Waterford Speedbowl August 7, 2010

 

by Hazel Meredith

 

 

The first feature of the night are the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Mini Stocks. Leading the field to the green is #26 Jeffrey Cembruch, with the #6 of Nick Pappacoda joining him on the front row. They are side-by-side through lap one until Cembruch pulls ahead to take the point. The #8 of Bill Leonard quickly moves into second with the #91 of Chris Williams in third and Pappacoda back to fourth.

 

By the fifth lap the four front-runners are single file with #50 Louie Bellisle III in fourth ahead of Pappacoda. Williams moves to the inside of Bellisle for the next two circuits. The #52 of Sean Caron managed to sneak past both of them and into third by the mid-point.

 

Bellisle has managed to move to the inside of the leader, #8 Bill Leonard, but the caution comes out for the #34 Ben Bargnesi spinning to the turn one grass.

 

Leonard leads the field back to the green with Bellisle on the outside. They are followed by Caron and Williams. The leaders are side-by-side for the next two circuits and the #52 of Caron tried to make it three wide as they crossed the stripe (luckily he thought better of it as they headed into turn one).

 

Bellisle gets by Leonard to take the lead, but the caution comes out with seven laps to go as the #93 of Greg Moran Sr. blows up on the front stretch. The track crew has a line of fluid down the stretch to clean up.

 

The field takes the green with Bellisle quickly jumping out front. He begins to pull away from the field as Williams and Leonard battle for second. Williams eventually clears to take second and the battle is on for third with two laps to go between Ken Cassidy Jr. and Leonard.

 

As they come down the back stretch second place Williams gets spun and gets clipped by the #34 of Ben Bargnesi. Everyone takes the checkers with Bellisle getting the win. #18 Danny Field takes second and #8 Bill Leonard is third.

 

Point leader, Field, says his car was “terrible tonight. I can’t believe we made it to the front. Congratulations to Louie on the win. The finish got a little ugly. Everyone wants to win but it doesn’t always work out.”

 

Winner Bellisle, his usual giggly self, was happy to get his second win in a row, and says he will try for three when the mini stocks return to action in two weeks.

 

Next up are the Legends cars for their 20-lap feature, with the #9 of George Whitney leading the field to the green. Joining him on the front row is #45 Joey Mucciaeciaro. After a false start, the #9 jumps to the lead on the green followed by third place starter, #21 Alessandr Vitelli. The #88 of Dave Garbo Jr. is third and #76 Dana Dimatteo is fourth.

 

The field quickly goes single file with the top six pulling away from the pack. Vitelli tries to pass Whitney on the inside coming off turn four and the two get together with Whitney going for a spin. Vetelli gets sent to the rear as well, so on the restart it’s the 376 of Dimatteo and the #25 of Anthony Flannery side-by-side for the green. Dimatteo gets by after a lap, but Flannery pulls back to the inside and takes the lead.

 

With five laps to go several cars tangle going into turn three with the #45 of Mucciaeciaro takes a very hard hit into the Armco barrier and almost flips. He gets out of the car on his own power, but is limping a little bit. He seems very frustrated as well. Also involved are the #2 of Angelo Belsito, the #04 of Dylan Izzo and the #22 of Joey Campbell. The field is red flagged so track crews can clean up the mess and get the cars towed.

 

Flannery leads the field back to the green and moves ahead of Dimatteo for the point. Third is Garbo and fourth is Field. On the next circuit the #22 of Joey Campbell hit’s the turn two wall hard, tearing off his rear bumper and wheel as well as several other parts. The field is brought to a stop with another red flag as the ambulance is called out for a shaken up Joey Campbell. Fortunately, Campbell manages to get out of the car under his own power.

 

Flannery leads the field back to the green and quickly begins to pull away. Dimatteo is second but Field is catching up and gets side-by-side with him as they take the white flag. Field gets by to take second, with Garbo third and Dimatteo fourth.

 

The third feature of the evening is the Valenti Auto Mall Late Models. Brian Andronaco Jr. in the #07 will lead the field to the green with the #11 of Vin Esposito on the outside front row. Starting third will be #5 Richard Staskowski and fourth #00 Ernie Bertrand.

 

It’s a clean start with Andronaco and Esposito side-by-side through the first lap. Esposito pulls ahead to take the point and quickly opens up a large lead on the field. Andronaco is second with Bertrand third.

 

The leaders get single file after eight laps, and the battle is for fifth between the #5 of Richard Staskowski and the #15 of Jeff Smith. On lap nine the first caution flies for the #42 of Jeff Zuidema and the #88 of Larry Goss who got together in lap four.

