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| Rowan Pennink win VMRS 75 at Thompson |
| Doug Coby Wins 2012 Spring Sizzler |
McDermott, Palmisano, Lowinski-Loh, Moran & Gorgievski Other Weekly Series Winners Thompson, CT (May 20, 2012): A picture perfect day set the backdrop for a full slate of racing action at Thompson International Speedway that featured the Modified Racing Series and six divisions of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action. A caution-filled main event saw Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, PA, as the survival of the fittest to post the victory. Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT, led only the checkered flag lap in the Sunoco Modifieds to score the feature event win. Last year’s TIS Modified track champion, Cam McDermott of Scituate, RI, made the step up to the Lite Modified division in winning style. Marc Palmisano of Hadley, MA, came on strong in the waning laps of the Late Model event to claim the victory. Art Moran III of Preston, CT was tops in Limited Sportsman division while Mike Gorgievski of Auburn, MA, earned the victory in the Mini Stocks. John Lowinski-Loh, Jr. of Milford, MA, scored his first career TIS Modified feature victory. Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, PA, outlasted the competition in a Modified Racing event that was marred by 11 cautions. Ted Christopher and Pennink waged a great battle for the lead in the early stages of the main event that saw 35 cars take the green flag. Christopher held the point and held back advances of Pennink. Christopher held Pennink at bay on countless restarts as attrition built. Pennink made what turned out to be the winning move on lap 34 when he dove to the inside of Christopher to take the lead. Shortly after, Christopher retired from the event. In the late stages of the race, Pennink had to hold off the persistent challenges of Richard Savary. A bobble by Savary with 10 laps to go looked as if Pennink may find some comfort in the last dash to the checkers. Savary was quick to recover; however, running down Pennink again with five laps remaining. Pennink was solid over the final laps to post his victory. The win was his fifth with the Modified Racing Series. Savary came home in second. Geoff Gernhard had a career night to finish third. Point leader Jon McKennedy and Mike Holridge completed the top five. An eventful Sunoco Modified main event found Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT, in victory lane. The opening lap of the Sunoco Modified main event saw two heavy-hitters get tangled up. An incident between Ted Christopher and Woody Pitkat brought out the caution before the completion of lap one. Both cars were able to continue. After a complete restart, pole sitter John Catania jumped out to the lead. Todd Ceravolo immediately moved into second. Keith Rocco followed through and into third. Catania had his hands full with a determined Ceravolo. On lap two, Ceravolo was the new leader. Catania faded to fourth losing positions to Rocco and Preece. Deeper in the pack, Christopher and Pitkat were locked in a heated battle. Ceravolo was able to gain some distance at the head of the pack as Rocco and Preece battled for second. Contact between early leader Catania and Pitkat saw the caution fly once again. Christopher was penalized for his involvement in the incident. The ensuing restart pitted Ceravolo against Rocco. The cagey veteran selected the outside groove and headed back into the lead. Rocco had to contend with Preece once again for second. Preece got alongside Rocco on lap 10 to take over the second spot. All action ceased when a spin by Wayne Arute collected Christopher, Pitkat, and Catania. Pitkat headed to pit road with a flat right-front tire. All others were able to continue. Under the caution period, Kerry Malone gave up the fifth position to come to pit road for service. Ceravolo and Preece made up the front row for the lap 12 restart. Ceravolo was able to retain the lead but not without heavy pressure from Preece. The #7 of Andrew Charron made hard contact with the outside wall on lap 13. He drifted down the speedway collecting Adam Norton. Christopher and Pitkat were both also collected. Rocco came down pit road under the caution to make adjustments to his #4. Ceravolo was up for the challenge to retain his lead on the restart. At halfway, Preece was all over Ceravolo. Catania ran in the third spot followed by a brewing battle between Malone and Rocco. Preece tried the slingshot move coming out of turn four on lap 18 but could not make the pass. The lead duo continued to play cat-and- mouse. Catania got out of shape exiting turn four opening the door for Malone and Rocco. The leaders enjoyed a half straight-away advantage over third running Malone. Rocco was not advancing on