Youth was served a coronation on Sunday at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
Fifteen-year old SK Light Modified division rookie Jon Puleo of Branford used a second place finish in Sunday’s 25-lap feature at the Speedbowl finale to clinch the division championship.
Puleo, who had six wins this season, came into Sunday’s final event holding a six-point lead in the standings over Wayne Burroughs Jr.
Burroughs, of Oakdale, won the event, but it was Puleo winning the war, winning the championship by four points over Burroughs.
Chris Gombos of Naugatuck was third in the SK Light Modified feature.
Anthony Flannery of East Hampton used his seventh victory in 13 starts this year to clinch his first Late Model track championship.
Flannery edged second place Jason Palmer by 15 points in the final standings.
Gerry DeGasparre Jr. of Pawtucket, R.I. was second in Sunday’s 30-lap feature and Michael Benevides of Westerly, R.I. third.
There was no questions when it came to the battle for the Mini Stock championship.
Charles Canfield of East Haven used a victory in the 25-lap Mini Stock feature to clinch his second consecutive division championship. It was the 10th victory of the season for Canfield, who bested Doug Curry by 16 points in the standings.
Curry, of Groton, was second in Sunday’s 25-lap feature. Mark Panaroni of Ivoryton was third.
A 16th place finish in the 30-lap Sportsman feature gave Shawn Gaedeke his first Sportsman division championship.
Gaedeke finished the season with three victories and 14 top-fives in 17 starts.
Al Stone III of Durham won the Sportsman feature. Diego Monahan of Quaker Hill was second and DeGasperre third.
I believe Jon is 15 not 14 unless he lost a year with his birthday over the summer. Either way, congrats to the young driver and his crew. That sk lite race brought some action early on. Seems it took them forever to get the first lap complete. I felt bad for the young driver in the 07ct. Leading the race and holding off some hard hits only to get dumped with 11 to go. Blind eyes from the officials didn’t see what everyone else around us saw. It was nice to see Mike Christopher, Jr running up front in the SK race. No surprise that the 81x ended his night driving like bonehead he is at Stafford. Not a great crowd yesterday in the stands, but not bad either. Nice car counts in the SK and Lite divisions. It should be like that every week.
In my opinion, yesterday’s schedule at the Bowl was too ambitious. Opening ceremonies were scheduled for 1:30 pm, but started after 2:00 pm (with heats starting at 2:30 pm). I believe the SK feature didn’t end until approx 8:00 pm. With cold(er) weather, that’s a very long day/night. I know engines aren’t allowed to fire until noon on Sunday and the weather is out of everyone’s control, but a final Sunday schedule more like Stafford’s or Thompson’s would make sense.