 

Esposito again takes the lead on the restart with #17 Jason Palmer in second. Palmer is strong and gets with the outside of Esposito on the backstretch with 11 laps to go and the Esposito spins. Palmer gets sent to the rear for spinning the leader, giving the lead to Staskowski.

 

Staskowski jumps the restart, but it isn’t called back he and the 3^rd place car, #38 Joe Curioso pull ahead of the field.

 

The #11 Esposito retaliates and spins the #17 Palmer on the back stretch. Palmer is able to continue on, but Esposito is black-flagged. Richard Staskowski takes the win followed across the stripe by #35 Bruce Thomas Jr., #47 Tim Jordan and #00 Ernie Bertrand.

 

Jordan says the last few laps was the first time he was able to get around the field and move up. Thomas, who is back after taking a week off, also barreled to the front in the closing laps. He apologized to the cars behind him as his overflow valve started spouting water after the last restart.

 

This was Staskowski’s first win in this division after four years of competition. He says he had a fast car in practice and qualifying, so he wasn’t surprised to do well tonight. He watched the leaders tangle on the back stretch and was happy that he wasn’t involved in an incident tonight. He says he is planning to run the ACT tour event coming up as well.

 

The Street Stocks were up next with the #01 of Nate Appell on the pole. On the outside front row is #67 Brandon Plemmons, with #52 Al Stone III starting third and #7 Ed Puleo fourth.

 

Appell has the edge on the first lap but Plemmons just gets by to take the lead as they cross the stripe. They are still side-by-side for the first two rows as the four of them pull ahead from the field. The #90 of Norm Sears is trying to join the party at the front.

 

The leaders continue side-by-side as they come up on the slowing #1 of Ray Downing. Luckily, Downing pulls low enough that the field can get by. Finally, Plemmons pulls ahead to have the lead to himself. The battle continues now for second with Stone getting the position, with Puleo third and Sears fourth. The #18  of Josh Galvin is fifth and #16 Walter Hovey Jr. sixth as the field hits the half-way mark.

 

Stone pulls to the inside of Plemons on the next ciurcuit and just squeaks ahead as they cross the stripe. He clears him on the next lap to take the lead. Sears has now moved to the inside of Plemons and they battle for second. Stone begins to pull away as the battle for second continues over the next few laps.

 

Sears clears for second place and Puleo is now third with Plemons in fourth with two laps to go. That will also be the finish - Stone, Sears, Puleo, Plemons.

When asked how he was able to pull off the win, he replied, “Patience!” He says that the car is getting close to being the championship contender car that it used to be.

 

The last division of the night is the ever-popular SK Modifieds. Leading the field to the green is #32 Tom Abele Jr., followed by #99 Glenn Pressel III, #73 Joe Perry, #21 Kyle James. After outside driver introductions, the engines were fired up to begin the event.

 

Abele takes the lead on the start and Perry tucks in behind him. There is a 10-car length gap back to third by the second lap and they continue to pull away from the field.   Pressel is third and Joe Gada is fourth.

 

The field, which was mostly single file, begins to bunch up again as the Gada tries to get by Pressel. With 22 laps to go Monahan spins in turn four to bring out a caution.

 

Abele quickly jumps ahead on the restart, but the yellow quickly comes out again for the #98 of Frank Mucciacciaro Jr. who spun to the infield grass on the backstretch.  Again Abele and Perry pull to the front. As they come back to the line we’re at the half way mark. The #51 of Rob Janovic Jr. pulls to third -- unfortunately as they head to turn two, multiple cars get together including the #4 of Ron Yuhas Jr., #21 Kyle James, #27 Tyler Chadwick and #17 Adam Gada.

 

With 14 laps to go the field goes green with Abele and Perry side-by-side. Abele clears, and Janovic moves to second with Keith Rocco in the #57 moving to third. Rocco, who is trying to capture the NASCAR Regional Championship with a perfect season of 18 wins in full fields, is trying hard to take the point, which he does as they cross the line with ten laps to go.

 

Rocco quickly pulls away with Janovic second, #16 Todd Ceravolo in third and Abele fourth. Caution again as the #44 Jeffrey Gallup and the #17 Adam Gada tangle in turn two. Both are able to drive away after getting refired.

 

The green flies with eight laps to go and Rocco jumps ahead for the lead with Ceravolo on his tail. He quickly opens up a multi-car lead while Ceravolo and Janovic battle for second.

 

With three to go, we have another incident in turn two involving four cars including Ceravolo, Yuhas, and #13 Doug Coby, who all headed to the pits. Cars needing to be towed were the #73 of Joe Perry, the #02 of Pete Pavone, and the #98 of Frank Mucciacciaro Jr.