemons of Uncasville, CT
took his first win of the year in the Street Stock race, with Ian Brew of
Wood River Junction, RI won the Mini Stock feature. In INEX racing action,
Paul Kusheba of Monroe, CT was the Legend Cars winner in a thrilling battle
for the checkered flag all race long and Derek Debbis of Oakdale, CT won the
night’s Bandolero feature.
Justin Bonsignore held off Shawn Solomito to take down the Modified feature
win on I Love America Night at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island.
Bonsignore took the lead on lap 11 after John Fortin spun out following a
restart. Bonsignore was unchallenged as he kept the lead for the remaining
laps and won the feature. Fortin recovered to finish seventh. Shawn Solomito
finished in the runner-up spot with Howie Brode in third. Ted Christopher
and Timmy Solomito rounded out the top five while Ryan Preece finished
sixth.
Joey Logano picked up his sixth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of
the season Friday evening, winning the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor
Speedway. Denny Hamlin won for the first time at Bristol Motor Speedway with
a calculated late pass Saturday night. Hamlin flirted with Carl Edwards for
the lead late in the race, and set up his move with 39 laps remaining.
Hamlin used a slide move to get past Edwards, then held on as Edwards tried
to use a cross-over move to get back in front. It didn't work for Edwards,
and Hamlin drove away for his third victory of the season.
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and
R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467. E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.
Phil Smith has been a
columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
This week are several vintage racing photos
Courtesy of
SpeedwayLineReport.com & Dave Dyke's
RacingThroughTime.com
Click on Photo for Full Sized
Bill Wimble
Danny Galullo
Dick Dixon
Frank Manafort
Joseph "Moe" Gherzi
Denny Zimmerman
Looking Back Archive
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Source: Phil
Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: August
23, 2013 |
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