May 22, Waterford, CT--- Ed Puleo Jr. took the lead at the green for the 25-lap Street Stock feature, as the fog started moving in on the Connecticut shore speedway. Ron Oldham Jr., Josh Galvin, and Steve Barrett the top four.

The action stopped on lap 25, as a car went up in smoke. The field lined up as Puleo, Oldham, Galvin, Al Stone III, and Brandon Plemons the top five. Oldham took the lead, with Stone moving to 2^nd, Barrett 3^rd. Puleo slowed and was pushed back in the field.

With five to go, it was Oldham, Galvin, Barrett, Walt Hovey Jr., and Puleo rounding out the top five, as a spinner brought out a caution. When the green came out, two cautions immediately came back out before another lap could be run.

Oldham and Galvin were side by side for two laps, before Galvin took the lead with one lap to go. Oldham, Barrett, Hovey, and Plemons rounded out the top five. For Galvin, it was his 2^nd win of the season.

May 22, Waterford, CT--- Word from Riverhead Raceway is that Co-Chief Steward suffered an open fracture of one of his legs, and has been transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center. There, he is expected to undergo surgery on the leg.

May 22, Waterford, CT--- 22 cars came out to start the 35-lap SK Modified feature.

Todd Ceravolo took the early lead, with Joe Perry 2^nd, Diego Monahan 3^rd, and Rob Janovic Jr. 4^th. Janovic moved to 3^rd on lap 7, with Monahan 4^th, and Jeff Pearl 5^th. A spin on lap 9 brought out the first caution. Keith Rocco, the national leader in the Whelen All-American Series was now up to 7^th.

Ceravolo kept the lead, followed by Janovic, Pearl, Rocco, and Perry the top five as the field came to green. On lap 14, Rocco and Pearl were side by side for 3^rd, with neither giving any ground. At the half mark, both got together coming through turn four, with both spinning through the infield. They ended their spin on the turn one asphalt, where several cars were collected.

Jeff Paul made a great move for the lead on the green, with Tom Abele Jr., Kyle James, Ceravolo, and Todd Yuhas the top five.  On lap 26, Yuhas moved to fourth. Meanwhile Rocco had moved up to eighth. With four to go, Rocco was up to 6^th.  Ron Yuhas moved to 2^nd with two laps to go. There just wasn’t enough time for Yuhas to catch Jeff Paul.

This was one of the more exciting SK Modified races that we’ve seen in a number of years; it’s what the SK’s were designed to be, and often don’t live up to their billing.

The top three were Jeff Pearl, Ron Yuhas, and Tom Abele Jr.

“It’s pretty sweet. Ron used to drive for us. We figured he was going to try something…” said Jeff Pearl about his exciting pass off the final restart.”

May 22, Waterford, CT--- 21 cars took to the track for the 25-lap Mini Stock feature.

Ray Christian III took the early lead, but 7 car piled into turn three stopped the action, making for a complete restart. The field was side-by-side for several laps on the restart, until Christian retook the lead, with Charles Canfield, 2^nd. Ian Brew and Louie Belisle were running wheel-to-wheel for 3^rd.

On lap 8, the Christian got loose, and after a scramble, Canfield took the lead, followed by Belisle, Mark Panaroni, and Chris Williams the top four. Brew spun on the backstretch on lap 12 to slow the field.

When the field once again went green, it was Belisle bolting to the lead. He was followed by Panaroni, Danny Field, and Canfield. On lap 17, it was Belisle and Panaroni fighting side by side for the lead; Belisle inside and Panaroni outside. This was a classic Speedbowl battle, as they came to the two to go signal.

As they came to the green, it was Louie Belisle for the win by a fender.

“It was pretty decent, we had a third, and we’ll be back next week,” said Danny Field.

“It was a blast; a little tiring to tell the truth,” Mark Panaroni.

“We had a lot of fun out there,” said Louie Belisle.

May 22, Waterford, CT--- Next up was the 30-lap Late Model feature, with point leader Tim Jordan starting 6^th.

Brian Andronaco Jr. took the early lead, with Richard Staskowski, Jeff Smith, Jason Palmer the top four.  On lap 5, Bruce Thomas got around the outside of Palmer for fourth. By lap 9, Andronaco had built up a ten car lead, attempting to go for his first-ever win.

By lap 10, Tim Jordan had broken into the top five, looking to move to the lead. On lap 14, Jordan did some rubbing of Thomas for the fourth spot. They were side-by-side for seven laps.