Malone under green flag conditions. Back up front it was more of the same for Ceravolo and Preece. Ceravolo came off turn four heading to the checkers with the lead. He got loose exiting turn four. With nowhere to go, Preece clipped the sliding #31 of Ceravolo. The resulting spin gave Preece the victory. Malone came home second followed by Rocco. An eventful day ended with a fourth-place finish for Christopher. Ceravolo had to settle for fifth. A pair of young drivers showed their maturity, when Cam McDermott edged Dylan Kopec by a nose at the checkers to take down the Lite Modifieds victory. Dermott launched out to a sizable lead right from the drop of the green flag in the Lites. With McDermott out front, the best battle on the field was for second. Shawn Brule held the position with Kopec in pursuit. Brule drifted high in turn three opening the door for Kopec to take the position. Brule was never able to regain control of his car making hard contact with the outside wall exiting turn four. On the ensuing restart, McDermott once again jumped out in front. David Webb was able to get the advantage on Kopec to take over second. A single lap later, Kopec got a run to move back into the runner-up position. Kopec immediately began to cut into McDermott’s lead. On lap 13, Kopec had erased the lead completely to pressure McDermott for the top spot. Kopec looked low in turn one on lap 14 but settled back in line. He pushed the leader down the front stretch. Kopec looked high and looked low on subsequent laps but each time settled back behind McDermott. Kopec tried the slingshot move coming out of four to take the white. The two went wheel-to-wheel the entire distance of the final lap. McDermott got the run out of turn four to hold back Kopec for the victory. Webb finished third ahead of Eric LeClair and Nikki Ouellette. Marc Palmisano of Hadley, MA, took advantage of a late race restart to position himself for the victory in the Late Models. Rick Gentes led his teammate Damon Tinio at the start of the Late Model main event. Gentes was able to gain a sizeable advantage over the pack as the battling was fierce from second on back. Tinio continued to hold on to second while John Falconi, Mike Scorzelli, Tommy O’Sullivan and Woody Pitkat duked it out for position. Modified Racing Series Unofficial (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Rowan Pennink, Huntington Valley, PA; 2. Richard Savary, Canton, MA; 3. Geoff Gernhard, Salem, CT; 4. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA; 5. Mike Holdridge, CT; 6. Charlie Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT; 7. Ryan Preece, Berlin, CT; 8. Doug Coby, Middletown, CT; 9. Mark Bakaj, Lebanon, CT; 10. Louie Mechalides, Tyngsboro, MA. Sunoco Modified (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Ryan Preece, Berlin, CT; 2. Kerry Malone, Needham, MA; 3. Keith Rocco, Wallingford, CT; 4. Ted Christopher, Plainville, CT; 5. Todd Ceravolo, Gales Ferry, CT; 6. John Catania, Agawam, MA; 7. Dave Salzarulo, Monson, MA; 8. James Smith, Woodstock, CT; 9. Shawn Thibeault, Plainville, CT; 10. Andrew Charron, E. Greenwich, RI. Lite Modifieds Feature Finish: 1. Cam McDermott, Scituate, RI; 2. Dylan Kopec, Palmer, MA; 3. David Webb, New Milford, CT; 4. Eric LeClair, Easthampton, MA; 5. Nikki Ouellette, East Granby, CT; 6. Troy Talman, Oxford, MA; 7. Shawn Brule, W. Thompson, CT. DNS-Frank Cardile. Late Model Feature Finish: 1. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, MA; 2. Mike Scorzelli, Malta, NY; 3. Tommy O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 4. Woody Pitkat, Stafford, CT; 5. Damon Tinio, Mendon, MA; 6. Randy Tucker, Millis, MA; 7. Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, RI; 8. John Falconi, Oakham, MA; 9. Ryan Waterman, Danielson. DNS-Jared Materas, Palmer, MA. TIS Modifieds Feature Finish: 1. John Lowinski-Loh, Jr., Milford, MA; 2. Glenn Boss, Danielson, CT; 3. Brian Tagg, Oxford, MA; 4. Chad LaBastie, Uxbridge, MA; 5. Corry Barry, Danielson, CT; 6. Jay Sundeen Douglas, MA. Limited Sportsman (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Art Moran III, Preston, CT; 2. Scott Sundeen, Douglas, MA; 3. Tommy Shea, New London, CT; 4. Jason Chicolas, Sutton, MA; 5. Ed Puleo, Branford, CT; 6. Corey Fanning, Mapleville, RI; 7. Steve Kenneway, Lowell, MA; 8. Jesse Gleason, Lisbon, CT; 9. Mark Jenison, Warwick, RI; 10. Mike Caprio, New Haven, CT. Mini Stock (Top Ten) Feature Finish: 1. Mike Gorgievski, Auburn, MA; 2. Eric Bourgeois, East Haddam, CT; 3. Dave Trudeau, Mansfield, CT; 4. Travis Jurcik, Chaplin, CT; 5. Steve Violette, Canterbury, CT; 6. Steve Michalski, Brooklyn, CT; 7. Nick Anderson, Oxford, MA; 8. Chad Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 9. Joe Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 10. Mike Viens, Seekonk, MA.
