Speedbowl Notes: Wayne Burroughs Jr. Opens Defense Of Mini Stock Title With Win

Wayne Burroughs Jr.

WATERFORD – Wayne Burroughs Jr. ended the 2015 season at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl sitting at the throne of the Mini Stock division.

Sunday Burroughs showed he’s not planning on giving up that throne.

Burroughs, of Oakdale, led every lap on the way to victory in the 25-lap Mini Stock feature.

“My big thing this year is that we want to show that last year wasn’t a fluke, that we can back it up,” Burroughs said. “To come off the first race and run the way we did, that was a good start.”

Dave Trudeau of Mansfield was second and Ken Cassidy Jr. of Lisbon third.

Burroughs came to the track with a new car for 2016 and showed the bugs are few.

“It’s pretty good,” Burroughs said. “Same setup in it, same scale numbers. It just goes to show you how consistent my guys build a car. This thing is blueprinted off the other one with some small minor changes to it and the thing was just great as soon as we unloaded it.”

Depsite leading every lap, Burroughs had to hold off the challenges of Trudeau, the reigning Thompson Speedway Mini Stock champion.

“We missed the setup a little bit,” Burroughs said. “I couldn’t step on the gas and Dave always dives deep into the corner so I knew I just had to hold him off going into the corner and then kind of ease into the gas coming off and I think I would have him. I’ve got to thank him for running me clean because I think there was a couple times he could have got into the back of me and he didn’t.”

Trudeau said the only way he was going to get by Burroughs was by knocking him into the wall.

“He was fast,” Trudeau said. “He was fast on the bottom. I was trying to sit on the outside and I was a little free out there.”

Fourteen year old Jacob Perry of Pawcatuck, making his Mini Stock division debut, started at the rear of the 16-car field and finished fifth.

Dana DiMatteo of Farmington ran away with victory in the 25-lap Legends feature. Noak Korner of Canton was second and Mike Flynn of Hampden, Mass. third.

David Gargaro Jr. of Cranston, R.I. used a lap 19 pass of Richard Nye to win the 20-lap X-Car Feature.

Christopher Thomas of Waterford was second and Nye ended up third.

Nye had built a massive lead over the field before a lap 18 caution bunched up the field for the late race dramatics.

Dave Yardley III of Kensington came out on top of a side-by-side battle over the closing circuits with Ray Reed of Plainfield to win the 20-lap Super X-Car feature.

Reed held on for second and Marc Shafer of Groton third.

Bert Ouellette of Ellington scored victory in the 25-lap Mr. Rooter New England Truck Series feature.

Jerry Giordano Jr. of Riverhead, N.Y. was second and Tyler Chapman of Waterford third. Ouellette went by Chapman for the lead on the backstretch following a lap 15-restart.