By Dave Meredith

July 23, Waterford, CT--- The United States Auto Club (USAC) Ford Focus Northeast Midget Series presented by Wirtgen invaded the Waterford Speedbowl for the second time this season. The Ford Focus Midgets get around the 3/8-mile shoreline oval at speeds over 90 miles per hour. The midgets are just a tick slower than the Whelen All American Series SK Modifieds that compete weekly.   

Ginny Quinones, driver of the #00, was fastest in the practice session. The Pen Argyl, PA, driver won here at the Speedbowl in April. Her speed in practice was 91.457 mph and the started on the pole tonight. She led the field until the caution flew as the #48 of Jeremy Tsihlis spun hard into the front stretch wall. Back to racing, Quinones held the lead for two more laps until the #73 of Steven Intravaia passed her for the lead. The caution flew again as Quinones was involved in an accident with Tad Uzzleso of Poughkeepsie, NY, in the #69 coming out turn of two. Uzzleso’s midget landed on its side, and both Uzzleso and Quinones were done for the night. The event went red for 15 minutes to clean up the track.  

Steven Intravaia of Saylorsburg, PA, won the 20 lap event, but he had steady pressure from the #38 driven by Ryan Osborne of Milford, NJ, as the checkers flew. PJ Stergois of Candia, NH, was third, Jon Seaman Jr., of Bethlehem, PA, was fourth, Jeff Abold of Pennellville, NY, was fifth. These five midgets were nose to tail going across the line. 

Rounding out the top ten were: (6) Sean Carman, Stockton, NJ; (7) Aaron Wall, Shrewsbury, MA; (8) Nick Ribbe, Kingston, MA; (9) Rick Hart, East Nassau, NY; and (10) Matt Bettancourt, Taunton, MA.   

The SK Modified division is in the midst of a heated point battle as Shawn and Diego Monahan are determined to keep Dennis Gada from winning his seventh Modified championship at the Speedbowl. Shawn Monahan was quoted after winning tonight’s event: “I like Dennis Gada, but he’s been winning too many races. It was time for somebody else to win.” 

The Bennett’s Excavating/Heddon Insurance #3-sponsored driver, Dennis Gada, who is from Salem, CT, is 28 points behind the current point leader, Shawn Monahan. Rob Janovic trails in second by 8 points. Janovic, a local driver from Waterford, CT, is having his best season at the Speedbowl. Janovic drives the #51 Essex Limousine SK modified.  

In the first modified heat, Jay Miller in the #09 held off a determined Diego Monahan in the #81 as the two raced side-by-side and nose-to-tail for the last six laps. The #31 of Shawn Monahan was third in the heat. Shawn Monahan, who is currently second in the points standing, trailed Janovic by only 2 points at the beginning of the night. 

Kenny Horton and Dennis Charette battled a separate race in the third heat as they made contact with each other multiple times during the 10-lap heat race. Jeff Pearl won, with Frank Mucciacciaro in the #98 second, and #49 Zach Sylvester third.  

The Modified Feature 

Jay Miller led the field of modifieds to the green with #47 Tommy Fox on the outside pole, and the #81 of Diego Monahan starting third. Monahan began pushing the #09 of Miller and caution flew on lap 2 as Jeff Pearl, Kenny Horton and Jeffery Paul were all involved in a skirmish in turn 2 -- all the drivers returned to the track.  

Diego Monahan took the lead on lap 6 while Shawn Monahan moved to second. Dennis Gada is in third on lap 14, maybe biding his time.  

On a lap 21, we had a “restart gone bad,” as the #09 of Miller didn’t go. It appeared Diego Monahan jumped the start, but the officials let it go. According to race director Steve Hrarka, “I explained during the drivers meeting that I would not tolerate slow restarts,” and he further explained that Miller was not up to pace speed coming out of three. He did not wave off the restart for that reason. However, Miller’s “no go” caused all the drivers behind him to check up, giving the advantage to outside row of cars on that restart.  

On the final restart, Shawn Monahan took the lead from his brother in turn two, and the brothers thwarted all challenges from Gada and Sylvester. Gada had waged a torrid battle with Shawn, with Sylvester joining the fray.  

Shawn held on the beat his brother Diego, with Sylvester in third and Gada fourth. Monahan stated, “My car got tight in the turns,” when asked if he took Gada high in turns 3 and 4.   

Dennis Gada said in a post race interview from the pits, “All he did was use up the left side of my race car. If that's how he wants to win a championship, then let him. It's not the respectful way to do it." 

Shawn’s reply in the press box was, “Well, he used the right sides of my car tonight. Dennis is a master of using the outside lane and moving you around by how he sets you up on the track. Dennis is the best here, and if anybody wants to know how to get around here, watch him. That’s what I have done over the last three seasons.” 

Shawn Monahan now leads rob Janovic by 8 points, 590 to 582.

SK MODIFIED (35); 1. Shawn Monahan, 2. Diego Monahan, 3. Zachary Sylvester, 4. Dennis Gada, 5. Don Fowler, 6. Rob Janovic Jr., 7. Jeff Pearl, 8. Tom Fox, 9. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., 10. Jeff Paul, 11. Dennis Charette, 12. Jay Miller, 13. Kenny Horton, 14. Glenn E. Pressel III, 15. Shelly Perry, 16. Mike Sweeney, 17. Matt Gallo, 18. Wendell Dailey, 19. Tyler Chadwick, 20. Clifford Fitzgerald III.

Late Models 

Ed Reed Jr. made it two-in-a-row in Larry Goss’ #61 ACT Late Model. Reed collected his 31st win tonight at the Speedbowl. Reed has two track championships -- in 1997 Reed won the Late Model crown, then in 2004 he took the SK title. The sometimes flamboyant driver appeared very excited with his back-to-back wins. He held off his car owner, Larry Goss in the #6 for the victory. Bruce Thomas Jr. in the #35 and Ron Yuhas Jr. in the #90 finished third and fourth respectively. 

“I’m just glad Larry Goss finished second. The car was really hooked up tonight. I am really glad Larry and his father gave me a chance to run this season. I was sitting home watching these guys race. I wasn’t sure I could still do it, but here I am!” said Reed.  Goss did a victory donut for Reed on the frontstretch.  

LATE MODEL (30); 1. Ed Reed Jr., 2. Larry Goss, 3. Bruce Thomas Jr., 4. Ron Yuhas Jr., 5. Ernie Bertrand, 6. Mike Kluczinski, 7. Rich Staskowski, 8. Dave Zemke, 9. Rich Duranti, 10. Robert LeBlanc Jr., 11. Terrance M. O’Brien, 12. Anthony Macrino, 13. Vin Esposito 

Mini Stocks  

The Mini Stock feature endured a red flag situation that began when Danny Fields, the eventual race winner in the #18, #91 Chris Williams, and #11 Ken Cassidy Jr., went three wide in turn three.  Chris Williams and Soup Civardi ended up in the apex of the turn three and four retaining wall. The feature was red flagged for the clean up. 

Other cars sustaining damage were: #81 Joe Stocinis, #1 Ken Cassidy Sr., #0 Soup Civardi and #75 Glynn Roy. I estimated 9 mini stocks were eliminated on the lap 16 incident. The #11 of Cassidy went to the pits, as we went back to yellow. Cassidy is the point leader of the division, and he returned to the track at the tail end of the pack.  

The field passed Bellisle on the restart and Joe Godbout III moved to second and Bellisle finished third in the 20 lap feature behind Danny Field.

“My car is usually good on the bottom at this track," Field stated. “Sometimes it's good on the top. But there are nights when you have to go where the holes are!”