With 10 to go, Andonaco  had a solid lead on the rest of the field, while Jordan had slowed slightly in turn four. With 4 to go, Thomas went to the outside of Smith, going for Staskowski for 2^nd. Andronaco was pulling away, as Straskowski, Thomas, and Smith wee waging a tremendous battle for 2^nd and third.

It was Andronaco, Straskowski, Thomas, and Smith finishing the top four. This was one of the better races I’ve seen this weekend.

“I had a blast,” said Bruce Thomas about the three-way battle for third. “I bounced off the wall a couple of times.”

“Well, I was just trying to find some bite in the tires,” said Richard Staskowski.

“I want to thank everyone who supported me. My dad said I got to get out there and show who’s boss,” said Andronaco. “It’s great to win after what I’ve gone through this year. I’ve been spun, put into the wall, and only finished one race this year.”

May 22, Waterford, CT--- When the green flew for the start of the 25-lap Allison Legacy North race, five of the 16 cars that took the green wrecked in turn one. That brought a complete restart. Unfortunately, the race director for the series did not provide a roster for the media to cover the race. Obviously, that will hinder our coverage of this race.

Anthony Firssora took the early lead on the green, followed by Paul Tuthill, James Logan, and Peter Portante. On lap 14, Logan got to the inside of Tuthill for the 2^nd spot, as Logan was shown to be wicked fast early in the race. Meanwhile Sean Murphy had moved up to the 4^th spot, as a car spun, bringing out a quick caution.

On the green, 15-year-old Peter Portante of Plainville, CT, seemed to have his throttle stick, and went head on into the turn four wall, destroying the front of his car. The track went to an immediate red flag. It was quickly learned that he was OK, even before the ambulance made its way to the scene. Portante made the obligatory walk into the ambulance to be checked out.

On the restart, the field stayed single-file, as James Logan dive bombed under Paul Tuthill Jr. for 2^nd. It was now Frissora, Logan, Tuthill, and Kyle Poodiak the top four with 8 laps to go. Another spin brought out a yellow.

A yellow came out with 7 laps to go, as the track ambulance left the track with Peter Portante. Although Portante appeared to be alright, as he walked away from the scene of the wreck, the racetrack can’t operate without an ambulance. We now had to wait for a backup ambulance to show up. It took a few minutes for another ambulance to show up; however, at 8:00pm the race resumed.

It was still Frissora, Logan, Tuthill, and Poodiak for two laps, until Poodiak temporarily took the 3^rd spot. However, the Tuthill fought back to 3^rd with three to go. On the final lap Logan started to slow, and scrambled the finish as they crossed the line. Anthony Frissora, Paul Tuthill, James Logan were the top three.

“I ran out of gas from too many cautions, said James Logan. “It was my fault, as we were playing with it.”

“The car went away at the end,” stated Paul Tuthill. “Thanks for the 44 crew that didn’t fill it up with gas, I finished 2^nd.”

“I had a good car today. I had a good race for once,” Anthony Frissora said in Victory Lane. “It was one of the longest and hardest races I’ve had for a while.”

May 22, Waterford, CT--- Word reached us at 7:30pm in the press box that Riverhead Raceway Co-Chief Steward Mike Capiello was hit in the infield during hotlaps for a Modified race. Although it was announced as an unnamed individual, we learned through several sources that it was Capiello that was struck by a spinning Steve Booker.

He was attended to in the infield by Modified driver’s wife Ann Young, a trauma room nurse., along with the ambulance crew. Mike has injuries to both of his legs, and possibly one arm. Mike was conscious and transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center with splints being put on his legs, and a backboard was placed under him.

Obviously, we hope that Mike, one the real good guys and a gentleman, comes through this with flying colors. Our thoughts will be with him and his family.

We’ll have updates as we receive them.

May 22, Waterford, CT--- It’s a cool evening here at the Waterford Speedbowl, with the temps at 58 degrees at 6:30pm. Yesterday at Stafford, the temperatures reached 93 for a high.

We came to the Waterford Speedbowl to take in the night’s activities for the first time this season. The first thing we noted was that most of the media that normally covers the ‘Bowl was at Mohegan Sun for a major boxing match… or at least that’s the excuse they gave their editors for being there.

Back at the ‘Bowl, Ron Yuhas Jr., last year’s SK Modified champion, was having motor issues for the 2^nd week in a row. He took off for his shop down the road to go to his backup car. Last week, after retrieving his backup car, he managed to finish 2^nd. It will be interesting to see how it goes this week.

Part of the trip is to watch Islip, NY’s Shawn Solomito, who coming into tonight is sitting 19^th out of 31 drivers that have collected points this season. Hopefully, there will be at least 10 less cautions tonight than there were at Stafford last night.

We’ll be back later…