Ken Cassidy Jr.
Editor’s Note: After this story was published, Ken Cassidy Jr. was disqualified from victory following post race tech inspection. Three other finishers in the top-five of the Mini Stock feature were also disqualified.
WATERFORD – Ken Cassidy Jr. left the early week doldrums of missed opportunity deep in the rearview on Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl.
Last Sunday during the Budweiser Blastoff at Waterford, Cassidy saw victory snatched away when he was spun coming out of the final corner on the last lap of the Mini Stock feature.
Saturday Cassidy, of Lisbon, had clear sailing on the final lap on his way to his first victory of the season in the 25-lap Mini Stock feature.
Garrett Denton of Hope Valley, R.I. was second and Christopher Ivory of Oakdale third.
“We’ve just been working on it, working on it, working on it trying to make it better every week,” Cassidy said. “We finally finished one. … The first two weeks have been rough, but there’s only one way to go from there. We dug deep and we were throwing everything at it but the kitchen sink.”
Motor issues plagued Cassidy, a five-time division champion, on the opening night of racing on April 5.
In last Sunday’s Mini Stock feature Cassidy was leading coming out of the final corner before a tap from Denton sent him spinning to the infield.
Cassidy said he had put the bad feelings of the lost chance at victory behind by Saturday.
“At the heat of the moment I was on fire, but Garrett’s a good kid, we always race good together,” Cassidy said. “He’s a young kid growing up in the sport, he’s got to learn somewhere. He probably learned the hard way on that one, that comes with the territory. He’s a good kid, we always race clean, I didn’t think it was intentional, it was just hard to swallow.”
Saturday Cassidy had to spend a good chunk of time trying to get by Sean Caron for second while Nick Pappacoda stretched his lead on the field wider and wider. Cassidy finally cleared Caron and then quickly erased Pappadcoda’s advantage, going by him to take over the top spot with seven laps left.
From there it was cruise control for the five-time Mini Stock division champion.
Upon further review, Chris Ivory scores his first win of the season, with the cars of Cassidy, Denton, Brew, and Papicola were DQ’ed.
Concerned Race Fan,
Yes, that was the story published about an hour after this one:
https://racedayct.com/2014/04/disqualifications-strip-josh-galvin-and-ken-cassidy-jr-of-wins-at-waterford-four-dqed-from-mini-stock-event/
Disqualifications Strip Josh Galvin And Ken Cassidy Jr. Of Wins At Waterford; Four DQ’ed From Mini Stock Event