BACK TO BACK WINS FOR HOVEY, CANFIELD; CAPRIO REMAINS UNDEFEATED IN CROWN VICS
WATERFORD – Fresh off a rebuild from a massive crash last time out, Adam Gada started out strong. After winning his heat race, he took off from the pole defending an early attack from Nickolas Hovey. This gave him a little bit of breathing room as Hovey had to deal with the competitors in his mirror. All it took was a restart to give Hovey the opportunity to power by Gada to take the lead, leaving him to deal with Timmy Jordan in the battle for second. Hovey built up a safe lead that was eliminated with a 5 to go caution. He wouldn’t be denied even with Jordan slotting into second during the last run, leaving the track a back-to-back winner in his rookie season.
The Late Models kicked off feature racing and Shawn Gaedeke was the first leader of the evening as Aaron Plemons slipped back into the field. Brody Monahan and Jason Palmer spent the early stages clearing some traffic as Gaedeke pulled away from the field. Monahan was able to pick up second place by lap 10 and just after halfway he slipped into the lead with ease. He would cruise to the win after a DNF last time out.
Jake Coutu launched off to a strong lead over Duane Noll in the Trucks while Mason Silva had his hands full with Andy Pellegrini and Ryan Lineham. Lineham picked off Silva after halfway but by this point Coutu had already built up a straightaway lead over Noll. With 10 laps left the caution flag flew putting Coutu’s short game into test. He “popped out of a toaster” over Silva on the first restart, but on the next the two went on a multi-lap drag race. Coutu was able to clear while Lineham slipped into second but Coutu held on to claim the win.
Nate Taylor took the lead in the Mini Stocks at the drop of the green over Erica Canfield, but a quick cross-over move set up a thrilling battle between the two. Their side-by-side battle that spanned many laps held up Charles Canfield from moving forward but patients prevailed. By lap 6 Charles was able to leap from third to first and built himself a strong lead over Taylor a battle between Sean Olden and Andrew Krzeminski. That battle saw Krzeminski falter for a second but when he recovered he set his sights on the lead. Like the week before, Krzeminski ate away at Charles’ lead and by the time the checkers flew the two were nose to tail. Charles walked away with back-to-back wins in front of a capacity crowd.
The Crown Vics have been dominated by one man in 2026 and that story was no different this time around. It wasn’t easy however as Gregg Prevost III took point and tried running away from Jack Emerson and Jake Caprio. The pair chipped away at Prevost’s lead and by lap 9 were able to work their way by. Emerson built up a half straight lead that Caprio ate into fairly quickly. He was on the move with Hudson Speedway’s Ben Bosowski who had put in some bonus money for the event, but Bosowski’s car would move off the pace with 10 to go. 8 laps to go, Caprio would catch Emerson. Two laps later he got a nose underneath in a battle for the lead, and with four to go he cleared and went on to win four in a row.
Matt Hirschman picked up his fifth win with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series out of 10 total events contested at the Speedbowl. Tom Harwood has not lost since the New England Dwarf Car Series started coming to town.
On a heavily rain delayed Thursday Night Thunder, Ray Herman Sr picked up the X-Car win on a green track. Ray Reed scored a hard fought Super X-Car win while Adam Forster went back-to-back in Legend Car competition.
This coming weekend we’ve got a $2,500 to win 50 lap SK Modified® special, and a 50 lap Street Stock special for Speedbowl Saturday Nights. Then Thursday we try again with our four weekly divisions. To keep up with the Speedbowl, please visit our website at www.SpeedbowlCT.com, follow us at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, or @SpeedbowlCT on Instagram and X.