Waterford, CT (May 21, 2012) – In what has become an event circled by many on Waterford Speedbowl’s event schedule every year, the International Supermodified Association (ISMA) will once again begin their championship season at the three-eighths mile Speedbowl in 2012. The 800-horsepower Supermodifieds are slated to visit the popular shoreline oval over Memorial Day weekend this Saturday, May 26. The ISMA field that assembles at the Speedbowl is often one of the strongest of the season. 2012 appears no different with multiple feature winners as expected entries. Multiple-time ISMA Owner Champion Vic Miller and driver Chris Perley are slated to run a full schedule in 2012, starting with Waterford. According to Perley, atop the ISMA win list at the Speedbowl with four checkered flags, “The Speedbowl is a great place to race at. We always enjoy coming. There are two good grooves for racing”. Two of Perley’s wins came in the season opener and lifted him to the series title. Russ Wood achieved the same success in 2011 after winning last year’s opener. Lou Cicconi trails Perley with three Speedbowl wins to his credit including the very first ISMA race held at the ‘Bowl in 2005. Cicconi is part of a new team in 2012 with, ironically, a former Perley driven car. Cicconi has a capable teammate in Ohio’s Tim Ice. Both are expected at the ‘Bowl. Ben Seitz, a multiple-time winner at the ‘Bowl in NEMA Midgets and Legends Cars, will be back seeking his first ISMA Speedbowl win. Seitz actually led late in last year’s opener at the Speedbowl until meeting misfortunte. Mike Lichty and former NASCAR driver Johnny Benson are back as teammates in the ISMA stables as well as series main stays Mark Sammut, Rich Reid, Jeff Locke, Jon McKennedy and Eddie Witkum. All are expected on Saturday plus a host of other entries. Speedbowl owner and promoter Terry Eames always looks forward to ISMA’s opener. “We feel privileged to be the venue that kicks off the season for the Supers. It also means we hit an exciting stretch of our schedule, beginning with ISMA”. Memorial Day weekend puts the Speedbowl in action four out of five days, starting a string of events that also includes Four Cylinder Fury on June 2, Scout Night on June 9, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s return on June 23 and the mid-season 300 event on June 30. The ISMA Supermodifieds will go 50-laps in distance and qualify by way of heats. They join the Speedbowl’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race program Saturday. The SK Modifieds® (35-laps), SK Light Modifieds (25-laps), Street Stocks (25-laps) and Mini Stocks (25-laps) will resume their championship battles. Pit gates open for the ISMA Supermodifieds at 12 noon on Saturday, followed by an open practice session from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. The Speedbowl’s local divisions will be allowed to enter the pits at their normal time of 2:00pm, with their practice getting underway at 3:00pm. Grandstands open at 3:00pm with qualifying beginning at 5:00pm and a special ISMA autograph session planned for approximately 6:30pm. Main events are scheduled to begin at 7:00pm. More information including a detailed schedule of events for Saturday is available by visiting Speedbowl.com. |
