WATERFORD – Tyler Chadwick wasn’t worried about who wasn’t at the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night, all he cared about was who was there to beat, and he beat them all.
Chadwick drove away from the field over the closing laps to win the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl.
It was the second victory of the season for Chadwick. Nichole Morgillo of Wallingford had a career best second place finish and Kyle James of Ashaway, R.I. was third.
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WATERFORD – It must be the wax.
In the mind of Waterford Speedbowl driver Ken Cassidy Jr. clean is fast, and clearly Cassidy’s car has been very clean this year.
For the sixth time in seven events this year it was Cassidy, of Lisbon, celebrating in victory lane following the 25-lap Mini Stock feature at the Waterford Speedbowl.
“Every week, I can’t say it enough, that thing is awesome,” Cassidy said. “I’m just trying to keep the thing in once piece every week.”
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Ryan Preece has been the master of the opening act of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events in 2012.
Ryan Preece in victory lane at Monadnock Speedway (Credit: Fran Lawlor / NASCAR
Saturday at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. he showed he can close just as well.
Preece, of Berlin, held off Doug Coby to win the Whelen Modified Tour Monadnock 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
It was the fourth career victory in 70 Whelen Modified Tour starts for Preece dating back to 2007 and his first win since 2009. It was also his first win driving for team owner Eric Sanderson’s Flamingo Motorsports organization.
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WATERFORD – Jeff Smith has a reputation as one of the cleaner drivers at the Waterford Speedbowl.
Saturday night he put that reputation aside momentarily in a fight to grab a checkered flag.
In a full contact battle over the final two laps, Smith came out on top of a dramatic duel with Dillon Moltz in the 30-lap Late Model feature Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl.
It was the first victory of the season for Smith, of Old Lyme. Moltz, of Waterford, held on for second and Rich Staskowski of Hope Valley, R.I. was third.
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WATERFORD – Greg Stoehr inherited the lead with 17 laps remaining and never let go.
Stoehr drove away from Randy Cabral over the closing laps to easily win the 30-lap Northeastern Midget Association Marvin Rifchin Trophy race at the NEMA’s 60th Anniversary celebration Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl.
Stoehr, of Bridgewater, Mass., far behind leader Anthony Marvuglio when the caution flew with 17 laps left. Marvuglio suffered a flat under caution, giving Stoehr the lead.
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The mastery of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour qualifying for Ryan Preece and his Flamingo Motorsports team continued Saturday at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H.
For the fourth time in four events since Preece joined the Flamingo Motorsports team, Preece, of Berlin, captured the pole in qualifying, and for the second consecutive time he set a track record in the process.
Preece, of Berlin, toured the quarter-mile Monadock Speedway in 12.315 seconds (72.082 mph) Saturday in qualifying for tonight’s Monadnock 200, eclipsing the previous track record of 12.390 set by seven-time series champion Mike Stefanik in 1988.
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STAFFORD – Getting through a restart clean with a broken transmission is a feat no racecar driver wants to think about dealing with.
That said, making a pass for the win on a restart with a broken transmission is the stuff of fantasy land dreaming.
Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway, Eric Berndt lived the fantasy in ultra-dramatic style.
Berndt, of Cromwell, passed Stafford’s all-time winningest driver – Ted Christopher - on a green-white-checker restart to win the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature at the track.
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STAFFORD – JJ Hill may have inherited a lead, but nobody could say he was given anything Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Hill, of Stafford, held off challenger after challenger over five late restarts to win the 40-lap Late Model feature at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Mike Quintiliano of Shelton was second and Adam Gray of Belchertown, Mass. third.
It was the third career victory in the division for Hill, but first victory in the new car his family built during the offseason. It was the second event on the track for the car.
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STAFFORD – The learning curve in the Limited Late Model division for Josh Wood at Stafford Motor Speedway has actually had little curve at all. It’s been a straight line directly to victory lane.
On April 28 Wood won in his debut in the Limited Late Model division at Stafford. Friday the 17-year old from Palmer, Mass. kept stayed perfect in the division by driving away in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.
Duane Provost of Springfield was second and Cory Casagrande of Stafford third.
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Back in February, when we were changing over to a new layout for the auto racing blog at The Courant, I wrote a headline on the last entry of the previous layout style that read: “The Time Has Come To Move On To Something New.”
It was a trick, you know that old “Made ya look” kind of play on words that makes one wonder just what the story is really about it.
Today it’s no trick, no play on words. I’m not crying wolf.
By the time I was 15 years old I knew I wanted to be a sports reporter for a newspaper and for the last 18 years I got the chance to live out that dream at the Hartford Courant.
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For race fans wondering what the view is like on track from the seat of an SK Modified, Stafford Motor Speedway has the perfect package to make that wonder reality.
Stafford’s new two-seat SK Modified made its on track debut recently at the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler and now fans will have the opportunity to get their chance to ride along in the car with legendary Modified driver Bob Potter at the wheel.
Stafford Speedway is offering fans three different packages for taking a ride in the car.
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WATERFORD – By time the dust settled Saturday night at the Waterford Speedbowl, Keith Rocco’s SK Modified looked like somebody had rammed it with a wrecking ball.
Though Rocco proved that the car doesn’t have to be pretty to go to victory lane.
Rocco, of Wallingford, rallied in dramatic fashion from an early wreck and won the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Saturday at Waterford.
Tom Abele Jr. of Norwich was second and Nichole Morgillo of Yalesville third. It was the fourth victory in six SK Modified division starts at the Speedbowl this year for Rocco.
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WATERFORD – The all-time winningest driver of the Mini Stock division at the Waterford Speedbowl is making a business of putting on dramatic performances in 2012.
Last week, Ken Cassidy Jr. used a last lap pass to win the Mini Stock feature by half a second.
Saturday Cassidy kept his 2012 domination of the division going with another attention grabbing show.
Cassidy used some outside lane dramatics to pass Bill Leonard for the lead with five laps remaining and then held on to win the 25-lap Mini Stock feature.
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There’s been no slowing C.E. Falk out of the gate around Virginia’s short tracks this year and that smoking start to the season has landed the Norfolk Beach, Va. driver at the top of the May edition of the NASCAR Hunter Index power poll.
Falk has five victories in eight starts including seven top-five finishes thus far this season between three tracks.
After winning a 300-lap opener at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, the 24-year old Falk won twice at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., and also swept twin features at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.
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Weather forecast woes will force fans to wait another week to get their Friday fix of racing at Stafford Motor Speedway in 2012.
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Stafford Motor Speedway management decided Thursday that the Friday forecast calling for rain most of the day and evening was too much to go up against and decided to offer up an early cancellation to the opening Friday night show at the track.
